<a href=”http://www.qando.net/details.aspx?entry=9970″>This post</a> needs to go viral. Quickly. And it definitely needs to land in some Congressional and soon-to-be White House e-mail inboxes.
Business and Economy
Inheriting the worst economy since FDR?
Since Barack Obama became president-elect, many in the mainstream media have claimed he will inherit the greatest economic crisis since FDR.
Interestingly, many in the media made similar claims before Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president. For example, according to the January 19, 1981 issue of Newsweek, “When Ronald Reagan steps into the White House next week, he will inherit the most dangerous economic crisis since Franklin Roosevelt took office 48 years ago.”
Is Obama really facing an economic crisis greater than Reagan faced 28 years ago?
The misery index (the sum of the inflation rate and the unemployment rate) was 21.98 in June 1980. It was down to 10.07 when Reagan left office in January 1988. The misery index was 7.77 in November 2008.
Given that the misery index was nearly three times as high when Reagan became president than it is today, it appears the claim that Obama will inherit the greatest economic crisis since FDR is quite an exaggeration.
Rescuing the Economy from the Government.
As we have learned from the past, the best way for the government to “rescue the economy” is to let go of the power they have over it. I’m not an expert on the economy by any stretch of the imagination, my experience in economic matters amounts to a semester in Macro and Micro economics, both of which I barely attended. But based on what I know about the laws of supply and demand and the way the market works, isn’t the best thing the government can do is to but out further?
I think we should cut corporate taxes down to a flat 15%, which would give us one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world. This would give corporations more money to hire new employees. It’s sad when the United States is competing with South Africa, ran by the far left African National Congress, in terms of low corporate tax rates, it’s time we make the United States friendly to business once again. I would love it if we enacted a flat tax or The FairTax (I like both ideas), but if we’re going to keep a graduated income tax system, we need to drastically cut all brackets or suspend income tax for a while. This would give the American people some confidence to go and spend the cash. Finally, I think the US government should completely cut the capital gains tax, which would rally the markets and help the housing market (and might actually give banks confidence to renegotiate people’s loans.)
Finally, the government needs to get it’s house in order. A rapid bout of government spending directed properly could spur temporary economic growth, but it is seriously going to make it difficult for America to move forward in the future and continued borrowing holds us hostage to countries we borrow from like China, who as we all know doesn’t like us that much. For a political party who claims to be so concerned about the future of the weather and that we must do whatever we can to try and curb it, they certainly don’t care much about the tangibles. We need real action on real issues. We need to drastically cut spending in
Doing these four things would eliminate the need for stimulus packages and bailouts and would really stimulate our economy.
Obama: ‘Trillion-dollar deficits for years to come’
President-elect Obama predicts “trillion-dollar deficits for years to come.”
“We’re already looking at a trillion-dollar budget deficit or close to a trillion-dollar budget deficit, and that potentially we’ve got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we are working on at this point,” Obama said.
The federal deficit was about $455 billion for fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, 2008.
If the Democrats keep the deficits to a trillion-dollars a year that will at least slow the rate at which the Democrats increase the national debt.
Missouri News and Notes January 5, 2008
A round up of the recent news from the twenty fourth state.
Coleman Madness
For those of you who have been following the strange events in the Minnesota Senate race between Al Franken (D) and Senator Norm Coleman (R), St. Louis apparently wanted in on the hype surrounding the name Coleman.
Just about an hour or so before outgoing State Sen. Maida Coleman, another Coleman — attorney Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman – threw her name into the contest.
Maida Coleman then abruptly took her name out of the running for the March primary, claiming that someone put the other Coleman in as ruse to confuse voters.
Who does Coleman (er, Maida that is) think put Coleman (er, Watson-Wesley Coleman) on the primary ticket? None other than Democratic Mayor Francis Slay. I guess he is hoping to one up Franken by beating two Colemans in this election. [After dropping her name from the primary, Coleman (Maida this time) plans on running for Mayor as an independent in the April general election.] Although, it is pretty clear that Coleman (yeah, confusing…Maida) wasn’t picking up much support in her primary campaign.
She has not, according to the state Ethics Commission, formed a fundraising committee. She has reserved the website name maidaformayor.com, but, to date, the page has no content.
It should be noted that the Democrats have controlled this office since 1949. That’s 60 years of gloriously stupid policy that has St. Louis among the most dangerous cities in the country (and other wonderful such distinctions).
ACORN Cracking
A former ACORN (you do remember who they are, right?) employee has been charged with voter registration fraud.
Deidra Humphrey, 44, of East St. Louis, is expected to appear in U.S. District Court in St. Louis this week after a federal grand jury indicted her on the charges Dec. 31, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Humphrey is accused of submitting forged and false voter registration cards for the November general election, including forging cards for nursing home residents, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said Monday.
Humphrey worked for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and the Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition, not-for-profit organizations that conducted voter registration drives.
I’m guessing she wasn’t so good at this. She actually got caught.
Recall that eight ACORN workers were also indicted back in December of 2007 for similar activities in the St. Louis area.
If Too Many Cooks Spoil the Meat, What Do Too Many Lawyers Spoil?
