I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
if? you mean when!!
I'm headed out the door, so I don't have time to verify this. Mark Shields just said on The Capitol Gang that most of the jobs Bush has created are in the government sector.
I'm still waiting for Krugman to pull out the big gun and write a column called "Rightwing Republicans Are Greedy Pigs Who Don't Know Shit About Economics."
Why can't the wealthy wingers just admit they don't like paying taxes like everyone else instead of couching their bunk arguments in terms of debunked economics?
All of the 21,000 jobs created in February were in the government sector.
Can we start calling George AWOL Bush a Big Government wing nut?
"They gambled it all and so far they've lost. "
That's the way the AdMen run the Exec branch, like a poker game.
"They gambled it all and so far they've lost. "
That's the way the AdMen run the Exec branch, like a poker game.
pbb
too bad they're such lousy card players
Remember the Republicans chanting "bye bye Marjorie" on the floor of the House when U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky cast the one vote that Clinton needed for his budget and tax increases?
Remember the GOPers "the sky is falling" press conferences? Their predictions of imminent economic collapse?
Clean sweep - all Banana Republicans out of the House and Senate.
I think I'm going to disagree here, on some small aspects of what Atrios wrote.
We are not totally helpless in an economic sense. There are things that could, and should, be done. First and foremost is restore the taxes on corporations and the wealthy.
Second, reduce "defense" spending to something approaching sanity. Less than $100B would be a nice start. $50B or so should be our goal. Certainly it would reduce the grand old American tradition of invading various countries for reasons of domestic politics.
If we can increase revenues and reduce spending we'll be back in no time.
It's all Clinton's fault!
More tax cuts!
Maybe enough people will listen to Warren Buffet...
"Buffet says he wants his taxes raised"
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Billionaire investor Warren Buffett accused the Bush administration Saturday of pursuing tax cuts that favor large corporations and wealthy individuals.
``If class warfare is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning,'' Buffett said in Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s annual report.
...
That's pretty wicked!
The unemployment rate means absolutly nothing because it takes into account discouraged workers. What most people don't get is that there are a lot of discouraged workers out there who are not counted in umemployment numbers.
too bad they're such lousy card players
What? Drawing to an inside straight in bad?
Re Chocolate Proton, it would be crazy for Kerry to propose a reduction in defense spending without getting us out of this war with Islam.
I agree with you in general, and add on the tax which the war has on all businesses which must now account for the risk of terrorist attacks.
I'm happy Atrios admits that the tax cuts did not cause the recession, and I admit that Clinton's tax increases did not case that recession.
Even so, the best thing would be for Kerry to identify what DID cause the recession.
What? Drawing to an inside straight in bad?
ARGH! "...IS bad..."
Damn it, Atrios, you need a preview function. If you're nice, I'll help you add one (check out the comments on my blog!).
Gotta give the press whores credit for one thing, though. They're paying increasing attention to the net jobs numbers (which are horrific) and decreasing attention to the unemployment rate (which isn't so bad, but is mighty misleading.) I wonder why the Bushies haven't spun this out successfully?
The economy isn't "poor", you sad, deceitful little fool. Your profound piece of economic analysis mysteriously omitted minor matters such as a 6% PA GDP growth rate and the lowest interest rates in 45 yers.
Employment growth is slow. It will pick up when all the slackness from the 90's is taken in. That's all.
We realise that people come to "atrios"'s little parallel universe to be comfortingly lied to, but this one is just too obvious to let pass.
Right now we are envisioning the dozen or more main things that Bush has done to damage average and poor citizens. His economic policies have been the most naked class warfare in the history of this country.
But positive vision -- the things Dean stood *for* rather than against, for example -- are what gave the Democrats renewed spine.
Kerry needs to start standing *for* things, and not just things that Republicans also stand for more conspicuously.
Standing for economic justice is difficult. So many people have a fantasy life where they identify with tax policies that favor only the wealthy. People with above-median incomes often got tax cuts that amounted to pennies per paycheck!
Real numbers don't play well in the abstract. Pictures of long lines at Unemployment, or pictures of piles of money while you discuss how the tax cut benefitted Dick Cheney -- piles of money that represent Halliburton fraud.
Negative again. Visual but negative. The Democratic campaign need folks who are both visually oriented and positive!
Scorpio
http://scorpio.typepad.com/eccentricity
John Kerry is going to raise all your taxes and give it all to the terrorists and Jane Fonda!
Oh... that sounded kind of stupid, didn't it?
wow this is all way over my head. Tell ya what, I'll get back to you Monday after Rush and Sean Hannity tell me what to think.
Gotta go beat off to a picture of Jenna now. See you around.
Even so, the best thing would be for Kerry to identify what DID cause the recession
That's easy.
Irrational exuberance.
Warren Buffett released his shareholder letter this morning. It's nice to see the leader of a fortune 50 company speak out for things not in his best interest. Kerry should appoint Buffett as head of the SEC or Treasury secretary.
From page 5-6 on taxes http://tinyurl.com/2oemk :
"Corporate income taxes in fiscal 2003 accounted for 7.4% of all federal tax receipts, down from a post-war peak of 32% in 1952. With one exception(1983), last year’s percentage is the lowest recorded since data was first published in 1934. Even so, tax breaks for corporations (and their investors, particularly large ones) were a major part of the Administration’s 2002 and 2003 initiatives. If class warfare is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning. Today, many large corporations – run by CEOs whose fiddle-playing talents make your Chairman look like he is all thumbs – pay nothing close to the stated federal tax rate of 35%. In 1985, Berkshire paid $132 million in federal income taxes, and all corporations paid $61 billion. The comparable amounts in 1995 were $286 million and $157 billion respectively. And, as mentioned, we will pay about $3.3 billion for 2003, a year when all corporations paid $132 billion. We
hope our taxes continue to rise in the future – it will mean we are prospering – but we also hope that the rest of Corporate America antes up along with us."
Let me see, corporations paid less taxes in 2003 vs 1995, but how much more of the economy do corporations control now vs 1995. Wal-Mart controls a lot more of the economy now than it did in '95. How can corporations pay only 7.4% of all taxes? Yeah, Greenspan, let's cut SS to balance the budget. I have an idea, let's tax corporations their fair share.
Kerry needs a Perot inspired pie chart to explain this to working Americans.
I have complete, utter faith in Dear Leader. He would never lead us astray!
The only thing that could go wrong now is if you Democrats give aid and comfort to the enemy by talking bad about our economy! You're sapping our will and desire to fight, um, for jobs!
(hey Ricky, you sure got a purdy mouf)
Very good and positive kerry interview from fox of all places:
Campaign Carl
Sen. John Kerry sits down with Carl Cameron for an exclusive interview
http://www.foxnews.com/access/video.html
And it's not like there aren't plenty of fiscal programs that would provide lots of American jobs that couldn't be exported. A few of the top of the head.
A national high speed railroad building program. Eliminte most of the treacherous wing damns on the Mississippi. Break up and reorganize the dams on the Colorado river the are destroying our salmon runs and polluting or drying up the wetlands. Upgrade -- or even just establish -- the medical and educational facilities on American Indian reservations.
Stop subsidizing agri-business farms so that the small independent American farmer can compete and thrive again.
A crash program for wind mill power farms. Hydroelectric power, and solar farms. Retool the auto industry so that no car can be produced unless it gets 80 miles to the gallon.
And then we could break for lunch.
Nice post, Atrios. And you're absolutely right. You wouldn't teach economics by any chance would you?
What? Drawing to an inside straight is bad?
Bushnomics is more like drawing three cards to a two-flush.
Say, hat, how 'bout them record deficits? Once business expansion requires capital (instead of being squeezed out of higher productivity), inflation is inevitable. Consumer confidence? Low. This recession is a little strange because, frankly, no one is quite sure why employment is still so weak (historically, employment was always rising at this stage of a recovery), so no one's prediction of when or if it rebounds is likely to be any good. I don't think the GOP is planning it for October, that's cutting it way too close.
"Rightwing Republicans Are Greedy Pigs Who Don't Know Shit About Economics."
Ain't it the truth, brother!
OT: Something y'all might want to check out -- an analysis of how the blogosphere is affecting mainstream reporting, using Trent Lott's foot-in-mouth as an example, and prominently featuring Atrios. It's something like 26 pages long (it's a .pdf), but it's an interesting read. Presently at #6 on Popdex and it was also on Daypop earlier. Since Atrios was at least dead for a little while anyway, it makes a nice eulogy.
Big Media Meets The Bloggers: Coverage of Trent Lott's Remarks at Strom Thurmond's Birthday Party
Hat-- unless you're a CEO, the economy is poor when there's no job growth-- by the only definition that counts: the people's.
Employment would have to rebound by the the 3rd quarter in order to do the Bushites any good.
Those numbers get reported in mid to late October IIRC, and cover July through September.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but summer months are not historically good months for employment, are they?
So things have to turn around this spring to do the GOP any good in November.
If they don't then they'll be pinning their election hopes on capturing OBL. Or some other October Surprise.
You wouldn't teach economics by any chance would you?
Boy, gym sure has changed since I was in school. Did they replace kick ball with Macro 101?
Bushnomics is more like drawing three cards to a two-flush.
Damn, I wish I'd thought of that one. Maybe that's because I play tight and always fold in that situation.
There are other signs of a poor economy as well-- increasing numbers of people in poverty, diminishing consumer confidence, and even the stock market has been flat the last few months. The astronomical and record high trade deficit. The huge federal deficits as far as the eye can see really don't help much either.
Bottom line-- all Bush's tax cuts went to the wrong place and likely have made things worse.
If tax cuts work so well, why don't we just get rid of taxes altogether? Then our economy will be a coiled spring!
Bushnomics is more like drawing three cards to a two-flush.
Bushnomics is actually more like 3-card monte. "Go ahead, find the lady! Easy, easy, easy! Find the lady! Ooops! So close! Another tax break, my good man, and you'll find the lady for sure!"
Atrios;
You've hit the nail on the head with this...but one part of your analysis deserves amplification:
" However, a sudden negative shock to the economy -- oil price shock, terrorist attack, natural diaster, international unrest -- could be much more disastrous than normal because the fiscal and monetary policy gas pedals are both pushed down all the way"
Bush has put our economic security at grave risk with his policies. What kind of leadership is this? If the current state of the economy is due to 9/11, as he asserts, what would it look like after another terrorist attack, starting off from a much weaker position then it was on 9/10/01?
Reckless leadership.
Employment growth is slow. It will pick up when all the slackness from the 90's is taken in. That's all.
OK, jackass, I'm comin' to camp in your back yard when I start missing my mortgage payments.
You got about a year.
I think it's time to try trickle-up economic...Fuck this supply-side BS.
I think it's time to try trickle-up economic...Fuck this supply-side BS.
Given that 2/3 of our economy is supposedly fueled by consumer spending, I've advocated this for a long time. But I'm no economist--I just play one on TV.
