Spreading the wealth . . . it’s the new patriotism.

but, but, ummm, socialism, umm, communism, umm, one of these days I’m gonna be rich – I know it, I really do.

i think that should read “We’re Okay with [other people paying] Higher Taxes”

at least if the “debate” this morning between graham and emanuel is any indication – the most important thing either candidate is going to do is lower taxes.

Trickle down this, Goppers!

Kansas has finally woken up.

Morning Scarecrow!

morning all

Bbbut, 250,000? We’re not rich. We can hardly afford to keep up appearances as it is. We’re only rich making a quarter mil a year if you compare us to a family in Haiti.

I thought you had to make 5,000,000 to be rich?

I honestly cannot imagine anyone with a single ounce of common sense supporting that idiot McBush. Literally every word out of his mouth is either made up as he goes along, or is just an outright lie. How can anyone with a single brain cell support a man whose word means nothing? We have dealt with that mentality for the last 8 years.

Jiff

Two years ago, I had the luxery of a faculty sabbatical, which I spent in Canada. While my Canadian colleagues gripped about taxes, I finally tackled a couple and played the game of “let’s compare pay checks.”

When we looked at what was taken out for which services, they ultimately paid a little less, much less if I count my health insurance premium as a tax.

They were floored–totally floored. I wasn’t surprised, but there’s been over 40 years of on-going demonization of social services in the US.

What doesn’t get stressed enough is that the Pentagon and the military industrial complex are the biggest welfare queens in the world. Reduce spending on War (I refuse to use the polite term “defense”) and our federal governmental spending becomes more sane.

All of this done while tax rates for the wealthy were reduced to silly levels.

Absolutely, spread all the wealth around folks. The rich have been looting the US blind for years.

What a bunch of socialists!!!! I like them. ;-)

Another mantra/chant of the McCain/Palin audiences:

“Tax the poor! Feed the rich! Starve the government to make it strong!”

Spit.

ot – very revealing discussion (imo) on inside washington – nina totenberg and mark shields mocking each other (not all in good fun, i think) on their clothes. nina saying mark only has one suit and mark accusing nina of shopping at target – as though these are things to be mocked. could they be more completely out of touch?

That extra 750 that would have to be paid on 250,000? That’s a full day’s treatment at an exclusive spa. (With lunch and tips). How are these people supposed to manage? As a nation, don’t we expect our well-off people to look good? How would it be if our upper classes started looking haggard? Anyone think about that?

How does the “other half” think we will pay down the deficit that has been home grown by our own Republican terrorist, Bush?

When my income taxes go down, my state and local taxes go up. It really is a no brainer. You will pay taxes till the day you die. It’s just How they tax is the difference.

Palin spreads the wealth every time she sends Alaskan’s their refund check courtesy of the oil companies.
I wonder if she would be so popular if she wasn’t giving them money every year?

I know I pay more per month for my portion of my health insurance than I do in taxes

What doesn’t get stressed enough is that the Pentagon and the military industrial complex are the biggest welfare queens in the world. Reduce spending on War (I refuse to use the polite term “defense”) and our federal governmental spending becomes more sane.

unfortunately no one representing that position is on the ballot.

shorter America to the Republics:

“I think we should start seeing other people”

Anyone watching McC?

I am, in between pukes

Oy, someone on Matthews just predicted that Larry Summers would be TreasSec in Obama admin. Wonder how long it’ll be before he insults women again

I’m just not that in to you anymore?

Larry Sanders would be a better choice.

The AA lady (Nancy Giles???) who does occasional funny commentary on CBS Sunday Morning had a wonderful piece today just scewering (sp?) palin on her $150,000 wardrobe and rooting for buying clothing on sale. Total 180 approach to the discussion you describe.

at this point i’d be inclined to give him a partial pass on his bigotry if i thought he would be a good for jobs/wages/democracy.

jeebus, did i just write that? i hardly recognize myself and my priorities.

Absolutely, spread all the wealth around folks. The rich have been looting the US blind for years.

Since money is fungible, there’s no functional difference between a tax break and a handout.

v glad to hear it. thanks.

scewering

close, it’s a “k” rather than a “c”

face the nation just starting here – with rubin and holt-eakin.

rubin – need v. large stimulus but tied to long term fiscal discipline. we’re in a perfect storm, uncharted waters, v low probability event.

Health insurance? What health insurance? As a vet with no service-connected disabilities (thanking my lucky stars), if I become seriously ill I have to hope that the VA will treat me. If they won’t, I’m in deep doo doo.

rubin – stimulus should not be public works or a check. should be help for cities and states, infrastructure but only projects that are ready to go right now. v. short period of time for stimulus.

