Day: October 9, 2008

The Humor That Is Trickle Down Economics

Professor, why humor? Back in the day there was “voodoo” economics and then it was “trickle down” economics, that is, simply put, where you give the rich and corporations heavy tax cuts and the savings will trickle down to all economic strata. The two Bushes are of this thinking.

Let us look at what really happened. Corporate profits have risen by 72% and the income of the richest 0.1% of the population has risen by 51%, while the working class has seen job cuts, stagnate wages, health care cut, etc. That predicted trickle has not made it to the working class; it will NEVER make it to the working class.

The trickle down is a LIE! It will never make it to the point that it was sold to the sleeping public. Where are the realists? Why does not the people have enough sense to see this? Good questions!

First, the realists told the American public it was not a good idea, but they ignored the warnings, just so they could save $7 on the taxes per week. Shortsightedness is the reason; the need for instant gratification is the reason, but the real reason is STUPIDITY! Oh sorry I answered both question with one answer–COOL!

May I suggest that the people spend a little more time educating themselves and a little less time with their butts glued to a sofa. Your only other option is to stay bent over with a jar of vasoline close at hand, that will help make the f*cking by the government a little more comfortable.

Peace, Out

Is “Voodoo Economics” Finally Dead?

Voodoo economics?  That is what George I called Reagan’s supply side economic package back in 1980.

Quickly from the wikipedia:

The typical policy recommendation of supply-side economics is to achieve the proper level of marginal tax rates, which, by virtue of the high rate of taxes in general, equates with cutting of taxes.[2] Maximum benefits are achieved by optimizing the marginal tax rates of those with high-incomes and capital who are deemed as most likely to increase supply and thus spur growth.[3] Mainstream Keynesian macroeconomics, by contrast, contends that tax cuts should be used to increase demand, not supply, and thus should be targeted at cash-strapped, lower-income households, who are more likely to spend additional income

Reagan’s ideas:

  1. reduce the growth of government spending,
  2. reduce marginal tax rates on income from labor and capital,
  3. reduce government regulation of the economy,
  4. control the money supply to reduce inflation

I recall when this whole election process began so many months ago and the Republicans were invoking the name and policies of Reagan trying to gain the upper hand over their opponents.  Funny what a difference 6 months can make.

To answer the question…NO it is not, only parts of it, the Repubs still push the reduced regs and the spending cuts and then the always popular tax cuts.  The current crap in the economic spheres shows that it is not.  My fav is that tax cuts create jobs.  That is a sweeping statement, has not worked well in the last year or so, but yet it is still taunted as a savior of the economy.

Why do I say this?  To me the whole thing sounds like a massive BS ploy.  We will borrow money from banks to give to banks and then hope that any benefits would trickle down through the system to help the average taxpayer.  Trickle down economics has not worked as promised in the past and I doubt that it will it this situation.

One Last Shot!

The whole guilty by association has seem to die, at least for now and the ratcheting up the veteran, hero, war thingy has caught fire again.  I am sorry sports fans but the McCain campaign is running around looking for a hook that will help them in the polls.  So far they have come up with zero!

But I had to take one last shot….sorry……it is a weakness.

Barack Obama‘s campaign is citing the University of South Carolina’s speaking invitations to William Ayers and Republican Gov. Mark Sanford’s role as school trustee to counter Sarah Palin‘s efforts to link the presidential candidate to the 1960s radical. In an e-mail to reporters, the Obama campaign said Mr. Ayers is a “distinguished scholar” at the University of South Carolina, where Mr. Sanford serves as the ex-officio trustee while governor. “By Governor Palin’s standards, that means Governor Sanford shares Ayers’ views,” the e-mail read. Mr. Sanford rejected the argument. A university spokesman said Mr. Ayers has spoken six times over the last 13 years at the university’s Museum of Education but has “no ongoing connection or relationship with the university.”

One more time……

Todd Palin continued an official membership in the Alaska Independence Party until 2002, more than 30 years after the Weather Underground went out of existence and Barack Obama was a child. When Todd Palin was a member the Alaska Independence Party, Sarah Palin was the mother of his children. Sarah Palin, as Alaska’s governor, told the Alaska Independence Party to “keep up the good work” as they were about to nominate conspiracy buff Charles Baldwin for president.

The Alaska Independence Party has a history which it has not repudiated and a commitment to policies that would be considered “anti-American” across the political spectrum, policies that have produced separatist wars in many parts of the world. Americans deserve to know if Sarah Palin still agrees with that party’s views, and even if she wants to be an American rather than an Alaskan citzen.