I just got to work here a few minutes ago at my funky weekend job. I work two. I've been at this job for about 7 years now and I've never seen things this slow. (I'm supposed to get in one guy tonight that I know of and he just now got an emergency call from home. They had to take his wife to the hospital. I'll have to tell him once he gets here.)I've survived several layoffs. We now have department heads doing the work along with their skeleton crew. I haven't had a raise in three years. Although I deserve one for doing three times the work I used to do, how can I ask? We've been told for the last several years that prosperity is just around the corner.
That's bullshit.
"...the lowest interest rates in 45 yers."
So low that it is no longer helping, and is, in fact, copuled with the immense deficit, causing investors to flee from investing in dollar backed treasury instruments. I guess Capt. Bush and Lt. Greenspan were so busy avoiding the rocks on the port side, they didn't notice the iceberg floating in on the starboard.
I have a son that that is in desperate need of a bleeding- Can anyone recommend a good doctor?
BTW, He needs a haircut, too.
I see some are starting to get frisky. Must be the full-moon, again. Hang on folks, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
The problem isn't that taxes alone are responsible for the full state of of the economy in our country.
No, the problem is that Bushco likes to reduce his economic policies to the mantra that all tax cuts=good for the economy, raising taxes even only some=bad for the economy. Bushco and his minions (Mankiw did it yesterday on CNN) insist on using this simplistic argument today to people that if we endorse Kerry's economic policies that include some tax increases , that we will be even worse off. The sky will fall!
The facts and history as noted about increasing tax rates do not support Bushco's statement at all. If Bushco feels the need to bash Kerry on this simplistic tax fact alone, then Kerry needs to point to some facts about Bushco's false argument about tax increases. Clinton's economic and directed tax increase policies and resulting prosperity is just one example. Bushco tax cuts and resulting poor economic performance is another.
I thought the tax cuts were really about underfunding programs so they could be cut instead of spurring prosperity?
Can someone explain why it is that once a person gives up looking for a job that he/she is no longer considered unemployed? And how do they know who's given up? Like the wouldn't take work if it was there? I heard somewhere (NPR I think) that the employment rate (number of people of working age with jobs) was at the lowest level in 15 years.
Perhaps if someone had explained to the Little Prince that he needed to learn more from his 400-page economics textbook than a single sentence, "Tax cuts stimulate the economy.", we wouldn't be in this mess.
Why yes, I am insinuating that Bush is an idiot - why do you ask?
However, a sudden negative shock to the economy -- oil price shock, terrorist attack, natural disaster, international unrest -- could be much more disastrous than normal because the fiscal and monetary policy gas pedals are both pushed down all the way.
Believe me, infidels, I know this much.
Will there be another major terrorist attack here so Bush can blame everything on it? It's looking that way.
the lowest interest rates in 45 yers.
You moron. Low interest rates don't reflect a strong economy. They are, in fact, low to try to stimulate the economy. They may have helped, but the economy is hardly great.
And the GDP, while an overall measure of the output of our economy, doesn't speak to how the output has been created. The increased GDP was a result, to a large degree, of productivity gains. And one of the results of increased productivity without increased consumption is fewer jobs.
Nothing grows the economy quite like increased employment, which yields accelerated spending and increased payroll taxes, which, in turn, can help reduce the deficit to reasonable levels.
Most people experience the economy most personally in the job market. A strong GDP means little to the person who can't pay the rent, let alone buy a new (fill-in-the-blank).
"Can someone explain why it is that once a person gives up looking for a job that he/she is no longer considered unemployed? And how do they know who's given up?"
Well, if you are on unemployment for so long that your benefits run out - then you no longer show up as unemployed. Or, if you stop filing for benefits for some reason other than that you found a job, then you no longer count as an unemployed statistic. Thus, if a jobless recovery goes on long enough, the unemployment rate will never rise, it will plateau, even if thousands upon thousands of tose people remain unemployed. Also, for those just entering the job market, they have never earned unemployment benefits, so I don't believe they're counted either. So, it looks like this "discouraged worker" category needs far more attention.
Or, if you stop filing for benefits for some reason other than that you found a job, then you no longer count as an unemployed statistic.
Or if you didn't file in the first place...
The right wingers at the office where I work are always trying to blame all economic problems on the Dems. For example, when Kerry gets elected this November and the economy starts improving, they will say it took 1-4 more years for the effects of Bush's tax cuts to be felt. They are the kind of people that credited Clinton's booming economy on (ha ha) the Reagan years. Or they will credit it the congressional Republicans. Bring up four years and the recession of Bush Sr, and it's the congressional Democrats fault. This time, they have none of the excuses they love so much. They control the White House, House and Senate. Atrios is right, they have absolutely nothing to show for it.
How is it possible to have high unemployment while simultaneously running huge deficits AND a war??
Breathtaking.
The "strong" GDP is only strong because of that large outlier month of August. The third quarter spurt was due to the Democrats' insistence that their be some tax relief for working Americans. It was not part of Bush's original plan and Tom the Cockroach threatened to remove it.
The Republicans' favorite tax cuts did nothing for the economy, nothing for jobs and nothing for interest rates. Interest rates are artificially low because Greenspan wants to help the junta that robbed working Americans blind.
How is it possible to have high unemployment while simultaneously running huge deficits AND a war?
It's not. As Krugman puts it, it's like those old Road Runner cartoons when Wile E. Coyote runs off a cliff, then he looks down and holds up a "Help!" sign as he realizes he's going to fall.
Don't forget Osama bin Laden has been running around out there for three years with the greatest propaganda and recruiting tool he could have ever dreamed of: The Iraq war.
Invest in a M.A.T.T.R.E.S.S. account or a 410(k)offee(k)an account.
. . . unless you're a CEO, the economy is poor when there's no job growth-- by the only definition that counts: the people's
Abject, total, utter irresponsibility really is Bush's most prominent characteristic, no? It's like he thinks he's in a TV show: George, the Teenage President. 'Cept I don't know many teenagers whose reaction to millions of Americans out of work and completely on their uppers would be "La-di-da, let 'em go screw themselves for another four years or so--until 'all the slackness from the 90's is taken in.'"
The right wingers at the office where I work are always trying to blame all economic problems on the Dems.
Probably pearls before swine, but you might point out that Clinton's been out of office for more than three years now.
Mars S. R. just for the sake of argument tell me, how could another terra attack make Bush look good? This is one I do keep wondering about. It would AGAIN be happening on Bush's watch, and this time after all his claims to make us safer.
Back on topic re the economy: people do wake up and see the light when they are out of work or not doing as well as they were four years ago. Also most of us just had to subtract the pittance of a check we got mailed to us last summer while doing our taxes this year. Mistake, that.
"Or if you didn't file in the first place..."
True. A lot of people who are unemployed are not eligible for UI benefits, for a variety of reasons. They're counted as "layoffs" by the state, but after that, the state and federal government doesn't track their employment (or unemployment) status.
OT:
I'm surprised that Atrios hasn't posted this, but the RNC is looking to prevent MoveOn.org from airing their ads.
http://tinyurl.com/2dje2
Invest in a M.A.T.T.R.E.S.S. account or a 410(k)offee(k)an account.
This paper summarizes and evaluates the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act. Enacted in 2001, EGTRRA is the biggest tax cut in 20 years, and features income tax rate cuts, new targeted incentives and estate tax repeal. Our central conclusions are that EGTRRA will reduce the size of the future economy, raise interest rates, make taxes more regressive, increase tax complexity, and prove fiscally unsustainable.
PDF file
Even the experts hate America!
In October 1996, right before the election, the rate had fallen to 5.2%.
I have seen several references to the "Clinton recession" in letters to the editor and in political columns. The reference is just tossed off like it is a given. Anyone else see these and want to bite the writer?
Grotesque high-end tax cuts = perpetual prosperity!
Ahmed Chalabi = end of Israel/Palestinian problem! (And flower-lined Bagdad streets to boot!)
Chain public education to endless testing = every child gets ahead! (And without any extra fedral funding!)
Gutting environmental regulations at every turn = cheaper McMansion lifestyles! (Just don't breath too deeply, and keep drinking those $3 bottles of water we import from contries who don't shit where they eat . . . )
Mel Gibson base-thumping slasher flick = rapture right around the corner! (And without being burdened by any of that nasty "love thy neighbor" part of Christianity!)
Some historian is going to call ours "The Something for Nothing" era. The mass delusion is fast approaching a point of no return . . .
Pie, was that you who came up with the M.A.T.T.R.E.S.S. account? I've been telling everybody about it and it always gets a laugh...
That's weird -- I had a whole post there and it only printed one short sentence. I'll try again:
At the end of January 1993, right after the inauguration of Clinton, the official unemployment rate was set at 7.3%. In October 1996, right before the election, the rate had fallen to 5.2%.
Last night I heard Coulter say that the unemployment rate now is about the same as it was when Clinton was running for re-election -- as if not to worry. She forgot to mention that it had fallen from 7.3% over the previous three years -- a point obviously the wingnuts don't like to acknowledge as they prepare bush for his election (or if we're really unlucky, his re-selection).
Upthread on military spending. Missile defense is one program that should be carefully reviewed.
Some military spending is to be expected. But paying the big big bucks for hightech weaponry when basic needs like appropriate gloves, boots and body armor aren't provided to troops actually in combat zones is ridiculous and unnecessary.
A review of overseas bases is also in order. Rumsfeld wants to cut 25% of American bases. What aboutt hsoe overseas? They seem to be propagating like rabbits.
"I'm surprised that Atrios hasn't posted this, but the RNC is looking to prevent MoveOn.org from airing their ads."
Well, you know, that intimidation thing just works so well for the Rethugs, like the bussed in fake protesters in Florida in 2000 for instance, I just don't think it's fair to ask Ed Gillespie to learn new tricks this late in the game.
God bless you Adam 4-4-2 and your use of tiny url's.....http://tinyurl.com/2dje2
But hasn't anyone understood yet? Sleazy leftwingers are staying out of work deliberately so as to embarass Dear Leader - and that is why there can be no extension of unemployment benefits....
Oh, Chuy, it's my country, and I'll cry if I want to.
I actually do not believe that the media has genuinely internalized the concept of tax increases being bad. The Republican Party, however, has spent billions to convince VOTERS of this canard and what the media has done is internalize an interpretation of election results: voters reject tax hikes and candidates who propose them, so therefore TAXATION itself is indisputably unpopular.
The media is available for a counterargument to be made -- if you doubt that, the lesson of the Democratic primary season and its effect on Bush's ratings has been lost -- but Democrats/progressive have never figured out a way to communicate the VALUE of taxes: They serve a noble purpose to enable a society to take care of its own and protect itself.
What's interesting over the years is how consistently polls show that people abhor large deficits and don't mind if taxes remain where they are if they keep a budget balanced. Clinton won in 96 because people could make a connection between the current tax rates and the country's growing prosperity and progress towards wiping out debt.
