Protesters invade NYC Financial District 9/17/2011

Protesters invade NYC Financial District
Demonstrators invoke Mideast rallies, call for end to corporate greed favoring rich

NEW YORK — More than 1,000 demonstrators descended on New York City's Financial District on Saturday for what could be a days-long protest of what they said was corporate greed favoring the rich at the expense of ordinary people.

The rally, dubbed OccupyWallStreet on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook where word was spread, spurred the New York Police Department to lock down Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall, local media reported.

READ THE ENTIRE PIECE HERE

Attention Americans: You Won’t All Be Rich Tomorrow

Attention Americans: You Won't All Be Rich Tomorrow
By Invictus - September 14th, 2011

Perhaps folks are thinking: Well, my taxes might not go up now, since I'm making the median income, but my wages are going to quintuple any day now, I just know it. And when they do, I'll be damned if I'm going to pay one more plug nickel in taxes. I also need to protect the loopholes for corporate jet owners, as I'll surely soon be one.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

Why We're More Dependent on Government Support Than Ever

Why We're More Dependent on Government Support Than Ever
On average, 20 cents of every dollar of disposable income comes from the government
By Meg Handley
May 5, 2011
US News and World Report
money.usnews.com

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

My comment...
Government social benefits (aka transfer payments) account for nearly 20% (20 cents of every dollar) of our disposable income. That's unemployment insurance, social security, medicare, medicaid, fed/mil retirements, etc. Which is why balancing the budget is virtually impossible.

Are We Poor? by Amy Davidson 9/13/2011

Are We Poor?
Posted by Amy Davidson
The New Yorker
September 13, 2011

How poor are we, as Americans? There are all sorts of ways to measure the poverty of our lives: income, possessions, health, houses, even height. Depending on one’s personality and position, there is also the matter of whether others around us are richer. The federal government does have a fixed one—a poverty line—and Tuesday we found out that forty-six million two hundred thousand Americans are, by that standard, poor, which is 2.6 million more than just two years ago. The poverty line is notched at $22,113 in income for a family of four. That is not very much, and buys even less in some parts of the country than in others.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Is making less becoming the norm? 04 Sept 2011

Is making less becoming the norm?
Sunday, September 04, 2011
By Olivera Perkins, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Deborah Normand is making $10,000 less a year, but she feels she's among the lucky ones.

She went from working as an office manager for a wholesale business to a clerical position, and it took a year and half for her to find that job.

"I am happy to be working," said Normand of Berea.

According to a new report by Policy Matters Ohio, Norman's job experience may be the new reality.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

Special Report on “Breakaway Wealth” 9/05/2011

Special Report on Breakaway Wealth
By Barry Ritholtz, September 5th, 2011
The Washington Post

There is a huge Washington Post special report on Breakaway Wealth in the US. More than most other industrialized nations, the U.S. has seen the top 0.1% compensated in vastly disproportionate numbers versus the rest of the populace.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

Great Prosperity (1947-77) vs. Great Regression (1981-?)

Great Prosperity (1947-77) vs. Great Regression (1981-?)
By Barry Ritholtz - September 4th, 2011

SEE THE ORIGINAL CHART HERE

More people making do with less... 8/28/2011

More people making do with less
The Washington Post Business with Bloomberg
Sources: University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, Bureau of Economic Analysis, R.L. Polk.
Graphics: The Washington Post. Published August 28, 2011.























Americans have expected to see their incomes grow from year to year. But that optimism has faded since the recession, and they now expect to make no more next year than they did this year. Their caution is one of the reasons the economic recovery has been slow and tentative. They're driving their cars longer, and they're not spending the way they did before. Moreover, while consumer spending had been recovering, it has slumped in recent months, stirring fears of another recession.

SEE THE ORIGINAL GRAPHICS HERE

READ THE PARENT ARTICLE HERE:
Consumer fears put economy on the brink

The Heart of the Matter - by Invictus, Aug 26, 2011

The Heart of the Matter
By Invictus - August 26th, 2011, 11:30AM

Some of the factors that have landed us in the mess we're in have been building for decades, and there's ample evidence on which to draw to demonstrate that fact. In looking at a few of these issues, I'll draw on some charts I've presented both here and elsewhere before. A couple are replicated from this outstanding study in January's Monthly Labor Review (MLR).

