Category Archives: Economy

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Are You Ready?

Clay Bennett editorial cartoonHave you been keeping up on CPAC, the GOP answer to absolutely nothing? It’s been a “business as usual” kinda thing so far. Trump gets up there and trashes Jindal, and babbles about himself and how great he is. Rick Perry says they have to reach out to Latinos and is booed. Rubio says just because he supports traditional marriage doesn’t make him a bigot. (yeah actually it does).

My favorite was a clip from a “workshop” wherein a younger type white dude talked about being proud of his “demographic” (code for white supremacist) and claiming that the federal government was disenfranchising same, and that he thought his “demographic” had a great culture to be preserved.

When the moderator who was black, noted that Frederick Douglass sent a letter to his “owner” many years after he had escaped, and forgave him, the young man piped up and said, “for what? For receiving food and a home?” This was met with a couple audible gasps, but far too much applause. He was heard to utter under his breath, “we just need to go back to segregation.”

Yes, that’s the state of the GOP.

NRAYou have all heard the stories in the press. As the President and rational folks in the Democratic Party responded to the upswell of opinion that favored background checks for gun buyers and at least some restrictions on the types of guns available and large capacity clips, the gun stores have been doing a booming business.

It is now an undeniable fact that a significant majority of our fellow citizens are building up arsenals for the coming Armageddon that they are sure is on the way.

Given that these people are mentally unstable and delusional, it should come as no surprise that they actually think they can fend off the American military with their pretend assault weapons. They are so effectual against tanks and drones. What they do is pose a significant danger to the poor neighbors who unbeknownst, live near them.

Dow No doubt you noted that the Dow has hit an all-time high. That is certainly cause for much celebration.

Business feels good about itself apparently. Business is good. During the recession they spent their money on ways to improve productivity with a smaller work force.

They were successful.

They aren’t hiring much because they don’t have to.

The fools believed that they were “job creators.”

They are profit creators dummy. Always were. The last thing they want to do is hire workers. Workers are much more expensive to keep than a robot riveter.

Yet the Right continues the mantra, and the kool-aid drinkers keep repeating it.

minimum wageNeed I say more?

The mantra for this one is that it depresses employment because business lays off workers rather than pay them a living wage.

Yeah, business is usually known for cutting of its nose to spite its face. I can just hear them now.

“Sorry Ms Customer, you will have to wait an extra 45 minutes for service. If you don’t like it leave. I’m not going to hire another worker at $10 an hour. So take your $150 dress and rehang it. I have principles you know.”

Yeah, I’m sure that’s what they will do.

Actual studies show they do lay off workers, for a hot minute, and then hire them back when, you know, they have more customers than their current work force can handle.

And guess what? That happens across the country. And guess what? All that extra cash earned by workers? It’s SPENT for goods and services, and that causes more demand, and more hiring. Amazing how that happens.

budgetWe’ve been hearing this whine for a long time from the Right.

And under rational and normal circumstances, it might just have some validity.

Of course it doesn’t have any validity today and everybody who bothers to be alive knows that.

Why?

Because Mitch McConnell will prevent any budget bill offered by the Democrats from reaching the floor of the Senate for actual debate.

He will filibuster.

He promised he wouldn’t do that.

He lied.

What’s new?

gaysForgive me if I’m not suitably impressed.

Rob Portman was against it before he was for it.

Seems his personal situation, impressed him enough to consider a change of mind.

Now, I’m glad that Portman has seen the light. I really am.

But as I said, forgive me if it’s just a bit too self-serving.

As a few have said, perhaps it would help if Portman woke up with a poor son, or a senior son. Maybe then he would be in favor of SNAP, and Pell grants, and Medicare, and well, you get the idea.

His hopes of being nominated are shall we say, in trouble?

It’s a glorious day here, with the high going into the mid 80′s. Sun is shining. Time to get busy in the yard with clean up. Diego is a messy boy. He has pieces of wood and bits of things he’s torn up scattered everywhere. To day nothing of poo. Saturday is poo clean up day.

