Excerpt: "Mr. DeMarco seems to misunderstand his job. He's supposed to run his agency and secure its finances - not make national economic policy. If the Treasury secretary, acting for the president, seeks to subsidize debt relief in a way that actually strengthens the finance agency, the agency's chief has no business blocking that policy. Doing so should be a firing offense."
Portrait, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, 06/15/09. (photo: Fred R. Conrad/NYT)
Debt, Depression, DeMarco
03 August 12
here has been plenty to criticize about President Obama’s handling of the economy. Yet the overriding story of the past few years is not Mr. Obama’s mistakes but the scorched-earth opposition of Republicans, who have done everything they can to get in his way - and who now, having blocked the president’s policies, hope to win the White House by claiming that his policies have failed.
And this week’s shocking refusal to implement debt relief by the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency - a Bush-era holdover the president hasn’t been able to replace - illustrates perfectly what’s going on.
Some background: many economists believe that the overhang of excess household debt, a legacy of the bubble years, is the biggest factor holding back economic recovery. Loosely speaking, excess debt has created a situation in which everyone is trying to spend less than their income. Since this is collectively impossible - my spending is your income, and your spending is my income - the result is a persistently depressed economy.
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1) taking the healthcare "public option" "off the table" before the fight had begun.
2) MDAA pushing for the right to detain (forever) anyone, anywhere in the world, including american citizens, without ever formally charging, trying or convicting them of anything
3) going after Julian Assange and Bradley Manning
3) putting social security "on the table" in the deficit reduction talks (according to John Conyers this the White House and not the Repubs) even though Social Security contributes not one penny to the deficit
4) a Presidential "kill list" again with no formal charges or any legal proceedings
5) overthrow of the democratically elected Pres. of Honduras
6) Preventing the inclusion of former Haitian President Aristide's Lavalas party from taking part in the elections though they are by far the most popular party in the country
7) Supporting billions for the banks but little for homeowners that were victims of the banks fraudulent (i.e., illegal) practices
8) supporting more nuclear power and "clean coal"
And there is more.....so, yes, give the prez his due for positive things call him out on others he pushed for and implemented (and were not done by the repubs).
The discussion is centered around how the President's 'economic' policies were blocked. It defies logic that the GOP can suggest failure of economic policies that they themselves prevented from being implemented.
But, that is their adopted tactic as written in the marching orders provided by Grover Norquist, Karl Rove and a host of other 'patriotic,' 'self-effacing, ' 'fair minded' participants in today's political theater.
And, yes, hopefully, the American people are smarter than this. We have free speech, and are free to use our battery powered megaphones to reach as many people as possible. The courts, however, have made sure that these megaphones only work with batteries that cost a million dollars a piece. I am grateful that I can purchase a megaphone, even if it's made in China. It clearly said on the box, "Batteries Not Included." My particular unit requires four (4) batteries!
The American People are not smarter because their is no news to factor in. Local Paper in Carbon County Pa is lucky to have twenty pages most of it sports, obit, ads, township/munici pal but certainly not open minded ness. Owned by Republican
Morning Call, once a Good Newspaper is down to half the pages and again Local and Crap news.
TV ...murders, fights, Europe, Syria?, and whoever is boohooing at time. Nothing on Japan or sea around them, food, or the golf ball contaminants on the West Coast...no less any truth about Politicians or Criminal Corporations.
I get more news on Letterman. Here. So if no one gets Current Events including the kids you pay School Taxes for...where is the Minds that need to know. It is the Me Generation not the O what is happening around Me. Even here lots of MeMe MeMe
#'s 1,3,7 and 8 are directly related to the US economy and econonic policies. I would also argue that our role in Hondorus and Haiti are also related to economics (as neither country is particularly important "geopolitically ") and #2 while specifically mentioning the MDAA is related to the US military i.e., defense spending which has a huge negative effect on the US economy as a whole.
Taking the "public option off the table" before the fight had begun? I remember the screaming in Congress over the whole thing--and they're STILL trying to knock it down! He got what he could, there, and it's more than anybody's done in 30 years of trying.
"Supporting billions for the banks and not the homeowners"--th e problem here is the banks aren't cooperating. I blame the greedy bankers. Why are you giving them "a free pass"?
As for Social Security being "on the table"--I distinctly recall George W. Bush (a Republican) pushing for it to be turned over to the banks. I seem to remember people like Ron Paul calling for the end of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (even though he actually gets paid from Social Security.) You want to point a finger, fine, but I sure wish you'd point at everybody responsible, and not just the one man you dislike.
