by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy
Bailouts for Wall Street insiders are a complete waste of $trillions$. It was Ronald Reagan whose policies began the process by which American jobs --the very source of American wealth --were exported 'offshore' to China, Japan, India, Viet Nam, et al. US robber baron elites are lying and/or wrong about the source of this nation's wealth. Every economist of significance --right or left --has said that 'labor' is the source of 'value'.
It was the Reagan's tax cut of 1982 that began the dissolution of the US economy. Since that time an increasingly tiny elite has gotten exponentially richer. I am no coincidence theorist. This was by design.
It must be pointed out that following the tax cut, the nation plunged into recession, the worst since Herbert Hoover's Great Depression of 1929. 'Tax cuts' benefiting only the upper classes remove monies from circulation, monies that might be spent, monies that might have prevented a recession or cut short those already begun. Unfair, inequitable tax cuts create what economists call a 'contraction' of the money supply. A more familiar word is 'depression'.
It must also be pointed out that there was 'no Reagan recovery'! The record shows that between 1979 and 1989 the growth rate was 3% --the same as the growth rate between 1973 and 1979! There was, then, no improvement with "voodoo economics" than without it. There was no "Reagan recovery"! Wealth did not trickle down; it flowed upward at alarming rates.
The nation had been plunged unnecessarily into recession upon a pack of lies. The only beneficiaries were those who were rich already. At the end of his disastrous misrule, the economy had barely gotten back to where it had been before Reagan screwed it up. That's not 'recovery'; it's theft!
Wages have been stagnant since 1982. Prices, however, have inevitably risen and only the 'elites' have benefited. Result: you are much, much poorer in terms of what your money will buy. I would direct you to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Department of Commerce - BEA, the Census Bureau. It's all there in black and white.
The unkindest cut of all is the Faustian deal Nixon cut with China. China --thanks to Reagan/Bush axis of treason and betrayal --has the world's largest POSITIVE account balance --the result of deals cut by the GOP, deals which have resulted in China dumping its crap on the US via Wal-Mart. As a result of those deals, the US sustains, by far, the world's largest NEGATIVE current account balance of $ -568,800,000,000. [See: CIA: The World Factbook] The famous trip and the deal had been set up earlier by Bush Sr with what St. Thomas More would have called a 'conspiracy of rich men seeking to procure their commodities under the name and title of the commonwealth'.
Every economist of significance --right or left --has said that 'labor' is the source of 'value' and thus a nation's 'wealth'. This outcome was inevitable. The GOP regimes of Reagan, Bush, and Bush Jr presided over the export of US jobs to China, Japan, India, Viet Nam. Who benefited? Quick response: only one percent of the total population, the GOP base of elitist robber barons.
Not content to export American jobs, these 'robber barons' have demanded and received whopping bailouts which they've likewise exported to offshore tax havens. The end result of this 'contraction' of the money supply may very well make the 'Great Depression' look like a Sunday outing. In the thirties, the US still had a steel industry, an automotive industry, appliances, et al. What can the US fall back on today that China has not already pre-empted? Not even the oil industry will save us. The fact that the US attacked and invaded Iraq for its oil is proof of that.
Wages have been stagnant since 1982. I cited the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Department of Commerce - BEA, the Census Bureau. It's all there in black and white. Following the Reagan tax cuts of 1982, every one not in the upper quintile lost ground.
Reagan did not perform nearly so well as Jimmy Carter, who is, in fact, among the nation's best 'performing' Presidents in terms of the growth of GDP and jobs. Everything said by the right wing about Carter is a bald face lie! Carter ranks number two on the list of best Presidents since World War II.
From that same list, the top five are Democrats. The bottom three are goppers [politely, Republicans!!].
Very early, the upper twenty percent outstripped every other segment. Now even the poorest of the rich are in danger of falling off the ladder: only one percent of the population owns more than the rest of us combined. This has been a deliberate transfer of wealth, a deliberate assault upon the economic foundation of 'value', a subversion of the US by the very richest of right wingers. A crime of this magnitude is not merely the biggest heist in history, as I have called it, it borders on high treason. Certainly --this crisis undermines national security, exposes weaknesses to enemies.