Governor-elect Jay Nixon (D) has announced his senior staff and communications team:
- John Watson, Chief of Staff - Lawyer
- Ted Ardini, Counsel to the Governor - Lawyer
- Jeff Harris, Policy Director - Lawyer
- Mary Nelson, Director of Boards and Commissions - Lawyer
- Mayme Young Miller, Director of Constituent Services - Lawyer
- Dustin Allison, Deputy Chief of Staff - Lawyer
- Nichole Loethen, Deputy Counsel - Lawyer
- Scott Holste, Press Secretary - Not a lawyer, but his wife is
- Jack Cardetti, Communications Director - Wow, not a lawyer either!
- Sam Murphey, Deputy Press Secretary - Three non lawyers!
Sigh! I’m betting we’ll see lots of nuanced legislation and communication coming from the Governor’s office over the next four years.
State Running Out of Unemployment Money
But don’t worry, we can always borrow what we are short on from the federal governement.
But state labor director Todd Smith says Missouri has been through this several times before, and it has never missed sending out benefit checks. That’s because the state can borrow money from the federal government, and will borrow it until unemployment taxes come in.
…
The last time the state had to borrow federal dollars to keep the checks flowing, it borrowed more than 400-million dollars. Employers already are paying a 30-percent surcharge on their unemployment withholding taxes to pump more money into the fund. Smith says that helps, but increasing taxes on employers at a time when they are cutting jobs seems counterintuitive. He says the legislature needs to take some action this year to ease the problem.
Ugh. Increased federal debt and more money coming out of workers’ pockets (where do you think that payroll tax comes from?). Sounds like a great way to improve the long-term health of the economy.
As always, whatchoo got?
Debating The Stimulus Package
My thoughts. In the event that the link does not work, just click here and look for my post–it should be the first one on the top since I appear to have been the last person to enter in my post.
2009 Coming Attractions
2008 was one of the most interesting years in recent history. It held many surprises, which brought both reason to cheer and brought great disappointment. We experienced a historic and for conservatives very disappointing Presidential election. An economic down turn that shaped our economy and the election. Great strides in Iraq because of the tremendous efforts of Americas finest.
2009 will be another historic year and one that already holds surprises and disappointments. A new administration is preparing to take the helm of The United States Ship of State which promises change but in the preparation for taking over change is the last thing that has been shown.
So in light of the New Year and the promises or lack there of that it may hold for our future here is my effort at looking forward into the year and what it might bring. I make no claim to the ability to prognosticate nor pretend to be a Nostradamus. This is just a compilation of my opinion on what 2009 might hold. Without further ado I’ll begin with sports.
The Super Bowl - This is one I have already blown ! As late as January 3, I was discussing the Super Bowl and predicted a match of the Manning brothers between the Indianapolis Colts and the New York Giants. The San Diego Chargers blew this one in only the second game of the play offs by eliminating the Colts. So I will stick with the Giants in the NFC and add the Tennessee Titans for the AFC. With my dismal record so far I’ll not choose the winner.
The economy - As Obama takes office this will be the most important issue he faces. With the collapse of the mortgage bubble last year the economy is shaky at best. Many economist predict that the down turn will work its way through to improvement by summer. But this prediction is using current economic policy as it basis, a policy the Obama has promised to change.
With bailouts becoming the norm now for ,”solving,” economic problems allowing massive government intervention and direct involvement in the form of stock options which make the government a partner in each bailed out business, the out look for a quick recovery looks bleak. I am an optimist but government involvement does not provide optimism only pessimism.
The free market Capitalism that has made America great and the strongest economy in history, if allowed to work would feasibly bring growth and prosperity back by the summer. But Congress is already planning a ONE TRILLION dollar , “stimulus,” package whose components offer little that will actually stimulate the economy.
Also there is talk of further bailouts which even includes bailing out failing newspapers whose failure is not a result of a slow economy but years of decreased circulation due to the Internet and reporting that has caused a general lack of interest in daily papers. I know because I used to work for one!
With greater government involvement by an Obama administration I am afraid that a quick recovery may not happen. In fact using history as the example and the lefts own comparison to the Great Depression, ( which is NOT even close to this down turn in severity), government involvement stretched the effects of the depression from two or three years to nearly a dozen taking a war to finally end it. History shows that government involvement worsens economic problems as opposed to free market solutions.
So Obama’s idea to get the government more involved than it already is promises the same conclusion. Making his prediction of things getting worse before they get better and the problem taking years to solve a probable reality.
Iraq - This is one issue that Obama, if he holds to current agreements, will not be able to change as he promised during the campaign. Throughout the campaign Obama called for a quick withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. As quickly as sixteen months. But the recent agreements with the Maliki government and the Bush administration tie Obama’s hands in Iraq.
The agreements call for a continual hand over of security to Iraq and transfer of control in troubled regions combined with a military presence that will decline through 2012. The success of the surge and the hand over of former hot spots such as the , “Green Zone,” which transferred at the end of last year, proves that Iraq is working and the best policy is to continue with current policy.
