Category Archives: The Economy

Interesting…

Companies have tons of cash on their balance sheets, but aren’t hiring or ramping up.  Instead, they are preserving profits.

President Obama today more or less pleaded with American companies to hire more people. In a tough economy, if the government won’t goose hiring through a public economic stimulus, then it’s up to companies. Mr. Obama, at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

“Today, American companies have nearly $2 trillion sitting on their balance sheets. And I know that many of you have told me that you’re waiting for demand to rise before you get off the sidelines and expand, and that with millions of Americans out of work, demand has risen more slowly than any of us would like.”

“We’re in this together, but many of your own economists and salespeople are now forecasting a healthy increase in demand. So I just want to encourage you to get in the game.”

But here’s the thing — those companies are in the game already, and a lot of them are winning. Profits are up, even if hiring’s not. Part of what makes that possible is that workers have been doing more; productivity was growing at an annual rate of 2.6 percent at the end of 2010. So if you feel like you’re working harder, if you feel more tired than usual at the end of the day, there’s solid evidence that you’re not just low on vitamins and/or minerals.

via The Maddow Blog – Why you just keep working more.

Of course the Corporate owned, mainstream media won’t publicize this…

If I were a paranoid right-winger, this would make me nervous.  These guys are really doing what they accuse the left of doing- a few elite trying to run the government to the disadvantage of the middle class.

Amid great secrecy, about 200 of America’s wealthiest and most powerful individuals from the worlds of finance, big business and rightwing politics are expected to come together on Sunday in the sun-drenched California desert near Palm Springs for what has been billed as a gathering of the billionaires. They will have the chance to enjoy the Rancho Mirage resort’s many pools, spa treatments and tennis courts, as well as walk in its 240 acres away from the prying eyes of TV cameras.

But the organisers have made clear that the two-day event is not just “fun in the sun”. This will be a meeting of “doers”, men and women willing to fight the Obama administration and its perceived attack on US free enterprise and unfettered wealth.

As the invitation says: “Our goal must be to beat back the unrelenting attacks and hold elected leaders accountable.”

The reference to the accountability of America’s elected leaders is ironic, bearing in mind that the gathering has been convened by two brothers who have never been elected to public office and are among the most unaccountable and secretive political players in the country.

David and Charles Koch enjoy a combined fortune of $35bn (£22bn), run the second largest private company in the US, Koch Industries, and are increasingly using their fabulous riches to push their special interests within America’s political process. Nobody knows precisely how much they spend on influencing elections and lobbying Congress, but it is thought to be scores of millions of dollars.

By similar vein, the guestlist for their gathering on Sunday is unknown. Past attendees at the twice-yearly event include supreme court judges, rightwing media celebrities such as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, prominent governors of southern states such as Bobby Jindal (Louisiana) and Haley Barbour (Mississippi), as well as leading figures from Wall Street and energy companies, and titans of industry.

The format of the gathering will be similar to previous Koch events, the last of which was held in Aspen, Colorado, in June. The assembled tycoons will talk about some of the Koch brothers’ pet horrors – the growth of government and state regulations, what they call climate change “alarmism” and “socialised” healthcare.

Then they will share ideas about how to tighten their grip on politics and the judiciary by shaping election campaigns.

But this year’s reception will differ in one important regard: it will have an opposition. For the first time, a coalition of progressive and liberal groups has formed to try to counter the power of the Koch brothers.

via The billionaires are coming: Obama’s richest enemies to hold summit | World news | The Guardian.

Very good Opinion piece from the Weekly Independent.  I say good, because I agree with it….

With Congressional Republicans insisting that we have to attack the sickness of spending that, in Speaker John Boehner’s words, is afflicting Washington, it’s worth recalling some recent history.

In 1981, Ronald Reagan’s budget director David Stockman admitted to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat from New York, that running up “strategic deficits” was a useful political tool because it “gives you an argument for cutting back programs that really weren’t desired and giving you an argument against establishing new programs you don’t really want.” Stockman noted further that strategic deficits can enable opponents of public investments to sound compassionate, providing them with opportunities to use phrases like “We can’t steal from our children to pay for our short-term desires” to oppose government spending.