But that was then; this is now. ``Taxes are bad'' is an easier case to make once the giveaway has taken place and makes it easier to flout a scare scenario, as The Regime is doing. Every month that goes by with no turnaround makes the Bush case tougher to make, but unfortunately for the Demos it's one they can still string out for a while longer because the Repubs have been so effective at selling the snake-oil in the first place. The Demos need to keep hammering the ``Two Americas'' theme until they build up enough political capital to make a case for a tax hike directed squarely at the rich.
Atrios,
Excellent job! If you can get this printed on a main stream newspaper as a guest writer, that would be just awesome.
Democrats/progressive have never figured out a way to communicate the VALUE of taxes: They serve a noble purpose to enable a society to take care of its own and protect itself.
I don't think people mind paying taxes -- as long as they see a return for their money. Democrats need to emphasize people will get a quality return for their tax money.
I think that Americans often don't realize how, bear with me for a second, efficient the bureaucracy is here. After spending years in Europe and dealing with the nightmarish postal service in a lot of countries over there, it simply amazes me that in the US you can drop a piece of paper in a box on the corner and for 32 cents, it will be delivered anywhere in the country within two days, 99.999% guaranteed. The same with the DMV. I know, I know, it's not the greatest but I can't think of another country where you can make a reservation online and be in and out within an hour if you follow the proper procedure.
I remember trying to get a simple visiting residency permit in Hungary. Took five months. I had to go to the police, the US consulate, the post office (?!), various housing agencies, sign a million forms, yell at people on the phone for hours on end. And it was "easy" because I had a friend in the Hungarian parliament who was pulling strings for me. I couldn't imagine how terrible it would have been if I didn't have Mr. Szabo helping me out.
Well, Old Hat, people have talked about putting money under the mattress. I just made it look more Wall Street official.
I have a NOW account. I get paid, I spend it. Now.
OT, but the WashPost has an interesting article on why health care costs make American workers uncompetitive:
For each mid-size car DaimlerChrysler AG builds at one of its U.S. plants, the company pays about $1,300 to cover employee health care costs -- more than twice the cost of the sheet metal in the vehicle. When it builds an identical car across the border in Canada, the health care cost is negligible.
Actually, national health care might make higher taxes more acceptable, but that's a hard argument to make for now.
my retirement plan is to be dead by being too evil.
but how about social security vanishing?
after ronnie made us pay extra each week for that bigger pie?
and don't forget, o'neill in his book mentions how he agrees with chimpy that corporations shouldn't have to pay taxes at all.
there's a reason to vote for him.
not.
Simple logic throws the wingnut argument into the trash heap:
1) The less taxes that are imposed on the citizens, the better the economy performs.
2) Eliminate all taxes, and the economy will reach its peak performance.
3) ?
I don't have the answer for (3), but maybe some wingnut would like to fill in the blank space.
Mars S. R. just for the sake of argument tell me, how could another terra attack make Bush look good? This is one I do keep wondering about. It would AGAIN be happening on Bush's watch, and this time after all his claims to make us safer.
It depends on whether the Bush administration believes that another terrorist attack hurts or helps their re-election chances. They've already told us that another one is inevitable. Tom Ridge is on the radio telling us to "prepare for a terrorist attack." They've never guaranteed they could prevent another one. So how could it hurt them if it happens again? And if begins to look like their chances are about to tank because the economy is going to tank anyway, I certainly wouldn't put it past them.
I don't know what happened leading up to 911, but enough is known that they definitely have something to hide.
Actually, national health care might make higher taxes more acceptable, but that's a hard argument to make for now.
B-b-but that means Bush's friends at the HMOs, pharmacutical companies and for-profit hospitals wouldn't be able to make obscene wads of cash off of illness, death and human suffering!
Clearly, we're being purposefully kept in the dark about much of it.
Two questions:
1) How much does bad fiscal policy lead to smart money fleeing the country?
2) How long can low interest rates and a weak dollar coexist?
re-selection
3. The benign, idealistic leaders of the altruistic corporations will produce goods that are safe, don't harm the environment, and result in only positive benefits to mankind. All profits will be reinvested in workers and new technologies, and all shareholders will concur with these activities.
Then again, maybe not.
A little tip for those soon to be out of work: You can get all the essential amino acids of a balanced diet from a bowl of red beans and rice for about .15 a serving if you prepare them yourselves.
You would think that 25 years of tax cuts and the results would make a tiny dent in the conventional wisdom.
The binary arguement, taxes slow growth/tax cuts increase growth, or the obverse, are probably too simplistic to be a primary determinant of economic growth in any case. The sad part is there is no way to even be an agnostic on this whole thing.
The approximate 30 years of stellar real, prolonged and unprecedented American economic growth as measured by risng income and assets that was broadly shared, from the early 40's to 73 have now been equaled by 30 years of lower growth and rising inequality.
It is now at the point where the WWII and post war experience should be seen not as the standard but as an anomoly.
Not a necessary anomoly necessarily, unless one accepts that government inevitably works to reward and favor a small minority. Something we don't have to like but might have to accept as a fact of human organization.
Mars Spirit:
On the same theme.
People can talk until they're blue in the face about the unemployment rate and won't be able to convince me that its relevant.
I'm an IT consultant and I've seen my revenues drop dramatically over the past three years. Meanwhile my health insurance premiums have gone up over 80 per cent. Sure, I'm employed but my quality of life has dropped precipitously and my prospects have dimished dramatically. Each time I get a new contract the rates are lower and when I look into full-time employemnt the salaries are also lower. Meanwhile, my industry is being shipped, wholesale, overseas and the administration's economic advisors are telling me this is a good thing. What good is a miniscule unemployment rate when everyone is employed manufacturing special sauce ?
-rc-
any democrat would have been toast long ago with just one of Bush's many startling f**kups. The media has been the great enabler of the repukelican onslaught against the average American. Lets hope the internet burns down all their houses.
So basically Clinton brought unemployment down, taxes on the wealthy up, to try and undo Reagan Voodoo economics. Big John should make a point of how it is time in the cycle to replace the "small government" Repubs so the economy can recover, again. I have a small retail store and when I can comfortably speak politically to unknown customers, I like to get a feel how they are thinking. One day I was talking to a 60ish lady and opined that those people who are lucky enough to make 300k or more a year should be happy to pay a little more in taxes especially in tough economic times. The look of hate this lady gave me as she almost screamed "I pay enough money in taxes, I sure don't want any more welfare queens getting more of my money!" I was quite taken aback, and thanked her for her $8.00 purchase. Damn.
Boronx, as far as I know, smart money won't flee the country unless the dollar (or the stock market) really tanks. This isn't happening yet. China, Japan and Europe are furiously propping up the dollar, presumably to keep their own exports competitive.
I've been tracking the Euro obsessively, and lately it's been running flat against the dollar or slightly down. We don't have a weak dollar yet.
If it does start dropping substantially, treasury notes won't be saleable unless interest rates go up commensurately.
"We've been through a recession, we've been through an attack, we've been through corporate scandals, we've been through war, and yet our economy is getting stronger," Bush told reporters.
His fault. His fault. His fault. His fault. A blatant lie.
Does the man not have a lick of sense??????????????
(PS -- ask my 11-yo sometime how you know Smirk is lying to the American people and he will tell you, "Because he's alive.")
A little tip for those soon to be out of work: You can get all the essential amino acids of a balanced diet from a bowl of red beans and rice for about .15 a serving if you prepare them yourselves.
Mars Spirit Rover | Email | Homepage | 03.06.04 - 10:42 pm |
Add another few pennies worth of spices or meat or maybe okra (ummm)
and it's really delicious too! Not that it's bad plain.
Excellent post Mr. Atrios! Too much common sense to attract wingers though
If it does start dropping substantially, treasury notes won't be saleable unless interest rates go up commensurately.
bad Jim, I don't know too much about economics but let me see if I follow you.
The dollar is being bought up by China, Europe and Japan to keep their exports to the US cheap. If they stop buying the dollar or run out of money to do so, the dollar plummets (but isn't this good for US exports?). With a weak dollar, no one wants to buy T-bills because if there's low 4% interest, and it's low 4% interest in funny money so it's a bad return. So the Fed jacks up interest rates and the return becomes better, so people want to buy T-bills again.
But how does a higher interest rate hurt the economy?
Could someone explain how inflation and deflation work? I've been hearing a lot about deflation. Should I stuff my money in a coffee can?
I believe this to be the letter mentioned in the WaPo article above:
Joint Letter from Ford, GM, and Chrysler
Here's an interesting excerpt:
For both employers and workers in the auto industry, it is vitally important that the publicly funded health care system be preserved and renewed, on the existing principles of universality, accessibility, portability, comprehensiveness, and public administration. The system needs a secure multi-year funding base from government, and must be expanded to cover an updated range of services (including prescription drugs and home care services) that reflects both the evolving nature of medical science and the emerging needs of our population.
Now, from the WaPo article:
But while the Big Three automakers told Canadians that their nationalized health insurance system helped preserve jobs, and lobbied the Canadian government last year to maintain the program, their corporate executives are not willing to go that far when it comes to health care in the United States.
Business trade groups here advocate small steps, such as helping workers care for themselves better, urging them to stop smoking and lose weight, and shifting costs to employees. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for example, backs such proposals as tort reform, electronic prescription writing and providing better information on the quality of care by doctors and hospitals.
Add another few pennies worth of spices or meat or maybe okra (ummm)
and it's really delicious too! Not that it's bad plain.
That's right. And go ahead and splurge on a box of saltines crackers. Treat yourself.
Democrats/progressive have never figured out a way to communicate the VALUE of taxes: They serve a noble purpose to enable a society to take care of its own and protect itself.
This case used to be made frequently. I'm an old movie buff, so I have Turner Classic Movies on all the time.
They ran a short pitching Defense Bonds, and it went into detail about where the money would be spent: painting a barn in Oklahoma, cleaning up wildnerness lands in Montana. They stressed that maintaining what we were defending was as important as defense itself.
I think our culture has lost that "we're all in it together" feeling, or it's at least been ignored by a lot of cynics. But it's still out there.
I live in East Nashville, which was devastated by tornadoes a few years ago. The people of this city were incredible. One weekend, the city bused people into the neighborhood to help with cleanup, and thousands of people came from all over the area. Construction companies from Hickman County brought in dump trucks and front loaders.
Slap my ass and call me Pollyanna, but I think people are kind and generous by default, and all this anti-tax, anti-gummint, anti-welfare sentiment is stirred up by a lot of cynical assholes. The assholes have done an impressive job, but it wouldn't be too hard to undercut them if we wanted to.
I see that no wingnut has filled in the blank space, so I have to assume that even they recognize that some taxes are necessary in order to conduct the business of the country.
