Krauthammer on the French vote

[mudwhistle]

Krauthammer, like most cons, is invested in the US doing badly while under a Democratic President.

Krauthammer used to be a Democrat. Wonder what changed his mind?

 

[SniperFire]

Germany scoffs..

And when France goes bankrupt, not even Germany can bail them out.

EU is circling the drain.

 

[JoeB131]

Krauthammer, like most cons, is invested in the US doing badly while under a Democratic President.

Krauthammer used to be a Democrat. Wonder what changed his mind?

Democrats insist that Israel has to live in the real world.

 

[mudwhistle]

Krauthammer, like most cons, is invested in the US doing badly while under a Democratic President.

Krauthammer used to be a Democrat. Wonder what changed his mind?

Democrats insist that Israel has to live in the real world.

What world is that?

The world of Islamic domination?

 

[Big Fitz]

Here's the underlying problem-

Austerity doesn't bring us out of recessions. For that matter, neither do tax cuts.

We got out of the 2001 recession because Bush spent a crapload of money on the wars.

We got out of the 1992 Recession because Clinton spent a lot of money on a stimulus.

We got out of the 1981 recession because Reagan spent a lot of money on a military buildup combined with infrastructure programs.

Now, the thing is, Stimulus was tried this time, but it was misdirected. Smaller than what was asked for and it mostly went to bail out the states, which went on to do "austeriity" themselves.

Meanwhile, in Europe, Austerity was tried, and the "Confidence Fairy" didn't show up. Instead, what you got was a lot of angry people who saw their benefits cut and no jobs showing up as promised. So they threw out Sarkozy, and Merkel and Cameron are going to follow in short order.

Tell that to a financial planner as you're overspending by many multiples of your income. If he doesn't laugh you out of the office... you're in the wrong office.

I thought we NEVER got out of the recession from W and this was just a continuation of it. In reality it was his tax cuts that helped.

Clinton got out thanks to austerity programs forced on him by Congress.

Reagan got out by tax cuts

 

[JoeB131]

Krauthammer used to be a Democrat. Wonder what changed his mind?

Democrats insist that Israel has to live in the real world.

What world is that?

The world of Islamic domination?

A world where Religious Apartheid is unacceptable, and Palestinians aren't going to go away.

Eventually, Israel will be eliminated by Demographics.

 

[Si modo]

Krauthammer is dumber than a box of rocks. The Fox zombies eat it up.

Of course a mindless parrot, racist, and anti-Semite such as yourself would hate the educated and disabled.

 

[Truthmatters]

In the USs most prosperous times our top tax rate was that high or higher.

Dont let the facts get in the way of your partisan hackery that places party over country and reality though

 

[blastoff]

Here's the underlying problem-

Austerity doesn't bring us out of recessions. For that matter, neither do tax cuts.

We got out of the 2001 recession because Bush spent a crapload of money on the wars.

We got out of the 1992 Recession because Clinton spent a lot of money on a stimulus.

We got out of the 1981 recession because Reagan spent a lot of money on a military buildup combined with infrastructure programs.

Now, the thing is, Stimulus was tried this time, but it was misdirected. Smaller than what was asked for and it mostly went to bail out the states, which went on to do "austeriity" themselves.

Meanwhile, in Europe, Austerity was tried, and the "Confidence Fairy" didn't show up. Instead, what you got was a lot of angry people who saw their benefits cut and no jobs showing up as promised. So they threw out Sarkozy, and Merkel and Cameron are going to follow in short order.

Just curious about which states jumped on the Austerity Bandwagon?

 

[BlackAsCoal]

Two quotes that sum up the facts succinctly with regards to French president Hollande's desire to have a 75% tax on the Rich:

"I guarantee you that the treasury in Paris will get less net revenue as the rich leave. The rich are able to move a lot easier than the poor, as happened in other countries."

"You can vote to have a new government but you can't have a new economy unless you do your cuts and you balance your budgets. Which he doesn't want to do obviously."

Krauthammer :0)

I'll see your Krauthammer and raise you a Paul Krugman .. who is much smarter on the economy.