The 'bailouts' are premised on 'trickle down theory', a crazy right wing idea that only the investor class creates wealth and that's why they need money. This is just crazy. The source of a nation's wealth is the work that is done. Elites do not work and do not create wealth! Most of these 'elites' should be rounded up and thrown in jail for various and numerous frauds. They should never, ever be bailed out!
At the height of the Great Depression, economist John Maynard Keynes said that the government might get better results if, instead of 'bailing out' the big wigs and fat cats, it just put "pound notes' in mason jars, bury them in a landfill and let people dig them up. Clearly --money in the hands of those who will SPEND their money will stimulate the economy. Fat cats squirrelling away bailouts in offshore tax havens will not!.
Lately, it has become fashionable to say that debt is money! That's stupid on its face. Debt may represent 'leverage' but not 'value' and most certainly not 'money'. Debt is nothing more than a promise to pay with something of 'real' value at some point in time.
Paper money was --at one time --backed up by gold. Gold had intrinsic value as a metal of not inconsiderable practical applications. A 'practical application' is, ultimately the product of work or 'labor'. Almost every major economist from Adam Smith (the godfather of capitalism) to Karl Marx (the godfather of socialism) are in agreement: the source of value in an economy is 'labor'.
A simple illustration may make the point. If I own land, I may wish to dig a ditch in order to irrigate my crops. I can either dig the ditch myself or, if I should have 'capital', I may wish to hire the ditch dug for me while I manage the enterprise. In any case, the work that is done is of 'value' to me and, presumably, my enterprise is more valuable for my having done it.
Young, arrogant hotshots came to believe --like Gordan Gecko --that all one needed to do to get rich was just move money around. This 'class' leeches off the labors of others who had, in simpler times, made the factories run.
A balance sheet disproves the bogus theory that 'debt' is 'money'. A 'balance sheet' is composed of three parts: assets, liabilities, net worth. It's a simple equation: net worth is equal to total assets minus liabilities. If 'debt' were 'wealth', you would have to add 'liabilities' --not subtract them! Adding liabilities would give one a grossly inflated value of the enterprise. Making money would be easy: just take out another loan! Perhaps an absurd perversion of this most elementary accounting principle accounts for the sorry state of US business and GOP dominated government.
One is reminded of Enron and lesser known crooks cooking the books, scamming customers, putting the screws to California. An investigation to discover the cause of the imbalance is imperative. The entire point of the 'accounting equation' is to arrive at a figure for 'net worth'. If 'debt' were money, the 'net worth' of individuals, corporations, sole proprietorships would be figured differently. A mentality that equates the ability to take on more debt with REAL money is what got us into this mess to begin with.
Addendum: No! Democrats are NOT just as bad!The following stats are just a sample of the numerous, seemingly endless instances in which the GOP has been dead wrong and the Democratic party has been absolutely correct. Let's take a look at the history before it gets re-written:
- Any Democratic President has presided over greater economic growth and job creation than any Republican President since World War II.
- When Bush Jr took office, job creation was worst under a Republican, Bush Sr, at 0.6% per year and best under a Democrat, Johnson, at 3.8% per year.
- Economic growth under President Carter was far greater than under Reagan or Bush Sr. In fact, economic growth in general was greater under Johnson, Kennedy, Carter, and Clinton than under Reagan or Bush. Democrats always outperform a failed party: the GOP!
- The job creation rate under Clinton was 2.4% significantly higher than Ronald Reagan's 2.1% per year.
- The "top performing Presidents" by this standard, in order from best down, were Johnson, Carter, Clinton, and Kennedy. The "worst" (in descending order) were Nixon, Reagan, Bush.
- Half of jobs created under Reagan were in the public sector --some 2 million jobs added to the Federal Bureaucracy. Hadn't he promised to reduce that bureaucracy?
- Reagan, though promising to reduce government and spending, tripled the national debt and left huge deficits to his successor. Bush Jr's record will be even worse.
- By contrast, most of the jobs created on Clinton's watch were in the private sector.
- Put another way: any Democratic President beats any Republican President since World War II.
9 comments:
The controlled demolition of the economy is all part of the cosmos perfect plan to unite the children under a common enemy. The Tester is here to test our resolve. The cycle of ethics is about to begin. Those who have rapped the children of their resources are slowing being placed in containment centers.