The question is, how much should the tax burden be. Do they think that Democrats, or liberals, or progressives, liketo pay taxes? Wingnuts can't get it through their heads that some people are willing to sacrifice a little to help those who are born behind the 8-ball. The funny part of it is that the greedy motherfuckers who want to play the I've-got-mine-fuck-you-game would sure as hell come out on the losing end.
I'd buy a mattress
To hide my money in
If I had any money.
#100
WHOO whooooo!
maybe if the tax cuts had gone to the lower half of america istead of the top, it may have boosted the economy.
This is off topic, but I figure this story will be of interest, from yahoo news via the Chicago Tribune:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/
news...afterambassador
Transcript: Bush staff went after ambassador
Sat Mar 6, 9:40 AM ET
By Tom Brune Tribune Newspapers: Newsday
A transcript subpoenaed in the CIA (news - web sites) leak investigation reveals the White House press operation began trying to discredit former Ambassador Joseph Wilson IV days before a columnist blew the cover of his CIA-officer wife.
A federal grand jury served three subpoenas on the White House in January for Air Force One telephone records and a transcript of a news briefing during the presidential trip to Africa the week before Robert Novak's July 14 column identifying CIA officer Valerie Plame.
The grand jury also subpoenaed White House records of staff contacts with more than two dozen reporters who wrote or broadcast about administration concerns over Plame, Wilson and his CIA report that rejected rumors that Iraq (news - web sites) tried to buy uranium in Niger.
The White House confirmed it had received subpoenas.
The efforts to discredit Wilson came after he went public July 6 with criticism of President Bush (news - web sites) for mentioning the uranium rumor in his State of the Union address in January 2003. The information was part of the administration's case for the Iraq war.
In the subpoenaed July 12 transcript of a briefing in Nigeria, then-press secretary Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) called Wilson a "lower-level official" and said Wilson had made flawed and incomplete statements. Fleischer did not return calls seeking comment Friday.
Many of the journalists listed in a subpoena have reported various attempts by the Bush administration last year to discredit Wilson. For example, Time magazine reported three days after Novak's column that administration officials had described Plame's relationship to Wilson and suggested she had gotten him the Niger mission.
Re: Job Numbers
2 years ago, I was laid off. Technically, I wasn't really "laid-off," since I was a consultant, with a five-year contract well into the six figures that was not renewed after the company downsized from 2400 to less than 300 employees. They lost most of their market share to Wal-Mart's private-label merchandise.
I just got back from a dinner party. Joe sat to my right. He's an accountant and systems analyst. Like me, he has worked on contract (a 1099 subcontractor) for various Fortune 500 clients for the last decade, but has seen no steady employment for the last few years.
Andrew sat to my left. He was a VP for a large trucking company. He's been out of work (after a "reorganization) for the last year-and-a-half. He did receive 6 months severance, which means he is ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits.
None of is eligible for unemployment benefits, so none of us has file, and therefore none of us are counted in the unemployment numbers. And there are tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of us.
And we're pissed.
Richard,
That's pretty much par for the course with this crew.
For me, what is REALLY damming about the whole thing is this:
They tried to DISCREDIT Wilson.
Why?
If he was wrong, say so. If you KNOW he was wrong, call his ass up, or, better yet, call his ass into the Oval Office, and have a little sit down where you can politely tell him where he is off-base with his claims.
They appear to have done none of these things.
They appear to have immediately launched an effort to discredit him, even to the extent of ruining his wife's career as a means to cast doubt on his testimony.
Why? If it could have been settled with a phone call? If the President could have gotten on the phone to Wilson and said "Look, Joe, we've got damned good intelligence that shows he was buying this stuff from Africa, and we stand by it 100 percent. Come by tomorrow and I'll show it to you myself."
End of story.
But, of course, they did none of these things. They immediately tried to impeach his testimony.
You don't do shit like that when you're in the right, you do shit like that when you're in the wrong. You do shit like that when you're a bunch of low-life sons of bitches who have not the slightest hesitation about attacking a man's family in order to get to the man.
If Bush was a real man, he'd have called Joe Wilson on the carpet himself. But he allowed his cronies to attack the man's wife. Then he covered for them for four solid months, until it broke in the press.
What sort of leader puts up with that shit from his underlings? A weak, ineffectual, out of touch, and suborned leader, that's who.
Who covers for his staff, when they've clearly done a serious crime against the nation? A craven coward, more worried about his own hide than the good of the nation.
That's the way the Monkey sees it, anyway.
Bush could have solved this from the moment Wilson spoke out with a single phone call. That he didn't, and allowed it to get this far, is enough in my book to impeach him.
Atrios? I got nothing to say. That was the best post I have read in a while. Salut
Many might think I'm joking but I'm really not. I decided in December 02 leading up to the Iraqi War when I realized that our government didn't feel even a passing responsiblity to the people that I needed to begin planning which I've done. I cleared out all my debt during that time up until Feb. and now I have no more debt. In case Bush gets another 4 years we are all sunk. I like to plan for any eventuality so everything I make from this job and most of what I make at my other job is saved. This job is a multi-national corporation. Their headquarters are in Montreal, Canada. As part of their company policy, I can transfer to any job opening which I'm qualified for anywhere there or in the US. So I hope to escape the US and what's happening if things go badly in Nov. If I can't get out, I'll have about $30,000 by the end of summer living off beans and rice if need be and can disappear. I have a number of places picked out which I wont list here where nobody knows me in remote areas that I can work at in the underground economy. I'm not a hunker in the bunker type although I'm armed to the teeth.
Everybody should start planning. The America we've always known isn't set in stone. You don't have to be gay to be worried. An unrestrained Bush for another 4 years (I don't think the country will survive 2 years of it.) and everyone is in unimaginable danger.
"I have seen several references to the "Clinton recession" in letters to the editor and in political columns. The reference is just tossed off like it is a given. Anyone else see these and want to bite the writer?"
Sigh. Again. The other side has the organization and the will. On Bartcop forum many moons ago, I remember someone mentioning- "Why don't we call the boom days of the 90's the "Clinton Years?" An easy turn of phrase. Easily adopted. Did we? No.
Dear Lord, how come we're on the right side, but so fucking lame?
The thing I love about this thread is the way the wingers ran away in the face of a few facts.
Will they remember? Will they go back to some fellow nitwit and say, "Hey, I thought you said low interest rates meant the economy was doing well"? Or will they just forget all about it, change the subject and throw a few extra ad hominems around when they get up the nerve to come back?
Of course, this is only a rhetorical question.
Sometimes I feel like Linda Hamilton's character, Sarah Connor, in Terminator 2 when she knows what's coming at the end of the movie.
hamletta,
I came through Nashville just after those tornados hit. My brother and I were on our way up to see RiverStage. The place was a mess, and I gotta admit...being a lifelong country music fan, it broke my heart to see it. Two months later, I came up again to see Todd Snider and The Bottle Rockets. The work done was incredible, and the fact it was done by volunteers was even more incredible.
We have lost that sort of spirit in this country. I'll admit up front, I'm not one to wave the flag and I'm best described as "anti-social", and that's my friends saying that. Still, we don't see each other as fellows anymore (if, of course, we ever did). Racial tension, I believe, is more prevelent, and obviously the gap between heteros and homos is wide indeed. The partisan squabbles are more viscious that ever, getting ugly like only college football rivalries can get ugly. The concept of Corporate America has taken us back to almost the '20s as far as out-and-out class war goes.
And frankly, Americans are greedy and selfish as a whole. Sure, there are a multitude of examples to the contrary, but in total, we look out for number one and that's it. It's the "I've got mine" mentality, and far too many wingers cite the "bootstrap pioneer days" as an excuse. Well, friends and neighbors, it never worked that way. Communities existed and thrived as groups of individuals working not neccessarily together, but with the thought in mind that one does affects the other. This is a holistic universe, both as a question of physics and as a question of sociology.
America as a whole is the same way; it's just a question of whether it can continue to work on such a huge scale. I'm beginning to have doubts, personally.
Paris Hilton: What's a Wal-Mart?
FULL YEAR 2003 WORLDWIDE SALES REACH $2 BILLION;
New York, February 25, 2004 -
Net earnings in the fourth quarter rose 24% to $110,476,000, or 74 cents per diluted share, versus $89,287,000, or 60 cents per diluted share, in the prior year.
...
Michael J. Kowalski, chairman and chief executive officer, said, "We are pleased and encouraged to be concluding 2003 on a healthy note in most areas of our business.
Tiffany Jazz™ drop earrings, for pierced ears. Cultured South Sea pearls, 10-10.5mm; round brilliant and baguette diamonds, carat total weight 1.82, color grade G, clarity grade VS; platinum.
$12,600
You know what a wal-mart is don't ya.
Oh and,
I bet cheney would look great in those earings.
So glad to see a fellow Todd Snider fan here. I go see him every time he comes here - which used to be fairly often. Now that he's relocated from Memphis, he doesn't come through these parts very often.
And Brautigan, I feel your pain. I've been through the same thing in the last couple of years but thankfully landed a good contract last fall. No thanks to BushCo economic policy. And I'm still pissed.
Old Hat -- High interest rates hurt the economy in a number of ways. First of all, lets talk real estate. Real estate is valued in terms of monthly payments. People don't shop for price, they shop for payments. A higher interest rate means more money for interest, less for principal, which means a lower sales price. Ergo, your property value declines.
Another way high interest rates hurt is by making it more expensive for business to borrow money. Lets say you are an excavation contractor. You win a bid for a big job, but you need some extra equipment to make it on time. You have to pay more for the money, which means less profit on that new job.
High interest rates also reflect high inflation. In fact, you can just assume that the T-Bill rate is the risk-free return plus the risk of inflation. High inflation makes life difficult for everyone, but especially for those on fixed incomes.
Of course, if you are wealthy, it doesn't really matter.
It's never about the oil:
US oil chiefs expected in Libya
US oil workers left in 1986
The prospect of US oil firms making a quick return to Libya has risen after officials said company representatives are expected in Tripoli this month.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/busin...ess/
3517207.stm
Shocking:
Win One for the Flipper
By Marjorie Williams
Sunday, March 7, 2004; Page B07
I've been trying, really I have. As a charter member of the ABB Society -- Anybody But Bush -- I've tried not to fret over the alarmingly tautological nature of John Kerry's victory. He was inevitable because voters picked him to win because he had won over earlier voters and therefore must be a winner. I've tried not to worry over the fact that he has all the social bonhomie of one of Edith Wharton's ambivalent society stiffs. We know that some crucial part of the presidential electorate votes on impressions of likability, but I've assured myself that between now and November Kerry will warm up.