I’m cooking my corned beef today in a slow-cooker kinda way, bathed in beer. I made a couple of loaves of soda bread. I made a white cake that I will trim with green lime frosting. Tomorrow when I get home from church I can make the colcannon. It’s a St. Paddy’s Day kinda meal!

Have a great one yourselves.

Happy-Animals-06-632x474_large

 

 

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Yeah It’s Good For Some

Good-Economic-NewsThe Stock Market hit a new high.

Corporate profits are probably at all-time highs as well.

The people who do the work? Not so much.

Between 1979 and 2007 59.9% of gains in income went to the top 1%, 36.7% alone going to the top 0.1%. During that period, gains by the 90%? A mere 8.6%.

Productivity has increased since 1950 by 254%. During that same period, wages went up 113%, and most of that increase occurred by 1975. Productivity, on the other hand, has risen steadily and continues to rise.

The response of the corporate board room to the recession has been to find more efficient ways to accomplish their target goals. They devote their R and D to the purpose of creating a cheaper way to make their product. Cheaper never involves hiring workers. They would make their products devoid of human workers if that were possible. Machines don’t require health care benefits and pensions. They don’t need money devoted to safe working conditions and lunch breaks.

Don’t tell me, please that corporations are job creators. They are profit creators, and hiring is now the last resort to accomplishing that goal. That’s why Wall Street is doing so well, and yet the unemployment figures are still so high. It’s got zero to do with regulations or very little. It’s got very little to do with “uncertainty” about what the buffoons in Congress are going to do. It’s got to do with profit. There is no morality here. It’s not part of the capitalistic model.

Kim-Jong-RodmanMeanwhile, there was this farcical drama in North Korea.

The pity is that the media thought any of this worthy to report upon. Dennis Rodman is a delightful entertainer. As an intellectual, well, he leaves a great deal to be desired.

His “opinion” is about as useful as that of a three-year-old. And I like the dude. He’s had a tough life as a kid, and he’s managed to make a good life for himself. I give him credit.

Kim? Oh good lord, he never got spanked as a child, that is certain. And I’m not much for corporal punishment either.

But he definitely needed spanking. In fact he needs spanking now. He’s always in the middle of a tantrum.

And dude, find a new barber. That haircut is silly. Seriously.

ScaliaIt’s hard to judge this Supreme Court. I’m not sure if we haven’t had this kind of horror before, when the Court was filled with really nutty people who make a mockery of the Constitution.

The Dred Scot Court comes to mind. That must have been an awful one.

But it would be hard to argue that this one is close to the top of the list of really awful benches.

Scalia is an intellectual joke, playing word games about original intent of the Framers, when all it comes down to is his personal disgusting beliefs.

Calling the right to vote a “racial entitlement”. And then suggesting that instead of testing a law against the Constitution, he has a new job–doing the dirty work for Congress, meaning that Congress is too beholden to special interests and can’t do the “right” thing because it might cost them an election.

So Scalia to the rescue. Doing the “right” thing. What a douche.

DronesLet me get this straight.

Some Republicans are all upset at the use of drones against US citizens.

Got that.

No Republicans ever raised this issue when Bush starting using them.

Don’t get that.

In American courts, EVERYone, citizen or not, is gets the same rights.

Got that.

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith is arrested in Turkey. He is moved from Turkey to Jordan (Turkey prohibits the extradition of prisoners to those few countries that still practice the use of the death penalty and we are one of THOSE countries) and then transported from Jordan to the US for trial.

Got that.

Republicans are incensed because he can’t be interrogated properly except at Guantanamo (he was interrogated by an elite force of experts in Turkey and talked to the tune of some 20 pages), and because he is a bad dude and has no right to the rights granted him in our civilian courts.

Don’t get that.

Morality sure winds a crooked course in the Republican mind. And incidentally, in a good many Democratic ones as well.

