Here comes the other economic shoe dropping...

[Martok]

Prosperity did happen under Bush.

Except it was only 5% of the population that enjoyed it.

[Coito ergo sum]

Economic growth rates more than doubled in the four years after the 2003 tax cuts.

The tax cuts did not substantially reduce revenues, and the increased budget deficits under Bush were primarily caused by increases in spending.

Capital gains tax REVENUES more than doubled after the 2003 tax cuts. Meaning there were far more "capital gains" to tax, such that even though they were taxed at a lower rate, more revenues were collected.

Tax revenues correlate to economic growth. They do NOT correlate to tax rates. That's just the numbers, though. Don't let them fool you.

Here are the numbers for the economic growth rates before and after the tax cuts:



And, the CBO showed that the 2003 Bush tax cuts increased the total revenue paid by the upper 40% and decreased the total revenues paid by the lower 60%.

[Martok]

The Bush administration's fiscal record

One of the other takeaways from the Congressional Budget Office's long-term budget outlook is that the Bush administration really wasn't fiscally responsible, while the Obama administration pretty much has been.

The major domestic initiatives of the Bush years -- the tax cuts and the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit -- made the budget picture much, much worse. The Obama administration's health-care reform proposal has, by contrast, made the budget picture much better. (You could say that the stimulus wasn't paid for, but that was sort of the point of the thing. And if we want to put emergency measures into the mix, we also have all costs related to 9/11 and TARP accruing to Bush. And I've been nice and haven't mentioned Iraq so far. Oops.) In fact, there's no high-priced initiative from the Bush years that improved the budget situation, or was even paid for.

This has, I think, had a psychological effect on Washington. One reason people are so skeptical that the government will actually pay for health-care reform -- as it is now statutorily obligated to do -- is because people got used, under the Bush administration, to seeing the government routinely shirk its fiscal duties. And the fact that the same people who voted for all that shirking are now screaming about deficits just makes observers less willing to credit the commitments made by politicians.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-k ... fisca.html

[Coito ergo sum]

The Bush administration's fiscal record

One of the other takeaways from the Congressional Budget Office's long-term budget outlook is that the Bush administration really wasn't fiscally responsible, while the Obama administration pretty much has been.

The major domestic initiatives of the Bush years -- the tax cuts and the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit -- made the budget picture much, much worse. The Obama administration's health-care reform proposal has, by contrast, made the budget picture much better. (You could say that the stimulus wasn't paid for, but that was sort of the point of the thing. And if we want to put emergency measures into the mix, we also have all costs related to 9/11 and TARP accruing to Bush. And I've been nice and haven't mentioned Iraq so far. Oops.) In fact, there's no high-priced initiative from the Bush years that improved the budget situation, or was even paid for.

This has, I think, had a psychological effect on Washington. One reason people are so skeptical that the government will actually pay for health-care reform -- as it is now statutorily obligated to do -- is because people got used, under the Bush administration, to seeing the government routinely shirk its fiscal duties. And the fact that the same people who voted for all that shirking are now screaming about deficits just makes observers less willing to credit the commitments made by politicians.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-k ... fisca.html

I never said the Bush administration was fiscally responsible. I said the tax cuts helped the economy. Those are two entirely different issues.

Democrats in Congress loved George Bush because he never vetoed their spending bills. It was spend-a-rama, and pork-barrel politics extraordinaire. Who knew that the very next administration wold make him look stingy by comparison.

[Coito ergo sum]

Not missing a chance to raise taxes, Democrats now pushing for new internet sales taxes!!!!! http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20009 ... 7-1_3-0-20

Because, we all know that the way to stimulate sales is to tax sales so that the price of goods is higher. Higher prices mean more sales. Simple economics.

[Coito ergo sum]

And, we in the US get this shit from our Congress:

Last night [July 1], as part of a procedural vote on the emergency war supplemental bill, House Democrats attached a document that "deemed as passed" a non-existent $1.12 trillion budget. The execution of the "deeming" document allows Democrats to start spending money for Fiscal Year 2011 without the pesky constraints of a budget.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=37893

In all fairness:

38 Democrats crossing the aisle to vote against deeming the faux budget resolution passed.

[Martok]

I never said the Bush administration was fiscally responsible. I said the tax cuts helped the economy. Those are two entirely different issues.

They are part of the same issue.

Democrats in Congress loved George Bush because he never vetoed their spending bills. It was spend-a-rama, and pork-barrel politics extraordinaire. Who knew that the very next administration wold make him look stingy by comparison.

Have you been living under a rock for the last 11 years? The republicans controlled congress for six of Bush's eight years as president. He didn't veto a single spending bill the republicans sent to him, but once the democrats took control of congress Bush all of sudden wanted to become a fiscal conservative.

"If the Democrats want to test us, that's why they give the president the veto. I'm looking forward to vetoing excessive spending, and I'm looking forward to having the United States Congress support my veto."


Bush plans to veto the Homeland Security appropriations bill nearing final passage, followed by vetoes of eight more money bills sent him by the Democratic-controlled Congress

That constitutes a veto onslaught of historic proportions from a president who did not reject a single bill during his first term....

