Economic Reality

[Bullypulpit]

<blockquote>Despite the Federal Reserve’s stay-the-course message yesterday, investors are betting on at least one interest-rate cut by January, intended to quell turmoil in the markets and to juice the slow economy. But with the dollar also weak — recently hitting its lowest point in 15 years against an index of other major currencies — the Fed may be reluctant to oblige.

A declining dollar is a source of inflationary pressure because it can boost the cost of imports. So if the Fed tried to rev up the economy with a rate cut at the same time the dollar is falling, it could end up provoking even more inflation. That would be a drag on economic growth rather than a boost. In an extreme case, it could result in a toxic combination of weak growth and high prices that is a central banker’s nightmare.

How did the Fed lose room to maneuver? The answer is rooted in the Bush administration’s misguided economic policies.

Over the last several years, America’s imbalances in trade and other global transactions have worsened dramatically, requiring the United States to borrow billions of dollars a day from abroad just to balance its books. - <a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/opinion/08wed1.html?ei=5088&en=1044bec877b0e02b&ex=1344225600&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print>NYT</a></blockquote>

What's needed to fix the problem? A dramatic reversal of the Bush administration's economic policies, starting with a roll-back of Bush's tax cuts. Tax policies need to be aimed at giving the average person incentives to save rather than expanding the already generous tax-shelters for America's wealthiest families. Also, the rapidly growing burden of health-care costs need to be addressed by the government in a responsible manner. Neither of which this administration is likely to do. More importantly, however, the government MUST be weened off of the sugar-teat of foreign borrowing. Rather than do the responsible thing and raise taxes to finance the disastrous war in Iraq, the Bush administration has borrowed money from abroad to pay for it, leaving this nation vulnerable to economic black-mail, such as <a href=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/08/07/bcnchina107a.xml>China is now doing</a>.

Strong leadership is required to guide this nation through the economic pit-falls it now faces, leadership the Bush administration has utterly failed to provide. They have abandoned their responsibilities in this arena as they have in so many others.

 

[Toro]

Rolling back the tax cuts right now wouldn't be a good idea. The economy is slowing and parts of the financial markets are in turmoil. Increasing taxes and/or cutting spending would exacerbate the problems.

 

[Truthmatters]

Pretty much no matter what is done pains will be felt.

That is the meaning of this post I think.

We have been warning about this for years and got told we were just beating on Bush.

The fact is the govs insistance on tax cuts and war along with its complete lack of oversight of industies like the banks to keep them from making the types of loans which were destined to failure is what has gotten us here.

Rock meet hard place and thank the Republican party.

 

[Delbert]

Republicans are to blame.... yes this is true,...... but.....
any of you who think the dems are any less responsible
are just foolin yourselves. The truth of the matter is both
political parties are equally to blame. If your trying to make
yourself feel better about who you support, then so be it.
I have seen the light, and Repubs=Dems. There is very
little meaningful difference, especially fiscally. I will only
support a candidate who has the best interest of the country
at heart, sadly there are few to choose from.

 

[JeffWartman]

Republicans are to blame.... yes this is true,...... but.....
any of you who think the dems are any less responsible
are just foolin yourselves. The truth of the matter is both
political parties are equally to blame. If your trying to make
yourself feel better about who you support, then so be it.
I have seen the light, and Repubs=Dems. There is very
little meaningful difference, especially fiscally. I will only
support a candidate who has the best interest of the country
at heart, sadly there are few to choose from.

 

[mattskramer]

<blockquote>Despite the Federal Reserve’s stay-the-course message yesterday, investors are betting on at least one interest-rate cut by January, intended to quell turmoil in the markets and to juice the slow economy. But with the dollar also weak — recently hitting its lowest point in 15 years against an index of other major currencies — the Fed may be reluctant to oblige.

A declining dollar is a source of inflationary pressure because it can boost the cost of imports. So if the Fed tried to rev up the economy with a rate cut at the same time the dollar is falling, it could end up provoking even more inflation. That would be a drag on economic growth rather than a boost. In an extreme case, it could result in a toxic combination of weak growth and high prices that is a central banker’s nightmare.

How did the Fed lose room to maneuver? The answer is rooted in the Bush administration’s misguided economic policies.