Just a word about something I care about.

I am now the Sunday morning cat adoption “cleaner” for Pet Smart. I do this through a local adoption group in my area called A.W.A.R.E. What I learned is that Pet Smart joins with local animal groups across the country to adopt out animals. That’s a good thing.

My job is to clean the cages, feed and water where these cats live, and to play with them as much as I wish while I’m there. This is done twice a day, seven days a week, all serviced by volunteers.

My only point here, is that if you are interested in adopting a kitten, think of them as a source. You are not getting a “kitten” mill animal, but one that has been rescued and needs a good home. Prices are typically $50, and all animals are already spayed or neutered and have all their shots. In some cases the animals may come from the local shelter. You will probably get a bit better animal, since these kittens get more socialization than those typically housed in shelters.

I have no agreements of any kind with Pet Smart or A.W.A.R.E. in return for these statements. It’s only because I care about the animals. Perhaps other pet stores do the same. I haven’t inquired.

kittensandpuppies

 

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dvd_commandingheightsThe jobs numbers came out this morning. Everything is on the uptick. The upturn in the economy continues unabated. This in spite of the naysayers who of course claim that things would be even better if we would do things their way (the business way). They offer no proof of this, but they assure you that if you would just lower corporate taxes to zero and remove all regulations, boards of directors across the country would be voting to “hire as many as will fit in the building” and things will be rosy in no time.

This engenders the usual arguments between Keynesians and Hayekians. If you are not so sure you know who these men are, or what they stand for, well, I have a good place to start.

I am not sure when this came out on PBS, but it is based on the book of the same name written by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw. That came out in around 2003 I believe.

It is not for the faint of heart. It’s a six-hour committment. But on the upside, it’s well done and satisfies all the usual desires of one watching a documentary. You can get the DVD or you can watch the entire thing online, and I’ll provide the links at the bottom.

Let me caution you that I don’t at all agree with much of what they say, or at least the inferences they, I think deliberately, urge you to draw. They have a very definite point of view and they avoid a few facts that might cut against their opinion. (Pay especial attention to who is promoting the show at the beginning). That said, it provides a pretty good explanation of what Hayek believed and what Keynes believed. It provides a good foundation to understanding the basics that you will need should you choose to really try to get a handle on what the Krugman’s of the world believe is best for the economy versus the now deceased Milton Friedman.

We’ve only watched the first part, so I’m leaving off any further comments lest I influence your viewing. I’ll post a piece on my views in a couple of weeks or so. So if you are interested, put your feet up and grab a beer or cuppa joe and begin watching. It is entertaining and informative, just not accurate in all respects in my view. Links at the bottom of the page.

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Republicans continue to waste taxpayer money on crap that has nothing to do with economic recovery. Over the Governor’s veto, Arkansas just passed a law making it illegal to abort a fetus after twelve weeks. That’s of course unconstitutional on its face and seems destined to offer the SCOTUS an opportunity to either overturn Roe or restrict it. Idaho’s twenty week law was just struck down by a federal district court.

Meanwhile, in Mississippi, another bastion of free thought, the senate has just passed a bill that would allow school prayer again, most especially before classes start (during morning announcements) and before athletic events. Students would also be allowed to freely discuss religious faith issues during class time. This is also unconstitutional on its face.

What is ironic here, is that the very people who support this crap are the same folks who are hellbent to tell you that Democrats and the present administration have no faith let allow adherence to the Constitution and are violating it every day. Of course, they are not. They are just redressing their grievances that the damn document doesn’t say what they want, and making sure that it’s altered to accomplish that.

It all depends, is their answer to “do you believe we should follow the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court?”

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The water pressure dropped severely yesterday in Washington D.C. as John McCain and Lindsey Graham both spend a long time washing off the icky after finding themselves supporting the black guy in the White House against the strange man from Kentucky, Ru Paul, I mean Randy Paul on the drones issue. Two finer hawks were never born than McCain the man who continually drove planes into the ground, and the Lindsey, a man who one can’t begin to imagine in a uniform except as part of a sexual liaison in the bedroom.

