What happened to all of the doom and gloom economic threads?

[4est_4est_Gump]

There also exists a vast right wing press who is no less guilty of collective thinking. They all want one thing - people in power who will fit the square peg into the square hole.

It ceased to be journalism sometime about when it became about getting ratings and selling more advertisements.

I would not call it vast, but for the first time it is in a position to be heard.

Same for the Libertarian sources like Reason.com and Mises.org.

I see this as a good thing, for growing up, I remember that our town had more than one newspaper with more than one political leaning, but prior to the explosion of Internet news consolidation of newspapers had left the Left with a pretty-much unopposed viewpoint that they began to take for granted. With competition, they aren't even pretending to be objective in the panic over losing market share, jobs and possibly even the influence they had to manufacture outrage and outcomes ala Uncle Ellsworth Toohey...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

An Economic ‘Plan’?
Thomas Sowell (BLACK Economist), NRO
September 12, 2012

Former president Bill Clinton told the Democratic National Convention that Barack Obama has a plan to rescue the economy, and only the fact that the Republicans stood in his way has stopped him from getting the economy out of the doldrums.

From all this, and much else that is said in the media and on the campaign trail, you might think that the economy requires government intervention to revive and create jobs. It is Beltway dogma that the government has to “do something.”

History tells a different story. For the first 150 years of this country’s existence, the federal government felt no great need to “do something” when the economy turned down. Over that long span of time, the economic downturns were neither as deep nor as long-lasting as they have been since the federal government decided that it had to “do something” in the wake of the stock-market crash of 1929, which set a new precedent.

One of the last of the “do nothing” presidents was Warren G. Harding. In 1921, under President Harding, unemployment hit 11.7 percent — higher than it has been under President Obama. Harding did nothing to get the economy stimulated.

Far from spending more money to try to “jump-start” the economy, President Harding actually reduced government spending, as the tax revenues declined during the economic downturn.

This was not a matter of absent-mindedly neglecting the economy. President Harding deliberately rejected the urging of his own Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, to intervene.

The 11.7 percent unemployment rate in 1921 fell to 6.7 percent in 1922, and then to 2.4 percent in 1923. It is hard to think of any government intervention in the economy that produced such a sharp and swift reduction in unemployment as was produced by just staying out of the way and letting the economy rebound on its own.

Bill Clinton loudly proclaimed to the delegates to the Democratic National Convention that no president could have gotten us out of the recession in just one term.

But history shows that the economy rebounded out of a worse unemployment situation in just two years under Harding, who simply let the market revive on its own, as it had done before, time and time again for more than a century.

Something similar happened under Ronald Reagan. Unemployment peaked at 9.7 percent early in the Reagan administration. Like Harding and earlier presidents, Reagan did nothing, despite outraged outcries in the media.

The economy once again revived on its own. Three years later, unemployment was down to 7.2 percent — and it kept on falling, as the country experienced 20 years of economic growth with low inflation and low unemployment.

The Obama party line is that all the bad things are due to what he inherited from Bush, and the few signs of recovery are due to Obama’s policies beginning to pay off. But if the economy has been rebounding on its own for more than 150 years, the question is why it has been so slow to recover under the Obama administration.

The endless proliferation of anti-business interventions by government, and the sight of more of the same coming over the horizon from Barack Obama’s appointees in the federal bureaucracies, creates the one thing that has long stifled economic activity in countries around the world — uncertainty about what the rules of the game are, and the unpredictability of how specifically those rules will continue to change in a hostile political environment.

Both history and contemporary data show that countries prosper more when there are stable and dependable rules, under which people can make investments without having to fear unpredictable new government interventions before these investments can pay off.

A great myth has grown up that President Franklin D. Roosevelt saved the American economy with his interventions during the Great Depression of the 1930s. But a 2004 economic study concluded that government interventions had prolonged the Great Depression by several years. Obama is repeating policies that failed under FDR.

Despite demands that Mitt Romney spell out his plan for reviving the economy, we can only hope that Governor Romney plans to stop the government from intervening in the economy and gumming up the works, so that the economy can recover on its own.

