President George W. Bush has destroyed America's economy along with America's reputation as a truthful, compassionate, peace-loving nation that values civil liberties and human rights.
2006-01-12
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Blog by reformed leftist "Paul Hue", and his friends, including some UnReformed Leftists; the headlines reflect these competing views.
President George W. Bush has destroyed America's economy along with America's reputation as a truthful, compassionate, peace-loving nation that values civil liberties and human rights.
12 comments:
I certainly agree that Bush has harmed the economy by embracing huge spending increases, including massive projects that hambone ecnomic activity, like all those taliban checkpoints at the airport. But his tax cuts have helped the economy in the same way that tax cuts to Phillidelphia's property taxes have helped that local economy. Nadir, to earn more money, why don't you try raising the prices of your CDs to $100 each? That's ten times the usual price, and thus should earn you 10 times the revenue. And why stop there: increase 100 times, to a thousand dollars each. You'll be rolling in cash!
Conversely, might Bush help you by increasing sales taxes on CDs to 40%? How about 60%, to show that he really "cares"?
Nadir: Is my friend Jay more or less likely to purchase a Nadir CD now that I paid him $400 to paint my house, using my Bush tax cut savings?
What a load of crap. Clinton signed the trade agreement with China, not Bush. You can blame BJ boy for the lost manufacturing jobs.
Truthful and compassionate? Like whom? France? Russia? Germany?
Peace loving? Like whom? (there's too many to sarcastically mention here.)
I won't even address your comments because they are stupid and have nothing to do with the article. Bush's tax cuts may have helped bolster GDP, and it may have given you an extra couple of dollars to play with, but the fact is, the U.S. economy as a whole is in the tank, and Bush's policies have accelerated its decline.
That $400 you spent on pink walls would have helped purchase a kevlar vest for a soldier in Iraq. Or it could have helped some poor kid go to college.
But the world is a much better place because Paul Hue has a pink living room. I'm sure you'll get a Nobel Prize nomination for interior design. And we have Bush to thank for it.
That last comment was for Paul.
This one is for you, Slinger.
Why can't the U.S. be compared to itself in the area of human rights? There was a time when America was known as a bastion of freedom in the world. Now it is known as a home for torturers, murderers and theives.
The U.S. economy is now in hock to China. If they decide to stop floating our loans (or to stop selling us goods) we're sunk.
Can you guys debate the issues instead of creating diversions?
Nadir: The $400 I spent on pink walls during its cycle through the economy ended up generating total tax income that exceeded $400! Didn't you notice all the articles showing that following Bush cutting the income tax *RATES* that (as predicted by Free Marketeers) the US income tax *REVENUE* increased? The increase in US govt deficit is not due to decrease in Tax income, but rather an increase Federal spending that is much greater than the increase in Tax income caused by cutting tax Rates. It's like getting a 10% raise but increasing your spending by 40%. You are the guy asking, how can I be gettig further into debt when I just got a raise? Bush's tax RATE cuts resulted in a RAIS in tax income, but he and Congress conspired to raise spending by an even greater amount.
We talked about these FACTs on this very blog. It's the same effect that would happen if you stopped charging $25 for your CDs and instead started charging $10: you cut your price/rate, and get an income increase. This phenomenon applied to tax rates/income is called the "Laffer Curve", which predicts that there exists an optimum tax rate wich results in a maximum tax revenue, with lower or higer rates resulting in lower Tax income.
This is a well-kown principal in the private economy: If you charge zero or $1,000 for CDs you will make zero income, but $10 per CD will result in maximum income. (Bad example, of course, since CDs are now economic dead-weight, like cassette tapes, and actually charging zero would, I think, result in your biggest income... but from other sources. Thus I recommend you use CDs as advertisement, not merchandise. But just apply this principle to my purchase of pink paint. The one selling for free I'll get that, but the company makes no money. The one for $100 a gallon, I don't buy. The one for $20 makes the most money for the company.)
