Why "tax cuts" are not the answer ...

I am no socialist, nor do I sympathize with that political economy.  (editor: are you sure such admissions won't upset your colleagues even more? Awshutupalready, I am no Republican either!!!)
But, all one requires is a little bit of attention to the following graphic and wonder what the hell is wrong with the messed up party manifesto of tax cuts for the affluent as as panacea for every problem!

The interesting thing is that while this comes via the "liberal" DailyKos, the graphic is noted as having originated from "The Christian Left" ...

Meanwhile, the President who portrayed himself as being driven by hope and audacity is increasingly operating with the antonyms of those words as his guiding bottom-line, and has started to even disappear from tough budget discussions ...

A chart compares the elephant and the donkey on tax cuts

Andy Borowitz had the best line in this context: "This tax cut bullshit wouldn't be happening if we had a Democrat in the White House."
The original post here. (ht)

Stephen Colbert explains Rand Paul's Nothingness :)

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Nothingness
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

How do they do such satire?  Wonderful creativity--watch out for that yin/yang humor in this piece :)

A depressing read on economics and politics

Tell me if these two paragraphs don't make you bloody depressed even on a wonderful summer night with the full moon aglow:

My reading of contemporary Republican thinking is that there is no chance of any attempt to arrest adverse long-term fiscal trends should they return to power. Moreover, since the Republicans have no interest in doing anything sensible, the Democrats will gain nothing from trying to do much either. That is the lesson Democrats have to draw from the Clinton era’s successful frugality, which merely gave George W. Bush the opportunity to make massive (irresponsible and unsustainable) tax cuts. In practice, then, nothing will be done.

Indeed, nothing may be done even if a genuine fiscal crisis were to emerge. According to my friend, Bruce Bartlett, a highly informed, if jaundiced, observer, some “conservatives” (in truth, extreme radicals) think a federal default would be an effective way to bring public spending they detest under control. It should be noted, in passing, that a federal default would surely create the biggest financial crisis in world economic history.

That is from Martin Wolf's lengthy examination of the political aspects of supply-side economics. (ht)
If that does not depress you enough, here is how Wolf concludes his post:

The danger does not arise from the fiscal deficits of today, but the attitudes to fiscal policy, over the long run, of one of the two main parties. Those radical conservatives (a small minority, I hope) who want to destroy the credit of the US federal government may succeed. If so, that would be the end of the US era of global dominance. The destruction of fiscal credibility could be the outcome of the policies of the party that considers itself the most patriotic.

In sum, a great deal of trouble lies ahead, for the US and the world.

There is only one word to describe the situation ... fucked!


The Tory/LibDem alliance seems all the more attractive now.

Chart of the day: deficits

Have a nice day :)
(ht)

Is it President-Elect McCain or Obama?

So let’s get this straight: Robert Gates will be the Defense Secretary, we’re ramping up U.S. forces in Afghanistan and providing a reasonable period of time for a hand-off in Iraq, there isn’t going to be a windfall oil profits tax or income tax hike but there is going to be a huge set of business tax cuts – and Rick Warren is giving the invocation at the Inauguration. Who won in November?

I’m sure there will be times during the next four years when the Obama administration’s decisions on issues (e.g. judicial appointments) have conservatives banging their heads against the wall, bemoaning the fact that John McCain wasn’t elected. But so far it’s hard to imagine McCain would have been doing more than the incoming Obama team seems to be proposing — and with as much chance of success –to further some key center-Right policy aims.

Hmmmm.... Jennifer Rubin has a great observation there.