Let's begin by referencing a recent piece by Stephen Roach that accurately assesses what's really wrong with our current economy, summed up in one number:

The number is 0.2%. It is the average annualized growth of U.S. consumer spending over the past 14 quarters – calculated in inflation-adjusted terms from the first quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of 2011. Never before in the post-World War II era have American consumers been so weak for so long. This one number encapsulates much of what is wrong today in the U.S. – and in the global economy.

CLICK THIS LINK OR THE TITLE LINK TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

USA becomes Food Stamp Nation but is it sustainable?

USA becomes Food Stamp Nation but is it sustainable?
By Kristina Cooke
Reuters – 22 August 2011

There are now almost 46 million people in the U.S. on food stamps, roughly 15 percent of the population. That's an increase of 74 percent since 2007, just before the financial crisis and a deep recession led to mass job losses.

The cost has doubled to reach $68 billion in 2010 -- more than a third of the amount the U.S. government received in corporate income taxes last year -- which means the program has started to attract the attention of some Republican lawmakers looking for ways to cut the nation's budget deficit.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

My comment...
This article documents the growing gulf between the haves and the have-nots. 15% of the U.S. population is on food stamps, at an annual cost of $68 Billion. Prediction: Walmart parking lots will soon feature pay toilets, showers, laundromats and mini-hotels converted from shipping containers.

High Frequency Trading May Magnify Market Woes

Is High Frequency Trading Adding to Stock Woes?
abcnews.go.com
Some experts say that of computer driven high frequency trading is partially responsible for accelerating the market up and down

By MICHAEL ONO, ABC News
Aug. 11, 2011

This week's market flux is not identical to the flash crash of 2010 but experts believe that computer-driven high frequency trading is partially responsible for accelerating stock gyrations.

It has been a rollercoaster week for stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average fell by 600 points on Monday in reaction to U.S. debt downgrade by Standard & Poor's, then jumped 429 points on news from the Federal Reserve on Tuesday, but dove back down 520 points on Wednesday in reaction to bank stock worries in France.

My comment...
Nearly three quarters of all stock market trades are done by high-speed computers running programmed trading algorithms, taking advantage of tiny stock mispricings. Round-trip trades (buy+sell) often take less than a second. Market swings are amplified enormously.

Stop coddling the super-rich, Warren Buffett says

Stop coddling the super-rich, Warren Buffett says
Billionaire urges lawmakers to raise taxes on rich to help cut budget deficit
REUTERS News Service
8/15/2011 11:07:11 AM ET

Billionaire Warren Buffett urged U.S. lawmakers Monday to raise taxes on the country's super-rich to help cut the budget deficit, saying such a move will not hurt investments.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE HERE

My comment...

Do you think Congress is embarrassed by Warren Buffett chiding them about coddling the super-rich?

* * * * *

PRES. OBAMA SAYS WARREN BUFFETT IS RIGHT ABOUT TAXES !!
By Patricia Zengerle in Washington and Jason McLure in New Hampshire
Reuters – Mon, Aug 15, 2011

CANNON FALLS, Minnesota (Reuters) - Small-town Americans probably don't make as much money as Warren Buffett, but they pay more of their income in taxes, President Barack Obama said on Monday, citing the billionaire investor to argue that the government needs more revenues to balance the budget.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

My comment...
Isn't it nice that Pres. Obama agrees with Warren Buffett? And isn't it a shame that, when Pres. Obama had his super majority in the Senate and a majority in the House, and could pass any legislation he wanted, instead of revising and simplifying the tax code, or passing a financial regulatory bill with some teeth, he chose to give us an expensive (and controversial) universal health system bill that is now being challenged in federal court?

It's Friday and you got paid so we're even.

Jack Welch
former GE CEO, talking about corporate loyalty
on a General Electric Motivational Video

I was working for GE back then. That was actually an excerpt from a company motivational video, if you can imagine that.

