The Obama Stimulus
We first need to recognize that this is a Bush/Republican recession. And, it is the worst recession since 1945 when everything slowed down at the end of W.W.II. That’s quite a record.
In response, the Obama administration proposes a massive stimulus. This is the correct remedy. It is basic Keynesianism.
Now the Republican Senators ( who significantly caused this mess along with Larry Summers and others), want more money spent on tax breaks for the wealthy. Does that sound familiar?
After preaching about No ear marks, they are demanding the biggest ear mark of all; a major tax break for big business. There is every reason to be skeptical. Recall that we gave the finance industry 350 Billion to unfreeze the credit market and instead they spent it on themselves.
The perils of using tax breaks as a stimulus, or as a major part of the stimulus, are explained well by Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center here:
http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org/blog/_archives/2009/1/5/4047116.html
See this by Paul Krugman:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/opinion/09krugman.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
So, the Republicans, after creating this mess, see tax cuts for the rich as the way out of this mess. Time for some street politics. See the articles below.
Friday, January 09, 2009
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4 comments:
Sorry to say...This is NOT a Bush/Republican recession. It is a DEMOCRATic Congress "induced" recession..because they HAD to open up the bank vault so everyone had a home...that is where it started.
Cheryl don't be a ditz. Even the republicans admit it was their indiscriminate spending that caused much of the current recession. When you point to a democratic congress, you should also point out that the republicans had the highest filibuster record IN HISTORY once democratic majority took over, just to make it impossible for democrats to get anything done. Bush vetoed the bills that DID make it through, the republicans were making a statement. Sorry, its a Bush/Repubican recession. And I'm a republican. (I mean, I WAS...)
i dont really understand where your coming from. was the ressesion caused by the republican fair housing act... ohhh wait they didnt do that. or was it caused by that republican chris dodd filibustering the bush administrations attempt to fix the sub prime crises. nope he's a democrat. was it the tax breaks that were the problem causing a loss of revinue for the gorvernment. nope they got 20% more due to the tax breaks.
im not saying they dont have blame, but dont put it all on them. thats just retarded.
If you're not sure where I'm coming from, lets start with the basics. The Fair Housing Act concerns housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, handicap, etc. The democratic bill passed under Clinton was the revision to the Community Reinvestment Act, which I assume is what you're referring to, which is what relaxed lending standards so lower income families could afford housing. When that passed, interest rates were HIGHER for these families, by design, due to higher risk. It was the BANKS that began driving the sub-prime mortgages, and repackaging them and selling them, so how is that a republican or democrat thing? Not to mention the people who suddenly believed they could afford a $800K home on $50K/year? Perhaps you can mention the Glass-Steagall Act that Clinton repealed, that might carry a little more weight. Nobody is blameless, but odds are, perhaps even you bought your home on an interest-only loan, or agreed to lie about your income, then bought your SUV and boat and big screen TV, all on credit that you couldn't afford to pay back any time soon, so the public looms large in the blame game. The recession was caused by a housing bubble and sub-prime game that went unregulated during the Bush years despite many warnings. I voted for Bush once, and I'm sorry I did, The second time I didn't, but the nit wits in this country decided he was the guy, so here we are. He was handed the largest surplus IN HISTORY. 20% increase in revenue due to tax breaks? Its all semantics. The increase was due to increase in INCOME and the tax base, which is what happens when an economy is thriving - this is what was given to GWB. The he promptly squandered it all on his war. An increase in revenue didn't mean a thing between 2001-2008. You wanna blame Chris Dodd for a filibuster? What about the other six years of Republican majority? Y'all want someone to conveniently blame, but refuse to look at your own party. Believe me, theres plenty of blame to go around, dems as well. But you want to justify your anger for the other party now being in control, but this is what happens when one proves one is not up to the job. I looked at my own party and decided they're incredibly disconnected and out of touch. Therefore, I'm out.
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