What else do you see happening in the world today? People are having to rely on others. Brothers who could find no common ground are now uniting. People are learning to do with less, are beginning to place less faith in material possessions, walking away from religiosity becoming more loving towards those in need. The cosmos is allowing us a grand opportunity here. Take it, utilize it, turn your focus away from the storm, look around you, who can you help today?
The title "Ancient Wisdom" is a link to my website. Please join with me in exploring the endless possibilities.
Didja hear the one about the AIG hedge fund manager? Buoyed by his recent bonus he decided to bet the rest of the company's assets on a single tulip bulb from Holland.
Or at least that's what B.F. Skinners psychology experiments in operant conditioning would lead you to expect. If you reward a given behavior you can expect the subject to repeat that behavior until you create a contervailing disincentive.
We have settled on a policy that emboldens the enemy if you ask me.
SadButTrue sez...
We have settled on a policy that emboldens the enemy if you ask me.
You've raised an issue that seems to have been neglected.
If the US is in the midst of collapse (and I believe it is) then the world is a very dangerous place. My take, however, is that the extremists in our own nation may be emboldened to foment a coup d'etat and immediately begin to rule by decree. I fear them more than I fear a 'foreign' enemy. And should a 'foreign' nation choose to exploit this, would Obama respond with nukes?
I've been reading your blog for a while now and I only have a few criticisms:
You conveniently ignore the fact that Bill Clinton was completely owned by the 'robber barons' and arguably did more to destroy american jobs than Reagan and both Bush's put together - he's the one who passed NAFTA and gave China most favored trading status.
Another thing that you give Clinton a pass on are the war crimes he was responsible for in Bosnia, Somalia, Sudan and worst of all, the 'regime change' sanctions that caused the deaths of 500,000Iraqi children.
And finally, you paint a rosie picture of Clinton's handling of the economy and his so called "budget surplus" - but the truth is that he "balanced" the budget by raiding the Social Security "lock box" and engineered the dot.com bubble to "grow" the economy.
I'm not defending the goppers, just pointing out that the only real difference between them and Clinton is that he was a lot slicker. And the fact that corporations pay him $200,000 per speech and have donated $500,000,000 to his library PROVES he's just another crook.
Anonymous said...
You conveniently ignore the fact that Bill Clinton was completely owned by the 'robber barons' and arguably did more to destroy American jobs than Reagan and both Bush's put together
Clinton is NOT a 'clear and present danger'. Bush was and his party remains so. To imply that Clinton and Bush are morally indistinguishable is just downright ludicrous, wrong, and wrong-headed.
Clinton --in fact --reversed the very trend that was begun with Reagan and RESUMED with Bush Jr. That 'trend' is THE root cause of the utter financial collapse now faced by the US.
It must also be pointed out that Clinton was able to accomplish this IN SPITE OF THE FACT that the US has been OWNED by the robber baron elites at least since the rise of Reagan who rewarded them handsomely!
That's why 'they' had to get rid of Clinton. Clinton is lucky he was not assassinated --the right wing cure all!
That said --I must point out that your comment is DEAD WRONG and is NOT SUPPORTED by the facts, cold hard stats that I have REPEATEDLY posted for at over a period of some 9 years now, about four on this blog alone.
It was GOP policies --NOT Democratic ones --that has created a situation in which ONLY ONE PERCENT OF THE POPULATION owns more than about 90 percent of the population combined.
The division of the US into 'haves' and 'have nots' began with Ronald Reagan, continued with Bush, and --IN FACT --REVERSED under Bill Clinton only to RESUME again with Bush Jr.
It was GOP policy --NOT DEMOCRATIC --that bankrupted the US and made of it a net debtor nation with a NEGATIVE current account balance about four times bigger than that of the runner up.
That result is primarily the result of the GOP deals that were cut by Bush Sr, in advance of Richard Nixon, who made the ceremonial visit to seal the traitorous deal with China. See: CIA: The World Factbook] When you go there, scroll down. That's where you will find the result of GOP policy, incompetence, greed, and psychopathy.
Don't blame me if the system --which I have excoriated --is FIXED such that only two wings of a single party exist. I would prefer a Parliamentary system, multiple parties, a direct vote tabulated in a range or preference system, the abolition of the Electoral College, national referendum, abolition of corporate personhood, abolition of the absurd primary system which inherently favors a two party system, and national standards for national elections to include ballot receipts which are both man and machine readable. Fat chance of ANY of those reforms EVER taking place as long as GOP power is entrenched. Most of those reforms at still impossible short of a violent revolution.