Welch took over as CEO in the early 80s and he set about trying to change the company personality which was more crusty and stodgy than anything you could imagine. His first act was to cut the staff at corporate HQ by about 1/3. Then he turned to his VPs and told them to do the same starting at the top and working their way down. Boy, did they ever.

One thing he started for all the rest of us was a process called Work-Out. The idea was to break out into small teams to study some aspect of the work environment like paperwork for purchasing or stocking stationary supplies. But that wasn't all. We were told to question everything, and during one of these sessions the employee team could ask any question and management had to answer without the typical evasion dance.

There were things like three levels of parking privileges, which was a caste system that had existed for almost a century. We got that eliminated by challenging managers to answer why they thought they were more in need of closer parking spaces. Soon afterwards the senior VP and I were parking in the same lot. There were tons of things like that.

So at many of the Work-Out sessions Jack Welch himself would show up and he always had a video crew to tape his comments, which were distributed throughout the company for all see, to prove the process was working. One guy, a machinist or plumber or whatever, in a city where blue collar jobs were being cut drastically, challenged Jack Welch on why he didn't think the company owed the community and the employees for their long standing loyalty and dedication.

That's when he dropped into truth-teller mode and said there was no loyalty owed by the company or by you. You were free to go at any time because if you had been paid on Friday, you and the company were even. Easy for him to say.

old_timer, Tuesday, August 10, 2004
source of the quote

It's Friday and you got paid so we're even.
Jack Welch, GE Motivational Video, Thursday, August 21, 2008
source of the quote

Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric, said something along the lines of, You work two weeks, you get paid on Friday, and then we're even.
source of the quote

Jack Welch once said If it's Friday and you got paid, you and the company are even.
source of the quote

Jack Welch of GE, when asked about corporate loyalty, replied It's Friday, you got paid, we're even.
source of the quote

Jack Welch was the CEO who publicly said: It's Friday, you got paid, we're even when asked about company loyalty. That attitude cuts both ways, and companies are not happy that the sheeple have woken up.
source of the quote

Why do programmers job-hop so often?
You can thank Jack Welch for that one. He proclaimed It's Friday, you got paid, so we're even and every manager since then has parroted that when convenient. Jack is legendary among (wannabe) CEOs and his books and sayings are studied by the managerial class.
source of the quote
Jack Welch Wikipedia page

I think it was Jack Welch who said (something like) It's Friday and you got paid so we're even.
Also works for the employee - It's Friday and I got paid so we're even.
MT Heart, Tuesday, August 10, 2004
source of the quote

Gas prices widen divide between rich, not-rich

Gas prices widen divide between rich, not-rich
Luxury retailers say spending is brisk, while Target,
Walmart, others see customers cutting back
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
5/18/2011

NEW YORK — High gas prices are driving a wider wedge between the wealthy and everybody else.

The rich are back to pre-recession splurging: Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom customers are treating themselves to luxury items like $5,000 Hermes handbags and $700 Jimmy Choo shoes, and purchasing at full price.

At Target and Walmart, shoppers are concentrating on groceries and skipping little luxuries. BJ's Wholesale Corp. said Wednesday that customers are buying more hamburger and chicken and less steak and buying smaller packs to save money.

Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)

Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)

Synopsis: Capitalism: A Love Story examines the impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world). The film moves from Middle America, to the halls of power in Washington, to the global financial epicenter in Manhattan. With both humor and outrage, the film explores the question: What is the price that America pays for its love of capitalism? Families pay the price with their jobs, their homes and their savings. Moore goes into the homes of ordinary people whose lives have been turned upside down; and he goes looking for explanations in Washington, DC and elsewhere. What he finds are the all-too-familiar symptoms of a love affair gone astray: lies, abuse, betrayal...and 14,000 jobs being lost every day. Capitalism: A Love Story also presents what a more hopeful future could look like. Who are we and why do we behave the way that we do?