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The best response to anyone who tries to tell you that homosexuality is a “choice” is to ask them what was the date when they “chose” to be heterosexual. What them sputter and try to get out of that dilemma.

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I think Romney’s the right choice for speechifying at CPAC. After watching his interview with Wallace the other night, it appears he’s still living in the delusions that caused his defeat. That should be right up the alley of the teabibbers doncha think?

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This just tickled me. John McCain was quoted as saying this:

“It’s always the wacko birds on right and left that get the media megaphone.”

I mean I hear the Oxford Dictionary calling to get that photo of John to place next to the word: IRONY.

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From Don of Massachusetts:

Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draws it. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.

- The Buddha

This seems a good place to say, HAVE A GOOD DAY!

Commanding Heights Pt 1

Commanding Heights Pt 2

Commanding Heights Pt 3

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Searching for the Gem

Estate saleAre you a junkie?

“Psst, come over here so we can whisper.”

Does your heart go pit-a-pat at the idea of buying other people’s stuff at bargain prices?

Yeah, I know. It’s just too good to pass up.

I like estate sales way more than auctions. I hate to wait for hours for “my” item to come up and then the bidding starts about a kazillion more than I could ever pay in the first place.

Estate sales are neat and tidy. Everything is already marked.

We went yesterday to a great one. Chock full of lawn and garden this and thats. I mean stuffed with planters and statues, chairs and tables. Just stuffed. We bought a bear carved from a log with a welcome sign. That went at the front door, hoping to distract from the lovely? piece of patio stone with the words “The Payton” carefully painted on it, a gift from our handyman. Of course it’s Peyton and not Payton and it should have an ‘s at the end. We must of course show it. We would not be rude.

We also got “Juanita” a two-foot terra-cotta Indian woman with long braids and an ample girth. She’s in the living room hopefully giving off good vibes. Then I splurged on a copper sculpture that is a series of rings mounted on a disk. I guess I should take a picture, but anyway it’s a piece of authentic art produced by a sculptor here in Las Cruces. I also picked up a glorious leather purse on the cheap which is the perfect size.

We are going back today when things are “half price” an ultimately “best offer” to gather up some garden urns and perhaps some wall artwork.

Sequester-Army-KnifeI am so freakin’ tired of the word, and all it entails.

I am so tired of idiots.

Boehner looks more and more the boob as one-trick pony. If he says, “it’s time to get serious about spending cuts,” I may hire a thug to go to DC and beat him to a pulp.

It’s time to get serious about kicking your ass to the curb.

It’s time to get serious about kicking the Tea Bibbers to the curb, permanently.

It’s time to require a basic test to anyone who wants to run for a government office. Prove that you can read. Prove that you can think. Prove that you can count to 100. I don’t know, something. I’ve heard more stupid from people who got people to actually vote for them for some office than I care to remember.

Seriously, my dog could do the job. Seriously, I think he could.

Just-MarriedI really think this is gonna happen.

I mean I really do.

I think the Supreme Court will overturn California’s anti-gay marriage legislation.

About 30 other states have similar ones. They should fall too.

If the Court does invalidate it, hopefully it will be on a denial of equal protection under the law, a constitutional precept. Us constitutional law trumps and any state law or constitutional provision.

Game over.

Then perhaps we can get on with other issues rather than continuing our relentless attempts to punish people who aren’t like us.

The same will probably not be said for the Voting Rights Act and section five. That is probably going to fall. And that is a shame. Instead it ought to be upheld and broadened to cover the entire country. And it ought to prohibit any attempt that tries to disenfranchise any group of people, be their students, the elderly, or ethnic minorities. Voting is our most precious right. We should bend over backwards to make sure than everyone who wants to can. And maybe we should mandate that everyone does.