And I've labored to turn my eyes from his career-long opportunism, the knowledge that Bay State political junkies trade their favorite Kerry flip-flops like baseball cards. Bush is already having fun with Kerry's zigzags of the past three years alone: Kerry voted for so many of Bush's major initiatives that in order to disown them now he can only argue that they were wrongly or dishonestly "implemented." This amounts to a confession that his opponent made a chump of him for the past three years. In fact, one might argue that Kerry is a poster boy for all the ways in which congressional Democrats have allowed themselves to be rolled by the Bush administration. But this is something I am trying hard not to notice about him.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/articles/A37038-2004Mar6.html
Shorter Marjorie Williams:
I've been --
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
"That's right. And go ahead and splurge on a box of saltines crackers. Treat yourself."
Mars Spirit Rover
Why would I ruin a wonderful bowl of red beans and rice (which I truly love, and yes, it does supply all your protein) with Saltines? My Safeway bakery does a really good French or sourdough baguette (sp) for a little over a buck. Hot and fresh. I'm not a vegetarian, but I could be, and love it. I would never mock red beans and rice. And I looove Okra.
Can't stand Oprah.
We're still eatin' on the beans we grew, dried and packed last year, and it's time to plant again.
The eggs from our 5 chickens are the best I've ever had, too.
Cheap food is sacred to me.
And my tax cut was a joke. As my state (Wa.) and local (Kitsap) county lose federal dollars, property taxes go up correspondingly.
Just don't snitch about the chickens- they're illegal in town.
Ever had custard made with fresh eggs from bug-eatin' hens? So, so good!
Makes me wonder if store eggs are real.
When Marjorie Williams claims she is "a charter member of the ABB Society," she fails to mention she is a blonde, blue-eyed cheerleader who never thought she'd be writing to Forum.
I suggest everyone begin reading up on the Great Depression. Or, should I say, the First Great Depression. There is more than superficial similarities to the state the country is in now with Bush and the state it was in just before the Depression. I'm not just talking about Herber Hoover and lost jobs. Things may be about to get worse. The rising cost of fuel is going to deliver a big blow to the economy, mostly wiping out any benefits from the pittance of a tax cut that some of us got.
It's not that difficult to see - the concentration of capital in the hands of a relatively few individuals coupled with decreasing loss of purchasing power in the working class - guess what that leads to?
Hoover should have seen it coming. Back in the days when State of the Union speeches were not yet about steroids and gay marriage, Theodore Roosevelt said in the 1906 SOTU:
The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the State because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government.
Jennifer,
Todd's definately a favorite in this household. He was the last show I saw in Memphis, before I left that area for Florida. Just after his first record came out, at the old Antenna Club, with Son Of Slam. Man, I loved that town.
As for the economy, I've long held that a good measuring stick is the service industry. For all but the high-class joints, revenue is way, WAY down. And, being a member of the particular elite that serves greasy burgers and milkshakes, I can readily tell you we're not doing as well as we did before Bush The Lesser took office. People don't come for lunch as much, and even our regulars don't come in as often. They simply can't afford it.
Course, on my end, it's even worse. I haven't made money as a freelance writer for quite a while - mainly by my own design - but even so, when I was writing regularly last, it was tough to sell a story to anyone. And, dammit, rock & roll just doesn't pay anymore...
The point I always make to drive home the issue is that for almost 11 years tax cuts innacted by Reagan failed and failed miserably. Showing no signs of improving the economy and only furthering the notion that "..trickle down economics usually equates to being pissed on.."
But Bush senior, whom many in the republican party claim was done in by what he did next, raised taxes.
It was then that the economy began to improve.
Of course the continued growth that escalated during the Clenis years was attributed entirely by Rush and Robertson, to the Reagan tax cuts.
Nevermind that according to that same logic, the Bush tax increase should have hurt the economy but never did, Clenis' later tax hikes showed, as Atrios points out, that it helped rather than hurt.
But the point I want to make is:
Eleven years of tax cuts did nothing. At least nothing spectacular. And for people like Rush and others to claim that Clinton's success was due to tax cuts enacted over a decade before, it is illogical for them to claim that the current economic slump is due to Clinton.
Personally, I think it didn't help either way. For all the upper bracket tax increases Clinton devised and equal number of new tax loopholes popped up like dandelions for the rich to get even more back.
I think the prosperity was brought on entirely by 8 years of peace, the boom in the personal computer market, business software improvements, and the internet.
MYOB'
.
Bush is the one that is zigzaging the issues. Read the article on this site about Bush zigzaging the issues more then Kerry can dream of.
www.witnessreport.com
Marjorie gets worse as she goes along.
I don't know why I bother asking any but why did the editor think that was worth running? What did he/she read that said: print me.
Last week a big Boston news station was running a poll to ask peoples opinion about a proposal for corporations in New Hampster to be able to buy the rights to name schools ("Ronald McDonald Grade School" etc. )..
Most people complained that it was in poor taste, but if it got funding for schools, then we would have to live with it.
What no one asked or pointed out was why in hell do the corporations now have so much money that they can finance public education out of their own pockets (as advertizing expenses) while town and state governments don't have enough money to do the same thing anymore??? The answer is if you have a society where the taxes are so low that the public sector cannot govern (public education is required by law) but the private sector can govern (indirectly by privately financing schools, police, highways etc) you are living in a state of corporate facsism. And that is the point we have arrived at here in the USA in 2004. Plain and simple.
We all know how and why the US was formed. But, during the depression, the underprivileged were beginning to wonder why they were sucking on the hind end of the tit. Some people say that FDR (against Republican opposition) put Social Security in place to prevent a possible revolution. I wasn't there, so I don't know. I do know that Republicans seem to delight in pissing on the less fortunate. History is replete with examples of the "ruling class" pushing it just a little too far. When you insist on having it all, sometimes the "all" you end up with is you sitting alone on the balls of your ass.
SteveO,
Starve the beast.
Shrink government to the point where it can't regulate business or provide social programs.
They are going to run up deficits so big that the only thing left to do is completely empty social security.
And what'll you get? Another day older and deeper in debt.
The eggs from our 5 chickens are the best I've ever had, too.
Cheap food is sacred to me.
Yeah, cheap food is sacred to me, too. I love the fact I can eat nutriously for less the $20 a week. Oh, and you probably already know this, but know how to keep your hens laying even without a rooster around? On one of the eggs mark it with a marker and leave it in the nest. All the hens will instinctually keep laying other eggs around it even though the eggs aren't fertilized. If I'm forced to go on the run in a rural area, I plan to get a few, also.
Kerry continues to hammer on Bush in Sunday's NYT, this time on Haiti.
An issue a day. How long before Bush melts down?
Forgot to mention to collect only the eggs that don't have the mark on it. After about a month, throw the marked egg away and mark another fresh one.
Here's another point of view:
A Class War Marks The Start Of A Civilization's Decline
by Arnold Toynbee
from his A Study Of History—Part V The Disintegration Of Civilizations
Extract from Chapter 27 The nature and symptoms of social disintegration
On the other hand, the horizontal schism of a society along lines of class is not only peculiar to civilizations, but it is also a phenomenon which first appears at the moment of breakdown, and which is a distinctive mark of the phases of breakdown and disintegration, by contrast with its absence during the phase of growth.
On the other hand, the horizontal schism of a society along lines of class is not only peculiar to civilizations, but it is also a phenomenon which first appears at the moment of breakdown, and which is a distinctive mark of the phases of breakdown and disintegration, by contrast with its absence during the phase of growth.
Yeah, well, try explaining that to a winger.
Try explaining that to a bible-banging fundamentalist.
Incredible:
RNC tells TV stations not to run anti-Bush ads
GOP committee says MoveOn.org's spots are illegally financed.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Republican National Committee is warning television stations across the country not to run ads from the MoveOn.org Voter Fund that criticize President Bush, charging that the left-leaning political group is paying for them with money raised in violation of the new campaign-finance law.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/
03/07/moveon.ads/index.html
stranger,
Kerry is good. Really good.
And Mooser, you know those chicken of yours will eat any leftovers of red beans and rice? Seriously, they're ommivores and will east any leftovers like a dog. You really should give them more to eat than just having them forage on their own for bugs.
Check out Art Bell on AM radio in your area. He's broadcast coast to coast. He'll be discussing with a guest who's an expert on Global Warming, the coming Ice Age and its effects after the top of the hour.....
Dear Rover,
Everybody seems to think that hens need a rooster to lay eggs! We've never had a rooster, and they lay almost every day. I don't want to disillusion any roosters out there, but roosters are only needed to fertilise the eggs. The hens can do all the laying on their own.
And they do. A rooster would be too noisy for us to keep, and we'd get busted. Local ordinances say verboten!
Ya want to have 5 viscious pit bulls? That's Hokay! But 4 hens are illegal! Go figure.
You rock Mooser. Like I wrote earlier, if I have to move to a rural area before cities become targets for widespread use of nuclear weapons because of Bush, I'll get a few, too. Which would be cool with me. The eggs are so much better than those you buy in the supermarket.
Rover, going into savings mode is a good, wise, prudent thing, especially when your employment situation is difficult. It's essentially impossible for the average guy who's married with kids.
Survivalism isn't what you need to be thinking about. If you don't have a passport, get one, look for a suitable opportunity (watch airfares and your vacation options) and get out of the country for a change.
If you're friendly, you'll find that foreigners like you, even though you're American. It wouldn't hurt to learn a little of the language in the target country before you go.
Just do it. Spend $2-3000. Money well spent. Of course, if you've already been abroad, ignore the obvious pun.
Rover- We feed them "mix" and "scratch", cracked corn, leftovers, and they wander the yard eating bugs and such. All fat and glossy. They have a neat little house(w/screened patio area), and my crazy dog (Shirley) looks after them. They live a happy life,and we won't eat them. They're really pets which give us eggs.
You could say their eggs are taxes, and they get excellent services in return. We should be so lucky.
I lived in a house in Oakland that had a rooster. They don't just crow at daybreak, or at least not the one we had. It would sit in a tree and crow hourly from about 2:15 onwards.
Unsurprisingly, the neighbors demanded its head.
Hate to [sound] like Martha Stewart and her hens but get them some shale. You live on the Westcoast, just gather up some seashells on the beach and crush them and throw them to your hens. They need the minerals for their egg shells and make sure they have some small pebbles they can swallow to crush their food.
The minerals in the shells will also come out in the eggs when you eat them and give you those essential minerals as well.
Man, I wish I could do that.
Hens are also great to keep bugs like slugs out of your garden.
The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the State because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government.
That's an amazing quote, with which I am in complete agreeance. I've never heard the idea before, but I thought of it just a couple of years ago, and I thought I was onto something new! Why is this idea never expressed?
Sr. Rover,
No hagas las cuentas de la lechera.
Mars,
You should also brew your own beer instead of drinking that Budweiser shit.
That's an amazing quote, with which I am in complete agreeance. I've never heard the idea before, but I thought of it just a couple of years ago, and I thought I was onto something new! Why is this idea never expressed?