I must admit, while I'd LIKE to point at everybody responsible, I've only got the ten fingers, and I don't think that's enough--anybody want to loan me a few of theirs?
first thanks for the serious and thoughtful response (far to little of this on this board unfortunately). As for the specifics:
I agree with you 100% about not giving Congress a pass for voting for the MDAA (no matter which party they are in). I am not saying that Obama could have gotten the public option (i understand the political realities) but he he took it "off the table" before the fight had really gotten going...this is just how he works...he seems to believe that he is being pragmatic by compromising (and nothing wrong in theory with compromise) but you compromise as part of the struggle you don't give up major points before the battle has even really begun. Have to disagree with you about the banks...yes, the bankers are greedy, but Obama has in large part been their guy (through Geithner) which is why he received more money from them than did McCain. As for SS, i am certainly not defending either W or Ron Paul here but Conyers was the one that said that it was Obama that put this "on the table" during the deficit talks and that it was not the republicans and since SS contributes not one penny to the deficit i do not understand his logic at all on this one.
We need that people understand as a Whole so pass this on, start helping get Information out there. No one else will and it is Your Job also
DeMarco: "Look, Tim - you make a demand on behalf of the President and I'll take the heat for not complying. This way we get what we want and Obama looks like he "tried" to do the fifth thing."
If the President really wanted this he'd demand it himself and not send in the 2nd string quarterback.
PS. "everyone is trying to spend less than their income" We can't spend more than we have forever...it always comes home to roost. What we need is to have more to spend AND save. This is all the result of wealth concentration. The rich aren't spending, they are investing and Wall St. is doing fine...other things they are not doing is supporting the arts...and neither is Obama...I've never heard him so much as mention the arts...he is into sports...the new opiate of the masses.
This is a perfect illustration of why I have no respect for Paul Krugman when he tries to write about economics.
Yes, Mr. Krugman, it *IS* collectively possible. When everybody spends less than they earn, it's called SAVINGS, as opposed to debt. And not only are savings POSSIBLE, they are a very strong indicator of a healthy economy.
Sheesh.
Well Lonny, the guy has a Phd in Economics.
He teaches it at a major, ivy league university.
He won a Nobel Prize in Economics.
Who DO you have respect for when he/she writes about economics?
Just askin'...
Not according to Alan Greenspan who, in 2001 while he was Fed Chairman and standard bearer of (Republican) supply side economics, spoke in opposition to Clinton's budget surpluses and warned against retiring national debt.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/testimony/2001/20010302/default.htm
So here's the Greenspan / LonnyEachus proposition:
The Treasury should borrow money and not pay it back through tax revenue, but instead transfer that borrowed money to the private economy through tax cuts. Then that money ought to accumulate in the hands of an increasingly small set of people who are wealthy enough to be able to maintain savings accounts.
Bingo: that's supply side economics. The credit of the nation as a whole is pledged to the benefit of a very, very few who not only bear no burden of repaying it, but with LonnyEachus claim that this is the sign of a healthy economy!
Hard to save when Gas Price goes up?
Hard to save when cost of food rises?
Utilities, rent, vehicle costs.
If people could actually make a decent wage, get benefits...they would have those bleak weather day dinero put aside.
Parents have mouths to feed, copays, medicine, kids needs, school costs, taxes I am still waiting for my School And Property Taxes to Vanish Pa allowed Casinos so where is those
Republican Campaign Promises to rid us of excess Taxes? In their raises.
Insurance Costs on Kids, Vehicles, Home...all rose
So Hard to spend less than one earn's if ones earning barely cover Expenses for Needs not Luxury. DUH
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that everyone can't possibly spend less than their income and the economy grow. Why in the world do you think credit exists in the first place? When a start up wants to create a new business or an existing company wants to expand an existing one, they borrow in order to do so. If you would stop to think for just a second, you would realize that Dr. Krugman said that EVERYONE can't save, not that there can't be a collective positive savings.You should stick to what you know before criticizing what someone else obviously does know.
His statement is just a short way of pointing out a fundamental aspect of macroeconomic accounting. It is not a debatable point. Anyone who disputes this is not an economist.
Why did the 'chosen' have to buy those half million dollar homes in those 'special neighborhoods?' Who knowing the jobs were leaving for overseas, Media had stories constantly...al l ignored. DOW proved...all ignored.
So now to keep up with the Neighborhood, we have to throw out the hand me downs and get all new 'Stuff" Who duped you into doing that?