ObamacareThe GOP assured us that they would NEVER go willingly into the land of Obamacare.

They would kick and scream, they would throw themselves upon grenades if need be.

No never!

But political realities have a way of changing stubborn minds. Fearing that his time in office is limited, Governor Scott of Florida has had a change of heart. Chris Christie saw the logic of the situation as well.

Bobby Jindal has not. Which is a pity, since he counseled that the GOP must stop being the party of stupid. He’s the one of stupid for continuing his hold out. I mean who wants to be in the same camp as Ricky Perry from the grand old state of delusion, Texas? I mean Bobby, you still have New Orleans! You are not in Mississippi or Alabama, fighting for your very IQ life. I mean really Bobby.

whichwayWell it just ain’t about Obamacare though.

It’s about everything these days.

It’s about immigration, and gay rights. It’s about women’s rights. It’s about taxes, and loopholes.

How to rid themselves of TEA! When all the respectable Republicans (assuming they exist) just want a cuppa joe.

Boehner looks sad most of the time.

He must weep a lot at night.

The Tea Bibbers on the other hand, are all gleeful. They are too stupid to know any better.

I tell ya, it is so unfair to elephants to have them embarrassed this way in association with jackasses. I mean is that an irony or what?

We’re hitting around 70 degrees here today. I mean that is enough to make a heart sing is it not?

brave-but-dumb

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A Rolling Stone Gathers Whatever Is In Its Way

boehner-orangeSir Boehner of Orange is not a man who is cozy with the truth. He, like so many of his cohorts, believe it is a most malleable thing to be twisted and pulled into whatever shape is necessary to feed the agenda they are pushing at any given time.

As most of us know, the sequester is looming on the horizon, and the GOP chatter seems as usual to ignore facts and create a new reality as needed. Thus the sequester is the “president’s idea” as if he designed it as the solution to our fiscal ills.

The Grand Bargain that Boehner continues to claim fell through because the President “changed” the offer at the last minute, is a total lie. In fact Boehner made the deal only to discover that he could not control the crazy element in his own caucus. Because of the Hastert Rule (thou shalt not bring to the floor a bill not already approved by a majority of your party), Boehner knew the deal could only pass with Democratic help. That he was not prepared to do, so he created the myth that the President changed the offer.

Given that time was short and the GOP was threatening to destroy the economy unless they got their way, the President proposed a draconian alternative that would come into play in six months. This was supposed to ensure that a meaningful debate and agreement would ensue to avoid the awfulness of the sequester. The President originally offered a 50/50 deal–there would be a sequester that consisted of half tax increases and half budget cuts. Boehner refused that deal and insisted that all be cuts.

Moreover, at the conclusion of the sequester deal, Boehner bragged to the press and anyone else that would listen that he had gotten “98% of everything he had been asking for” so he declared himself and his Party the winner.

Those are the real facts.

What the GOP continues to miss here, is that we are not so gullible nor so stupid that we don’t know these facts. So, his little attempt to hijack the truth in favor of his new reality only elicits nods and uhuh’s from his own stupid base. The rest of America sees it for the series of lies it is, and of course, realizes that the GOP is still the party that protects corporate interests to the detriment of the rest of us.

No lessons yet learned. The GOP continues to wallow in the mire of lies. It will remain a party that can’t win the big one. It will continue to try to figure out ways to steal elections. It will continue to be the best comedy routine in town.

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You have heard no doubt that the President is heading to Israel? And when he is there, he’s going to get a Presidential Medal of Distinction. And the Right wing reactionaries are livid. They just cannot understand why the vast majority of us cannot see that this man is a horrid, vile, Commie, Islamic lovin’ Israel hater. I mean they cannot fathom this as it is SO obvious that he has a “visceral hostility toward Israel.”

Their answer is of course that the person giving him the medal, Israeli President Shimon Peres, is just a figurehead, who is not liked by most of the population.

It makes me laugh. And then I read their shock and dismay again, and I laugh a bit louder and longer.

