Watch What You Wish For, You Might Lose Your Job, The Sequester Edition

UPDATE IV:  The March jobs reports shouldn't surprise anyone, it's Republi-con déjà vu, 1930s edition, all over again.  Read The New York Times, The Urge to Purge, which begins:

When the Great Depression struck, many influential people argued that the government shouldn’t even try to limit the damage. According to Herbert Hoover, Andrew Mellon, his Treasury secretary, urged him to 'Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers. ... It will purge the rottenness out of the system.' Don’t try to hasten recovery, warned the famous economist Joseph Schumpeter, because “artificial stimulus leaves part of the work of depressions undone.”

Like many economists, I used to quote these past luminaries with a certain smugness. After all, modern macroeconomics had shown how wrong they were, and we wouldn’t repeat the mistakes of the 1930s, would we?

How naïve we were. It turns out that the urge to purge — the urge to see depression as a necessary and somehow even desirable punishment for past sins, while inveighing against any attempt to mitigate suffering — is as strong as ever. Indeed, Mellonism is everywhere these days. Turn on CNBC or read an op-ed page, and the odds are that you won’t see someone arguing that the federal government and the Federal Reserve are doing too little to fight mass unemployment. Instead, you’re much more likely to encounter an alleged expert ranting about the evils of budget deficits and money creation, and denouncing Keynesian economics as the root of all evil.

Now, the fact is that these ranters have been wrong about everything, at every stage of the crisis, while the Keynesians have been mostly right. Remember how federal deficits were supposed to cause soaring interest rates? Never mind: After four years of such warnings, rates remain near historic lows — just as Keynesians predicted. Remember how running the printing presses was going to cause runaway inflation? Since the recession began, the Fed has more than tripled the size of its balance sheet, but inflation has averaged less than 2 percent.

But the Mellonites just keep coming . . . [demanding] liquidationism, with a strong goldbug streak. . .

But that prescription is, of course, anathema to Mellonites, who wrongly see it as more of the same policies that got us into this trap. And that, in turn, tells you why liquidationism is such a destructive doctrine: by turning our problems into a morality play of sin and retribution, it helps condemn us to a deeper and longer slump.

The bad news is that sin sells. Although the Mellonites have, as I said, been wrong about everything, the notion of macroeconomics as morality play has a visceral appeal that’s hard to fight. Disguise it with a bit of political cross-dressing, and even liberals can fall for it.

But they shouldn’t. Mellon was dead wrong in the 1930s, and his avatars are dead wrong today. Unemployment, not excessive money printing, is what ails us now — and policy should be doing more, not less. "

If ya forgot, Hoover was a Republican.  

UPDATE III:  The March jobs report was "is a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad jobs report." Read the Washington Post, Today’s jobs report is a disaster. But why?

As first predicted two months ago, 'sequester will sock a vulnerable economy.'

Too late for the election, but all part of the Republi-con effort to tank the economy. 

UPDATE II:  "Partisan gridlock is the law of the land for the foreseeable future. . .

In short, if you think this is as bad as things can get, just wait awhile."

Read the Washington Post, After the sequestration stalemate, things will only get worse.

UPDATE: "It may be hard to believe, given the intense partisan strafing already ignited by the automatic government spending cuts that begin on Friday, but this year’s budget wars have yet to get fully under way.

In the next month, Democrats and Republicans, so at odds with one another that they are not even negotiating to avert the across-the-board cuts set to kick in at the end of the week, will have to find a way to agree on spending levels for the remainder of this year. If they fail, they could risk a government shutdown starting March 27, when the current authorization for spending runs out."

Read The New York Times, Fight Over Spending Cuts a Prelude to Budget Battles Ahead.

As I said at first back in October 2010, there is an old proverb, author unknown: "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it."

"The federal government, the nation’s largest consumer and investor, is cutting back at a pace exceeded in the last half-century only by the military demobilizations after the Vietnam War and the cold war.

