A stimulus proposal to fight recession

[codewarrior05]

We don't want anyone to pay for it!? OMG! This guy is insane, we will not be able to run deficits forever!

[Jocke1776]

This was probably the most economically ignorant piece of "information" I have ever heard. I'm stunned. "Stimulate" the economy by giving money to people who will consume it quickly?? Consumption = destruction of wealth. Give that advice to a single individual who has a hard time economically: "Start spending money now!" My suggestion: Cut government spending and lower taxes for the wealthy who saves more relative to consumption than do the poor. Saving = investing

[o0xst]

Investing in things like the $300,000,000,000 industry of Marketing. We no longer make good products, we just make illusions of them. You're argument goes up against people like Alan Greenspan and Adam Smith, so your pretty much spewing out ad hominem non-sense/PR that is totally worthless.

[Jocke1776]

So you don't think marketing is productive? That's completely false. Marketing is an extremely productive and wealth-creating industry which improves products and makes them cheaper. What if nobody had "marketed" the wheel, the computer, the automobile etc.? Marketing enables companies to reach large markets quickly and thus gear its production large-scale. Marketing speeds up the competition process so that great companies and products quicker compete away bad companies and products.

[Jocke1776]

Besides, about 80 % of marketing costs is for purchasing media space, which means much of it funds movies, newspapers, sports, TV-shows, radio shows.

[o0xst]

Shows about fancy looking people running around on an island eating bugs does nothing good for the economy but make people fat and stupid. You're arguments a based on nothing but marketing and pr from fancy groups like the Heritage Foundation and Freedomworks. Marketing as it now is suppresses and creativity and merely spends the money that is saved from offshoring jobs. You have a lot of powerful people on your side, but very, very little truth.

[Jocke1776]

OK. You think marketing and free trade is unproductive -- I don't. Agree to disagree.

[o0xst]

No, i won't agree to disagree. I am going to fight you people until things change.

[Jocke1776]

My comment was made with the slight hope that you would see how ridiculous your statements were. It obviously failed. In the very simple, logical and classical book "Economics in one lesson", author Henry Hazlitt points out what fallacy many people, including you, make: You see the short term effect on a single individual, company or industry and fail to se the long-term effect on the whole economy.

[Jocke1776]

I don't have time to go through it all, but I can try to appeal to your sense of logic: Free trade between nations is the same economic principal as "free trade" within your area, your town, your city, your state, the entire US, the world. Logically, factually and empirically I doesn't "end" at some drawn up border. Read a great Hazlitt-chapter for about tariffs at: jim . com / econ / chap11p1 . html (remove spaces)

[o0xst]

ck out the ha-joon chang lecture on youtube, the 1 hr long one...its good. I'd be interested in your take on what he says...

[o0xst]

..and you jim dot com thing is just a pr site, he says nothing that has any meaning outside of cheerleading for a system that creates massive gaps between the rich and the poor. Why has Americas wealth nearly doubled since 1980 and yet the middle class makes no more on average than it did back then? And debt is much greater for working folks as well?!?!?!? you folks have no argument when it comes to these things. Stop!

[PalluxoMediaOfficial]

It's not going to work... we had 5 years of bull market... it's time for recession now.

[immanent]

'bull market' is code for artificially low interest rates, and easy credit policies of the Federal Reserve. They're the ones who create booms and busts. Now they're going to monetize the debt incurred by wealth destroying enterprise called WAR, and wasteful big government programs, most notably the medicare and SS bomb from the boomers.

[Stopmotion]

I loved that, "we'd see the deficit grow larger if health care were funded more" That should be headlined

[bbburton]

Grow the deficit? Let's see, to have a better economy you dig yourself further into debt? What kind of nonsense is this? Stop the madness. RON PAUL for PRESIDENT!

[FattKidd]

Think about Paul's economics: 55% of American's work directly for local/state/fed gov't or indirectly doing contract work for the gov't and/or supplying services for gov't employees/contractors. It could probably be said that the US gov't actually comprises AT LEAST 55% of our total economy, probably much more if you think about the subsidies/etc. Therefore, if you cut gov't spending by even 1/2, you'll be putting 25% of US workforce out of work. How do you think the economy would react to that?

[lastnymleft]

Your figure is incorrect, and your logic is nonsense. The "broken window" theory of economics, the notion that if you break a window, it creates a job in the glass manufacturing/repair industry, has been well and truly discredited. Such sucks money from the PRODUCTIVE economy. That money is better spent on other, more productive enterprises. The government is 'broken windows', to the extreme. Once you trim down government, that money stays the economy and actually does PRODUCTIVE things.

[djathens2]

Amen to that! If we don't have to send them so much of our money in taxes, we can put it towards more efficient means of producing wealth.

[kalvinphil]

Just spend money? and nobody pays for it? WTF? Thats ridiculous!!!!!

[flameded]

search "directive 51" and "amero"

smart money is on the amero.

[TimberGeek]

Unemployment increased in the dead of winter after the Christmas shopping season... Imagine that.