I am still amazed that the MSM has not even tried to be balanced in this war of words.  Only bloggers seem to have the cajones to take on the oddity known as Palin and the self-described hero, McCain.

Ukraine Pot Begins To Bubble

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Wednesday abandoned the search for a coalition to take over from the current “orange” government, dissolved parliament and called an early election to the assembly.

Yushchenko blamed Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, his estranged ally from the 2004 “Orange Revolution,” for the collapse of a coalition that emerged from that pro-Western upheaval which swept him to power.

“I am convinced, deeply convinced that the democratic coalition was ruined by one thing alone — human ambition. The ambition of one person,” he said in his address, shown on television while he was making a visit to Italy.

He gave no date for the election, the third in as many years in the ex-Soviet state gripped by political turmoil since the mass protests of 2004. The constitution provides for an election to take place no more than 60 days after dissolution — making December 7 a possible date.

Differences between the president and prime minister focus on a longstanding debate over how to divide up powers in Ukraine and Yushchenko’s allegations that Tymoshenko has been too soft on Russia in its conflict with Georgia.

I believe a wise man toild the readers here to watch the Ukraine for trouble after the Georgia thing.  It is far from over in the Ukraine and the “New Cold War ” will most likely begion in this region.

Iraq’s Biggest Problem

Iraqi parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani said in Tehran that the presence of foreign forces in the country is the biggest problem facing Iraq, while Iranian Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani reiterated his country’s support to Iraq.

“Iraq’s problems would not be solved as long as alien forces are in the country, he said, adding that the presence of foreign forces in the country is the biggest problem facing Iraq,” Iranian news agency quoted al-Mashhadani as saying on Wednesday during his meeting with Larijani.
The Iraqi parliament speaker termed the two sides’ relations as very important and said consolidation of relations between Iran and Iraq would lead to prosperity and stability of the entire region.

I guess he will just have to get over it, huh?

The Party Has Just Begun

Just days after the federal government committed $85 billion of taxpayers’ money to a bailout of insurance giant AIG last month, senior execs from the troubled company headed to Southern California’s ultra-swanky St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach for a week of wining and dining top salespeople.

As it happens, congressional investigators released AIG documents earlier in the day showing that the company paid more than $440,000 for the event, including nearly $200,000 for rooms, $150,000 for meals, $23,000 in spa charges and almost $7,000 for golf outings.
The post-bailout getaway for American International Group execs is just one of a series of jaw-dropping revelations to emerge this week about the behavior of some of the companies involved in the financial crisis.

Among other things we now know:

* AIG tried to hide negative information about its condition from auditors before the bailout plan took shape, according to documents obtained by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

* As early as March, regulators sent a letter to AIG warning the company about its lack of transparency and ability to oversee financial products.

* Just days before Lehman Bros. Holding Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection last month, the company altered its executive pay plan to give senior managers multimillion-dollar bonuses regardless of recent losses.

* Joseph Cassano, the Lehman exec in charge of the company’s financial products division, received more than $280 million over the last eight years, according to Waxman. Even after he was shown the door in February, Cassano was placed on a $1 million-a-month consulting retainer.

The money the taxpayers are asked to give is being well spent (sarcasm intended)

Who Is Neel Kashkari?

On October 6 US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson named Neel Kashkari to head the Treasury’s new Office of Financial Stability (OFS). The OFS is charged with paying out $700 billion to Wall Street banks and other financial firms in exchange for their failed mortgage-backed assets, under the terms of the bailout signed into law by President Bush on October 3.

Kashkari’s identity is thus a matter of considerable public interest. Only 35 years old, Kashkari joined the Treasury in 2006 “as a Senior Advisor to US Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson,” according to his official Treasury Department biography. At the time, Paulson was giving up his job as CEO of Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs to join the Treasury.

The biography continues, “Prior to joining the Treasury Department, Mr. Kashkari was a Vice-President of Goldman Sachs & Co. in San Francisco, where he led Goldman’s IT Security Investment Banking practice, advising public and private companies on mergers and acquisitions and financial transactions.”

Despite his high rank, Kashkari has only a few years of experience in finance. After initially studying aerospace engineering at the University of Illinois, he worked at defense firm TRW on contract projects from the US space agency NASA, before switching careers and attending the Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia. He joined Goldman Sachs after graduating from Wharton in 2002.

In pushing the bailout, its supporters—particularly Democratic congressional leaders and presidential candidate Barack Obama—claimed there would be “transparency” and “oversight” safeguards. The nomination of Kashkari, however, exposes the fact that the financial elite will direct the entire process on behalf of its own interests.