 

[IrezumiKiss]

How One Mega-Donor Could Save $2.3 Billion Under Romney’s Tax Plan

By Travis Waldron on Sep 11, 2012 at 9:35 am

The $100 million that billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson pledged to donate to Mitt Romney will turn out to be a good investment if the Republican nominee wins the presidential election in November, a new report from the Center for American Progress Action Fund found. Thanks to Romney’s tax proposals, which call for massive tax cuts for the rich, corporate tax reforms that will encourage the offshoring of profits, and the elimination of certain investment taxes, Adelson could personally save more than $2 billion in taxes, according to CAPAF Director of Fiscal Reform Seth Hanlon.

Romney’s tax plan would help Adelson in the following ways:

• Cut top tax rates, saving Adelson approximately $1.5 million on his annual compensation as chief executive of his casino company.

• Maintain the special low rates on dividends, potentially saving Adelson nearly $120 million on a single year’s worth of dividends, more than enough to recoup his political donations.

• Maintain the special low rates on capital gains, allowing Adelson to make back his political donations in capital gains tax cuts just by selling a fraction of his stock.

• Provide a tax windfall of an estimated $1.2 billion to Adelson’s company, Las Vegas Sands Corp., on untaxed profits from its Asian casinos, as well as a tax exemption for future overseas profits. Adelson’s casinos already enjoy a special foreign tax exemption from the Chinese administrative region of Macau, and Gov. Romney would make those foreign profits exempt from U.S. taxes as well.

• Eliminate the estate tax, potentially providing a staggering $8.9 billion windfall to Adelson’s heirs.

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/AdelsonTaxes.jpg

Romney’s corporate tax reforms would also provide Adelson’s casino company approximately $1.2 billion in tax breaks on overseas profits and $565 million from Romney’s proposed shift to a territorial tax system. Adelson’s share of that, the report says, would be upward of $900 million, nine times what he pledged to spend to get Romney to the White House.

While Romney’s tax plan would further enrich billionaires like Adelson, it would have to raise taxes on middle class families by as much as $2,000 if Romney were to keep his plan to maintain current levels of revenue.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/09/11/825851/romney-adelson-taxes-billionaire/

 

[kbate]

I would not call it vast, but for the first time it is in a position to be heard.

Same for the Libertarian sources like Reason.com and Mises.org.

I see this as a good thing, for growing up, I remember that our town had more than one newspaper with more than one political leaning, but prior to the explosion of Internet news consolidation of newspapers had left the Left with a pretty-much unopposed viewpoint that they began to take for granted. With competition, they aren't even pretending to be objective in the panic over losing market share, jobs and possibly even the influence they had to manufacture outrage and outcomes ala Uncle Ellsworth Toohey...

I am not bothered by the advent of right wing press. I am bothered more by the change from 'news' to 'right/left' advocacy on the part of so-called press.

At one time (not in my lifetime) you could pick up a paper and find news - reporting what people said or did or about the events that occurred.

Today, you pick up a paper and you can read the headline and know which way the article is going to slant. You can generally pick up a Washington Post and know the editorial favours the President (or a left wing idea) or a Washington Times and know it favours Romney (or some right wing idea).

They no longer need to bother reporting news, they can just get a name, a date and fill in the data from the script. "The Job Killing Patient Protection Act" . . . "The Child Protection and Crime Act"

And the intellectual frauds who read and repost this drivel are doing nothing but nodding along with popcorn waiting for the commercial to tell them there's a better brand of popcorn.

 

[unregistered]

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

The government feels the need to "do something" because they have done so much to fuck it all up in the first place.

Political Realists see the world as it is: ... In this world laws are written for the lofty aim of "the common good" and then acted out in life on the basis of common greed...; a world where we are always moral and our enemies always immoral; a world where "reconciliation" means that when one side gets the power and the other side gets reconciled to it, then we have reconciliation.... In the world as it is, the solution of each problem inevitably creates a new one.
Saul David Alinsky
Rules for Radicals

A_J's corollary #7, “To the New Age Liberal, the past is an indictment, the present is unjust, and the future will be perfect if and only if they establish the rules and cultural norms for current society.”