==Nadir==
Why can't the U.S. be compared to itself in the area of human rights? There was a time when America was known as a bastion of freedom in the world. Now it is known as a home for torturers, murderers and theives.
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Only among Liberals. People all over the world risk their lives to get here, where they are safer and more prosperous than nearly anywhere else on earth. Torture is a very rare experiance in the US. Murder is rare in 90% of the country, and Americans are very secure about their property. When was the last time that you experianced any of these factors in the US?
==Nadir==
The U.S. economy is now in hock to China. If they decide to stop floating our loans (or to stop selling us goods) we're sunk.
====
China would be hurting itself if it stopped "floating our loans". It loans the US money because it has great confidence in the strength of our economy. If the US economy bellies-up, China will experiance what the World Bank does when it loans money to third world dictators. China officials are free to do what they wish with their money. Their loans to the US provide irrefutable proof that they have unshakable confidence in the strength and reliability of the US economy. They also have a vested interest in the US economy thriving. You claim that the US economy sucks. Yet those idiots in China litterally bank on it *NOT* sucking. Where else would you have them invest their money? Loaning to Robert Mugabe or Fidel Castro? I would like to see that happen!
"The U.S. economy is now in hock to China. If they decide to stop floating our loans (or to stop selling us goods) we're sunk."
Agreed! But whose fault is THAT?!! I'll say it again; Clinton signed the "free trade" agreement with China, not George W. Bush!!! How do you propose we "force" China to by American-made/produced goods?
And what's your solution to the problem, besides belly-aching about it and blaming it all on President Bush, or Wal Mart?!!! More taxes? Isolationism? Trade barriers?
The economy was already headed towards a recession the last year of Clinton's Presidency, long before Bush ever took office.
Then, less than a year into Bush's first term 9-11 happened. I don't think I need to explain to you what that event did to the economy, do I? It nearly ruined the airline industry and actually, it probably did, at least as we knew it.
Here in Michigan the economy is obviously lagging way behind the rest of the country, especially here in SE Michigan because we're so inseparably tied to the auto industry. But the auto companies and the UAW have made been making their own bed for years and now they're sleeping in it and we're paying the price for it.
Anyway, if you'd have lived in this area as long as I have, you'd know that that's nothing unusual. The auto industry has always gone through cycles. When it's good, it's great and when it's bad, it sucks. There's an old saying around here that goes something like "When the auto industry catches a cold, Detroit/SE Michigan gets pneumonia".
That's reality. Deal with it.
Paul's right and I agree with him; Bush's spending habits have been of control, but I think he and his fellow Republicans are starting to reign that in. They've heard the call from their constituents to get spending under control and I think they're starting to do so.
"Why can't the U.S. be compared to itself in the area of human rights? There was a time when America was known as a bastion of freedom in the world. Now it is known as a home for torturers, murderers and theives."
What are you talking about?!!! Jesus Christ, where does this contempt come from? Yeah, you're right Nadir, America sucks large donkey penises...except compared to any alternative.
God almighty, how can you stand being so miserable?
"The increase in US govt deficit is not due to decrease in Tax income, but rather an increase Federal spending that is much greater than the increase in Tax income caused by cutting tax Rates. It's like getting a 10% raise but increasing your spending by 40%."
Yet Bush wants to make the tax cuts permanent despite the fact that there is less overall income because of his spending. How can we afford to keep giving tax breaks to the rich while the middle class pays a disproportionate share in taxes - and keep spending high by subsidizing corporations and waging war in foreign lands?
"Torture is a very rare experiance in the US. Murder is rare in 90% of the country, and Americans are very secure about their property."
However, you have no problem with supporting a president who wants to continue torturing prisoners even when members of his own party pushed a torture ban through Congress. Murder in the U.S. is not as rare as it should be, but I was specifically talking about the murder of innocent Iraqis.