Those revolting Europeans
By Paul Krugman

excerpts -

The French are revolting. The Greeks, too. And it’s about time.

Both countries held elections Sunday that were in effect referendums on the current European economic strategy, and in both countries voters turned two thumbs down. It’s far from clear how soon the votes will lead to changes in actual policy, but time is clearly running out for the strategy of recovery through austerity — and that’s a good thing.

Needless to say, that’s not what you heard from the usual suspects in the run-up to the elections. It was actually kind of funny to see the apostles of orthodoxy trying to portray the cautious, mild-mannered François Hollande as a figure of menace. He is “rather dangerous,” declared The Economist, which observed that he “genuinely believes in the need to create a fairer society.” Quelle horreur!

What is true is that Mr. Hollande’s victory means the end of “Merkozy,” the Franco-German axis that has enforced the austerity regime of the past two years. This would be a “dangerous” development if that strategy were working, or even had a reasonable chance of working. But it isn’t and doesn’t; it’s time to move on. Europe’s voters, it turns out, are wiser than the Continent’s best and brightest.

What’s wrong with the prescription of spending cuts as the remedy for Europe’s ills? One answer is that the confidence fairy doesn’t exist — that is, claims that slashing government spending would somehow encourage consumers and businesses to spend more have been overwhelmingly refuted by the experience of the past two years. So spending cuts in a depressed economy just make the depression deeper.

Moreover, there seems to be little if any gain in return for the pain. Consider the case of Ireland, which has been a good soldier in this crisis, imposing ever-harsher austerity in an attempt to win back the favor of the bond markets. According to the prevailing orthodoxy, this should work. In fact, the will to believe is so strong that members of Europe’s policy elite keep proclaiming that Irish austerity has indeed worked, that the Irish economy has begun to recover.

But it hasn’t. And although you’d never know it from much of the press coverage, Irish borrowing costs remain much higher than those of Spain or Italy, let alone Germany. So what are the alternatives?

---

Talk to German opinion leaders about the euro crisis, and they like to point out that their own economy was in the doldrums in the early years of the last decade but managed to recover. What they don’t like to acknowledge is that this recovery was driven by the emergence of a huge German trade surplus vis-à-vis other European countries — in particular, vis-à-vis the nations now in crisis — which were booming, and experiencing above-normal inflation, thanks to low interest rates. Europe’s crisis countries might be able to emulate Germany’s success if they faced a comparably favorable environment — that is, if this time it was the rest of Europe, especially Germany, that was experiencing a bit of an inflationary boom.

So Germany’s experience isn’t, as the Germans imagine, an argument for unilateral austerity in Southern Europe; it’s an argument for much more expansionary policies elsewhere, and in particular for the European Central Bank to drop its obsession with inflation and focus on growth.

The Germans, needless to say, don’t like this conclusion, nor does the leadership of the central bank. They will cling to their fantasies of prosperity through pain, and will insist that continuing with their failed strategy is the only responsible thing to do. But it seems that they will no longer have unquestioning support from the Élysée Palace. And that, believe it or not, means that both the euro and the European project now have a better chance of surviving than they did a few days ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/opinion/krugman-those-revolting-europeans.html

 

[Truthmatters]

Austerity was tried yet again in history and failed yet again in history

 

[Moonglow]

it is not the first socialist for France as a president. Noticed they had a communist and they are still alive and well

 

[clevergirl]

I continue to read ignorant claims of a boom when tax rates were at 90%.

Two main points:
First most tax revenue at that time went directly to specific programs as we had a much smaller more capable government-

Second most of the wealthy hid assets- It doesn’t take a tax genius; any rich person can make a phone call or hit a few computer keys and shift his or her investments to tax-free municipal bonds. It’s not good for the economy when capital gets diverted to help finance the excess spending of Detroit or California, but it’s an effective way of stiff-arming the IRS.

In addition the rich can play the investment scam, and they do, getting all sorts of credits to offset their tax liabilities. That’s one way General Electric made lots of money and kept it all for shareholders.

Tax cuts, combined with spending cuts (what Bush tax cuts lacked) are good for all income earners. Tax cuts encourage capital to remain in the market.

