
Originally Posted by
Eric Stoner
Time for a little factual corrective :
1. The economy is stagnant, has been stagnant and promises to be for several more years. We have growth of less than 2 % making for the WORST post-recession recovery in history. Personal income is down. Were it not for government hiring, unemployment would be much higher than it is. "Big business" was NEVER in danger of going bankrupt except for the big banks and GM and Chrysler. As I have repeatedly pointed out, if the Fed lends me money at effectively less than zero and I lend it out at 4 to 7 % , I too can make billions. So could you. Likewise, it remains to be seen just how "profitable" GM will prove to be. The jury is still out although the most likely result appears to be that GM's results will be mixed at best.
2. If only Obama wanted to just go back to Clintonian times. First of all, there is no "internet bubble " now to juice the Dow and Nasdaq as under Clinton. Secondly, thanks to Obamacare taxes and higher state and local taxes, the tax burden and government spending as a % of GDP are approaching levels not seen since W.W. II. And Obama wants MORE stimulus spending; more Solyndras , more Fiskers.
3. I have already explained how and why the debt we have accumulated will NEVER be "paid back". Never ! The best we can do is lower government spending as a % of GDP and drop the deficit to a manageable level ( or maybe even surplus in a decade or so ) to maintain our credit rating with affordable interest rates on our debt and enable us to exchange new debt for old.
4.We got into this mess ( partly ) by following Keynesian economics, ever since FDR.
5. If we compare government stimulus to private sector investment, there is no comparison. We can look at the Harding-Coolidge tax cuts ; the JFK- Johnson tax cuts; the Reagan tax cuts; the CLINTON tax cuts ( which the Libs and Keynsians love to pretend never happened ) and even the Bush the Dumber tax cuts. We must also look at the Wilson tax increases; the Hoover-FDR tax increases which prolonged the Depression; the Truman-Eisenhower policies which gave us four recessions in 15 years; the Nixon-Ford-Carter stagflation.
6. You've already let your slip show when you posted that government spending is better than private sector spending ; that the government is smarter than we are and can spend our money better than we can. I paraphrased a bit but that is what you previously posted. Remember ? " Further, great benefit can be achieved AS LONG AS THE SPENDING IS UNDER THE RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE RIGHT MANNER and then CURTAILED when / IF ( ? ) the economy is able to stand on it's own. " Your words. Not mine. "Benefit" for whom ? Obama campaign contributors ? You really think that government bureaucrats are smarter than a free market to determine the "right circumstances " and "right manner" and know when to "curtail" spending when or IF ( ? ) the economy can stand on its own ???? FDR's brain trust got it wrong when they cut spending and raised taxes in 1937 resulting in the Great Recession of 1938. Truman got it wrong. Eisenhower got it wrong. LBJ, Nixon , Ford, Carter and Bush the Smarter all got it wrong. Clinton got it wrong in his first term. What is telling you that Obama and a spendthrift Congress are going to get it right ? Cats do not bark. Congress will spend every nickel they can lay their hands on. How do you think so many states and cities have become effectively bankrupt ? Just how many $400,000 per year state troopers do you think California can afford ? Why are so many low tax states doing so much better than high tax states making all those smart "investments" in green energy and HSR to nowhere ? Hmmm ?
We are SUPPOSED to keep this forum as apolitical as possible. Part of that involves TOLERANCE for views we neither like nor agree with. I'm sorry but it just won't do for you to pretend to somehow be purer and less "ideological" than the rest of us.
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