And the turn toward austerity is set to accelerate on Friday if the mandatory federal spending cuts known as sequestration start to take effect as scheduled. Those cuts would join an earlier round of deficit reduction measures passed in 2011 and the wind-down of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that already have reduced the federal government’s contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product by almost 7 percent in the last two years."

Read The New York Times, Austerity Kills Government Jobs as Cuts to Budgets Loom.

Also read the Washington Post, Sequester will sock a vulnerable economy.

Make Your Own Tax Code

UPDATE:  Businesses make changes to the tax code all the time, it's called lobbying.  Read the Washington Post, Want lower tax rates? Hire a lobbyist., which notes that there is no direct "evidence linking the lobbying to the lower tax rates. But it would be fairly odd if they were spending all that money and getting nothing." 

So much for the the Republi-con 'it'll be easy to balance the budget' myth

 Just in time for tax day, read the Washington Post, Make your own tax code, which states:

"Think you could writer a better tax code than the one we've got? Here's your chance: The fine folks at Splitwise have a very cool interactive tax graphic where you can change the marginal rates on different income groups and eliminate various deductions and see the effect on the deficit. Go nuts."

What Government Institution is 3 Times Less Popular than Lawyers?

See the other 10 "charts that do the best job of explaining the political and economic scene in 2011, at the Washington Post, 2011 in 11 charts.

Corrupt Crony Capitalism and Congress

UPDATE VI: Read an interesting op-ed by Palin at the Wall Street Journal, How Congress Occupied Wall Street.

I posted the following comment:

The Tea Party protests government and the Occupy movement protest corporations. But they have a common 'enemy,' corrupt crony capitalism. It pervades government and businesses everywhere. I could give numerous examples in my home town. And I'm sure others could also.

I've been a critic of Palin in the past. She's become a rabid partisan with a group I call the Republi-CONs. She can also be thin-skinned and vindictive, not good qualities for a public figure. But at times as Governor of Alaska, she was a reformer. (See The Atlantic, The Tragedy of Sarah Palin )

The reformer Palin would see an opportunity to unite Tea Party and Occupy protestors to end the problem of corrupt crony capitalism. Lord knows that Obama and Gingrich and most of our other political 'leaders' will never do so.

UPDATE V: "Insider trading is illegal — except for members of Congress. A Wall Street executive who buys or sells stock based on insider information would face a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation and quite possibly a federal prosecutor. But senators and congressmen are free to legally trade stock based on nonpublic information they have obtained through their official positions as elected officials — and they do so on a regular basis." Read the Washington Post, Crony capitalism exposed.


UPDATE IV: "Disgraced ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff is out of jail. He was released in June. He now works as an accountant at a kosher pizza parlor. And he needs a literary agent. 'I was actually thinking of writing a book,' he told '60 Minutes.' 'The Idiot’s Guide to Buying a Congressman.'" Read the Washington Post, Jack Abramoff’s guide to buying congressmen.

Or watch the '60 Minutes' episode:



A sad commentary on our current political system.


UPDATE III: "[W]hen good chunks of the 1 percent come by their riches via clubby, rigged systems of CEO pay, or by peddling subprime securities that implode and wreck the economy, or by taking taxpayer bailouts and turning them into obscene bonuses, people know something is deeply, systemically corrupt. . .

Purge the crony capitalists!"

Read the Washington Post, Justice, inequality and the 99 percent.


UPDATE II: The title of the article says it all. Read the Washington Post, Wall Street is still playing us for suckers.

Isn't that what I've been saying for years, even as early as October 2008.


UPDATE: Want to know why the public has so little faith in Congress.

"Citigroup had to pay a $285 million fine to settle a case in which, with one hand, Citibank sold a package of toxic mortgage-backed securities to unsuspecting customers — securities that it knew were likely to go bust — and, with the other hand, shorted the same securities — that is, bet millions of dollars that they would go bust.

It doesn’t get any more immoral than this. . .

Our financial industry has grown so large and rich it has corrupted our real institutions through political donations. . .