The circus continues.

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I do so appreciate a Republican who wants to help the poor. Jeff Sessions is ready to do just that. His method? Cut welfare of course. I mean really, it just breeds dependency doesn’t it? At least that’s what Newt said back in the 90′s when he pushed through the welfare reforms that resulted in tens of thousands losing their benefits. (hint: you might find some of these folks among the homeless today.)

Anyway, Sessions is bristling at the idea that the GOP is being called the party of the rich. And in a memorandum, he made it clear that they shouldn’t tie this deep desire to help out our poor by tying it to deficit reduction–that looks bad. Instead cuts in food stamps and such should be tied to helping business get healthy so those jobs become available. As everyone knows giving stuff to the poor just breeds more grabby people. Everyone knows that.

Boy, I feel ever so much better knowing the GOP really has a heart.

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If you have been wondering why the price of gas has gone up sharply, well, yes you guessed it, you can blame the neo-cons. They pushed sanctions against Iranian oil, making Europe and others refuse to buy any. The neo-cons were sure of course (they always are) that this would not impact American prices.

They were also sure that Saudi Arabia would pick up the slack. (That now seems unlikely).

West Texas oil is selling at $100 a barrel, which is not good either.

All this causes prices to rise (and Iran gets the benefit of that for what oil it does sell).

Thank your nearest Republican today!

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Class Warfare in Amerika

class-warfare2Once upon a time there was no class warfare in the USA.

True? Of course not, it’s a fairy tale we tell ourselves. Mores to the point, it’s a fairy tale that has been told to us, taught to us, and pushed on us to hide the truth.

The truth is we have ALWAYS been a country of classes. From it’s very inception America has had classes. Voting was restricted at the earliest times in our history to landed persons, in other words, you couldn’t vote if you didn’t own land. Moreover, only white men could vote.  Blacks, who were accounted not citizens were prohibited because they were permanently defined in the CLASS called Slave.

Women were not allowed to vote of course, they were in the CLASS permanently defined as Not Men. By the time of the Civil War, we allowed most white men to vote propertied or not.

There has always been an UPPER CLASS in America, or there soon was. The rich are those who could afford to hire or enslave others to do their cleaning and planting, and lawn care, same as they do now.

This reached its nadir during the time called the Gilded Age, when a small percentage of families and individuals were exceedingly wealthy while the balance of the population was known as WORKING POOR. There was no middle class (the very name that we so casually throw about denotes of course, our understanding that class has always been a part of our existence.).  The WORKING POOR was only so named because of course there was the POOR, those who by circumstance were unable to work and thus relied on charity for their very survival.

We were taught in our schools, and still are for that matter, that we aren’t a class society. We certainly aren’t in the tradition of Old Europe. We have no kings, no lords, no feudal serfs. But we did have their equivalency in the guise of the Rockefellers, the Carnegies, the Vanderbilts, Waltons,  the plantation master, and  so forth. We had the equivalent of the serfs in the tenant farmers and the mine workers who were held in virtual bondage by land owners and mine owners. There was the company town where every dime “earned” was returned to the boss in  the form of rent and food.

What we were told in our schools was that our classes were fluid, namely that with hard work and determination, one might rise from the working poor to the middle class (a class created almost single-handedly by Teddy Roosevelt when he broke up the monopolies and helped workers finally make some decent gains in wages). Nobody I know wanted to be rich in the classical sense, they just wanted the think of themselves as middle class, people who worked and came home to nice homes, people who could afford to send their kids to college, people who could take a vacation each year, maybe have  a cabin at the lake. Simple stuff, really. The stuff that the rich take for granted.

Today, the Republicans would take us back to the Gilded Age, the age where there was (until today) the greatest discrepancy between the very rich and the rest of us. They would do this in the name of economic progress. Of course they are right. They would and are making very good progress. It’s just that the rest of us aren’t. And they have worked extremely hard for decades and decades to maintain the mantra that we are not a class society, and that you too can achieve what they have.