Magnum
Yeah, the rich benefit more from a stable society which government provides than any class. It takes a stable business environment to create their wealth. They do have a special obligation that's why we once had a graduated income tax. But over the last 4 decades, the republicans have widdled that away to nothing now under Bush and Norquist.
The paranoid streak is as prevalent among us as it is on the other side. We're as worried about what is to come as they are, as demonstrated by our frequent evocation of escaping to Canada or elsewhere.
The advent of a fascist state in America is somewhat more likely than the subjugation of the U.S. to the U.N., so we're arguably being more rational than they are, but the thought processes are remarkably similar. We're somewhat advantaged by realizing that we could be among fellow-thinkers by emigrating. We're further advantaged by reflecting that the rest of the world seems to be accomodating our desires more rapidly than our own country -- in other words, that history is on our side.
Perhaps we should be more tolerant of those of our neighbors who are threatened by modernity, by the secularism of the common polity, by the media. They can't just move to New Zealand to find a more congenial commonwealth.
Mars,
You should also brew your own beer instead of drinking that Budweiser shit.
Magnum
I did at one time with special hops blends and such. Still have all the sterilizing equipment and strainers and all. Used to make pear wine, among others, too. But I don't have the time I used to have. But if I ever need to again, I can.
Making your own gallon brew takes all day and it's tricky because everything has to be sterilized or ambient bacteria gets in and makes it taste like chit. It's easier to just pick up a 12-pack of Bud which is always on sale locally.
Totally OT
I think Maureen Dowd [HEART] John Kerry.
Read her op-ed today (yow)
I think Maureen needs to get a room.
Sr. Rover,
No te lo juegues todo a una carta.
You can use pre-boiled kits instead of doing all the grinding and boiling yourself, and it takes no time at all. The big hassle is sterilising and filling the bottles when bottling time comes. But you use a keg you don't even have to bother with that.
The only problem is that you tend to drink more beer (that's a problem?)
Another OT:
Let the Martha Stewart verdict serve as a stern warning to Ken Lay not to do it again! Malfeasant corporate America, you have been sternly warned!
Rover- Yup, they get oyster shells too. Believe you me, they are some coddled chickens. (and you thought only eggs could be coddled)
Their demned house is heated!
They are so flocking contented, except for one Bardrock (sp?) who tries to sleep in the branches of a tree every night. I have to go up a ladder and put her in the house almost every night, a foul experience on a rainy evening. Sort of taxing, too.
My wife is telling me to stop yolking and come to bed. So I've got to fly the coop. 'Night
Wasn't Teddy Roosevelt a member of the old Dutch aristocracy? What made him stand up to the corporations on behalf of the little guy? Why can't we get someone like that today?
As for food and drink...
getting involved in doing your own is well and good (well, better than just good) but for many of us it's mostly just avoiding the industrial shit.
There are other people making good things. Perhaps the French overly fetishize fresh bread. It smells and tastes pretty good, though. Likewise nearly any small batch of stuff produced by artisans.
Slow food (wave snail flag here) is something we can all get behind.
You would have to drink more if you stored it in a keg, wouldn't you? With the bottles you can store it in the fridge for as long as you want airtight.
Part of the problem is democratic party rhetoric. Clinton said to campaign on the democratic economic boom of the 90s, but Gore stayed away from it-- and I don't hear it from Kerry, nor did I hear it from any of the others like Edwards or Dean or Clark. What I'd give to hear Kerry talk about how "Clinton raised taxes on people who made over 200,000 a year and the economy boomed, and Bush doled out monstrous tax cuts to the same crowd and the economy tanked."
Kucinich did advocate a single-payer health plan, and if he was attacked for it, I missed it. That's nearly the weakest possible argument against advocating the point that I can think of, considering how marginal his candidacy has been, but there's a sizeable chunk of the populace who look at health care bills, look at the trends, look around at other countries, realize that we've got to wind up there sooner or later, and wonder how we're going to get there.
It's probably more saleable than gay marriage.
MYOB: I think the prosperity was brought on entirely by 8 years of peace, the boom in the personal computer market, business software improvements, and the internet.
That's mostly right, I think.
I just read that bit on the CNN website about the RNC warning TV channels not to run the MoveOn ads.
Stupid Nazi Fucks.
China pulling its head halfway out of its ass probably didn't hurt, either.
"bad Jim, I don't know too much about economics but let me see if I follow you.
The dollar is being bought up by China, Europe and Japan to keep their exports to the US cheap. If they stop buying the dollar or run out of money to do so, the dollar plummets (but isn't this good for US exports?). With a weak dollar, no one wants to buy T-bills because if there's low 4% interest, and it's low 4% interest in funny money so it's a bad return. So the Fed jacks up interest rates and the return becomes better, so people want to buy T-bills again.
But how does a higher interest rate hurt the economy?"
The short version: A massive collapse in the value of the U.S. dollar would be a massive blow to a country with an economy primarily driven by credit fueled demand rather than exporting, it would also create instant inflation on imported goods to a large extent, thus triggering a recession. Of course, once the Fed has to massively jack up interest rates to keep getting any money, that will complete the destruction of the U.S. economy by slaughtering housing spending, automobile spending, big ticket consumer items in general, and business investment in new projects and equipment.
It would be exactly like an IMF ass kicking to re-balance imports and exports because a 500 billion dollar a year trade deficit is NOT indefinitely sustainable.
Atrios' post and many of the comments here are great, but let's get one thing straight: the Repubs are great at economics. George Bush has singlehandedly given rich people trillions of dollars in windfall profits. Screw the stock market -- the best investment a wealthy person can possibly make is a rent-seeking investment in a Republican president. Can Bill Gates deliver trillions of dollars? Nope.
Bush is an economic genius. When Reagan pulled the wool over people's eyes in the 1980's with the mythology of supply-side economics, that was a masterful of economic fraud.
But Bush has taken it to a new level. Bush pulled off the same swindle -- even though people had already fallen for the same trick just a decade or so earlier.
Now THAT's incredible. Its like someone sells you the Brooklyn Bridge, you find out you got taken and hire Clinton to make things right but then, incredibly, buy the Brooklyn Bridge again when the next Pied Piper walks into town.
Republicans are grifters and thieves.
the above should read "...masterful ACT of economic fraud"
Magnum,
I only made about 4 gallons at a time at the most. Jeez, an entire keg of good homemade beer and nobody would see me for a month. But with that much, drinking it by yourself, how do you finish it off without it going bad? I was using 5 gallon buckets to brew mine in and storing it in sterilized bottles. But anyway, I don't even drink Bud anymore. Saving every penny until I see what happens after November. Kerry wins and I'm throwing a party and plan to get shitty drunk.
Now THAT's incredible. Its like someone sells you the Brooklyn Bridge, you find out you got taken and hire Clinton to make things right but then, incredibly, buy the Brooklyn Bridge again when the next Pied Piper walks into town.
Republicans are grifters and thieves.
The Fool
Not us. We've been screaming about how fucked up that is for over 3 years now. It's the moron Murcans and the deranged idiots in the right-wing fault.
wing's
idiot's
No argument, Lorenzo.
It doesn't look like we're going to fall off a cliff this year, but we need to keep an eye on our footing.
Since I was unsure, I should have wrote, "It's the 'fault' of moron Murcans and the deranged idiots in the right-wing."
An instructor in college told us once that when ever you're unsure, rearange the sentence. Hey, this was a state college.....
ha ha I'm getting tired, "written"
Actually, I think both words are acceptable there.
Jeeez, "whenever"
I hate it that HaloScan wont let you go back and edit.
A couple of those Perot-style charts that we need to show to everyone:
The Wealth Gap: A Second Gilded Age?
Less, Mars, lest you be the troll.
were I a terrorist
I'd blow up the pipelines
in Saudi Arabia
let Japan know
let Europe know
there is no further future
in buried treasure
"Bushnomics is more like drawing three cards to a two-flush."
And most think it's because they are idiots. They fail to see they want to loose this paticular game.
"6% PA GDP growth rate and the lowest interest rates in 45 yers."
Oh please shut up. The first part of that was sustained by war purchases and contracts. War generates stock changes ect ect. RNC drivel point.
2) How long can low interest rates and a weak dollar coexist?
Indefinitely. Low interest rates help keep the dollar weak. The price of the dollar on international markets is determined by the same factors that determine the price of anything: supply and demand. If owning dollars does not confer any advantages (such as being able to earn high interest with dollar denominated assets) then demand for the dollar drops and so does its price. Increasing interest rates would make owning dollars more attractive (increase demand) and would cause the price of the dollar to rise.
The dollar is being bought up by China, Europe and Japan to keep their exports to the US cheap. If they stop buying the dollar or run out of money to do so, the dollar plummets (but isn't this good for US exports?).
To whoever posted this piece of disinformation: Japan is the only one of the three mentioned that is buying dollars (discreetely). The Chinese yuan is pegged to the dollar and so the falling dollar doesn't affect the US/China trade situation one way or the other. China's exports (already cheaper than US goods to start with) will remain cheaper on the international market so long as the yuan is pegged to the dollar.
Japan is buying just enough dollars to keep the yen from falling significantly against the dollar (thus keeping Japan's exports competitive with US products on the international market).
Europe is not buying dollars which is why the dollar has lost 30% of its value against the euro in the last year and a half.
So if you're in the US, Chinese goods will remain cheaper than US-produced goods, Japanese goods will remain about the same, and European imports will increase significantly in price.
Where the real problem is going to hit is if OPEC decides to price oil in euros instead of dollars. That would mean that in order to pay for the more than 60% of its oil that the US imports, the US would have to buy expensive euros rather than paying in (from the US point of view) constant value dollars. Then the US could not afford to let the dollar slip further.
Robert: yes, yes, yes, no, and yes (assign randomly to your assertions). The euro is slightly less than what it used to be, basically the same, and it probably wouldn't shake the foundations of the world economy to peg the price of oil to this currency rather than that.
The terror of that prospect is as old as the age of the sliderule.
Last I heard (correct me if I'm wrong) China is still sucking up our debt. I think that they think this is nation-building, developing the industrial base and so forth. Otherwise it makes scant sense to me.
~ahem~ discreetly
Sleazy leftwingers are staying out of work deliberately so as to embarass Dear Leader
Hey, you say that like it's something bad
Thats exactly what I'm doing, Fuck George, he likes giving away money so much, and I pay for that unemployment, don't I
I'm just getting some of my own back. Very repuglican in my view, and imitation is the most sincere form of flattery
Sorry.
To the extent China pegs the yuan to the yankee dollar, they pile up claims on us. Every shoe you buy, every shirt you wear, every clam you bake... what?
"Japan is buying just enough dollars to keep the yen from falling significantly against the dollar (thus keeping Japan's exports competitive with US products on the international market)."
This information is just wrong.