Our Congress today is a forum for legalized bribery. One consumer group using information from Opensecrets.org calculates that the financial services industry, including real estate, spent $2.3 billion on federal campaign contributions from 1990 to 2010, which was more than the health care, energy, defense, agriculture and transportation industries combined. Why are there 61 members on the House Committee on Financial Services? So many congressmen want to be in a position to sell votes to Wall Street. . .

Capitalism and free markets are the best engines for generating growth and relieving poverty — provided they are balanced with meaningful transparency, regulation and oversight. We lost that balance in the last decade. If we don’t get it back — and there is now a tidal wave of money resisting that — we will have another crisis."

Read The New York Times, Did You Hear the One About the Bankers?

Palin was right about the "collusion of big government and big business and big finance to the detriment of all the rest — to the little guys."

Just listen to a former lobbyist, who argued at his sentencing that Congress operates "in a corrupt Washington environment controlled by people with money." Read CBS New, Ring sentenced to 20 months in lobbying scandal.

No wonder Congressional approval ratings are in single digits.

One Way to Reduce the Deficit

Says Warren Buffet: "I could end the deficit in 5 minutes. You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP all sitting members of congress are ineligible for reelection."

Sounds like a plan.

A Local Example of Corrupt Crony Capitalism?

The local paper is reporting that "Pensacola-based H2 Performance Consulting . . . [is] one of several key contractors awarded an estimated $12 billion Veteran Affairs contract." Read the Pensacola News Journal, Pensacola firm, partner land huge VA contract and H2 Consulting lands part of VA contract worth $12 billion total.

Coincidentally enough, the chairmen of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs represents Pensacola in Congress.

And anyone who thinks that this is a coincidence is naive.

Help Save Congressional Campaign Contributions

From the Washington Post: Why tax the rich?:

Great Quote On Politicians and Their Corporate Overlords

Tammy found this quote on politicians doing the bidding of their corporate overlords:

"The only difference between the Republican and Democratic parties is the velocities with which their knees hit the floor when corporations knock on their door. That's the only difference."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Only Eleven

"America needs to rally.

Jobs are pitifully scarce. Incomes are falling. The U.S. government, like many American families, has taken on too much debt. The hangover from a brutal recession now looks like it could last for years, with the once-dominant U.S. economy sliding into a chronic state of disrepair.

During pivotal moments in the past, Congress has helped steer the nation back toward prosperity with bipartisan action like the tax reforms of 1986 and the welfare reform that passed a decade later. In 2008, Congress passed emergency bank-bailout legislation that turned out to be unpopular, but probably saved the nation from a financial meltdown and the first depression since the 1930s.

These days, however, Congress has lost its mojo."

Read U.S. News, 11 Things Wrong With Congress.

Our Congressional Gang Members

Congress is "'not a collegial body anymore . . . It is more like gang behavior. Members walk into the chamber full of hatred. They believe the worst lies about the other side. Two senators stopped by my office just a few hours ago. Why? They had a plot to nail somebody on the other side. That’s what Congress has come to." So says a Blue Dog Democrat. Read The New York Times, The Last Moderate.

To Balance the Budget, Do Nothing

UPDATE II: "[T]here’s an uncomplicated way to fix America’s medium-term debt woes. All Congress has to do is … nothing. At the end of 2012, the Bush tax cuts would automatically lapse. As inflation rose, the alternative minimum tax would hit more and more Americans. A whole slew of business tax breaks would expire. And the Sustainable Growth Rate formula in Medicare would trigger large automatic cuts to payments to doctors." Read the Washington Post, Doing nothing is still an option, which includes this graph:




UPDATE: Another way to balance the budget, end tax expenditures, better known as tax deductions. Tax expenditures amounted to about $1 trillion in 2009. Read Random Observations for Students of Economics, Spending Hidden in the Tax Code.

