Krugman: GOP Austerity Causing Unemployment

[NYcarbineer]

You talk about being the world's policeman as if it's a good thing, which proves how ******* stupid you are.

I didn't take a position one way of the other. However, having the USA as the world's policeman is definitely preferable to have Russia or China as the world's policeman.

The fact that turds like you don't see the difference tells us all we need to know about you.

You say you don't take a position, then you take a position in the next sentence. You're a mental case.

 

[Big Fitz]

What wealth does the defense department produce?

None. When did I claim it produced any? However, it does keep the likes of Osama bin Laden from wasting your sorry ass.

It doesn't produce wealth. It protects you from external threats from taking your individual right to do so. The same way courts and law enforcement protect your individual rights from internal threats

So you still want to be without a military like Costa Rica? That economic powerhouse that requires others to defend it? Then again... who wants it outside of the Costa Ricans?

 

[bripat9643]

I didn't take a position one way of the other. However, having the USA as the world's policeman is definitely preferable to have Russia or China as the world's policeman.

The fact that turds like you don't see the difference tells us all we need to know about you.

You say you don't take a position, then you take a position in the next sentence. You're a mental case.

Wrong. I took no position on whether the USA should be the world's policeman.

 

[Big Fitz]

What wealth does the defense department produce?

None. When did I claim it produced any? However, it does keep the likes of Osama bin Laden from wasting your sorry ass.

How many of those nations rely on us coming to their rescue instead of being able to really defend themselves? Nearly all of them.

 

[Rozman]

Yea Socialists/Progressives are all out of answers. Krugman is a dunce. Why don't they try 'Austerity' first before declaring it a failure? They spent $16 Trillion more than they took in. That's the opposite of 'Austerity' for God's sake. WTF is wrong with Krugman? Try it first then slam it if it doesn't work. Till then,Krugman and all Socialists/Progressives are full of sheet.

Because all Libs know is throwing mountains of cash at problems....

 

[Big Fitz]

I have one question. Since no cuts and "austerity" programs have yet been passed or made...

... WHAT Austerity could be causing unemployment?

The austerity at the state and local levels.

Payrolls at the state and local levels are down by something like 300,000 since the recession began.

Really? The state of MN went through a shutdown because the governor would not accept budget cuts. Now we're stuck with only cuts to INCREASES in a budget we can't afford. Cuts in increases is austerity?

 

[Sundial]

I don't believe that time fixes it. Time - if anything - makes things worse. The real productive capacity of our nation - our people, and our real capital - doesn't get better by being wasted. People lose skills if they don't use them, and factories and machines don't improve from sitting idle. To the extent that people and businesses are attempting to improve their balance sheets by increasing savings and paying down debt, unemployment only makes things worse. And if people react to unemployment by spending less and saving more (a perfectly natural reaction), that simply drives the economy further into the ground. Since private savings and debt net to zero, only government can create financial savings for the private sector and reduce private sector debt, and only by spending more than it taxes - in other words, by running a deficit.

The Great Depression lasted ten years, and it wasn't until government deficits reached 30% of GDP - during WWII - that it finally ended. (By comparison, current deficits are about 9% - and New Deal deficits ranged from 0% - 6%.)

As far as long-term is concerned, it's worth noting that all that WWII debt had no lasting harmful effects at all. WWII just caused us to do what we could have done ten years earlier, without having to have a war.

I do think that there is a structural problem when people become long-term unemployed. But that is at the edges. Most people who want to work are working. Most of the plant in this country is still being operated.

All economic growth is a function of productivity growth. The structural foundations of productivity growth have not changed. We had an asset bubble which collapsed. Too much capital went into the housing bubble, and now we have anemic growth as the excess capacity gets absorbed back into the economy. It's pretty textbook. Once the excess capacity gets expunged, we will go back to trendline growth, though it will take some time before the output gap is closed.

At least 14 million Americans are unemployed. Imagine what could be accomplished with the man-hours going to waste - 14,000,000 * 40 hours/wk * X number of weeks. That's real productivity going to waste - real wealth that will never be realized. 14 million is the size of many countries. That's a whole nation's worth of productivity lost.

If too much capital went into housing - meaning too many houses were built (?) - how does unemployment fix that problem? How does getting poorer over time - poorer than we otherwise would be - allow us to "absorb" the extra houses quicker? If the problem is too many houses, why not burn them?

Isn't housing an asset? Isn't it part of the wealth of this country?

If the question is: "How much can we afford?" the correct answer is: "We can afford whatever we produce." If our economy is giving us a different answer, then there's something wrong with the financial system, something which (in my opinion) can be fixed. Unemployment is part of that problem, not the solution to it.

 

[Toro]

I have one question. Since no cuts and "austerity" programs have yet been passed or made...

... WHAT Austerity could be causing unemployment?

The austerity at the state and local levels.

Payrolls at the state and local levels are down by something like 300,000 since the recession began.

Really? The state of MN went through a shutdown because the governor would not accept budget cuts. Now we're stuck with only cuts to INCREASES in a budget we can't afford. Cuts in increases is austerity?

