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Credit Where Credit Is Due |
New Rule: Stimulating the economy is like stimulating your body--there are good ways and bad ways to do it. And John McCain's "gas tax holiday" is basically economic crystal meth.
There's a seemingly dry headline this week that is a lot scarier than it looks: Bank of America's profit declined 77% this quarter. They're a big bank. They're a consumer-oriented bank. And it turns out their losses are not just coming from the subprime mortage crisis. They're coming from small business loans, construction loans, and simple credit card debt. Bottom line--people can't pay their bills.
The time for arguing over whether or not we're in a recession is not only past, it seems almost quaint now--a little math game that we had the luxury of playing back when things seemed like they might improve at any moment. Whether or not the eventual numbers reveal that this is technically a recession, professional and amateur economists alike can now agree that the economy is technically "in the shitter."
All that remains, then, is the question of how long things are going to suck, and some frightening questions: Are we willing to do anything to get out of this? Will we fall for the same old tricks? Will we once again accept a couple of cheapo give-backs and dog treats and future-destroying tax cuts as a "fix?" If recent history is any guide, those answers are "yes!" and "definitely!" and "Where's my cookie?"
posted 3:24 pm on 05/01/2008
You're now a Fan of Birdnest12.
posted 1:56 pm on 04/29/2008
You're now a Fan of TonyChristini.
Top twenty reasons Congress should pass a law raising the pay of CEOs:
What are friends for?
It"s what the people want.
Equality " if the lowest paid employees get a boost in their minimum wage, the highest paid employees should get one too.
Efficiency " what else would convince even the most hardened executives to fire half the workforce putting people out of house and home to further improve corporate profits but a substantial boost in their utterly base salary.
An oldie but goodie " in the immortal words of first US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay, "The people who own the country ought to govern it" any damned way they please.
Something needs to be done to lower everyone else"s expectations to more economically realistic, base levels. ...
http://apragmaticpolicy.wordpress.com/2007/04/10/tropetopi
posted 5:30 am on 04/29/2008
You're now a Fan of prcleburne.
Definitely not a fan of Bill Maher's.
posted 10:00 pm on 04/28/2008
You're now a Fan of AtlantaMike.
Ironically, some of the money flowing to oil producers goes to Al Qaeda. I doubt that they will give us a tax holiday and take less from the middle eastern families that support them.
So, reducing the tax will increase our consumption of gas, increase our federal deficit, and provide as much or more to Al Qaeda. Let's have a proposal to reduce our consumption of imported oil.
posted 7:48 pm on 04/28/2008
You're now a Fan of sueelle.
posted 9:49 am on 04/28/2008
You're now a Fan of janmb.
ITS NOT CLINTON HATING FOR YOU----ITS SOCIOPATHIC WOMAN HATING.
THE STIMULOUS PACKAGE IS A JOKE TO MOST AMERICANS. MY DAUGHTER WAS UNEMPLOYED---LIVED OFF SAVINGS AND A 401K. DIDN'T EVEN COLLECT UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE SO SHE WON'T GET A STIMULOUS PACKAAGE WHO NEEDS IT MOST.
You're now a Fan of Darknight.
1) He's never given Obama a wide pass.
2) "Sociopathic woman hating"? C'mon. Really?
3) I won't disagree that the "stimulus package" is not all that stimulating, but your daughter being unemployed has nothing to do with whether or not she will receive a stimulus check. As long as she filed her taxes she will receive a check, unless she is claimed on someone else's income tax return.
posted 1:09 pm on 04/27/2008
You're now a Fan of nyboomer.
You're now a Fan of Header.
Reagan and his crowd tried this with the Kemp-Roth tax cut in '81 - it didn't work for a number of reasons. The Laffer Curve is a great teaching aid but has not been a great policy tool. Tax cuts for the wealthy don't "trickle down".
posted 11:59 am on 04/27/2008
You're now a Fan of DavidCA.
I'm a big fan of yours and I share some of your views. Im writing a a newsvine article called "10 Ideas to Save America" but I short 3 rules. If you (or anyone else reading this) got any ideas, post them my Newsvine article : 10 Ideas to Save America
You're now a Fan of DavidCA.
posted 9:24 am on 04/27/2008
You're now a Fan of jankvkleve.
What"s wrong with brewing your own ethanol or running a car off energy from a solar panel? Simple. No road tax. The government"s need to stay in the loop to collect taxes is what keeps big businesses like ADM in the loop to provide taxable ethanol.
If a different form of taxation, e.g., road tolls and license fees, were used to finance highway infrastructure, then the government wouldn"t care where or from whom you bought your fuel or if you produced it yourself. This would spur development of alternative fuel sources, especially the home-grown variety.
It"s all a pipe dream, though, as the agribusiness and oil industry lobbyists will make sure it never happens.
posted 7:55 am on 04/27/2008
You're now a Fan of warpwiz.
If someone buys 20 gallons of gas a week (this seems reasonable for most people, commuting back and forth to work and getting around 20 miles per gallon), it means a savings of a whopping $3.60 per week. That means I can't even save enough to get fries and a drink with my Big Mac 1 day in that week.
Your joke about "grandpa gives us $5.00" is optimistic.
Let's forget the collateral damage grandpa does here. It's another contribution to circuses so we don't miss the bread.
You're now a Fan of jankvkleve.
posted 9:33 pm on 04/25/2008
You're now a Fan of joebhed.
"The main mark of modern government is that we do not know who governs, de facto any more than de jure. We see the politician and not his backer; still less the backer of the backer; or, what is more important of all, the banker of the backer. Throned above all, in a manner without parallel in all the past, is the veiled prophet of finance, swaying all men living by a sort of magic." - G. K. Chesterton
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a money aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power of money should be taken from the banks, and restored to the people to whom it belongs." - Thomas Jefferson
And, Bill, responsibly, a solution:
http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/uploads/CreatingNewM
Go there. Do that. This is where the credit is due.
It's better than the cookie.
posted 8:44 pm on 04/25/2008
You're now a Fan of JohnVA.
Is there a trick question in here somewhere?
posted 7:19 pm on 04/25/2008
You're now a Fan of Elizabeth.
And, things are going to suck for a very long time...for at least another four years and God knows how long after that...call me a cockeyed optimist.
You're now a Fan of Elizabeth.
posted 7:12 pm on 04/25/2008
You're now a Fan of Aicon.