Given the 'clear and present danger' faced our Republic, quibbles about whether or not I should have given Democrats EQUAL 'criticism' is just bloody absurd.
Clinton is NOT, and never was, a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER. Bush was and may remain so until he is charged with mass murder for his part in the events of 911, capital war crimes in Iraq.
The Democrats are merely wrong much of the time. But the GOP is endemically evil and traitorous. Both Bush Sr and Bush Jr most certainly committed high treason. Both committed US troops to to Iraq upon BALD FACED LIES. Track down the transcript of Ambassador April Glaspie's interview with Saddam Hussein.
The GOP is not a political party; it's a crime syndicate of for some twenty years a KOOKY FUCKIN CULT.
In the meantime, check out:
Republicans Are Not Losing Because of "Mistakes"
How the U.S. went from 'World's Number One Exporter of Terrorism' to Bankrupt
At last --if Clinton were the crook you say he is, why wasn't he charged with crimes?
THE WORST THE GOP COULD COME UP WITH WAS A FUCKIN BLOW JOB. He was impeached for allegedly lying about an act that was NOT EVEN A CRIME. Now --if the Democratic party were, in any way as endemically evil and corrupt as is the GOP, then why couldn't the GOP pin a MASS MURDER WRAP ON HIM?
In fact, Ken Starr spent over FORTY MILLION BUCKS and still failed to find a single crime that could be pinned on Clinton. Desparate, Starr tried to trick him into a lie. Even that that didn't work. No serious student of law believes Clinton perjured himself!
Bush, on the other hand, put his hand on a black book and lied!
Why didn't the GOP accuse Clinton of high treason, capital war crimes, mass murder, etc???
If Clinton were as bad as Bush, why didn't the FINANCIAL COLLAPSE happen on his watch?
It did NOT happen on his watch because for the first time since 1980, the middle class was --AT LONG LAST --making gains. Clinton had --in fact --reversed the trends that began with the GOP and resulted from their policies.
If Clinton had run against McCain, guess who would have gotten my vote1
Now --with any luck --the GOP is without a future! Think Sarah Palin, an IDIOT who thinks human beings co-existed with Dinosaurs, that living near Russia makes one a foreign policy expert, that it's OK to murder wolves by air, and that Global Warming is a lie.
Sorry, but the GOP is a totally fucked up party of totally fucked up psychopaths, liars, crooks and idiots!
Can we do away with the false left-right paradigm already? It's one and the same party controlled by the financial corporate elite. That's why there will be no change so long as either party is in power.
AdamS said...
Can we do away with the false left-right paradigm already?
I have always decried the 'left-right' paradigm primarily because there is NO LEFT WING in America.
Secondly, this blog was never about Clinton nor have I ever defended Clinton personally.
FACTS, however, are FACTS! No GOP President can carry either Clinton nor Carter's shit!
Third: crimes are crimes! IF Clinton had ACTUALLY committed one, then prosecute him. Someone, please, actually make a case against Clinton --or shut the fuck up about it.
SHOW ME THE PROBABLE CAUSE!
SHOW ME THE ADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE!
Bush on the other hand committed CAPITAL CRIMES. Efforts to equate Clinton with Bush are just plain stupid!
Sorry --GETTING A BLOW JOB IS NOT A CRIME! Nor is lying about something that is NOT a crime to begin with. Nor is it 'obstruction of justice'.
Fourth -- the psychological characteristics of the GOP have NOTHING to do with the left-right paradigm! Carl Jung posited that about THIRTY PERCENT of any population is certifiably psychotic. In the US, that THIRTY PERCENT is most certainly the GOP. That has NOTHING to do with left-right politics. It has, rather, to do with the fact that the GOP evinces clearly and easily defined characteristics of both 'crime syndicates' AND 'cults'.
I have written hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pages in which I document this SUPPORTABLE thesis with psychological studies and historical precedent. I DO NOT make charges lightly.
Fifth -- there is, of course, no VIABLE left wing in the US, perhaps no left wing at all. Certainly, it is NOT the Democratic party which is to the right of almost every centrist party in Europe, a more moderate political climate to be sure. In almost every spectrum, Clinton was right of center, by rights a Republican EXECEPT that, unlike the GOP leadership, he was not a cultist.
