It's the economy stupid! Part deux
Bush is back in the country and yesterday announced he's ready to "guide" the economy. Meanwhile, the stock market had a huge drop yesterday. Just huge:
From reuters.com: "Stocks dropped sharply on Thursday as a plunge in regional factory activity and a hefty loss at Merrill Lynch further clouded an increasingly dire view of the economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was down 307.03 points, or 2.46 percent, to end unofficially at 12,159.13."
Also, we learned that food prices had their largest rise since 1990 (back when the other Bush was President):
From stltoday.com: "Inflation truly hit home in 2007 with food prices rising 4.9 percent, the most since 1990, as energy costs for farmers surged and the production of crops, livestock and dairy products failed to keep pace with increased global demand."
In Oklahoma a gallon of milk is almost $4...a loaf of bread $3, and a dang carton of eggs, $2! Never even mind about a gallon of gas...
This happened on Bush's watch. He'll try, but he can't blame anyone else.
Not only is it going to be a recession, we are probably going to see more bank failures and the continual downhill slide of the dollar...and when all is said and done, our entire US banking system might be in the hands of non-US money holders. Buckle up... it’s going to be a bumpy ride...
And now for a few words from the Britney Spears Guide to Global Economy:
"Trickle Down Economics" my left foot. Economies are stimulated by consumers, not producers. From the bottom up, NOT from the top down...very little of the money generated by tax cuts for the rich EVER trickles down to make higher earnings and thus, more spending by consumers.
Say, what if we did a tiny thing like cut the payroll tax for the working class? It would immediately put more money in the hands of people who are already having trouble making ends meet. Consumers would spend most or all that extra money in each paycheck. They'd buy more goods and services...which spurs companies to provide more goods and services...and to hire more workers to produce the increased demand for these goods and services.
This would create a self-sustaining happy cycle...resulting in those additional workers getting the benefit of the payroll tax cut, and they'll spend their extra money on goods and services, etc...etc. Everyone up and down the food chain benefits.
It would take a little time, but as companies make more profits due to increased consumer buying power, tax revenues will begin to refill federal coffers gutted by the Bush tax cuts.
But noooo...just look at some of the numbskull proposals being touted.
The Republicans are using economic gloom to scare us into agreeing to make the Bush tax cuts of 2001 permanent. Sooo predictable from the party that fear-mongered us into other disasters like wiretaps and torture. Now they're trying to scare us into setting those tax cuts for the rich into stone before the GOP gets kicked out of town next January.
Democrats are just as predictable. They want to just start handing out cash--$300 to $600 one-time handouts to every taxpayer. That's not going to solve anything. It will pay one month's heating bill for a working family in Detroit. Then what?
Democrats learned this little trick from Bush. Back in 2001 he handed out the same kind of "feel-good" money to make us think we were getting a piece of his $1.4 trillion tax cuts. That was our piece...a one-time $300 to $600 check, more a crumb than a piece. Suckers. We all know that the biggest beneficiaries of Bush's tax cuts have been the top 1 percent of the nation's earners.
Well, he'll be out later today...to present an emergency fiscal stimulus bill. Aren't you comforted to know that Bush has finally admitted the economy is in trouble -- and that he's going to fix it?
We are so screwed.
