Posted by CrabbyCon on May 15, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Moron Alert! Joe Biden thinks unions will help the middle class and possibly cure the ailing economy.
Vice President Joe Biden, making a renewed pitch for a major change in labor law, told union leaders Tuesday that the best way to rebuild the middle class is to help labor unions grow.
Biden said it’s time to “level the playing field” for unions by passing a bill that would make it easier for workers to organize.
“You’ve got to climb up a hill with so many roadblocks on the way to organize that it’s just out of whack,” Biden told a conference of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which has about 1.6 million members.
“If a union is what you want, then a union is what you should get,” Biden said.
The Employee Free Choice Act — also known as “card check” — is organized labor’s top priority this year, but business groups are adamantly opposed. It would allow a majority of workplace employees to sign cards to join a union instead of holding secret ballot elections.
This is just idiotic. We are supposed to believe that unions, one of the major causes of the auto industry downfall, will actually help the economy and put more money into the hands of the middle class? Unions have been incredibly corrupt once they came to power and held more sway up on Capitol Hill. Even employees that are supposedly protected by unions get used and abused in order for the union leaders to gain more power and control. Unions suck money out of companies because of strict contractual agreements, huge benefit packages, protection from getting fired, major pay rates, etc. If private companies are forced to accept union labor, they will move to other countries to conduct business. The United States, IIRC, is the only country that has unions. When auto industries conduct business in other countries they are actually profitable because there are no unions in those factories. Other companies will escape overseas, so if Biden wants to level the playing field, as he puts it, and not completely demolish the U.S. economy, then he will have to figure out a way to enforce union labor on places like India, China, Brazil, etc. FAT CHANCE – Good one Joe… But then again, we already know that you and your Democrat cronies are all in the pockets of the Unions.
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Posted by CrabbyCon on May 6, 2009 · 2 Comments
Typical government growth. Print money, act like a savior, don’t produce, take to give, create absolutely no value in distributing money.
Take for example the fact that for the first time in history, the highest revenue for states has been federal aid. This is unsustainable growth and will redefine the role the federal government plays. This means that the growth of government is imminent and there will be less freedoms for state constituents. I also see this as irrational and illogical spending practices; how can you spend money that comes from taxpayers’ pockets (the federal government) which will go back into the pockets of taxpayers (the states and its citizens) this doesn’t make sense to me – it just seems so circular and redundant. It will actually take more money from the pockets of those forgotten men and women paying for this spending bonanza, since many of those payments will be in the form of welfare checks or redistribution, to those who don’t pay taxes to begin with.
In a historic first, Uncle Sam has supplanted sales, property and income taxes as the biggest source of revenue for state and local governments.
The shift shows how deeply the recession is cutting. Federal stimulus money aimed at reviving the economy and a sharp drop in tax collections have altered, at least temporarily, the traditional balance of how states, cities, counties and schools pay for their operations.
The Democrats on Capitol Hill can’t get enough of their spending habits. They are trigger happy at the printing presses and believe that doling out more “Benjamin’s” will solve all the ails of the volatile U.S. economy. The sad fact is that this spending, which will require repayment somehow, by future generations, will only further drive down the economy in the long run. This is Jimmy Carter redux and we will see a public sector that is out of control, squashing the private sector and stagnating our economic growth (those things that actually do produce and retain value). Our GDP is estimated to grow at one of the slowest rates worldwide, much like Japan in the 90′s and we could see ourselves sitting at a DOW max of only 9K for years to come. This also doesn’t take into account the inflation that will ensue due to this irresponsible lending of taxpayer money. My guess is we will be waiting in gas lines miles long and will see interest rates close to 17% in the next couple of years…
Lie #1. “The financial crisis is behind us.”
Lie #2. “The government is fixing it.”
Lie #3. “Big banks are too big to fail.”
Lie #4. “Your insurance is safe and guaranteed.”
Lie #5. “The economy is starting to recover.”
Lie #6. “Your stocks will come back.”
We’ve just seen the biggest bogus stock market rally in our lifetime, built on the most blatant pack of lies we’ve ever heard:
Wall Street and Washington say the financial crisis is behind us. But the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has just trashed that theory faster than a high-speed paper shredder.