We have always been a country torn between our sense of community, our desire to journey together in equanimity, and our urge to be individuals (rugged actually) and our work ethic forged in the Protestantism of the 17th century. It was an invention of the late medieval period but given structure by Max Weber, German economist, and consisted of diligence, punctuality, deferment of gratification and primacy of the work domain. What a gift to the wealthy business entity!

They (the rich) have pushed that notion as the “way to get ahead” for, as I said, decades. And it has not been for my benefit, or yours, but theirs. True enough, they have always been willing that you and I rise, as long as we did not rise too far. Stories of how the nouveau rich struggled to be accepted by the Old Money are hysterical, especially so those of the rube Texas oil millionaires and their uncouth behaviors.

But things have changed. Too many, far too many, worked hard yet achieved but a modicum of success. The small business owners were and remained just that–small. And no matter how much they worked, they were barely able to leave their kids a better life. The corporations arrived. Borders and Barnes and Noble put the small book seller out of business. Wal-Mart put the mom and pop stores out too. And the small pharmacists, and the small dress shops. And on and on.

The government stepped into the breach and provided a stable ground to land on. Social security, medicare and Medicaid helped out the older Americans who worked hard all their lives yet couldn’t make a go of retirement except in dire poverty. As the industrial machine merrily ground on, millions were left behind. Women, raising children alone only got little jobs with low pay. Again the government intervened with assistance for children, Head Start, free school lunches and so on. The poor kid had no hopes for college, and the government stepped in and offered grants, the same help it had offered returning veterans from war.

This has all angered the rich, who want more of the pie, as always. They started through their minions (Republicans and Democrats), to secure a redress of their grievances. The old meme of work ethic is pushed relentlessly, although it of course fails for most people most of the time (small gains aside). They upped the ante by pushing the nonsense that they are “job creators” (sit in at any board meeting and wait for the topic–how can we create more jobs?) and that they are the “makers”. They pushed the utter crap that everyone who receives government benefits of any kind is a “taker”, a non-contributor, a vermin to be eradicated.

They push it for their own benefit and they of course convince the small business owner that it should be their mantra too. They continue to entice them with promises that if not for the government and their taxation policies against YOU little business, you too could be like us, and vacation on your yacht off your favorite Caribbean island. They tell you that if it were not for “government handouts” you too could be skiing at Vail and gazing from a lovely chalet. They teach you to use this crappy mantra against others, and you do, snarling out your anger  (deep down you know the truth that you have been HAD), spitting out  “takers” in venom and sitting in your white shirt of self-generated superiority.

You are us, little business owner, you just can’t bear to accept it. And they are the ones who have divided us into classes far more than the rest of us who simply want a fair chance. Their classes are them (1%) and us (99%). I know you hate to think of yourself this way, but you are only deluding yourself, and we frankly feel pity for you. We got it long ago. But you go on. Keep carrying the water bucket for the rich. Oppose everything that would make them pay their fair share, and deny help to your brothers and sisters who believe it or not do raise families on the crummy minimum wage that you claim we should scrap all-together. Yeah, let us return to the $5 buck an hour day. You make your corporate masters so very happy.

And while you’re at it–BITE ME.

You sicken me with your callous indifference to reality, all so you can pretend you are something you will never be.

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Oh How Many Times Must We Repeat IT?

KeynesianSorry, I’ve been away for so long. That person writing all that stuff about Ford, and food, and happiness? Oh she is just a lonely soul looking for a place to land.

No seriously, I am getting dangerously close to violating the first law of blogging–keep to your topic! This blog (as you know I have others) is devoted to politics first and foremost, though I occasionally slip off into something tangential. The Ford stuff is arguably that and belongs here, but some of the rest?– just a necessary break from the ongoing “they are so stupids out there,  I might pull the last hair from my head” diatribe that engages me so much of the time.