I repeat: if the GOP had had ANYTHING on Clinton, they would have prosecuted him. So weak shi8t was the GOP case that Richard Mellon Scaife bankrolled attempts to BUY WITNESSES Clinton in Arkansas. Even that failed.
A party, a political wing, is pretty PATHETIC when it cannot even BUY a fuckin' witness!!!!!!!
Instead, like the fucikin', endemically stupid party they are, the GOP, way of Starr, spent at least 40 million bucks of TAX PAYERS MONIES investigating a BLOWJOB.
What the fuck does that kind of STUPIDITY have to do with the right-left paradigm?????
My antipathy to the GOP is warranted and its history justifies it! My attitude toward the GOP can be summed up in the words of Voltaire: ECRASEZ L'INFAME!
It is not true that there is only one 'political party' in the US. There is ONLY a 'right wing'.
The difference between the GOP and the Democrats is NOT political, it is sociological and psychological. It is also a 'class warfare' decreed by the upper elites upon everyone else.
There is a REASON Reagan's tax cut BENEFITED ONLY a small portion of the UPPER QUINTILE. His 'tax cut' of the early eighties was called a 'supply side' tax cut, GOP code for 'only rich folk will benefit'. The results are a matter of public record.
There is a REASON why EVERY GOP tax cut has enriched the ONE PERCENT which now --because of GOP policies --owns more than the about 90 percent of the rest of us combined!
There is a reason for this and that reason is this: the GOP is a crime syndicate, a cult which owes its allegiance to that ruling elite of just one percent of the nation.
That is the ROOT CAUSE of the current collapse and efforts to spread the guilt around are just plain stupid and uninformed! The culprits are Reagan, Bush Sr and Bush Jr. They did PRECISELY as they were told and now WE are picking up the tab with is being taken out of our asses!
I might add: tax cuts take monies OUT of circulation and exports them to offshore tax havens. We're not talking about pennies here. We're talking about billions that have TRICKLED OUT of the US to offshore bank accounts as well as to China by way of trade deals favorable to China that were cut by Nixon, Bush and Wal-Mart. Other nations benefited at our expense are named in my article.
It is no wonder the US is on the point of collapse and it is the DIRECT AND PROVABLE result of GOP POLICIES since 1980! That the trend was all too briefly reversed under Clinton is persuasive evidence if not PROOF of everything I've said.
I have --at last --reached a zero tolerance of GOP bullshit and efforts to excuse their sorry asses. In times past, another elite pulling off this kind of caper might have been frog marched up to the GUILLOTINE or hunted down by gangs with torches!
FUCK THE GOP AND MAY IT ROT IN HELL!
I have --at last --reached a zero tolerance of GOP bullshit and efforts to excuse their sorry asses. In times past, another elite pulling off this kind of caper might have been frog marched up to the GUILLOTINE or hunted down by gangs with torches!
If this is directed at me, I don't know how you could possibly get the idea that I'm some kind of GOP appologist. I ABSOLUTELEY AND TOTALLY AGREE THAT THEY'RE A GANG OF CRIMINALS, OK!!!
I'm just trying to get you to see that Democrats have done absolutely nothing of substance to stop the GOP criminals. For crying out loud, the Dems took control of the House and Senate 2 years ago on the promise that they'd end the war in Iraq. When they didn't even TRY, I think you posited that it must because they were afraid of Bush.
Well, Bush is gone, Dems control the Whitehouse too, and they STILL aren't doing ANYTHING MEANINGFUL TO END THE WAR! What's the problem this time? They certainly don't seem to care that you, me and the overwhelming majority of Americans want the killing to end NOW!!! But we all KNOW that the only thing that's really been stopped is any mention what-so-ever by the mainstream media that it's still a bloodbath over there - that little factoid has disappeared down the memory hole.
I'm not even going to bother arguing with you about Clinton anymore - if you want to believe he is some kind of saint who tried to save America, that's your right. But I DO agree that Carter is a decent man and was a better President than he gets credit for.
And finally, I'm sorry I set you off - I certainly didn't mean to. I thought this was political blog that you were into philosophy and critical thinking, but I guess I got it wrong, and won't try to post anymore comments if you don't want me to. I enjoy your blog and think you're a good writer though.
Post a Comment