They say big banks can’t fail. But behind the headlines, key Fed officials are now admitting that the “too big to fail” doctrine is, itself, failing.
I interject here to point out that Minneapolis Fed’s Gary Stern actually sounded the alarm long before “too big to fail” became “too much to handle.” But since when does the Fed listen? Even amongst itself? Pathetic.
The reality here is that the Fed does not and cannot have a handle on the very economic unraveling it created. It’s impossible. Meanwhile, the respective PR campaigns of the White House, the Treasury, and the Fed are hard at work convincing you otherwise. Everything is OK. We’re fine. The stock market is on a roll. Hey, don’t look over there, check out Susan Boyle!
It doesn’t matter whether they tell us the truth or not (I think we know they’re full of it anyway) because we’re still suffering. That should be proof enough that this rally is a lie, this recovery line is a lie, and all these rainbows and unicorns are manufactured to keep “crowd control” from becoming a national security concern.
Could you imagine what would happen if America collectively woke up one morning and realized that their “wealth” was really just worthless paper?
The more the Fed and the government prints the more worthless that paper becomes. We are experiencing a bear market rally based on voodoo economics, lies, and spin. You can only cover something up for so long until reality and the truth shines through.
So here are some examples of some additional spending by the government:
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives will seek passage in coming weeks of $94.2 billion in emergency money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other programs, including $2 billion more to prepare for an influenza pandemic.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, outlining the legislation for reporters, also said the legislation would include $2.2 billion to fund some C-17 airplanes for the Pentagon. But it will not address future purchases of a refueling tanker airplane sought by the Air Force.
I thought liberals were for peace and against war? What were all those “coexist” bumper stickers about? I guess war is ok if it’s a liberal president.
The Obama administration wants the United States to spend $63 billion over the next six years to fight global diseases and provide more aid for prenatal and postnatal care, children’s health and fighting tropical diseases.
“We cannot fix every problem,” Obama said in a written statement Tuesday. “But we have a responsibility to protect the health of our people, while saving lives, reducing suffering, and supporting the health and dignity of people everywhere. America can make a significant difference in meeting these challenges and that is why my administration is committed to act.”
How about we worry about our own country while Americans are suffering and are jobless before spending more money abroad for other things that will not stimulate our economy.
The initiative, announced by Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew, continues an effort begun under President George W. Bush to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
But I thought Obama was going to be the anti-Bush? I guess some of what he did wasn’t all that bad eh? Bush is very well liked and respected in Africa – as a world leader, he has provided the most aid to that continent. I believe he spent too much money, so I do disagree with some of it, but I think that it was a nobel cause and he did it for the right reasons.
We also continue to pay for and subsidize banks, who are continuing to ask for more money this week. Bank of America is doing so poorly, there is a chance that it may be dropped from the S&P 500 index. The subsidizing is unsustainable.
The results of the government’s stress tests on banks, to be released in a few days, will not mark the beginning of the end of the financial crisis. If we are to believe the leaks, the results will show that there might be a few problems at some of the regional banks and Citigroup and Bank of America may need some more capital if things get worse. But the overall message is that the sector is in pretty good shape.
This would be good news if it were credible. But the International Monetary Fund has just released a study of estimated losses on U.S. loans and securities. It was very bleak — $2.7 trillion, double the estimated losses of six months ago. Our estimates at RGE Monitor are even higher, at $3.6 trillion, implying that the financial system is currently near insolvency in the aggregate. With the U.S. banks and broker-dealers accounting for more than half these losses there is a huge disconnect between these estimated losses and the regulators’ conclusions.
More voodoo economics and lies to the American people – this is the biggest ponzi scheme our nation has ever witnessed!
Democrats aren’t the party of Wall Street?
The Fed has also announced that it will buy up more U.S. Treasuries – what on earth is going on? Do we even live on earth anymore?
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Filed under Bailouts, Congress, Double Standards, Economy, General, Legislation, Media, National Debt, Obama, Obama Administration, Politicians, Socialism, State Issues, Stimulus, Treasury, Wall Street · Tagged with Bailouts, Congress, Economy, Forgotten Man, house, Media, National Debt, Obama, Obama Administration, Politicians, Spin, State Issues, Stimulus, Unsustainable Growth, Wall Street
Posted by CrabbyCon on April 17, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Things could get much worse not only for the United States but for the rest of the world:
The International Monetary Fund has warned of “worrisome parallels” between the current global crisis and the Great Depression, despite the unprecedented steps already taken by central banks and governments worldwide.