Didn't you just tell me that you got ripped of a couple of months ago at your house? I was talking about the attempted theft of Iraqi oil, but that caper isn't going as planned.
"China would be hurting itself if it stopped "floating our loans".
Agreed. We are also one of their biggest customers. However, there may come a time when the Chinese call in that debt. Can you imagine a G8 conference conveined to discuss debt relief for the United States?
"Clinton signed the "free trade" agreement with China, not George W. Bush!!!"
Agreed. I was never a Bill Clinton fan. I was opposed to NAFTA and to the other "free" trade agreements that the U.S. has signed since then. Bush's economic policies exacerbate the problem that Clinton created.
"How do you propose we "force" China to by American-made/produced goods?"
Americans won't even buy American made goods.
"The economy was already headed towards a recession the last year of Clinton's Presidency, long before Bush ever took office."
Agreed. The Internet bubble created by artificially inflated stocks hit hard when it burst. Bush's actions have merely accelerated the freefall.
"God almighty, how can you stand being so miserable?"
Who says I'm miserable? What's wrong with wanting your country to have a positive image in the world instead of a negative one? What's wrong with denouncing the government when it does something wrong?
Paul always says people are risking their lives to come here from other countries. Who wouldn't want to live in a place where the rest of the world could be collapsing around you, but Americans continue in their ignorant bliss?
Life MUST be great here!!! We somehow don't notice there are more poor people and more unemployed and higher fuel prices and heating bills.
The three of us live right outside the poorest big city in the nation, but you wouldn't know it if you visited any of our homes. What makes America great is that you can blissfully ignore the blight and sorrow that surrounds you while you watch Desperate Housewives and MTV Cribs.
America is about the dream. We all want to dream...
===Nadir==
Yet Bush wants to make the tax cuts permanent despite the fact that there is less overall income because of his spending.
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What have you been reading? Certinaly not the facts that I have presented. Income is up, not down, and as night follows day, income tax revenue is up. I am willing to agree with you that Bush is 100% responsible for all of the spending increases; I concede that point until he starts demanding cuts. But his tax cuts have increased overal US incomes, and thus income tax rates. Did you read any of my basic economics comments? Raising prices/tax rates only increase income/tax rev if the prices/tax rates are already below their optimal value.
When Bush cut the tax rates, people like you insisted that this would lead to less tax rev, and people like me predicted that tax rev would increase. What happened? Do you know? Do you care? Do you want the US Treasury to have more tax revs, or you do want higher tax rates no matter what, even if this results in lower tax revenues?
Nadir, do you understand what has happened in Detroit, as its leaders have increased property tax rates and imposed an income tax? Have Detroit tax revs increased or deceased? In the special "enterprise zones" downtown, do you know/care what has happened to tax revs there, where the tax rates have been cut?
Nadir: Do you know what $1million x 0 is? It is zero. An abandoned house with no owner taxed at 10%, and appraised at 10k$ gets zero tax income. That same house taxed at 5% with an owner who fixes it and resides there, with the new appraised valeue of 100k$ is $5,000 in tax rev. Would you prefer the higher tax rate, with no evil "rich" owner?
Nadir: Do you understand that a "Capital Gains Tax" represents a cost on investing in the stock market? It is just like you raising the price of your CDs. If you raise the price of your CDs, will more people buy? Will you make more money? Do you know what happed when Bush cut the capital gains tax? Do you know that more people bought stock? Do you know what companies do when people buy their stock? Are you aware that they purchase more... oh, never mind. Just raise the capital gains tax to 75%, and tax those evil rich bastards at 75% for all income over 500k$. Then see what happens. You might even succeed in getting the Chinese to find a better place to invest.
Our unemployment rate is at 5%. That is the best of any industralized nation. Granted President Bush is not a fiscal conservative by no means. That can also be said for the Republicans in congress. I believe the republicans need to get a cold slap across the face. Maybe that will wake them up. A weak dollar is good for our multinational companys, but a two week dollar is a bad thing.
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