One difference, "non-defense discretionary spending tends to be skewed quite progressively while tax expenditures are often quite regressive." In other words, the tax deductions like that for corporate jets disproportionally benefit the rich.

As I've said before, the NoBullU solution for the federal deficit and debt is: restructure the federal government (to end Congressional free lunchism), reform the federal tax code (so that revenues pay for ALL government spending), and amend the Constitution to require a balanced federal budget (because Congress can't control its spending).

"The single most important fact about our projected deficits is that if Congress does nothing, they go away. You might not like how they go away — it’s mostly higher taxes and sharp cuts to Medicare — but they go away." Read the Washington Post, We have a Congress problem, not a deficit problem, in one graph:

Republi-CON Jeff Miller, R-Hypocrite-ville

UPDATE II: Shouldn't be long now until Miller endorses "Perry, a former West Texas cotton farmer, [who] received at least $83,000 in federal farm subsidies between 1987 and 1998, during the time he was in elected office, according to his tax returns."

For more instances of Perry hypocrisy, read The New York Times, As a States’ Rights Stalwart, Perry Draws Doubts.


UPDATE: "A town hall meeting at Marcus Pointe Baptist Church brought out at least 300 people, many of whom attacked U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller's vote to raise the debt ceiling." Read the Pensacola News Journal, Miller takes heat for debt deal.

From the Pensacola New Journal, Rep. Jeff Miller speaks out on the debt showdown:

"Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla, said he voted for the Boehner proposal even though its spending cuts weren't as deep as an earlier version of debt-limit legislation because President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats aren't serious about cutting the debt."

Did Boehner's bill end farm subsidies for wealthy farmers?

I think it's a fair question because Republi-CON Jeff Miller's family, who collectively own thousands of acres in the local area, has received millions in farm subsidies. Even he collected some before he first ran for public office.

Just curious if CONgress Miller is trying to con us into believing he is a fiscal conservative.

Name Those 22 Congressional 'Tea Party' Republi-CON

UPDATE: "The road to Washington is paved with broken campaign promises. But few are so rich in hypocrisy as those of House Republican freshmen caught engineering hometown pork even as they vow to slash the federal budget for the supposed good of the nation." Read The New York Times, Pork? That? What Do You Mean?

First there was the Florida Republi-CON, but he has friends in Congress.

"House Republicans who rode a wave of voter discontent into office last year may be pushing for spending cuts, but they’re also quietly funneling millions of federal dollars back home." Read The New York Times, Cost-Cutters, Except When the Spending Is Back Home.

Don't Be Duped by CONgress

"Congress’s own budget has risen 55 percent over the past 10 years, from $1.2 billion in 2000 to $2.3 billion in 2010 . . . [and] Senate staffs swelled 'by nearly 25 percent . . . On the House side, staff was up 11 percent." Read the Washington Post, Coburn’s cuts: Congress should 'lead by example'.

NAIVE-ocrat and Republi-CON Family Values Hypocrisy, Cont.

UPDATE V: Colbert explains how "Weiner's sadly delicious sordid saga proves that Democrats don't share Republican values":

The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

UPDATE IV: Colbert "admires the fiscal discipline it takes to resist launching a federal investigation of Anthony Weiner's groin":

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Anthony Weiner Addresses Twitter Scandal
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

UPDATE III: "The young woman who was sent a lewd photo from the Twitter account of Rep. Anthony Weiner says she doesn’t think the New York Democrat was hacked, but that he may have been trying to send it to a porn star with a similar name." Politico, Seattle student: Weiner photo meant for porn star.

I'm sure his wife is happy to hear that.


UPDATE II: For more on Weiner's pickle, read the Washington Post, 'Weinergate' theory: private photo, public embarrassment.

Maybe his staff should consider "'congressional control software.' Motto: 'Know with certitude what your member’s up to.'" Read the Washington Post, Track your teen lawmaker.


UPDATE: There must be something in the water fountains in Congress. Read The Daily Caller, #Weinergate: Married congressman’s Twitter account shares lewd photo.