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I am not bothered by the advent of right wing press. I am bothered more by the change from 'news' to 'right/left' advocacy on the part of so-called press.

At one time (not in my lifetime) you could pick up a paper and find news - reporting what people said or did or about the events that occurred.

Today, you pick up a paper and you can read the headline and know which way the article is going to slant. You can generally pick up a Washington Post and know the editorial favours the President (or a left wing idea) or a Washington Times and know it favours Romney (or some right wing idea).

They no longer need to bother reporting news, they can just get a name, a date and fill in the data from the script. "The Job Killing Patient Protection Act" . . . "The Child Protection and Crime Act"

And the intellectual frauds who read and repost this drivel are doing nothing but nodding along with popcorn waiting for the commercial to tell them there's a better brand of popcorn.

More and more, I am beginning to doubt that memory.

Remember, we won Tet and then Cronkite pronounced the war lost and suddenly it was.

I think it has always been pro Interventionist Government for the reporter sees victims in the course of their objective reporting and cannot help, in the spirit of altruism, to issue a call for something to be done.

I submit that reporting has become a cushy job that requires a fat ass, a comfy chair and a plethora of email, Facebook, Twitter and "insider" eFeeds of eFacts....

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Izzy


Stop stretching the screen asshole...

 

[kbate]

More and more, I am beginning to doubt that memory.

Remember, we won Tet and then Cronkite pronounced the war lost and suddenly it was.

I think it has always been pro Interventionist Government for the reporter sees victims in the course of their objective reporting and cannot help, in the spirit of altruism, to issue a call for something to be done.

I submit that reporting has become a cushy job that requires a fat ass, a comfy chair and a plethora of email, Facebook, Twitter and "insider" eFeeds of eFacts....

I was not alive when we won Tet, so my recollection of Tet comes from the history books which tell me that it was a tactical victory but a strategic loss. We failed to recognize the political aspect of the offensive while easily dealing with the military aspect.

With the internet and databases it is a simple matter to throw an article together using canned quotes (hmmmm?), scripted soundbites and just enough from the actual happening (coupled with alleged) in order to make it appear current.

Fraud - but it's the fraud people expect. We are indoctrinated from early age to know that Big Brother is Good but that Communists are Bad.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

After Tet, the Viet Army of the North didn't want to have a fucking thing to do with our military.


The loss was a political loss of will fueled by the press.

 

[kbate]

After Tet, the Viet Army of the North didn't want to have a fucking thing to do with our military.

The fear of nuclear weapons lost that war, not the press. Fear that the Russians would risk national death instead of abandoning a piss poor client state if we pressed our military supremacy into total victory.

The press was a dupe, reporting on the heartbeat of America - the long haired protests, the free sex, the Hell's Angels, the marijuana threat, the dangers of rock and roll, basically attempting to script a changing world into the 1950s Cronkite is Sane voice.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

We, the few, the proud, would call that a lack of political will.

If deterrence was working and viable plan, they would have jumped up and down, screamed and banged shoes on podiums, but that would have been about all; we held the tactical edge, otherwise, they never would have left Cuba and would have shot down our cargo planes flying in and out of Berlin.

Same lack of cojones that kept Korea divided when Mac wanted to bomb the bridges over the Yalu...

 

[kbate]

We, the few, the proud, would call that a lack of political will.

If deterrence was working and viable plan, they would have jumped up and down, screamed and banged shoes on podiums, but that would have been about all; we held the tactical edge, otherwise, they never would have left Cuba and would have shot down our cargo planes flying in and out of Berlin.

Same lack of cojones that kept Korea divided when Mac wanted to bomb the bridges over the Yalu...

The Politics of Fear. It works. Don't Vote Romney, he'll take away your Medicare!"

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Canadian Exports Collapse, Expect Plunge in GDP; China Factor; US Recession Factor

All major Canadian exports including energy, autos, agriculture, forest products and machinery-and-equipment collapsed in the latest report. Canadian analysts are shocked by the news.

