Doing the same thing over & over again expecting different results

[me b zola]

...indicates that you need an intervention.

The republicans, with conservadems assistance, put in place the current tax cuts almost 10 years ago. During that period our economy has bottomed out. The tax cuts were not the only culprit of our crash, but they most certainly were a contributing factor. So when I hear Democrats saying that this crappy tax cut debacle is going to help put us on the road to recovery I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

To borrow President Obama's metaphor, he's driving the car in the same damn manner that the republicans were driving when our collective car hit the ditch.

I didn't become a Democrat just to cheer for a team. I became a Democrat because not only was their platform righteous (worked well with my Catholic upbringing) but because the policies were what was best for this nation and her inhabitants, the policies created a positive and healthy nation.

Until the US can bridge the widening gap between the wealthiest and the rest of us(99.5%) we will continue to go down the crapper. Its that freaking simple. How freaking simple that would be to argue as a politician. Bernie Sanders is one of the few who has.

Now where is our WPA program? We need jobs, not welfare for the wealthy.

[Luciferous]

1. Yep, but many here will keep defending it. I wonder what their

excuses will be in 2 years when the unemployment rate is still high or when they start cutting Social Security because of this stupid payroll tax holiday...

[me b zola]

3. I just can't understand why this policy is being defended at all

We know that it doesn't work. Granted, most of the folks posting here go with the "of course it sucks but we had to do it...(blah, blah, blah...) but there are some who are attempting to convince us that it will be good for the economy.

And yeah, I expect the same sorry excuses that will be proffered for cutting SS. Just makes me say :wtf:

[dkf]

2. Can you explain to me why the tax cuts were responsible even partly for the crash?

If anything the mortgage deduction may have been somewhat complicit but other than that It seemed to be a real estate problem and plain old greed more than the tax cuts in particular.

[me b zola]

4. We were spending more than we were taking in

I know, I know, its complicated.

[dkf]

8. We normally do.

[JoseGaspar]

11. It is easy to explain.

It is pretty well understood that the rich do not consume the lion's share of tax cuts; they "save" them (consumption becomes less and less elastic as you move up the income strata). "Save" is a misnomer. They actually "invest" the proceeds, i.e. the proceeds become capital. The tax cuts resulted in a fairly significant increase in capital, compounded yearly, without a corresponding increase in aggregate demand. The result was an ever growing pile of capital looking for an outlet, and this at the "traditional" rate of return which had been set in the preceding period. That is usually the genesis of so called "speculative bubbles".

Greed is a constant and is as much result as cause. The "real estate problem" was vastly exacerbated by the pile of newly expanded capital searching for "investment opportunities". There was a longer term issue in real-estate and derivatives, but the pile of cash was going to settle in one sector or another. Do you remember the super-heated speculation in commodities and then in petroleum, shortly before the real estate crash?

It was all going to come apart somewhere...

Compare the scale of the tax cuts to the total yearly augmentation of private capital. Big number, no?

[Poboy]

5. 'Now where is our WPA program? We need jobs, not welfare for the wealthy. ' -nt

[EFerrari]

6. What you said.

:)

[obxhead]

7. Welfare for the wealthy provided by sacrifice of welfare for

the needy.

Anyone that supports the extended tax cuts will do so without my support in the future. I don't care who is running against them.

[me b zola]

9. I will be unavailable for an hour or two...

I have not always been a great poster, but I happen to believe that this is a good post. You should rec and respond to it. :hi:

[me b zola]

10. Okay, I'm back

...and I still like this thread.

[upi402]

12. shhhh

no speaky 'bout the grande pacaderm in the main room
:hide:

[me b zola]

13. shameless kick

:blush:

[me b zola]

14. .

I still like this thread.