Bush was the first president since John Quincy Adams not to exercise his veto power during a complete four-year term, even though the Republican-controlled Congress was on a spending spree. He has vetoed two bills in his second term, rejecting only the Iraq war money bill since Democrats took control....


http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articl ... nsive.html

[Coito ergo sum]

With the US trapped in depression, this really is starting to feel like 1932
The US workforce shrank by 652,000 in June, one of the sharpest contractions ever. The rate of hourly earnings fell 0.1pc. Wages are flirting with deflation

on.

"The economy is still in the gravitational pull of the Great Recession," said Robert Reich, former US labour secretary. "All the booster rockets for getting us beyond it are failing."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comm ... -1932.html

Shocker!

[Coito ergo sum]

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is repeating a pattern that appeared just before markets fell during the Great Depression, Daryl Guppy, CEO at Guppytraders.com, told CNBC Monday.

“Those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it…there was a head and shoulders pattern that developed before the Depression in 1929, then with the recovery in 1930 we had another head and shoulders pattern that preceded a fall in the market, and in the current Dow situation we see an exact repeat of that environment,” Guppy said.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/38092759

Good thing I lost all my money the first go-round. Now I feel no fear of a collapse.

"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose." - "Me" of "Me and Bobby McGee"

[Coito ergo sum]

Investors fear rising risk of US regional defaults
By Nicole Bullock in New York
Published: July 5 2010 19:30 | Last updated: July 5 2010 20:21
Investors are worried that the risk of default for US local governments is growing, amid signs that some regions are facing the same type of difficulty in curbing pension and budget deficits as some eurozone countries.

The yield attached to some forms of infrastructure municipal bonds has risen relative to US Treasury bonds because of fears that cash-strapped local governments will struggle to repay these loans.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fb933f08-885b ... abdc0.html

[Coito ergo sum]

Tax the rich!

Some customers heated over indoor 'tan tax,' which was part of health-care law

Because only the rich go to tanning salons...

One way to bolster the economy is to raise prices by 10%. Higher prices make people buy more goods and services.

[Pensioner]

Tax the rich!

Some customers heated over indoor 'tan tax,' which was part of health-care law

Because only the rich go to tanning salons...

One way to bolster the economy is to raise prices by 10%. Higher prices make people buy more goods and services.

Only the rich go to tanning salons what are you on about.

Raise prices by 10% and you think people will buy more, what fucking planet do you live on?

[Coito ergo sum]

Tax the rich!

Some customers heated over indoor 'tan tax,' which was part of health-care law

Because only the rich go to tanning salons...

One way to bolster the economy is to raise prices by 10%. Higher prices make people buy more goods and services.

Only the rich go to tanning salons what are you on about.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/24/news/ec ... nning_tax/

[
Raise prices by 10% and you think people will buy more, what fucking planet do you live on?

Sarcasm.

That's the logic from the pro-tax folks. Higher taxes help the economy, I've been told. See other posts above.

[Coito ergo sum]

BUDGET DEFICIT TO REACH RECORD $1.47 TRILLION... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100723/ap_ ... _deficit_2

WH: A 'FISCAL SITUATION THAT REQUIRES ATTENTION'...

Understate much? Yes, why don't you give that a little bit of attention.....?


Bank failure tally passes 100 for year... 100 banks this year - and we're only half done - have failed. Unbelievable....

$30,000 price tag to attend Obama's birthday party -- http://www.suntimes.com/news/sneed/2526 ... 23.article DOUCHE!



Congress' tab for bottled water up to $604,000 in 9 months.... http://www.aolnews.com/house-money/arti ... g/19541719 -- Ummm....dickfaces.....STOP SPENDING LIKE DRUNKEN SAILORS! And, stop wasting time on piles of nonsense!!!! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100723/ap_ ... ts_bills_1 Traitorous whores!!!!!

[Ian]

BUDGET DEFICIT TO REACH RECORD $1.47 TRILLION... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100723/ap_ ... _deficit_2

WH: A 'FISCAL SITUATION THAT REQUIRES ATTENTION'...

Understate much? Yes, why don't you give that a little bit of attention.....?

Bank failure tally passes 100 for year... 100 banks this year - and we're only half done - have failed. Unbelievable....

$30,000 price tag to attend Obama's birthday party -- http://www.suntimes.com/news/sneed/2526 ... 23.article DOUCHE!

Congress' tab for bottled water up to $604,000 in 9 months.... http://www.aolnews.com/house-money/arti ... g/19541719 -- Ummm....dickfaces.....STOP SPENDING LIKE DRUNKEN SAILORS! And, stop wasting time on piles of nonsense!!!! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100723/ap_ ... ts_bills_1 Traitorous whores!!!!!

Yep, all lousy news.

One question keeps gnawing at me though: where in Holy Hell were all the "We need small government and a balanced budget" conservatives during the last administration??? Locked in a Congressional broom closet, I suppose.

I give the Republicans a lot of credit - after the budget surplus at the end of Clinton's presidency, Bush 43 took the budget on a nosedive into red ink... and now lots of people are thinking the GOP might actually be the party who wants fiscal responsibility. It's good PR, plus the fact that it was the Obama administration which had to pass the stimulus bill. That bill was initiated by Bush and would have had to go through in some form under a McCain administration (this mechanism was hardly unprecedented in history), but that's not how it worked out. And voters seem to lousy at understanding things that didn't happen, like what the economy would look like if the government didn't use its spare tire.