Hey, Selise. I recognize that you have strong priorities and think that maybe you know that there might not be a person who has every single strength you’d wish for. So, you focus on the most important aspects that will affect a positive outcome for Americans.
Good Girl!!!!
And, good morning to you.

rubin – we’re in a real crisis of confidence that can be stemmed by moving on the fronts i just mentioned. could be less than a matter of months to see us out of the crisis [then just a downturn?-s]

scewering

close, it’s a “k” rather than a “c”

I thought it was missing an “r” instead…

good morning demi.

i don’t have any answers – other than to advocate for more info and less spin. just trying to understand what i’m seeing. and worried about the millions of people who will suffer unnecessarily.

jaysus! did he actually say “a matter of months” ?!?!?

holt-eakin – don’t raise taxes. there is no greater stimulus than keeping american families spending.

I see that Paulson wants banks to compete for bailout money. Since when did the Rethugs actually embrace competition? They’ve used the term to push for mergers of the telecoms, media, etc, creating monopolies that compete with no one, but real competition, that’s so…so Marxist.

It’s not “spreading the wealth” it’s just undoing more of Bush’s mistakes. The rate goes back to St Reagan’s time, the Golden Era of Conservatism. Don’t let the rethugs frame this.

for the crisis in confidence – yep. and nothing, that i heard (maybe someone else heard differently) on why there is no confidence.

Mornin’, selise, demi, pups.

Answers? Shit, I don’t even know all the questions.

Isn’t it ironic that McCain is accusing Obama of taking premature victory laps – considering the Republican party’s attachment to “The Mother Of All Premature Victory Laps?”

http://seoblackhat.com/images/…..lished.jpg

both holt-eakin and rubin say that the credit markets have loosen up recently.

[is this true? -s]

holt-eakin – hopefully this year next time we’ll be talking about the recovery.

at this point i’d be inclined to give him a partial pass on his bigotry fi i thought he would be a good for jobs/wages/democracy.

Ian suggested the lady who runs the FDIC for Sec. Treasury. (I don’t recall her name right now..)

that is because you are wiser than i am *g*

morning SD.

And the winner is…..Goldman Sachs. Surprise!

sheila blair and that was dean baker’s recommendation at oxdown.

recovering from a war/spending binge, pass the tylenol

and dear gawd Rubin – nothing like talking to your fellow citizens like gullible 7 year olds in need of a bedtime story.

…then again, he didn’t say which months /s

The NYT strikes again. They’re quoting a part of somebody’s book that came out before Obama was the nominee. Instead of lobbyists the McSFB campaign needs somebody who knows how to do research.

G’Morning SD.
No one has all the right answers.
I think it’s a good thing to keep an open mind and continue with the critical thinking.
How many times have I seen people rip someone for a single statement here or there, a statement that they don’t agree with and then when the same person says something the agree with, they are just head over heels all tingly about them.
Do you know what I mean? Better to stay a little tolerant and balanced.

holt-eakin – don’t raise taxes. there is no greater stimulus than keeping american families spending.

If low taxes are good, certainly negative taxes are even better.

Who could have ever predicted…

sheila blair was on charlie rose recently – (i haven’t given it a listen yet, but thought it might be a good intro)

sheila blair and that was dean baker’s recommendation at oxdown.

Oops! Guess I better pour myself a second cuppa. ;-)

Anyway, she sounded like an excellent candidate. Dean’s article, however, is all that I know about her.

Southern Dragon,
Oh, I hope that didn’t sound like finger pointing at you. I mean all of us. People here at the Lake and the Talking Heads on the tv.

Who could have ever predicted…

Nouriel “Dr. Doom” Roubini

Oy, someone on Matthews just predicted that Larry Summers would be TreasSec in Obama admin. Wonder how long it’ll be before he insults women again

I wrote this yesterday but I see neither Rubin nor Summers reforming and restructuring the financial system in any meaningful and effective way. So I see a much more painful, prolonged, and costly recession than there needs to be.

I wonder if she would be so popular if she wasn’t giving them money every year?

Great (and waaaay understated) point.

Did I read somewhere that they get over $3000/yr. per person?

And that includes children?

So the Palins get a $21,000/yr. check?

Hey folks, Jane has new thready goodness upstairs

Jane’s up
Palin Didn’t Know How Much the Clothes Cost? Hah. As If…

I heard it was 1500.00

Sheila Bair is also someone I think might make a reasonably good Treasury Secretary.

me too (hadn’t heard of her until dean’s diary). although hugh iirc has written he doesn’t think she is batshit crazy (ok those are obviously my words, not his) or something to that effect. given the alternatives, sounds like a ringing endorsement to me. so worth taking a look at the rose/blair interview. i’ve already downloaded it (although it pisses me off no end that rose charges for his podcasts, so i have to download the whole fracking video).

and holt dolt-eakin.

