Economy

The Scott Walker-Paul Ryan-Rick Perry tax-cut mania, destroyed in two paragraphs

September 20, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

GranholmFormer Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm puts the lie to the current Republican mantra that tax cuts and smaller government will boost the economy. Granholm, a Democrat, faced an economic crisis in Michigan that at one point in the Great Recession pushed official unemployment to 20 percent.She explained to Salon.com's Andrew Leonard why Michigan's experiment with tax cuts and smaller government was a resounding failure. In her new book on fixing the economy:

Can't watch Obama now, gotta answer the phone

September 8, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

No ringy dingyHow truly freaked out is the Republican Party tonight? This freaked out:

Right in the middle of President Obama's 30-minute speech, in which he quite forcefully touted his new job creation measure, the telephone in our suburban Milwaukee home rang. Here's the conversation that ensued:

ME: Hello?

CALLER: May I speak to [MRs. Man MKE]?

ME: Whom may I say is calling?

CALLER: (After a brief pause) I'm Doug, and I'm calling from the Republican National Committee.

ME to Mrs. Man MKE, who votes regularly, but never for Republicans: Honey, would you like to speak with someone from the Republican National Committee?

MRS. MAN MKE: No. I'm watching the president's speech right now.

ME to Caller: She does not wish to speak with you.

[Caller doesn't respond, but line goes dead at once]

On Bilking The Sophisticated, Or, Check It Out: We’re Suing Banks!

September 6, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

I took a break to enjoy the holiday, as I’m sure many of you did, but my inbox kept busy, and on Friday came a doozy, courtesy of the Washington Post.

You remember that little bit of a banking crisis we had a couple of years back, where banks around the world might have possibly, maybe, just a little, conspired in a giant scheme to package toxic mortgage loans into Grade A, investment-ready securities instruments, which then blew up in everyone’s faces to the tune of a whole lot of taxpayer bailouts?

Well all of a sudden, it looks like an agency of the Federal Government is looking to do something about it, in a real big way. Last Friday the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced they’re suing 17 firms (I’ll give you a list, bit it’s pretty much all the usual suspects); depending on who you ask the Feds are seeking an amount as high as $200 billion.

As Joe Biden would say, it’s a big…well, it’s a big deal, anyway, and that’s why we’re starting the new week with this one.

"Why I left the Republican cult": The ultimate self-interest of a working man in peril from the GOP

September 4, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

I left as an act of rational self-interest. Having gutted private-sector pensions and health benefits as a result of their embrace of outsourcing, union busting and "shareholder value," the GOP now thinks it is only fair that public-sector workers give up their pensions and benefits, too. Hence the intensification of the GOP's decades-long campaign of scorn against government workers. Under the circumstances, it is simply safer to be a current retiree rather than a prospective one.

If you think Paul Ryan and his Ayn Rand-worshipping colleagues aren't after your Social Security and Medicare, I am here to disabuse you of your naiveté. They will move heaven and earth to force through tax cuts that will so starve the government of revenue that they will be "forced" to make "hard choices" - and that doesn't mean repealing those very same tax cuts, it means cutting the benefits for which you worked.

-- MIKE LOFGREN, who retired on June 17 after 28 years as a Congressional staffer. He served 16 years as a professional staff member on the Republican side of both the House and Senate Budget Committees.

Obama's alleged doom was Reagan's gain

September 4, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

Little peopleSo the conventional wisdom is now that Barack Obama simply cannot win reelection in 2012 if the unemployment rate doesn't drop significantly by then. His handling of the economy is poohed by two thirds of polling respondents and right now fundy Christian nutcase Rick Perry is riding high in polls as the Republican challenger apparent and a nominee who would beat Obama in the general election.

Oh, really? Well, no one could say times are good, but a key fact seems to have escaped the attention of most pundits:

Ignoring the fact that he inherited an economy on life support, the unemployment rate under Obama has dropped from around 10 percent to 9 percent. At the end of Reagan's first term, when a far less damaging recession was still causing grief, the national unemployment rate was EIGHT PERCENT. Yet Reagan won handily with his "stay the course" campaign. And Obama, unlike Reagan, is likely to face a GOP that has devolved far to the right and is turning off independents in many polls.