Profiling CEOs and Their Sociopathic Paychecks

Profiling CEOs and Their Sociopathic Paychecks
by Thom Hartmann
Published on Monday, July 27, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Executives and other highly compensated employees now receive more than one-third of all pay in the US... Highly paid employees received nearly $2.1 trillion of the $6.4 trillion in total US pay in 2007, the latest figures available.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

From the article...
Only about 1 to 3 percent of us are sociopaths-people who don't have normal human feelings and can easily go to sleep at night after having done horrific things. And of that 1 percent of sociopaths, there's probably only a fraction of a percent with a college education. And of that tiny fraction, there's an even tinier fraction that understands how business works, particularly within any specific industry.

Thus there is such a shortage of people who can run modern monopolistic, destructive corporations that stockholders have to pay millions to get them to work. And being sociopaths, they gladly take the money without any thought to its social consequences.

9% of Americans Are Millionaires in 2011

Chart of the Day: 9% of Americans Are Millionaires in 2011
By Daniel Indiviglio
May 5 2011

How many millionaires do you know? The answer to this probably depends on your occupation, location, and whether or not you have your own reality show. But as explained in an earlier post, there are quite a few millionaires in the U.S. -- there will be 10.5 million in 2011 according to the Deloitte Center for Financial Services. That might not sound like too many, but this number is expressed in households, not individuals. And there are only about 118 million households in the U.S. So really, a fairly large -- if not surprisingly large -- portion of U.S. households belong to the millionaire club.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Secret Fears of the Super-Rich

Secret Fears of the Super-Rich
By Graeme Wood
April 2011 ATLANTIC MAGAZINE

Does great wealth bring fulfillment? An ambitious study by Boston College suggests not. For the first time, researchers prompted the very rich—people with fortunes in excess of $25 million—to speak candidly about their lives. The result is a surprising litany of anxieties: their sense of isolation, their worries about work and love, and most of all, their fears for their children.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Inequality Rising Across the Developed World 5/3/2011

Inequality Rising Across the Developed World
By Catherine Rampell, May 3, 2011

America isn’t the only rich country dealing with a rise in inequality. Most of the developed world is, too.

A new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development finds that most of its member countries have seen their richest citizens get much, much richer in the last few decades, leading to a widening income gap.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE



Inequality Is Most Extreme in Wealth, Not Income
By Catherine Rampell, March 30, 2011

Typically, comments about rising inequality refer to the stark disparities in incomes of the very highest-paid Americans and everyone. We have observed in several posts, for example, that most of the income gains over the last few decades have gone to the very richest Americans. That means the highest-paid Americans have been claiming a larger and larger share of earnings.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

The Lottery Mentality in America

As the American middle class shrinks in size, and the gap widens between the growing class of working poor and the small class of ultra-rich, a new term has entered the American lexicon, the lottery mentality. As real opportunities to enjoy a prosperous, financially-secure middle-class life shrink, more and more Americans are coming to believe that if they can just hit it big in a lottery, or make it big through one scheme or another, they can turn their lives around.

Most Americans are engaged in lottery mentality thinking to some degree. We fantasize that we are going to hit it big by actually winning the lottery, or we think that our new idea for a little retail business franchise (e.g: auto quick lube or drive-up coffee shop) is going to guarantee our financial independence.

To a large extent, the 2003-2007 real estate bubble was driven by people with a lottery mentality, people who saw real estate speculation as a path to quick profits with little risk. They bought a house, watched it rise in value, extracted the equity with a home equity line of credit (HELOC), used that money to buy another house or two, and repeated the process. They relied on continually increasing housing prices, inflated appraisals, easy credit and low-interest-rate adjustable rate mortgages to leverage their own small investment. In the end, as the economy slowed and subprime borrowers defaulted on their mortgages, it became clear that the whole financial structure was simply a house of cards that would eventually collapse. But while it existed, it was a perfect example of the lottery mentality.

Multi-level marketing businesses (Amway, Shaklee, Discovery Toys, Pampered Chef) are typically marketed to appeal to the lottery mentality. They are not presented as product sales and distribution businesses to be built over time, but rather as get-rich-quick opportunities by recruiting distributors to work for you (known as building your own downline), thus multiplying yourself. Your distributors do the work while you reap almost unlimited profits.