MN is one of many jurisdictions. In aggregate, absolute spending by cities, counties and states has been declining.

 

[Political Junky]

None. When did I claim it produced any? However, it does keep the likes of Osama bin Laden from wasting your sorry ass.

How many of those nations rely on us coming to their rescue instead of being able to really defend themselves? Nearly all of them.

Then we should stop.

 

[Full-Auto]

How many of those nations rely on us coming to their rescue instead of being able to really defend themselves? Nearly all of them.

Then we should stop.

Debt service will overtake DOD spending next year!

 

[Big Fitz]

The austerity at the state and local levels.

Payrolls at the state and local levels are down by something like 300,000 since the recession began.

Really? The state of MN went through a shutdown because the governor would not accept budget cuts. Now we're stuck with only cuts to INCREASES in a budget we can't afford. Cuts in increases is austerity?

MN is one of many jurisdictions. In aggregate, absolute spending by cities, counties and states has been declining.

No, that was just one of many examples of the shell games being played with budgets. "Give us more money or we'll put the children out on the streets with the crackheads and no police and fire protection!".

 

[Big Fitz]

How many of those nations rely on us coming to their rescue instead of being able to really defend themselves? Nearly all of them.

Then we should stop.

This just in from our "No, Really?" file.

 

[elvis]

How many of those nations rely on us coming to their rescue instead of being able to really defend themselves? Nearly all of them.

Then we should stop.

This just in from our "No, Really?" file.

Every nation in that chart that possesses nuclear weapons should automatically be removed from a list of countries we are responsible for defending.

 

[Big Fitz]

Then we should stop.

This just in from our "No, Really?" file.

Every nation in that chart that possesses nuclear weapons should automatically be removed from a list of countries we are responsible for defending.

I'm game for removing all foreign bases we have. Revert the property to pre-base existence like they did to Subic Bay and get out. The world thinks we're being pushy thugs, fine, defend your own ass. We'll revert to a washingtonian defense and foreign policy and tell the neo-wilsonians who've been running the show to shove it up their ass sideways and be concerned about ourselves for a while.

 

[ScienceRocks]

How many of those nations rely on us coming to their rescue instead of being able to really defend themselves? Nearly all of them.

Then we should stop.

This just in from our "No, Really?" file.

I agree with this...It is time for us to stop defending the whole ******* world.
-All troops out of Afghanistan
-All troops out of the middle east.
-close all bases
-troops out of Africa
-Troops out of europe
+Move needed troops and armor into the pacific to counter China if need be.
+Move some to our borders where we need it.
-cut aid to all countries
--Never again nation build

We could cut 200-300+ billion dollars from defense and still have the most powerful military on gods earth.
+Maybe we could buy another air craft carrier or two and some f22's with some of the savings.

 

[Big Fitz]

--Never again nation build

Number 1 with(out) a bullet!

 

[Quantum Windbag]

The austerity at the state and local levels.

Payrolls at the state and local levels are down by something like 300,000 since the recession began.

Really? The state of MN went through a shutdown because the governor would not accept budget cuts. Now we're stuck with only cuts to INCREASES in a budget we can't afford. Cuts in increases is austerity?

MN is one of many jurisdictions. In aggregate, absolute spending by cities, counties and states has been declining.

The problem I have is Krugman blaming those cuts on Republican austerity programs when most of those cuts are coming from Democrats and have nothing to do with austerity.

 

[Big Fitz]

Really? The state of MN went through a shutdown because the governor would not accept budget cuts. Now we're stuck with only cuts to INCREASES in a budget we can't afford. Cuts in increases is austerity?

MN is one of many jurisdictions. In aggregate, absolute spending by cities, counties and states has been declining.

The problem I have is Krugman blaming those cuts on Republican austerity programs when most of those cuts are coming from Democrats and have nothing to do with austerity.

Most of those cuts are not being made, but rather promised in future budgets. Promises never to be kept. They're then gambling that in a few years they will get MORE federal an state aid to bail their asses out of the fire. I know this because I work for a government agency and have been listening to how they plan to handle the budget cuts. Nothing this year, possibly a couple next year and we'll see the following year. But all the sacred cows are still chewing cuds and nobody's grabbing any third rails.

This is a sham

 

[cutter]

When you can tax a government employee enough to pay his own wages and benifits then you will get my vote for more government jobs. As long as his wages are paid by the 50% of tax payers with private sector jobs( Probably less than 50%) it's a lose lose situation.

 

[Big Fitz]

When you can tax a government employee enough to pay his own wages and benifits then you will get my vote for more government jobs. As long as his wages are paid by the 50% of tax payers with private sector jobs( Probably less than 50%) it's a lose lose situation.

Better still, sub-contract to a private vendor. The private sector does 90% of everything better anyway.

I would recommend we limit the private contractor's government income to 10% of their total yearly gross so they do not become de facto government a la fascist/socialist states. The rest of the 90% should come from private sector sources if at all possible.