Reagan had run on a platform of reining in government spending and waste and on promises to put our house in fiscal order. Reagan insisted that deep cuts in personal income and capital gains taxes would result in increased tax revenue for the government because of the wealth-generating benefits of the cuts—so-called supply-side economics. During the 1980 campaign, his future vice president, George H. W. Bush, mocked supply-side theory as “voodoo economics.” Of course, during his eight years in office, Reagan presided over an explosion in government deficits and a more than doubling of the national debt. But he also achieved two goals critical to modern conservatives: He dramatically shifted wealth from ordinary Americans to the very wealthy, and he made “deficit reduction” a useful code for hamstringing government efforts to help the less well-off.

When George W. Bush became president in 2001, he inherited large projected surpluses. Bush set about attacking those surpluses, passing large tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 that overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy and, in due course, wiped out those projected surpluses and replaced them with large projected deficits. Like Reagan, Bush accomplished two cherished goals in the process—further transferring wealth to the wealthiest Americans while putting Congress in a “straitjacket” with respect to critical investments in the nation’s infrastructure and social programs. As conservative columnist and Bush cheerleader Fred Barnes put it at the time, “The most important fan of strategic deficits in Bushland: Bush.” Like Reagan, Bush certainly succeeded, if success is defined as running up large deficits that constrain future efforts to address adequately the nation’s pressing social and infrastructural needs.

More:   The return of voodoo economics | Opinion | Independent Weekly.

This could be getting interesting…

Time will tell…

From the HuffingtonPost.com

The bipartisan panel appointed by Congress to investigate the financial crisis has concluded that several financial industry figures appear to have broken the law and has referred multiple cases to state or federal authorities for potential prosecution, according to two sources directly involved in the deliberations.

The sources, who spoke on condition they not be named, declined to identify the people implicated or the names of their institutions. But they characterized the panel’s decision to make referrals to prosecutors as a significant escalation in the government’s response to the financial crisis. The panel plans to release its final report in Washington on Thursday morning.

In the three years since major lenders teetered on the brink of collapse, prompting huge taxpayer rescues and amplifying an already painful recession into the most punishing downturn since the Depression, public indignation has swelled while few people who played prominent roles in the crisis have faced legal consequences.

That may be about to change. According to the law that created the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, the panel has a responsibility to refer for prosecution any evidence of lawbreaking. The offices that have received the referrals — the Justice Department, state attorneys general, and perhaps both — must now determine whether to prosecute cases and, if so, whether to pursue criminal or civil charges.

Though civil charges appear a more likely outcome should prosecution result, one source familiar with the panel’s deliberations said criminal charges should not be ruled out.

The commission’s decision to refer conduct for prosecution underscores the severity of the activities it has uncovered and plans to detail in its widely anticipated final report, the sources said.

via Financial Crisis Commission Finds Cause For Prosecution Of Wall Street.

I keep saying infrastructure spending is a win-win…

Infrastructure spending creates jobs, which increase personal spending and tax revenue that, in turn, reduces the deficit.  It’s just common sense- which is why it’s so hard for DC to get behind it.

Problem is, the Republicans have painted themselves into a corner.  Do they really want to be the party that allowed American roads, airports, bridges and railways to crumble?

Probably….

Lots of talk and not solutions.  That’s today’s GOP…

One area the Republican party’s anti-spending crusade puts them in a bind is infrastructure spending. Repairing roads and bridges, modernization, etc. have historically been bipartisan priorities — but they’ve also always cost a lot of money.

Ask Republicans whether they want to include transportation infrastructure in their calls for broad spending cuts, and you don’t get a very specific answer.

“We’ve got to learn how to prioritize and do more with less in all areas of government,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor at his weekly press conference today. “It just is what it is. In the terms of transportation, we’ve got to figure out ways how to leverage dollars, how to come up with innovative ways to address the nation’s ailing transportation infrastructure.”

There’s a reason for that. Ask instead how they propose to upgrade the country’s transportation infrastructure without new spending, and it turns out there’s no simple answer.

“I don’t think anybody would tell you that our nation’s transportation infrastructure is in a state of existence that we would accept,” Cantor admitted.

More:   Republicans In A Fix On Infrastructure Spending | TPMDC.