Of course Obama as Commander in Chief, can recall all troops whenever and however he wishes. But if he has any sense he will not. His selection of Robert Gates as his Secretary of Defense, to the dismay of the left, shows that he has taken a fresh look at Iraq and that his campaign rhetoric may not be his policy as President. I believe 2009 will see a continued policy for Iraq to reach the final conclusion agreed to by Bush.
Balgojevich - This guy is great. If the opposition ever wanted to hire a politician who could provide the greatest side show affecting an incoming administration who politically is from the other party, Governor Rod Blagojevich from Illinois would be the man!
To date there has proven to be no illegal involvement with Obama or any of his staff with Blagos, “Pay for Play, ” accusations in selecting a successor to Obama in the United States Senate. The investigation is on going and will consume quite a number of headlines for at least the first six months of 2009, to the great dismay of Obama and the Democrats.
Blago’s actions cast a shadow over an Obama administration because the allegations involve his Senate seat and most of his staff and appointees come from the same corrupt Chicago political machine that made Balgojevich. So while there looks to be no criminal involvement by Obama or his staff, Blago is NOT going away soon and will be an anvil around Obama’s neck until this case runs its full course.
Biden’s predicted , “crisis,” - Joe Biden, well known for sticking his foot in his mouth, did not disappoint during the campaign. His many gaffs became regular news, especially one in which he predicted that during the first six months of an Obama administration there would be a, “generated international crises, ” to test the new President. Of course Biden never intended for anyone to hear this but it made headlines and is, unfortunately, likely to happen in 2009.
Obama is new, untested, inexperienced and walking in uncharted waters as far as the Presidency is concerned. Uncharted because inexperience creates great questions concerning his ability to handle a crisis. His handling of the early stages of the Balgojevich scandal were less than stellar and this is a minor situation compared to those he will face in the Oval Office.
Even as this is being written foreign governments as well as our enemies especially those who use terror as their weapon are wondering what to expect from Obama and how he will act in a crisis. Our allies deal with this question by being concerned and offering advice and assistance. Our enemies are looking for a way to test the novice President through trial.
There is no way of predicting where and from whom the test will come but as Biden said it will come because Obama’s inexperience provides a real or at least a perceived vulnerability for this country that an enemy will try to take advantage of. What form this will take no one knows. And just as tragic as the probability of it happening, no one knows how Obama will handle it when it comes. But come it will and it is a situation we will face in 2009.
Of course there are many other issues and situations that 2009 will bring for each of us individually and all of us as a Nation. How we handle it as an individual will determine whether 2009 will be a good year, fair year or terrible year for each of us. In our lifetime we all have both good years and bad and we deal with them as they come. The difference between us and a President is that when a President has a bad year in some manner it affects all of us. Let us hope and pray that 2009 will be a good year for Barack Obama. The prognosis does not look promising !
Ken Taylor http://theliberalslies.blogspot.com
“Buy America” (Part Deux)
From Bloomberg:
Obama’s advisers are looking at including a “buy American” provision in the economic-stimulus legislation that the incoming administration has made its first priority.
“We are reviewing the buy American proposal and we are committed to a plan that will save or create 3 million jobs, including jobs in manufacturing,” said Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for Obama’s transition team.
So, economic nationalism is back with a vengeance. I guess the steel industry is not the only group that has not read its Bastiat.
They told me that when the “reality-based community” takes over on the policymaking front, things will get a whole lot better. Pardon me for not believing this line of hooey in light of reports that the Obama Administration is engaging in the economic policy equivalent of believing the Earth is flat.
Quote Of The Day (Part Deux)
The next time someone bemoans the evil of “laissez-faire capitalism” to you, utter the number 69,428. That’s the number of pages in the 2006 edition of the Federal Register, the official government compendium of rules and regulations, the handy-dandy list of things you must do, and not do, if you want to do . . . well, just about anything. “Laissez faire” is the bogey man unhappy leftists use to frighten the credulous. Capitalism was never completely unregulated, and it certainly isn’t unregulated now. In fact, we have much more to fear from the ethic of “défendre faire”-the nanny-state ethic whose ultimate goal is to turn us all into wards of the state. Thomas Frank criticizes rating agencies like Moody’s and banks like Washington Mutual for being insufficiently regulated. But the real problem was not lack of regulation but unintelligent and overbearing regulation. Mr. Frank derides those who believe that “all sin originates with the Community Reinvestment Act” (on which see here), but really he should pause to consider the disatrous effects of that piece of government regulation which, by intruding into the orderly operation of the market in order to further a utopian social goal, helped to precipitate the global credit crisis of 2008.
“Buy America”
Via Dan Drezner, we learn that protectionism has returned to the steel industry. This should surprise no one; remember that in the Bush Administration’s first term, the steel industry sought–and got–tariffs placed on imported steel that it swore would only be necessary for a short while until the industry was able to recover from tough times. The industry asked the Administration to forget that it habitually sought tariffs for over 30 years prior to its request and the Administration readily agreed. And now, despite the industry’s promises that it would not have to ask for any more favors from the U.S. government, here we are, with the industry asking for the most blatant form of protectionism possible.
You’d almost think that we were talking about candlemakers here.