The tragic part is that most of us never bother to investigate the actual statistics, and so we never realize that the odds are really stacked against us. Lottery winners and Amway super salesmen are promoted in the media, and the stigmatized word gambling has been replaced with the word gaming, which sounds so much more wholesome, innocent and fun.

Reflecting the way the lottery mentality has taken over our culture is our growing thirst for TV competition, game and reality programs that promise big rewards. The following is just a partial list of popular competition/game/reality shows that vie for our attention. It includes three shows (American Idol, The Bachelor, Dancing with the Stars) that are among the top five American TV shows (along with NCIS and Glee):








The Amazing Race (2001-present) (win $1 Million)
American Idol: The Search for a Superstar (2002-present)
America's Best Dance Crew (2008–present)
America's Got Talent (2006–present)
America's Next Great Restaurant (2011)
America's Next Top Model (2003-present)
The Apprentice (2004-present) (win the chance to be Donald Trump's apprentice)
The Bachelor (2002-present
The Bachelorette (2003-present)
Bachelor Pad (2010-present) (win $250,000)
Big Brother (2000-present) (with $500,000)
The Biggest Loser (2004-present)
Cash Cab (2005-present)
Dancing with the Stars (2005-present)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (2003-present)
Family Feud (1988-present)
FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman (2006–present), children's game show
Flip This House (2006-present)
Jeopardy! (1964-present)
Let's Make a Deal (2009–present)
Millionaire Matchmaker (2008-present)
The Price Is Right (1972–present)
Project Runway (2006-present)
So You Think You Can Dance (2005-present) (win $100,000 or more)
Survivor (2000-present) (win $1 Million)
The Voice (2011) reality/talent competition
Wheel of Fortune (1975-present) (win up to $1 Million)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (1999-present)











While competition/game/reality shows may seem harmless enough, they indicate the degree to which the lottery mentality has permeated our society, and should cause us great concern.

One of the darker aspects of the lottery mentality is the way it has impacted the legal profession. Litigation in general, and personal injury lawsuits in particular, are on the rise, simply because they provide yet another way for us to win a lottery, in this case, the litigation lottery. For example, here is a blog post discussing how legal firms market themselves to appeal to the lottery mentality: Law Firm Marketing and the Lottery Mentality

As our society continues to change, we will come to resemble the Roman Empire in its decline, when it was characterized by two things: bread and circuses. The citizens of Rome were entitled to a daily ration of bread, and they were kept mindlessly entertained and pacified by a variety of circuses. The obvious parallel to the Roman bread is our social safety net, including food stamps, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. And for our circuses, we need look no further than the small glowing screen in our living room, family room or bedroom, and the wealth of mostly mindless entertainment it provides, particularly in the popular competition, game and reality programming. While we may convince ourselves that our lives are being enriched by watching these programs, the fact that corporations pay hundreds of millions of dollars to advertise on programs like American Idol, The Bachelor, and Dancing with the Stars, should give us a clue as to the real value of these programs. They exist simply to sell us products and services, most of which we do not need, and cannot really afford. Think about it, please.

Wealth Distribution in the United States - 1/21/2010

Wealth Distribution in the United States
by Ryan on January 21, 2010

Financially speaking, there is a great inequality in the United States. Over the last 30 years, while the rich have been getting richer, the poor have been getting steadily poorer. One reason for the growing disparity between the rich and the poor is the fact that most new jobs that are created pay low wages and often do not offer retirement plans or health coverage. Here is a graphic look at the widening gap between the nation's rich and poor.

My comment...
I consider the rising inequality in wealth and income to be the greatest threat to the future of the republic. The classic working class uprisings we remember from studying world history - the French Revolution of 1789 and the Russian Revolution of 1918 - were uprisings of the landless class of serfs against the wealthy nobility. President Obama understands this... his warning to the CEOs of the nation's thirteen largest banks assembled at the White House in April, 2009 was put very simply: My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.