[lastnymleft]

And what about the dollar? Nary a mention! THAT"S the real economic question! The Fed is printing money hand over fist, destroying the dollar, and spiking inflation. REAL inflation is running at about 10%, not the 2-3% the government tells us. REAL NEWS, how about examining why they are lying about the inflation rate? This guy, Dean Baker, is not a mad scientist, he's a mad socialist! A shill for the NWO. Talk to someone that knows the UNDERLYING cause, and will tell you the TRUTH - Dr Ron Paul.

[Xenu]

Ron Paul is a white supremacist who doesn't know anything about economics.

[SwobyJ]

Right... ;)

[hazukisan7]

xenu?? lol no body expects YOU to understand

[jclayton59466]

That is a very un-researched statment about Ron Paul. You better look in to what you think you know, before you go saying things you don't know. Ron Paul is one of the few voices in full opposition to the Federal Reserve. As well as many other secret organisations who deal with peoples money.

[josephmlocke]

jclayton59466 if these orgs are secret, how do you know about them. Even if they are not completely secret, wouldn't info on them be dubious at best?

[lastnymleft]

Bildergerg group managed to keep their activities totally secret from 1954 to in the 1990's.

Read "PROOF OF CONSPIRACY; WE HAVE A CONFESSION" and "DAVID ROCKEFELLER THANKS MEDIA FOR ITS SILENCE" at: t i n y u r l . c o m FORWARDSLASH 36s92b

Info is certainly limited. Snippets come out though. Some on inside not 100% on board with plans.

Google "Georgia Guidestones"

[dynamoehummm]

Exactly! Well done.. Oh I'm sorry latnymie are you are waitress? I'll take the Spam Spam BildYourOwnBurger and.. spam. No slash. No snippets. Wow passing on the guidestones.. and Proof oh my no... never REAL truth always powdered. Like canned beans says "Fresh Beans" No. No. It's not. I don't want to eat here. Smells funny. Where's the cook? let's go.

[boots920]

He's sure a crappy white supremacist, his hero is Gaundi. Ron Paul knows, without a strong dollar the American way of life is in peril. I suppose you like the Patriot Act, and the War in Iraq is good for the economy too. See ya all in the FEMA camps.

[lastnymleft]

Xenu - What are you, like, 12 years old? A look at your profile would indicate as much, playing games for 6-12 year olds.

Ron Paul is a thinking person's candidate. You can sit this one out.

watch?v=6kYxlEfUSdY

[kalvinphil]

xenu is a god...where have you been....Scientology baby...lol...That name lets us know how seriously to take this joker.

[crazycatfguy]

Who would know better, your blogger or the Texas NAACP that has known him since he has been in government that says that is nonsense?

[yellowlabrador]

If you look at the Euro, the dollar seems to suffer from deflation not inflation. The value of the dollar is going down quicker than your prices are rising.

[lastnymleft]

They are directly linked, but with a time lag. The dollar deflates first, and there is actually a very temporary boost to the economy because exports are cheaper internationally. But then the overwhelming tide of imports coming in - which now cost more - flows through to price inflation.

[FattKidd]

The weak dollar is part of the problem but the main issues are trade & wages. Unfair trade practices that force US labor to compete with slave labor & the resulting decline in real wages. First thing you have to do is pull out of NAFTA/CAFTA/WTO & revoke preferred trade status w/China. I haven't heard Dr. Paul mention any of these & in fact, he's for less restrictions on trade. He's also for almost NO oversight/regulation on business.

[lastnymleft]

You're wrong about trade & wages, comparatively. Deficits represents a portion of overall trade, but a weak dollar affects EVERY single import item, which is most now.

Ron Paul is the ONLY candidate AGAINST NAFTA/CAFTA/WTO/pref. He wants out of ALL of the "Managed" trade arrangements, favouring instead *true* "Free" trade. Dr Paul is against ALL corporate welfare.

If you haven't heard Dr Paul say that, you haven't been listening to him at all. Economics and monetary policy etc IS his big thing.

[JigglesJingle]

Ron Paul is a traitor. The only change that will come will be from a 3rd party. It will never again come from the Democrats or Republicans. Ron Paul insists he won't run as a independent so Fuck him. He has no chance other wise.

[lastnymleft]

At what point did he EVER say he was going to run third party? How can you be a traitor if you stand true to everything you ever believed in, and stand by your word?

He ran third-party in 1988 and knows how the decks are stacked against such runs. Would he gain any more media coverage? NO! Would he even get in any debates? NO!

Listen to Jack Cafferty examining it: watch?v=4gYF_K5p38E

Ever hear of Barry Goldwater? Failed in his bid, but revolutionized the party and set it up for Reagan to win.

[lastnymleft]

China has USD$1.5TRILLION in reserves at present. How much longer do you think they will continue to buy/hold Treasury notes, if each year 10% of their capital is stolen by a wilfuly debased dollar? As soon as they stop that, it's game over. Instead of dumping dollars now, they are buying US assets through the "sovereign wealth funds" we hear so much about now. What happens when there's nothing left to sell, and they own everything?

[djathens2]

"What happens when there's nothing left to sell, and they own everything?"

We say "Gung hay fat choy!"