That was too easy.

Juvenile, yes, but too easy.

lol. i knew you hadn’t used the phrase “batshit crazy”

love it.

Re-Distribute the Wealth? Hah!

You can’t redistribute it unless you distribute it first – and the last 40 years has been all about concentrating it. Wages for most people have been stagnant when measured against inflation or worse if tracked against the GDP.

Here’s one of those things that conceals what has been going on. When economists look at the average wage, median wage, etc. and call any rise in it inflationary, there’s a big panic and the government is called on to take action. But, let a small minority at the top see their wages balloon, it hardly gets any attention because the number of individuals involved is small, even though the amounts of money are huge. And it has other pernicious ways of working out.

Say there’s an across the board 3-5% raise to keep up with inflation. Sounds reasonable, right? Except that 3-5% is a lot different for someone making say $40,000 a year versus someone making 300-400 times that. (That gap between the shop floor and the executive suites.)

See, there’s a real difference between someone trying to make enough money to keep one household going versus someone who can afford to have 8 houses or more (Non-random example) There’s a minimum amount of money needed by every person just to meet necessities – food, rent/mortgage, healthcare, etc. – and you’re not really progressing economically until you start being able to accumulate income above that minimum. Otherwise you’re effectively living at subsistence levels; one piece of bad luck and you’re screwed. You can’t save, you can’t invest, and you can’t get ahead because you have nothing left over.

In the absence of rising income for people in this situation, there are few choices: try to find a better paying job, work several jobs, or borrow now in hopes that tomorrow you can pay it back.

Giving money to people who already have vast amounts does nothing to make the situation better – there’s no trickle down because the rich ARE rich because they’re good at hanging on to what they have. Give a billionaire 10 million, and he’ll try to shield it from taxes, invest in something to make even more money out of it, and maybe buy some stuff.

Give that same 10 million to ten thousand people of middle class income or lower, they’ll use it to help pay bills, send their kids to college, get health care, and buy things they need to live – not just luxuriate. They’ll put it right back into the economy, creating jobs and keeping the economy working.

Take that 10 million and put it into infrastructure – rebuilding bridges, replacing aging water/sewer systems, new/better schools, investing in green infrastructure – again jobs are created, there’s a multiplier effect as that money moves through the economy, and quality of life improves for everyone.

For forty years Republicans have been telling us the measure of a successful society is how much wealth it creates, and they measure it by counting millionaires. If you measure it by counting how many people have enough food, housing, education, and health care, you get a rather different answer.

How hard is that to understand?

Once again I have to say, I think it’s a terrible idea not to repeat again and again, as many times as you can say it, that the Rethugs have already redistributed your wealth upward for the last seven and three quarters years, only they have redistributed it upward to the already wealthy. That is the Rethug way. They call it supply side econonomics; they call it “trickle down.” What we’re seeing now is what happens after you have conducted this social experiment for a long time.

Now the middle class has, on the average, $2,000 less income yearly to spend, and any variation on the cost of goods puts them over the line to the point that they can no longer afford to buy the widgets (any goods or services) that the rich want to supply. That has greatly affected the credit markets, along with the unbridled greed exhibited by the financial institutions that did not self-regulate as the Rethugs unrealistically expected them to do, but engaged in extremely risky financial behavior. This risky behavior has resulted in the Rethugs socializing the losses of the markets after they have already wrung all the profits out while they were still privatized.

The solution that democrats are seeking is to roll back the tax cuts to the wealthy that the Rethugs gave them as a reward for their wealth, and put more money in the hands of the middle class and the working poor who, we feel, will put the money to better use. What Dems expect is that this will create demand, which is what produces more profits, and hence, more jobs. It’s easy to say that Dems are trying to redistribute the wealth, and to repeat it many times so that you may be tempted to believe the lie. But Democrats believe that the rising tide floats all boats, meaning that we are only trying to level the playing field and restore the fiscal house that the US was in before GWB privatized the profits and socialized the risks. Our methods will include addressing the deferred maintenance of our infrastructure and assisting in the creation of whole new green industries.

Personally, I hope that is what we will hear from Barack Obama on Wednesday, and every day after that till the election!

Gov. Palin better be ready up there in Alaska – when all the recently foreclosed rubes pack up and head for Alaska. Looking to cash in on the good socialism up there. Hey, a family of 6 gets a check for $12,000, add that to the earned income IRS check and were looking at a survival income. The new “populist” republican corporatism better watch out for what they wish for.