Rising Wealth Inequality: Should We Care? 3/23/2011

Rising Wealth Inequality: Should We Care?
Why do Americans seem unperturbed about the growing gap between the rich and the poor?
The Lottery Mentality
Chrystia Freeland March 23, 2011

Chrystia Freeland is the global editor-at-large at Thomson Reuters.

Americans are mistaken about income inequality because of national self-confidence and the lottery effect.

Americans actually live in Russia, although they think they live in Sweden. And they would like to live on a kibbutz. This isn't the set-up for some sort of politically incorrect Catskills stand-up joke circa 1960. It is the takeaway from a remarkable study by Michael Norton and Dan Ariely on how Americans think about income inequality.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

My comments...
I believe we need a national debate on the impact of rising income inequality and wealth inequality in America. Sadly, we won't, until there are tent cities in every major metropolitan area, and until the homeless march on Washington, D.C.

I suspect Pres. Obama started the national debate in his address this morning. I expect that in the coming weeks and months we will hear a lot more about the dangers of a two-class America with a small, super-rich oligarchy and a large underclass of property-less poor. Don't expect the rich and powerful to give up either financial or political power, however.

Plutocrats of the New Gilded Age: The Wizards of Was

Plutocrats of the New Gilded Age: The Wizards of Was
davidoffutt.wordpress.com

In their January 2010 Citizens United ruling, the five Republicans on the Roberts Supreme Court effectively turned all our future elections over to powerful corporations by allowing them to spend unlimited, anonymous dollars on their candidates. Then, the majority of those who voted in the 2010 elections gave the Fox “News”-Republican-TEA Party control of the U. S. House of Representatives and gave them more seats in the Senate to make that body even more dysfunctional.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

My comment...
While the author certainly has a Democratic Party bias, this piece is worthwhile reading simply for its historical perspective and its educational value. If we don't understand our political and economic history as a nation, we risk repeating the same mistakes that were made over a century ago.

It's the Inequality, Stupid - By Dave Gilson and Carolyn Perot

It's the Inequality, Stupid
Eleven charts that explain everything that's wrong with America.
— By Dave Gilson and Carolyn Perot
Mother Jones - March/April 2011 Issue

How Rich are the Superrich?
A huge share of the nation's economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

My comment...
The rich get richer at the expense of the rest of us, and there is no hope this trend will be reversed. Why? Because the median net worth for members of Congress is $912,000. Nearly half of the 535 members of Congress are millionaires or multimillionaires, while for you and me it's 4.5% (1 in 22).

Capitalism is Failing the Middle Class - Reuters 4/19/2011

Capitalism is Failing the Middle Class
Published April 19, 2011 by Reuters

Global capitalism isn't working for the American middle class. That isn't a headline from the left-leaning Huffington Post, or a comment on Glenn Beck's right-wing populist blackboard. It is, instead, the conclusion of a rigorous analysis bearing the imprimatur of the U.S. establishment: the paper's lead author is Michael Spence, recipient of the Nobel Prize in economic sciences, and it was published by the Council on Foreign Relations.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Wealth And Inequality In America

15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Wealth And Inequality In America
Gus Lubin, Apr. 9, 2010

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Cliché, sure, but it's also more true than at any time since the Gilded Age. The poor are getting poorer, wages are falling behind inflation, and social mobility is at an all-time low. If you're in that top 1%, life is grand.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

On Pity for the Rich by Paul Krugman, Apr 23, 2011

On Pity for the Rich
by Paul Krugman, Apr 23, 2011

...my take is that what we're looking at is the closing of the conservative intellectual universe, the creation of an echo chamber in which rightists talk only to each other, and in which even the pretense of caring about ordinary people is disappearing.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Greenspan Steps Up Call to End Bush-Era Tax Cuts

Greenspan Steps Up Call to End Bush-Era Tax Cuts
By Luca Di Leo April 17, 2011, 2:47 PM ET

Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan is stepping up his call for Congress to let the Bush-era tax cuts lapse.

In an appearance Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Mr. Greenspan used his strongest words yet to urge lawmakers to let them expire. The risk of a U.S. debt crisis, he said, is just too big. Mr. Greenspan, who retired from the Federal Reserve in 2006, had endorsed the cuts back in 2001 championed by then-President George W. Bush.