Over the last several years, America’s imbalances in trade and other global transactions have worsened dramatically, requiring the United States to borrow billions of dollars a day from abroad just to balance its books. - <a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/opinion/08wed1.html?ei=5088&en=1044bec877b0e02b&ex=1344225600&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print>NYT</a></blockquote>

What's needed to fix the problem? A dramatic reversal of the Bush administration's economic policies, starting with a roll-back of Bush's tax cuts. Tax policies need to be aimed at giving the average person incentives to save rather than expanding the already generous tax-shelters for America's wealthiest families. Also, the rapidly growing burden of health-care costs need to be addressed by the government in a responsible manner. Neither of which this administration is likely to do. More importantly, however, the government MUST be weened off of the sugar-teat of foreign borrowing. Rather than do the responsible thing and raise taxes to finance the disastrous war in Iraq, the Bush administration has borrowed money from abroad to pay for it, leaving this nation vulnerable to economic black-mail, such as <a href=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/08/07/bcnchina107a.xml>China is now doing</a>.

Strong leadership is required to guide this nation through the economic pit-falls it now faces, leadership the Bush administration has utterly failed to provide. They have abandoned their responsibilities in this arena as they have in so many others.

According to you, is everything negative the fault of the Bush administration? Did the mining incident happen because Bush is in office? I don’t hold current presidents exclusively accountable for the current economy. There are many factors that are practically out of the president’s total control. The purse strings are held by congress. There is residual from the past administration. There are global and international factors. There are the whims of the citizens. There are technological waves like the “dot com” booms and busts. There is the Federal Reserve chairman. There is just so much to consider.

 

[Vintij]

According to you, is everything negative the fault of the Bush administration? Did the mining incident happen because Bush is in office? I don&#8217;t hold current presidents exclusively accountable for the current economy. There are many factors that are practically out of the president&#8217;s total control. The purse strings are held by congress. There is residual from the past administration. There are global and international factors. There are the whims of the citizens. There are technological waves like the &#8220;dot com&#8221; booms and busts. There is the Federal Reserve chairman. There is just so much to consider.

Or we could just use the evidence of Bush's past projects and failures to predict his many failures in the highest project of the land, the presidency.

He snorted coke
Smoked Weed
Is an Alcoholic
Bankrupted his company and his friends company
Dodged the draft
Failed with the rangers
Had a DUI at a "mature" age


How much more failure do we need to start thinking that Bush IS capable of fucking up in a big way? Especially with something he does not know how to handle, fiscal budgets. You dont hand US economic Policy to someone who bankrupts companys. Its just something that should not happen but did, twice.

 

[mattskramer]

Or we could just use the evidence of Bush's past projects and failures to predict his many failures in the highest project of the land, the presidency.

He snorted coke
Smoked Weed
Is an Alcoholic
Bankrupted his company and his friends company
Dodged the draft
Failed with the rangers
Had a DUI at a "mature" age


How much more failure do we need to start thinking that Bush IS capable of fucking up in a big way? Especially with something he does not know how to handle, fiscal budgets. You dont hand US economic Policy to someone who bankrupts companys. Its just something that should not happen but did, twice.

It looks like partisan hype. Okay. Perhaps Bush had a minor drug and business problem. I could come up with a list of Bill Clinton’s crimes or indiscretions. It still does not answer the question about whether or not – or to what degree – a current president has absolute control over the nation’s current economy.

 

[Vintij]

It looks like partisan hype. Okay. Perhaps Bush had a minor drug and business problem. I could come up with a list of Bill Clinton’s crimes or indiscretions. It still does not answer the question about whether or not – or to what degree – a current president has absolute control over the nation’s current economy.

Im not saying clinton was any better. The point of this particular post was to point out the enormous amount of influence the "blind votes" have on presidential elections which result in certain failed economic policy.

What blind voters dont look at, is how much of a failure a president was in the past. Infact the only thing they look at really is, who the parents are.....what faith they are....and when they signed up for the service. Thats about it.

If not for these blind voters, people would realize that Bush's foreign borrowing is the exact same tacitc he used to hide his debt and costly ambigous agenda's when he ran his own company.

 

[Truthmatters]

Republicans are to blame.... yes this is true,...... but.....
any of you who think the dems are any less responsible
are just foolin yourselves. The truth of the matter is both
political parties are equally to blame. If your trying to make
yourself feel better about who you support, then so be it.
I have seen the light, and Repubs=Dems. There is very
little meaningful difference, especially fiscally. I will only
support a candidate who has the best interest of the country
at heart, sadly there are few to choose from.

Tax Cuts at the same time you are waging a war is utter stupidity.

Not policing the sectors like the banks when they are putting our economy at risk (so the economy still "looks" good).

destroying our military by straining to the breaking point.

Ignoring disastors.


Most of America now looks back at the Clinton years very fondly.

You are fooling yourself if you think the Dem party is equally to blame here.