In other words, I just got bored with the same crap!

So in face of two facts, one that the economy constricted the last quarter, and that the jobs numbers are pretty good and all the internals seem good but for the constriction of government spending last quarter, I got the usual jabs from the Right–how’s that Obama economy doing now? Our economy CONSTRICTED, the sky is falling! Well, not quite. Actually it rather proves the point that people like Krugman make–cutting spending will send us back into recession.

Now, I am not an economist, but I’m reading a lot of stuff, and I’m trying to understand all this it. Let’s look at things in simplistic terms, but in illustrative terms still. Keynesian economics basically call for government intervention to stave off bumps in the economic road. When there is a slow down, the government pumps in money (stimulus) and cuts taxes. When the economy is booming, it doesn’t and it raises taxes. It tries to keep things going smoothly.

A recession is basically caused (in its simplest terms) when some people stop spending money and start holding on to it. Since they are not spending, others have less income, forcing them to buy less as well. The economy slows, and so on. So spending money is the traditional way out of a recession.

Now let’s look at the Republican model.

  1. Republicans want to cut taxes, which admittedly fits into the Keynesian model.
  2. They want to cut regulations to free businesses to operate more cheaply presumably (it always comes down to money) without having to meet standards imposed upon them not by market demand but by government.
  3. They want spending cut especially as to social programs which they consider a waste of money, giving people the idea that they don’t have to get a job ( support business interests) and EARN their own money. But spending cuts shouldn’t occur in the military budget (which supports all those military supply business interests).

Let’s look at the Republican model in action:

In 2001, Bush sponsored a huge tax cut. Everybody got a tax break but the wealthy got the biggest one by far. This is in keeping with their mantra or should we say little Grover’s mantra that we cut and cut and cut taxes so there is less and less revenue for government because government should be small.

The Bush tax cuts remained in place untouched for over eleven years. Okay.

Secondly, Republicans wanted business deregulated. And so it was to a pretty large extent.

They were in place for some seven years at least.

Spending? Well Bush didn’t exactly cut spending. In fact he increased it to gargantuan levels with two wars and a drug prescription bill. And he chose not to pay for any of it, instead he borrowed the money, creating deficits unlike any yet seen in America. You see the laws were passed, meaning Congress authorized  the wars and the drug bill. But given that the coffers were pretty empty given those low taxes, Bush borrowed money to service the three things.

Okay. Where did that all get us?

Tax cuts didn’t result in any job creation as Republicans claim it will. In fact millions of jobs were lost. .

Deregulation didn’t result in an economic boom. No, instead the unbridled greed and criminality of Wall Street nearly destroyed the economy and send us into a recession that nearly rivaled that of the Great Depression.

And of course spending without paying for anything, sent deficits through the roof.

That is after 8 and in some cases nearly 12 years of Republican policies.

Slowly the economy is recovering, due in part to stimulus, but the deficit continues to grow, albeit at a much much slower rate. In the fourth quarter, the ONLY segment of the economy that shrunk was government spending. Which as the Republicans tell us, should have made the economy sing. Instead it caused it to shrink. Before you tell me that Keynesian economics says we should cut taxes during a recession, they are already so low an ant couldn’t have trouble jumping over them.

You tell me. What is the better plan?

Europe has been dealing with a recession and out of control deficits. We are told that if we don’t stop spending, we are going to fall into their predicament.

What has been the European solution? Severe austerity–in other words, deep spending cuts. Exactly what the Republicans claim will SOLVE the problem. It hasn’t. It won’t. That is why Obama continues to push Europe to SPEND money instead of making further cuts. But so far they are still trying to cut their way out. Don’t look for the Cameron government to make it through another election.

That is the way I see it. Please feel free to tell me I’m wrong, but please in doing so, do show me exactly how I am missing the point, and show me the examples of why you are right. Otherwise, lets get off this silly mantra of “we have a spending problem.” No we don’t. We have exactly the opposite.

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