This recession is likely to be “unusually long and severe, and the recovery sluggish,” said the Fund, releasing two advance chapters from its World Economic Outlook. However, it warned there is a risk that it could spiral down into a full-blown slump unless further action is taken to stop “feedback effects” gathering force.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the IMF, said millions of people risk being pushed back into poverty as the economic storm ravages the most vulnerable countries. “The human consequences could be absolutely devastating. This is a truly global crisis, and nobody is escaping,” he said.
Synchronised world recessions striking all major regions are “historically rare” events, the Fund said. They last one and a half times as long typical downturns, and are followed by painfully slow recoveries.
William Graham Sumner, an economics professor at Yale University, wrote in 1883 about the Forgotten Man. His synopsis is one of the best I have heard and it was played out during the Great Depression as FDR took the reigns and tried to make a Utopian, collectivist society to raise up the poor, but step all over the middle class. Those who lived through the Great Depression and who made up the middle class, such as my grandmother, can speak passionately and clearly to this day about the policies of FDR and against those who believe in progressive, socialistic societies. Sumner wrote:
A and B put their heads together to decide what C shall be made to do for D. The radical vice of all these schemes, from a sociological point of view, is that C is not allowed a voice in the matter, and his position, character, and interests, as well as the ultimate effects on society through C’s interests, are entirely overlooked. I call C the Forgotten Man.
For once let us look him up and consider his case, for the characteristic of all social doctors is that they fix their minds on some man or group of men whose case appeals to the sympathies and the imagination, and they plan remedies addressed to the particular trouble; they do not understand that all the parts of society hold together, and that forces which are set in action act and react throughout the whole organism, until an equilibrium is produced by a readjustment of all interests and rights.
They therefore ignore entirely the source from which they must draw all the energy which they employ in their remedies, and they ignore all the effects on other members of society than the ones they have in view. They are always under the dominion of the superstition of government, and, forgetting that a government produces nothing at all, they leave out of sight the first fact to be remembered in all social discussion — that the state cannot get a cent for any man without taking it from some other man, and this latter must be a man who has produced and saved it. This latter is the Forgotten Man.
There always are two parties. The second one is always the Forgotten Man, and any one who wants to truly understand the matter in question must go and search for the Forgotten Man. He will be found to be worthy, industrious, independent, and self-supporting. He is not, technically, “poor” or “weak”; he minds his own business, and makes no complaint. Consequently the philanthropists never think of him, and trample on him.
[...]
For our present purpose it is most important to notice that if we lift any man up we must have a fulcrum, or point of reaction. In society that means that to lift one man up we push another down. The schemes for improving the condition of the working classes interfere in the competition of workmen with each other. The beneficiaries are selected by favoritism, and are apt to be those who have recommended themselves to the friends of humanity by language or conduct which does not betoken independence and energy. Those who suffer a corresponding depression by the interference are the independent and self-reliant, who once more are forgotten or passed over; and the friends of humanity once more appear, in their zeal to help somebody, to be trampling on those who are trying to help themselves.
[...]
The question then arises, Who is C? He is the man who wants alcoholic liquors for any honest purpose whatsoever, who would use his liberty without abusing it, who would occasion no public question, and trouble nobody at all. He is the Forgotten Man again, and as soon as he is drawn from his obscurity we see that he is just what each one of us ought to be.
No truer words were ever spoken and how prophetic his analysis is today. It amazes me how so many in the past, whether it was our founding fathers or men like William Graham Sumner, knew the very essence of the issues that continue to stifle us today. The true condition of what it means to be American and those Forgotten Men and Women that really do make up this great nation.
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Filed under Bailouts, Budget, Economy, Foreign Affairs, National Debt, Obama, Socialism, Stimulus, Treasury, Wall Street · Tagged with Bankruptcy, Debt, Depression, Economy, FDR, Forgotten Man, IMF, Markets, Middle Class, National Debt, Recession, Socialism, Sumner