Japan is buying a HUGE number of dollars - last year alone they floated nearly a third of the United States total debt. They are buying dollars to keep the Yen from strengthening too much against the dollar, to keep their export prices down. They are in fact buying so much US debt that it is helping to artificially keep US consumer interest rates down, a situation that could change drastically if Japan curtails its debt purchasing.
All this confusion began when they stopped backing the greenback with gold. IMHO
"Last I heard (correct me if I'm wrong) China is still sucking up our debt. I think that they think this is nation-building, developing the industrial base and so forth. Otherwise it makes scant sense to me."
Yes, eponymous, you are right.
"China is recycling its US$100 billion-plus trade surplus with the US back into dollars, and especially into US Treasury bonds.
One has to question the long-term economic rationale for China of putting its long-term assets into very low-interest bonds in a currency that has already dropped recently by a third - and is going to drop even more. It certainly makes strategic sense: if push came to shove over, for example, the Taiwan Strait, all Beijing has to do is to mention the possibility of a sell order going down the wires. It would devastate the US economy more than any nuclear strike the Chinese could manage at the moment.
But far from wanting to devastate the dollar, China is more concerned to maintain its currency's parity with the dollar, even as it devalues massively against the Euro or the Yen. Indeed, without those Sino-dollars flowing back, the dollar would have tanked even more."
I'm not sure I buy Japan floating a third of our borrowing, but we are definitely getting periodic warnings about our wastrel ways. Krugman has said: today, America, tomorrow, Argentina.
bad Jim - interpret this as you wish:
"Japanese investors _ mostly the government _ bought a net $104 billion in U.S. debt between January and October [2003], according to calculations by Japan's Nihon Keizai newspaper. That's a third of the $314 billion in fresh debt Washington issued during that period."
Globalization has its zero-sum aspects, much as we'd like to deny it. Who among us wish the Chinese to dwell perpetually in poverty, who do not also want all Americans to prosper?
Maybe there isn't a pony underneath that pile of manure.
Sure, Japan's been pushing down the yen. There must have been something similar stabilizing the Euro. Lots of currency finagly. The world can't take a weak dollar, not now.
Eats, shoots and leaves.
At the moment we're all in the same boat, clinging to each other as it takes on water. A Clintonesque figure of words, perhaps, but who in this world can we hang onto, except one another?
s/finagly/finagling/
China is playing a very long game, building its country. From the perspective of a country which launched an invasion of a small country to bolster its midterm election results, this looks like a congenial madness from which our wealthiest citizens are content to profit, advising the rest to acquiesce.
ARGH! "...IS bad..."
Damn it, Atrios, you need a preview function. If you're nice, I'll help you add one (check out the comments on my blog!).
NTodd
A bigger screen to type into would be nice, one with bigger letters. And I promise to use spell check if it's provided. Even if it goes against my principles. It's not as if anyone want's to annoy the good spellers. We're on the same side, afterall.
Try explaining that to a bible-banging fundamentalist.
Mars Spirit Rover
The tax policy of the Republican party is identical to that of the Roman empire in the period of Jesus. Tax the poor and the workers while the rich pay nothing. It's the tax system Jesus and his followers worked against.
Remember, it was those who supported this system who tried to trip Jesus up with the question that evoked the Give unto .... statement.
It would be interesting to calculate the percentage of statements Jesus made against inequity as opposed to those he made against gay sex (that's 0%, to start with).
While Jesus implied that the tax collectors themselves were not really to blame for the system he didn't exactly give them a free pass, using them as an example of those sinners who would enter the Kingdom before religous hypocrits, the fundamentalists of his day.
The Bush tax policy is explicitly and profoundly anti-Christian.
In "Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline" Robert Bork, the Undead mouth of Morgoth, the once-and-future Supreme Court nominee, and non-dyslexic sociopath outlined the method to strangle the government and restore his version of traditional American values.
The trick, according to this madman, is to drive the economy back into another Great Depression, forcing an end to all this liberal progressive Satanism.
That's why Enron was designed to fail. That's why it was created to spin millions into the Bush campaign and create an economic black hole as it imploded. That's why Ken Lay had Top Secret meetings with Dick Cheney.
It was intentional.
And if by some miracle we get Bush out of office this year, they'll do it again.
"In "Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline" Robert Bork"
Exhibit #1 in the case that we were right in beliving that he is not only a fascist but an insane one. He is actively opposed to democracy and the Bill of Rights he would have sworn to uphold. That he probably did swear to uphold given the offices he held.
Cool:
“VIETNAM VET DONATES ROYALTIES FROM VIETNAM NOVEL TO KARRY CAMPAIGN”
http://www.dennismansker.com/
Dennis Mansker wrote a book on the Vietnam War: A Bad Attitude: A Novel from the Vietnam War.
He's offering to donate 100% of the royalties to the Kerry Campaign. "I am a Vietnam vet and author of A Bad Attitude: A Novel from the Vietnam War.
Because I think this election is so important, I am donating 100% of the royalties from the sale of my book to the Kerry campaign. The book is available from the publisher, from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and several other online booksellers. See the complete details on my Chairborne Ranger website ( http://www.dennismansker.com/ ). Feel free to tell your friends.
The more books they buy, the more money goes to defeat the Unelected Fraud."
http://www.usndemvet.com/blog/
OMG read the latest Friedman!
He says if you get laid off from a real job in the U.S.A. because the CEO found someone in India who'd do the work for less, it's cool because you can go to Cafepress, have them print up shirts that say "I lost my job to India and all I got was this lousy T-shirt," and make "all kinds of money."
You think I'm exaggerating for comic effect. You think I painted it with too broad a brush and I should rein in my sarcasm. I'm not, I didn't, he really wrote all this. Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid.
No, wait, this transcends mere stupidity and rises to the level of deliberate naked malice. This mustachioed motherf***er is getting in our faces. "Jobs - who needs 'em? Not me! I'm filthy rich, no money worries at all, set for the rest of my life. Ha ha, sorry grubby little workies, don't you wish you were like me?"
"The trick, according to this madman, is to drive the economy back into another Great Depression, forcing an end to all this liberal progressive Satanism."
But didn't the great depression bring on the "evil socialism" of the new deal, and wouldn't they expect that to happen again? The theory makes no sense.
W. Kiernan-- I can't even stand to read Friedman any more. He's an insufferable fool.
Crivvens, thank heavens I only read the Dowd today.
After I finish this short story I've been working on, I plan to write a book titled, Slouching Towards Fascism: Neo-wingerism and America's Decline.
Giuliani is an absolute metaphysical whore. Period.
What on Earth is 'Slouching towards Gomorrah' supposed to mean?
Of all the incoherent metaphor-mangling...
Of course, "Slouching towards Sodom" might give one the impression of homosexuals with bad posture....
Robert: yes, yes, yes, no, and yes (assign randomly to your assertions). The euro is slightly less than what it used to be, basically the same, and it probably wouldn't shake the foundations of the world economy to peg the price of oil to this currency rather than that.
Well, .800 ain't bad.
Since the beginning of 2000, when the euro started out about on a par with the USD (1 USD = .993 EUR), the
euro fairly quickly fell against the
dollar until 1 USD got you about 1.10 EUR. This situation lasted until the summer of 2002, when the euro dropped back to about parity with the dollar. Beginning in March/April 2003 the dollar fell off the table against the euro. Now you get .80 euro for your dollar whereas a year and a half ago you got 1.10 euro for it. That means that you get .30 euro less for your dollar. I don't call that "slightly less".
Admittedly, the dollar has been fairly stable against the euro since the beginning of this year (holding at around .80 euro to the dollar). One has to suspect that there has been some maneuvering in the background by the ECB to hold it at this level. Possibly Bush's falling poll numbers have been enough to hold the dollar steady. If so, any new US-instigated disaster could cause the dollar to resume falling. I think the reasoning in Europe is that they could afford having the dollar go to .70 or so before having to intervene.
So if OPEC prices oil in euros and the dollar holds steady against the euro, then there is no harm done. But if they do this and the dollar begins to fall again, that means that the same amount of oil costs more in dollars and that is going to show up at the pump. If that happens, look for (more) talk of invading Saudi Arabia to secure the oil fields. After all, Saddam priced Iraqi oil in euros in 2000, and look what happened to him.
Last I heard (correct me if I'm wrong) China is still sucking up our debt. I think that they think this is nation-building, developing the industrial base and so forth. Otherwise it makes scant sense to me.
Yes, China is building its economic/industrial base on the weak dollar. The main advantage to the weak dollar is that it acts very much like protective tariffs. It makes US goods more competitive than imports in the domestic market and it makes US exports more competitive in the international market (because your dollars to buy these exports cost less). Making US exports more competitive is supposed to help reduce the trade deficit as US exports become cheaper and foreign imports become more expensive resulting in an increase in the former and a decrease in the latter.
The reason that the weak dollar is not helping the trade deficit is that China and Japan, two of the US's main trading partners are keeping their exports competitive -- China by keeping the yuan pegged to the dollar and Japan by buying dollars to keep the yen down. Since Chinese goods were less expensive than US goods before the weaken
Sorry, message was truncated.
Since Chinese goods were less expensive than US goods before the weakening of the dollar, Chinese goods remain more competitive and US goods are no less expensive to the Chinese. So long as the Chinese keep the yuan pegged to the dollar, the US can never reduce its trade deficit with China. So the weak dollar is fueling the Chinese economy while not really helping the US economy.
Bush's tax cuts are not responsible for the sluggish economy; they were merely an ineffective antidote to it.
They were put into effect cynically, having received assurances from Greenspan that the highly stimulative monetary easing would revive it on its own. That blew up in their faces.
W. Kiernan, just another reason to make me want to knock his teeth down his fat throat. Not that I'll do it, just makes me feel like doing it.
Why is it that I'm finding the news out of Philidelphia and Chicago so much more credible than that coming from New York, Washington and Atlanta these days?
Oh, yes it's the internet. Long live Buzzflash and Eschaton.
Sorry.
To the extent China pegs the yuan to the yankee dollar, they pile up claims on us. Every shoe you buy, every shirt you wear, every clam you bake... what?
No need to be sorry. What you say is true. But so is what I say. I said that so long as the yuan is pegged to the dollar the US/China trade situation won't change. What that means is that China is the US's largest deficit trading partner and as Chinese goods remain more competitive than US goods, this deficit will continue to grow. A growing US deficit is the current US/China trade situation and as long as the yuan is pegged to the dollar that won't change (unless the US finds someone else to buy cheap Chinese goods from).
"Japan is buying just enough dollars to keep the yen from falling significantly against the dollar (thus keeping Japan's exports competitive with US products on the international market)."
This information is just wrong.
Japan is buying a HUGE number of dollars - last year alone they floated nearly a third of the United States total debt. They are buying dollars to keep the Yen from strengthening too much against the dollar, to keep their export prices down. They are in fact buying so much US debt that it is helping to artificially keep US consumer interest rates down, a situation that could change drastically if Japan curtails its debt purchasing.