Gingrich, Sanford, Souder, Ensign, Craig, Foley, Vitter -- now Chris Lee. Read the Washington Post, Rep. Chris Lee (R-Craigslist).

Childish Insults While the Republic Burns

Why is Congress "threatening to shut down the U.S. government in a dispute over a tiny fraction of the federal budget?" Maybe it is because they are too busy insulting one another. Read the Washington Post, 27% of communication by members of Congress is taunting, professor concludes.

Congressional Pension Reform Hypocrisy

Despite the call to cut the pensions of government workers, "members of Congress, regardless of party, aren’t saying much about their own retirement plans, which are much more generous than those held by most Americans." Read the Washington Post, Congressional pensions fall on high end of scale.

Witticisms!

From an email. The first and last two regard Congress:

It 's not whether you win or lose, but how you place the blame.

You are not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.

We have enough youth. How about a fountain of "smart"?

The original point and click interface was a Smith & Wesson.

A fool and his money can throw one heck of a party.

When blondes have more fun do they know it?

Five days a week my body is a temple. The other two it's an amusement park.

Learn from your parents' mistakes, use birth control.

Money isn't everything, but it sure keeps the kids in touch.

Don't drink and drive, you might hit a bump and spill something.

If at first you don't succeed skydiving is not for you..

Reality is only an illusion that occurs due to a lack of alcohol.

Time's fun when you're having flies. --Kermit the Frog

We are born naked, wet and hungry. Then things get worse.

Red meat is not bad for you Fuzzy green meat is bad for you.

Ninety-nine percent of all lawyers give the rest a bad name..

One good thing about Alzheimer's is you get to meet new people every day.

Xerox and Wurlitzer will merge to produce reproductive organs.

Alabama state motto: At least we're not Mississippi

Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

The latest survey shows that three out of four people make up 75% of the population

You know why a banana is like a politician? When he first comes in he is green, then he turns yellow and then he's rotten.

I think Congressmen should wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers so we can identify their corporate sponsors.

No More Blamin Obama

UPDATE II: "[B]e wary of politicians bearing promises of a perfect world where average Americans can get the mortgages to which we now all feel entitled and the government is nowhere to be seen. It’s a mirage." Read The New York Times, Who Wants a 30-Year Mortgage.


UPDATE: Republi-con "rhetoric is nearly devoid of talk about solving practical problems. . . It may be easier to report windy speeches about 'liberty' and 'entrepreneurship' than to do the grubby work of examining budgets, regulations, programs and economic consequences. " Read the Washington Post, Conservative advice for a Congress of professors.

What Republi-con rhetoric you ask? You ain't been listening. Read the Washington Post, 'Job-killing' regulation? 'Job-killing' spending? Let's kill this GOP canard.

The Republi-con Congress starts soon, which reminds me of this old joke:

I met a fairy today that would grant me one wish: "I want to live forever," I said.

"Sorry" said the fairy, "I'm not allowed to grant wishes like that!"

"Fine," I said, "I want to die after the politicians get their heads out of their asses and start telling the truth!"

One of the first broken promises, balancing the budget. Read ABC News, Debt Ceiling Debate Will Test New Congressional Leadership and Slate, Faking Right, How the Republican Congress will abandon Tea Party ideas and legislate toward the center.

The Republi-CON's 'Aristocracy of Monied Corporations' Exposed

UPDATE: Republi-con corporatism , AKA the unholy alliance, is destroying the country. Read the Washington Post, Corporate America, paving a downward economic slide.

Tom Delay's conviction "showed what is 'common practice here in D.C. looks an awful lot like plain old corruption everywhere else in the country.'" Read the Washington Post, DeLay trial offers a window into Washington fundraising and influence-peddling, and see how the trial showed "in part that when some of the routines in Washington - including 'giving campaign contributions to a political candidate with the expectation that that candidate would vote a certain way' - are put before a jury by a prosecutor with either good or bad motives, they can convincingly look like bribery, or worse.'"