I sure am not.

For my reason, look at happenings in China, a huge recession in Europe, and even a recession in the US that surprisingly few have even figured out yet.

The Globe and Mail reports Sharp trade slowdown set to wallop GDP

The high dollar and the global slowdown are crushing Canada’s trade-dependent economy.

The latest evidence: The country posted the largest trade deficit in July since Statistics Canada began keeping records in 1971.

It wasn’t just the scale of the gap – $2.3-billion – that jolted analysts. It’s how the economy got there.

Virtually all major exports fell sharply, including energy, autos, agriculture, forest products and machinery-and-equipment. The overall drop was 3.4 per cent, paced by an even larger 5 per cent decline in exports to the U.S. – Canada’s largest customer.

At $2.3-billion, the trade deficit narrowly eclipsed the old mark, set in September 2010.

Scotiabank’s Mr. Holt said the high dollar is most damaging to U.S.-bound exports, which accounted for 72 per cent of all exports in July.

Currency Issue?

Sorry guys, this is not just a currency issue. This is a global recession, starting in Europe, continuing in Asia and as of June hitting the US. Few even see the US recession yet, but it is here, and Canada will be on the leading edge of it all.

Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/#LLBm4WzMPSal8d5V.99
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...de-slowdown-set-to-wallop-gdp/article4536242/

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

The Politics of Fear. It works. Don't Vote Romney, he'll take away your Medicare!"

Not only that but Ryan is gonna push your grandma off a cliff!

 

[kbate]

Not only that but Ryan is gonna push your grandma off a cliff!

That was me. I was accused of that when I said I favour a 25 year phaseout of medicare and social security.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

That was me. I was accused of that when I said I favour a 25 year phaseout of medicare and social security.

I can do it in 5...

 

[mercury14]

The democrats and the President knew from day 1 that the Jobs act was a DIW bill and they never intended it to pass and become law. It was nothing but a political ploy to grab headlines and turn the republicans in the house into bad guys so the pictured political advertisement could run.

I think both parties need to compromise. Do you kbate?

AJ?

 

[RobDownSouth]

Jesus Christ, what a dunce.

Keep fapping, Marine. You don't want to be teh "cracker boy" today on a day like today! Close your eyes and think of "Karen", all 380 pounds of him.

 

[unregistered]

 

[RobDownSouth]

Trim your jowls and shut teh fuck up.

Keep fapping, Marine. Close your eyes and try not to think about "Karen" being one of your few cyber-conquests that had a hairier back than you....

 

[kbate]

I think both parties need to compromise. Do you kbate?

AJ?

Yes, your posts indicate your incredible ability to see the need for compromise. How could we have missed your reasonable balance.

Oh, yes, compromise means, "Agree with the President".

 

[mercury14]

Yes, your posts indicate your incredible ability to see the need for compromise. How could we have missed your reasonable balance.

Oh, yes, compromise means, "Agree with the President".

I've always said it. I think Democrats should agree to make cuts to some of the programs they like in exchange for tax hikes.

 

[trysail]

Bernanke is doing everything short of human sacrifice to ignite another bubble.


QE3 is, of course, artificial, and the desperate effort to inflate by any means possible will have consequences.


When the U.S. made it impossible to manufacture anything because of sclerotic regulation, bureaucratic terrorists, artificial wage constraints, environmental hysteria, tort harassment and magical thinking by economic illiterates, it committed economic sepuku. They haven't figured it out— yet. They will..., eventually.


An economy based entirely on making noise, home pizza delivery and suing each other isn't an economy. It's a house of cards.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fredgraph.png?g=aA6


http://research.stlouisfed.org/fredgraph.png?g=80b

​

 

[kbate]

I've always said it. I think Democrats should agree to make cuts to some of the programs they like in exchange for tax hikes.

What program would you cut? You know it cannot be medicare, medicAid support or Social Security. So, that leaves only the Military if you wish to make meaningful cuts.

I know you'd be happy to cut any part of the Military except their veterans assistance and their retirement system.