Within hours of the debt ceiling debacle, serious people agreed that economic stimulation was far more important, at least in the short term, than phony efforts to balance the budget. The hue and cry among central bankers and thoughtful economists is: Governments must act! By that they mean, stimulate stagnant economies by providing unemployment compensation, investing in public works, and providing temporary tax relief for workers (not gazillionheirs).
But, predictably, the president's army of opponents and their conservative commentariat harangue the president for being "anti-business" and for increasing regulations on business. He is doing neither. To lay the current economic disaster at the feet of Wall Street and the fast-buck speculators of the Bush years is not "anti-business." It is truth telling. And to re-impose financial regulations that prevent housing and other investment manipulations is prudent governance. When someone burns your house down, you try to prevent them from doing it again.
The giant banks and corporations are rolling in money. Were they to start investing and hiring we'd be pulling out of this ditch pretty quickly. But they keep giving excuses for not doing so. Uncertainty. Well, hell, life is uncertain. I thought capitalism was about taking risks. Where are the real capitalists today? Hiding? Waiting for the US Government to guarantee every investment? For a time it was uncertainty about the debt ceiling. That got taken care of (in a way children should not watch). But still no investment. What are they waiting for? We have one of the lowest effective corporate tax rates in the Western world.
For a simple-minded Colorado cowboy there is a temptation to wonder whether Big Money and Big Business are not playing poker with America's well-being and our future. Could that poker game be about "deal me the hand I want, then I'll play"? Is there a collective decision to sit on the financial sidelines for another year in the hopes of another neo-con, anti-government, anti-regulation, devil-take-the-hindmost, let-her-rip administration? Does anyone think for a minute that Big Money doesn't put its own financial interests ahead of the national interest? That's sure what my lightly-educated, working class father thought.
If so, the voters of this country, and particularly the functional fifteen percent (or more) of the unemployed, and the parents raising their kids in the back seats of cars, and a lot of the rest of us are going to have to stand up in 2012. And it would help a lot if President Obama started sounding like Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Unless private interests that control America's wealth begin to put this country first and do what should be done to create jobs, they should not be surprised to see a nation that has been tilting right begin to do what it has done under similar circumstances and demand action by our Government. Americans are not going to let this poker game go on much longer. And we shouldn't.
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BofA just sold $5B in stock to Buffett and a chunk of a Chinese bank they owned just to raise capital demanded by the regulators.
I think the real question is who's standing on the hookah hose.
537 corrupt, lazy, ineffective, do-nothing, indecisive, effete elected federal legislators and executives.
They are being paid to do so by the corporations and plutocrats that benefit from this situation they created on purpose for their corporate paymasters.
These individuals created an environment wherein banks could steal with impunity - and never prosecute the bankers.
These individuals used public money to bail out the banks - and didn't even require the banks to lend out what they gave them. Instead, the banksters paid themselves record bonuses.
These individuals created multiple wars. Unfunded. And, now they complain about the debt.
These individuals work for the people for whom they upped the income, the top 1%, whose share of national income went from 7% to over 23%.
These individuals choose to ignore 14 million hungry children, 45 million hungry people, homeless, old, sick - so that their bosses make more money.
Worst of all - there are millions of foolish, ignorant souls who still love them for it.
One is to a slick but VERY misleading video on "economic freedom" that they encourage you to send out to all your friends. The other is to a Wall Street Journal article by Charles Koch that, among other things, complains about ALL government subsidies to business but whines that Koch has been "forced" to accept them because they have to keep up with their greedy competitors who accept the help.
Look at them. It's instructive. Certainly the Koch's have every right to put stuff up on their website and try to informa and persuade. But it's just the tip of the iceberg, of course, in what they and others (on both sides) are willing to spend to influence the political process.
Bernanke and S&P (for whom I have no great love) were right: it's not so much our economy as our political system that is broken.
I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that, good buddy.
The Koch Bros. and Exxon will refine the stuff from the tar sands and then they will export it. The pipeline isn't for Americans. It is to keep Big Oil rolling in cash.
The banks invest billions in projects that hurt Americans:
http://www.banktrack.org/show/dodgydeals/keystone_xl_pipeline
All this money is funneled into supporting the corrupt financial markets. Corporations build their piles of cash, not to invest in creating new jobs as Republicans would have you believe, but to make easy money with their rigged derivatives schemes.
Being an American means being complicit in this corruption.
Is it too late now?
They're busy moving to China.
Impact?
"the voters of this country"
and others too, might as well burn their voting cards. At lest it may warm a few stone-cold fingers, if not a single heart.
"stand up in 2012"
and ask, ”Please sirs, can we have some more (of the same)?”
Americans are supporting this effort by buying these corporations' products.
There is more than a trade deficit. There is a capital investment deficit.
Its like "Musical Chairs" and no one wants to be left standing if the world economy turns further south.
Additional QE will do little more unless the EU gets it's house in order and the emerging markets stabilize , including China and India.
Could it be that we have factions in Congress that stall every single effort to get closure and provide that stability? Could it be that there are those who feel their time is better spent trying to impose their social agenda on the nation instead of trying to create an atmosphere that puts people back to work?
How does de-funding Planned Parenthood or advancing a "Freedom of Light Bulb" act address our nation's hemorrhaging capital, jobs and future opportunities?
You need look no further than the Grand Obstructionist Party to see the root and stem of our current stagnation.