“This crisis is so imminent and so difficult that I think we have to allow the so-called Bush tax cuts all to expire. That is a very big number,” he said, referring to how much the U.S. government could save from letting income taxes go back up to levels last seen under former President Bill Clinton.

Mr. Greenspan was talking about re-imposing the taxes for all Americans. The Treasury has estimated that a permanent extension of all the Bush tax cuts would cost $3.6 trillion over the next decade. Allowing taxes to increase on those in the top income brackets would take the cost to the government down to $2.9 trillion, according to White House estimates.

Ahead of meetings this weekend of world financial leaders, which included Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, the IMF expressed concerns that a delay in slashing the U.S. budget deficit might cause the bond market to lose faith in the country’s ability to do so, which would push interest rates higher and possibly destabilize the global economy.

Mr. Greenspan said he was “far more optimistic” now that the U.S. will solve its fiscal problems than some months ago, pointing to recent moves by politicians on both sides showing openness to cut entitlement spending.

“We’re going to do it realistically. I hope sooner rather than later.”

Stil, when it came to the tax cuts, he sounded more alarmed than he was in August, when he said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” that he disagreed with conservatives who said tax cuts essentially pay for themselves by causing more economic activity.

“They do not,” Mr. Greenspan said at the time, adding that the U.S. has been funding spending programs and tax cuts with borrowed money. “And at the end of the day that proves disastrous. My view is I don’t think we can play subtle policy here.”

READ THE ONLINE ARTICLE HERE

My comment...
So, ten years and $4 Trillion dollars too late, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan acknowledges that the U.S. cannot afford the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Wonderful, just wonderful. What a clown !!

Goldman Sachs CEO Blankfein says firm is doing 'God's work'

Goldman Sachs CEO Blankfein says firm is doing 'God's work'
By Douglas McIntyre 11/09/09

My comment...
‎"God's work"... give me a break, Blankfein.

Goldman Sachs blasted for conflicts of interest

Goldman blasted for conflicts of interest
By Ben Rooney, CNN Money staff reporter
April 14, 2011

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A Senate panel issued a scathing report Wednesday that describes Goldman Sachs as a "case study" of the recklessness and greed on Wall Street that set off the 2008 financial crisis.

My comment...
So, finally Goldman Sachs and its CEO, Lloyd "We're doing God's work" Blankfein are cited in a Senate report as a "case study of the recklessness and greed on Wall Street that set off the 2008 financial crisis." Now let's see if there are any actual criminal prosecutions to follow.

Obama To Bank CEOs... 4/3/2009

Obama To Bank CEOs:
"My Administration Is The Only Thing Between You And The Pitchforks"

Politico:
The bankers struggled to make themselves clear to the president of the United States.

Arrayed around a long mahogany table in the White House state dining room last week, the CEOs of the most powerful financial institutions in the world offered several explanations for paying high salaries to their employees - and, by extension, to themselves.

My comment...
I listened to Pres. Obama's address this morning, and recalled his meeting with Bank CEOs two years ago. I fear we are looking into the abyss of a breakdown in the political dialogue. The Left fears a two-class New Gilded Age of rich and poor; the Right fears outright class warfare. There will be no winners.

And, according to Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men: “There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning.”

America's New Gilded Age 10/25/2010

America's New Gilded Age
10/25/2010

There's a "new" kind of class warfare being waged in in the United States, but you have to look very closely to find it. Perhaps "warfare" is the wrong word, for a war must have two sides in active opposition to each other, whereas this time around we only have two sides. This "warfare" is creating conditions that more and more resemble those of the late 19th century when America did not yet have an extensive Middle Class. Mark Twain dubbed this corrupt era the "Gilded Age."

The great egalitarian (socialist) movements of the 20th century are long gone. In the decades after the Great Depression and World War II, the Democrats assimilated some of the socialist agenda, which faded away during the Cold War. In the 1960s, Lyndon Johnson could still wage a war on poverty. When I was growing up, Democrats stood for labor unions and rights of working people. Republicans ... did not. For years and years, everybody understood that this was how things worked.