 

[BlackAsCoal]

Austerity was tried yet again in history and failed yet again in history

Absolutely.

What pulled America out of the Great Depression?

GOVERNMENT .. not the private sector.

 

[Big Fitz]

Austerity was tried yet again in history and failed yet again in history

Absolutely.

What pulled America out of the Great Depression?

GOVERNMENT .. not the private sector.

Actually economists point to the fact that if not for FDR's New Deal programs, the great depression would have ended in less than 5 years. It took a war to create demand for goods and services for the defense of this nation to kick start the economy, paid for by bonds, which basically fueled the consumer economy in the post war era where excess manufacturing would have died if it were not for that thanks to the oversupply of labor and capacity.

Sorry, War Bonds are not a new deal program. Nor are they really an expansion of government spending as much as a deferral of private spending getting a temporary double dip.

How many war bonds have you bought lately? Hell, how many Government bonds of ANY type have you ever bought?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TUPUbvO0eU]Bugs Bunny War Bond Drive WW2 Cartoon - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Meister]

People this country could take a lesson from the new French president, I'm sure Obama will point his finger at France and say, "This is what I'm talking about".

Hollande wants the very rich to pay 75 percent in income taxes and plans to hike taxes on companies that distribute profits to shareholders instead of investing in their business.
What French election result means for US, world

 

[Big Fitz]

People this country could take a lesson from the new French president, I'm sure Obama will point his finger at France and say, "This is what I'm talking about".

Hollande wants the very rich to pay 75 percent in income taxes and plans to hike taxes on companies that distribute profits to shareholders instead of investing in their business.
What French election result means for US, world

I fully expect him to try something so boneheaded unless someone heads him off and says "NO NO NO!!!! You can THINK that... but you can't TELL them that... till after the election and they can't hurt you.

 

[BlackAsCoal]

Austerity was tried yet again in history and failed yet again in history

Absolutely.

What pulled America out of the Great Depression?

GOVERNMENT .. not the private sector.

Actually economists point to the fact that if not for FDR's New Deal programs, the great depression would have ended in less than 5 years. It took a war to create demand for goods and services for the defense of this nation to kick start the economy, paid for by bonds, which basically fueled the consumer economy in the post war era where excess manufacturing would have died if it were not for that thanks to the oversupply of labor and capacity.

Sorry, War Bonds are not a new deal program. Nor are they really an expansion of government spending as much as a deferral of private spending getting a temporary double dip.

How many war bonds have you bought lately? Hell, how many Government bonds of ANY type have you ever bought?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TUPUbvO0eU]Bugs Bunny War Bond Drive WW2 Cartoon - YouTube[/ame]

:0)

I'm betting I can find FAR more economists who've credited FDR and the New Deal for .. ie; government .. for America's recovery than those who say it would have ended 5 years earlier without it .. nonsensical Bugs Bunny videos aside.

How much do you wanna' bet?

 

[eflatminor]

Krauthammer is dumber than a box of rocks...

Perhaps your comment is a matter of perspective. Maybe he's just dumb compared to you? Let's take a look at Krauthammer's intellectual accomplishments and you can respond with yours:

• MD from Harvard University
• Commonwealth Scholar in politics at Balliol College, Oxford
• Pulitzer Prize winner
• Former chief resident in Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital where he co-discovered a form of mania resulting from a concomitant medical illness.
• Worked for the Carter administration heading psychiatric research
• Weekly panelist on PBS program Inside Washington
• Syndicated columnist in 275 newspapers and media outlets
• Former president Bill Clinton called Krauthammer "a brilliant man" in a December 2010 press conference.
• Lastly, he's apparently an expert chess player.

I can't wait to see you demonstrate the intellectual prowess you possess in such abundance that you're able to call a guy like Krauthammer dumb. Damn you must be good! Now, impress us.

 

[SniperFire]

Austerity was tried yet again in history and failed yet again in history

Absolutely.

What pulled America out of the Great Depression?

GOVERNMENT .. not the private sector.

Government locked America in the Depression for about 7 years longer than necessary.

This is well known by any student of the topic.