Tell me how are you going to fix ANY of this with the major parties?

 

[Toro]

People put too much blame and give too much credit to politicians.

In fact, much of the economy is out of politicians' control.

 

[Bullypulpit]

Republicans are to blame.... yes this is true,...... but.....
any of you who think the dems are any less responsible
are just foolin yourselves. The truth of the matter is both
political parties are equally to blame. If your trying to make
yourself feel better about who you support, then so be it.
I have seen the light, and Repubs=Dems. There is very
little meaningful difference, especially fiscally. I will only
support a candidate who has the best interest of the country
at heart, sadly there are few to choose from.

The massive amounts of US debt held in foreign hands, some less than friendly to the US, came about under George W. Bush and his borrowing to finance the war in Iraq. This unprecedented betrayal of future generations is due to his refusal to raise taxes to pay for his dirty little war. And guess what...? The party's over, and we're ALL going to pay the butcher's bill for the short-sighted, ill-conceived, half-baked policies he and his administration have implemented, both at home and abroad. Do yourselves a favor...Pay off as much debt as you can, as soon as you can, and buy gold.

 

[Bullypulpit]

According to you, is everything negative the fault of the Bush administration? Did the mining incident happen because Bush is in office? I don’t hold current presidents exclusively accountable for the current economy. There are many factors that are practically out of the president’s total control. The purse strings are held by congress. There is residual from the past administration. There are global and international factors. There are the whims of the citizens. There are technological waves like the “dot com” booms and busts. There is the Federal Reserve chairman. There is just so much to consider.

No, Bush is not to blame for the mining accident. Don't be silly. But it sure doesn't help that the guy he put in charge of mine safety was a former mine operator with one of the WORST safety records in the mining industry.

 

[Truthmatters]

People put too much blame and give too much credit to politicians.

In fact, much of the economy is out of politicians' control.

This admin has allowed some things to happen like the foriegn debt Bully speaks of the the wholesale handig of the riegns of our country to the corporations who have NO loyalty to American and Americans.

If the Bush team had Not cut taxes ,waged a war, let our country be sold out from underneath us and ignored the Corps raping our country with things like preditory lending (all to keep is economic numbers looking good) we would NOT be in this mess.

 

[Toro]

This admin has allowed some things to happen like the foriegn debt Bully speaks of the the wholesale handig of the riegns of our country to the corporations who have NO loyalty to American and Americans.

If the Bush team had Not cut taxes ,waged a war, let our country be sold out from underneath us and ignored the Corps raping our country with things like preditory lending (all to keep is economic numbers looking good) we would NOT be in this mess.

It is not quite that simple. America has run a trade deficit since 1980, which allows foreigners to acquire foreign bonds. Robert Rubin - the best treasury secretary of my life time - actively promoted selling bonds to foreigners because, and he is correct on this, the more buyers you have, the lower your interest rates.

Bush does bear some responsibility with the budget deficit, but the budget deficit was the correct response to a weak economy. What's bad is that he has not run a surplus when the economy was good.

And the predatory lending has nothing to do with Bush.

 

[Chips Rafferty]

Republicans are to blame.... yes this is true,...... but.....
any of you who think the dems are any less responsible
are just foolin yourselves. The truth of the matter is both
political parties are equally to blame. If your trying to make
yourself feel better about who you support, then so be it.
I have seen the light, and Repubs=Dems. There is very
little meaningful difference, especially fiscally. I will only
support a candidate who has the best interest of the country
at heart, sadly there are few to choose from.

CAN IT BE?

Has someone with common sense walked into the WASPatorium?

Let it be, let it be, let it be....

 

[Diuretic]

CAN IT BE?

Has someone with common sense walked into the WASPatorium?

Let it be, let it be, let it be....

Toro is always informative on economic issues.

 

[dilloduck]

Toro is always informative on economic issues.

And can be refreshingly objective.

 

[Chips Rafferty]

Toro is always informative on economic issues.

I was talking to Delbert, not Toro. But I'll take your word for it.

 

[Chips Rafferty]

Trust me!

All anyone needs is cargo cultish &#8220;faith,&#8221; specifically faith in Jesus and the WASP work ethic.

Then pharisaic decency, and thus &#8220;salvation,&#8221; i.e. worldly and celestial dominion over sinners, and economic prosperity will surely trickle down from those who have ultimate authority in these matters.

Take it from someone who has lived and worked with cargo cultists; we in &#8220;the West&#8221; and Americans in particular, are merely cargo cultists in synthetic clothing.

The philosophical and physical difference between the "savages" and us superior civilised folk is sweet fuck all!