The two statements are not incompatible. If a HUGE amount of dollars is what it takes to keep the yen from rising too much against the dollar, then that is just enough to
accomplish that. If they bought any more, the dollar would rise against the yen. Supply and demand.
If I say Japan is buying just enough dollars to keep the yen down and you say that's not true, Japan is buying a HUGE number of dollars then you have to prove that a HUGE number of dollars is more than is needed to keep the yen down.
On what basis is the RNC demanding that networks don't run MoveOn ads? MoveOn is a PAC - it's never claimed to be a 527, which didn't even exist at the time they got organized. PACs most definitely can engage in partisan advertising. Sounds like just another case of GOPrano-style schoolyard bullyism.
Ok, my bad. MoveOn encompasses several entitites - voter registration is covered under their 501c4 status, they have the MoveOn Voter Fund which is a PAC that gives to targeted races, and then they have a 527, which is an organization which seeks to influence the outcome of elections, short of saying "vote for X" or "don't vote for Y". Unless the RNC can produce evidence that MoveOn has violated reporting requirements or has used money designated for their 501c4 operations for their 527 activities, it's hard to imagine what the RNC is bitching about. But as we've seen before, if they don't have a legitimate gripe, they'll make one up and pull it out of their ass and make up as many lies as necessary to bolster it.
W. Kiernan: I swore off Friedman for lent as well, but, as you say, today's piece really is a showstopper.
For those of you who won't read it; today's $64,000 question. What city is Friedman referring to in the following quote?
>>Sure _________ has a lot of engineering schools, but the local government is rife with corruption; half the city has no sidewalks; . . . . the rivers are choked with pollution; the public school system is dysfunctional;. . . and the whole infrastructure is falling apart. The big high-tech firms here reside on beautiful, walled campuses, because they maintain their own water, electricity and communications systems. They thrive by defying their political-economic environment, not by emerging from it.
Answer: Surprise! While it seems like he's describing most cities in the US under BushCo, he was actually describing Bangalore, India
Tells you exactly where we're at in 2004 when you can't tell the difference.
Unless the RNC can produce evidence that MoveOn has violated reporting requirements or has used money designated for their 501c4 operations for their 527 activities, it's hard to imagine what the RNC is bitching about. But as we've seen before, if they don't have a legitimate gripe, they'll make one up and pull it out of their ass and make up as many lies as necessary to bolster it.
It's just another intimidiation tactic.
The RNC is absolutely terrified of groups like MoveOn, which is funded more by freedom-loving citizens than America-hating Republicans.
Here's what Stockman said about Clintions plan in '93
The whole article is quite good as Stockman says outright that Republicans are liars, fools and in general untrustworthy slime, this from the man who wrote the program on Reaganomics.
_____
"The Myth of Federal 'Overspending'"
By David Stockman THE PHOENIX GAZETTE
March 10, 1993
In this regard, the full-throated, anti-tax cries emanating from the Republican Party (GOP) amount to no more than deceptive gibberish. Indeed, if Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and his playmates had the parental supervision they deserve, they would be sent to the nearest corner wherein to lodge their Pinocchio-sized noses until this adult task of raising taxes is finished.
....
The root problem goes back to the July, 1981, frenzy of excessive and imprudent tax-cutting that shattered the nation's fiscal stability. A noisy faction of Republicans have willfully denied this giant mistake of fiscal governance, and their own culpability in it, ever since. Instead, they have incessantly poisoned the political debate with a mindless stream of anti-tax venom, while pretending that economic growth and spending cuts alone could cure the deficit.
It ought to be obvious enough by now that we can't grow our way out. To be sure, aversion to higher taxes is usually a necessary, healthy impulse in a political democracy. But when the alternative becomes as self-evidently threadbare and groundless as has the "growth" argument, we are no longer dealing with legitimate skepticism, but with what amounts to a demagogic fetish. Unfortunately, as a matter of hard-core political realism, the ritualized spending cut mantra of the GOP anti-taxers is equally vapid.
...
But that in no way lets the Republicans off the hook. They led the Congress into a giant fiscal mistake 12 years ago, and they now have the responsibility to work with a President who is at least brave enough to attempt to correct it.
I expect them to seriously declare MoveOn a terrorist organization sometime soon, Seraphiel.
After giving it some thought, it looks to me like MoveOn does have a civil rights cause of action, in that the RNC is trying to suppress free speech rather than addressing their "concerns" (if they actually have any legitimate ones) to the controlling authority for these issues, the FEC. If you think someone is violating campaign financing rules, that's where you go to complain. Going directly to the media outlets is a blatant attempt to suppress free speech absent any determination of guilt or proof of wrongdoing on the part of MoveOn.
They may also have a cause of action on the libel issue.
Of course Atrios hates tax cuts. In real life, he's a public employee slug. Tax cuts threaten his AFSCME confreres' ability to suck the money out of people who actually produce.
Golden Boy, Do you use our streets? Do you support our troops? Do you enter into contracts or use our court system? Did you receive vaccinations? Do you expect someone to answer if you call 911? Have you ever been to a National Park?
Where do you think these things come from? We all use tax resources. Get over it.
If you want low taxes, move to a third-world country.
Oh yes, support big bloated monolithic government funded by robbing taxpayers blind ...or we will descend into some kind of third world, mud hut, banana republic.
Its all or nothing, eh happy?
Do you support paying farmers not to plant? Do you support government employee slackers sitting on their butts all day? Do you support welfare bums?
I could slice the budget by 25% without breaking a sweat. But then that would require the Democrat constituencies to actually fend for themselves. We cant have that, now can we?
It's not very nice to call soldiers "government employee slackers sitting on their butts all day". So you only support taxes if they go to Halliburton?
Note to Republicans, Don't Tax On Me People, and Voodoo Economists: This situation [low taxes on the highest earners, one - not two - massive bubble, decreasing earning power in the lower and middle income brackets (i.e. the people who actually purchase 2/3 of the products that use to be produced in this country), overproduction, low intrest rates that cannot be sustained, and a severe devaluation of the dollar] has appeared before - it was just before the Great Depression!
Except this time, we have a $32 trillion debt (combined federal, coporate and personal), a second bubble, artificial inflation (that's 3 times higher than admitted), AND low or nonexistent trade protection with massive outsourcing of high-paying high-skill level occupations. When short and long-term interest rates go up - we are so screwed...
Pay your fare share and quit your crying, or convince the idiots who DO vote for the Voodoo school another massive economic collapse is good for them too!
Note to Republicans, Don't Tax On Me People, and Voodoo Economists: This situation [low taxes on the highest earners, one - not two - massive bubble, decreasing earning power in the lower and middle income brackets (i.e. the people who actually purchase 2/3 of the products that use to be produced in this country), overproduction, low intrest rates that cannot be sustained, and a severe devaluation of the dollar] has appeared before - it was just before the Great Depression!
Except this time, we have a $32 trillion debt (combined federal, coporate and personal), a second bubble, artificial inflation (that's 3 times higher than admitted), AND low or nonexistent trade protection with massive outsourcing of high-paying high-skill level occupations. When short and long-term interest rates go up - we are so screwed...
Pay your fare share and quit your crying, or convince the idiots who DO vote for the Voodoo school another massive economic collapse is good for them too!
Low taxes, low wages. The top marginal tax rate in Mexico is 18%. The situation is similar throughout Latin America and the rest of the third world. The result of low taxation is a small upperclass that holds an inordinate percentage of national wealth, an almost non-existant middle class and the great mass of people living in abject poverty.
By the way, for Golden Boy. You haven't got the faintest clue. I worked in government for 28 years and would have loved to drag your sorry fanny through one of my days. You wouldn't have been able to handle the load.
We've had a "natural disaster" for 3+ years, and his name is Dubya. I for one cannot survive another 4 years of this.
I didn't read thru this whole list but my comment on taxes is this: The middle class didn't just "happen" - it was built upon a foundation (not "safety nets - another reaganista mental straitjacket) of taxes and FINANCIAL REGULATION. Nixon's dumping of Bretton-Woods in the early '70s and the financial deregulation mania that followed created the global economic opportunity for corporations and other wealthy institutions to start using money as a WEAPON against DEMOCRACY AND HUMANITY. You know, instant capital strikes if a country steps out of line to try to, oh, I don't know, TAKE CARE OF ITS OWN PEOPLE! JEEZUS H. GIBSON folks! Until democracies re-subordinate the financial markets, profits will continue to reign over people. And, please, I have nothing in principle against business, just that it has no right at all to dominate humanity.
It's profits vs. people, corporations vs. democracy, domination vs. freedom. I know which side I'm on.
I just saw Golden Asshat's posts and couldn't resist.
Oh yes, support big bloated monolithic government funded by robbing taxpayers blind
Which is BETTER than unelected, antidemocratic, totalitarian corporations making $8 TRILLION dollars disappear in a cloud of theft, fraud and corruption.
...or we will descend into some kind of third world, mud hut, banana republic.
That's the GOP plan for 80% of Americans. Come to Texas, where we have the nation's largest prison system, most bloodthirsty capital punishment, vicious police, thirdworld colonias with starvation-wage maquiladoras just across the border, draconian anti-labor laws, state-legislated socialism for corporations, and a right-wingnut legislature, governor and judiciary ready to take America back to 1890 (or 1690?). Texas is on the cutting edge of bringing two-tiered, third world living conditions to the US.
Its all or nothing, eh happy?
All domination, no freedom if bushco can steal another "election".
Do you support paying farmers not to plant?
Who, Archer-Daniels-Midland, aka global corporate convicted felons? This ain't Green Acres no more. Reagan-Bush-BushJr been putting family farms out of business, not paying them not to farm.
Do you support government employee slackers sitting on their butts all day?
More than corpohack CEO's and their paidoff cronies sitting on their asses plotting how to take away my retirement, health insurance and pay raises.
Do you support welfare bums?
You must be referring to the hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars of corporate welfare which PROVES that socialism works because we have the most powerful corps in the world due to their supersucking on the gov't tit. US and global multinat'l corps (aka "welfare bums") would last for a second without the dole. This is one way that I HATE how my taxes are abused.
I could slice the budget by 25% without breaking a sweat.
So could I, even more, just get rid of the corporate welfare and stop producing waste, uh, I mean weapons systems. There are a HELL of a lot better things to be spending this democracy's money on than propping up unaccountable tyrannies.
But then that would require the Democrat constituencies to actually fend for themselves.
That's what the prison-industrial complex and the PATRIOT act are for - so we CAN'T fend for ourselves.
We cant have that, now can we?
We can't and we won't as long as BUllSHit remains unredefeated.
Um, what do you mean there is no reason for this immplication to be true? What grade did you get in Economics 101? I got a B+, and even I know about tax cuts. Maybe you guys skipped the chapter on how tax cuts stimulate the economy. Why are you so in love with tax hikes anyway? Are you working for the government, or which public school system?
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