Then we need new Cadillac SUV to drive everywhere and cost gas to jump. Who put a gun to your heads to borrow, borrow, charge and charge?
No One. I would guess most parents, grandparents warned You all not to go in over your heads but You all did.
We bought our home, modest price and within a month my spouse was laid off so please no Violins here. We kept our hand me downs since most of it was handcrafted furniture in USA that you all couldn't afford Not some crap from China. We had real Porcelin China from Family not some knock offs from Wallie World or Phony other store. Steuben Glass Ware. You had what some nonsense you friends told you was 'in'?
I had real, hand made Asian and Pakistan Rugs over an inch thick. No phony baloney nonsense. We had All American Made Appliances, Curtains, Sheets.
We made it thru that and a very bad injury to my spouse. We read History Books and listened to others.
Stop and think about the media blitz from 2000 - 2008... Every other commercial, print ad, radio spot, billboard, Internet banner was credit driven and a push to buy a home - government backed program. As I said above 84 million homeowners did not wake up one morning and decide to buy inflated valued homes.
What was in you wallet back then? 5 credit cards maybe?
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/05/16/newbury-park-woman-faces-eviction-after-husbands-suicide/
The banks started to cover their asses early by blaming the homeowners for buying homes they could not afford.
The homeowners were convinced by the banks that they could afford these homes, that the government (Fannie and Freddie) stood behind the loans. But when the banks began to fail in 2006 "guilty dogs started barking first" that it was the homeowners' fault...to hide the real blame.
Anyone who believes that 84 million Americans got up one morning and said "let's buy an inflated valued home with a payment we cannot afford - that we'll lose in a couple of years because the banks are commiting fraud that we are going along with..." Well, I'm sorry - no personal offense intended - but they'd be idiots. See The Reality of Mis-perception on www.deadlyclear.com.
President should have cleaned house in January, he had the vote to do so.
Is Obama listening?
I suggest that you check out "Capitalism Hits the Fan" http://www.capitalismhitsthefan.com/ by Dr. Richard Wolff who is a professor emeritus at Amherst but who has chosen to dissect the whole "winner take all nature" of Capitalism, it's deformities, non-productive- destructive nature rather than affirm it and hold it up as a model manifestly to be desired and followed.
I called in to a talk show on our local Portland, Or-based community radio station (KBOO 90.7 FM) on which Dr Wolff was featured guest and he emphatically AFFIRMED my question as to whether the language of economics is deliberately written so that most people are not MEANT to understand it, thereby be more easily manipulated "'Cause they say so -and here's the proof, even if you don't understand a damn word of it!".
Please read the link, get the book, think about it: perhaps you'll find some legitimate tools to instigate a push-back in language we can all understand.
Remember Sitting Bull's blunt statement "The White Man can make many things but he doesn't know how to share them".
so let us just accept it as word and move on.
We are tooo lazy to get involved. Always have been. "That's what we pay them for"
Well, no it isn't but they have taken control of doing it, bsing all, and You allow it. Do not need Nobel Prize, Rhoades Scholar. We have too many people on payroll for favoritism payoffs in Agencies that do not do their Jobs because the Agency is just a front.
Occupational Vocational Rehabilitation is one of those Agencies in Pa. Then there is the Ticket To Work Program. These are set up like Money Laundering Business. They lie to you, play with the books, pass the Buck and never, never do what the Credo of the Organization is supposed to do...but look at those Salaries and benefits.
I see Community Colleges getting off base also. But Computers, pay teachers, kids do programs on Computers while the teachers are in the lounge. Nice. If I want to study on a Computer, than who needs a Community College. Save your money folks. Get Good Computer and Home School your kids. No more need for Teachers or Schools.
Another Gimmick is needing Certification to change a bedpan. Let's schmooae the Public with these after school programs, charge thousands of dollars so people can get paid to let kids intern, cleaning bedpans, taking temperatures. Cannot have the job without the Certification.. ..Joke
oddly enough much of the rest of the world is sick of the US at a time when Americans seem to be united, kind of like the losers in Iran who united under Ahmadinejad because he gets crticized from the West.
If you cannot within a week do the job of a CNA by watching and doing....don't waste your money on the course, it is a scam.
Some of the Career Schools put together by rejects ... I have gone to practice runs on basic computer skills, and other crap. The people I have lose concentration, start off on riffs, forget what they are supposed to teach you...talk more than show or teach.
I went to photo classes, basics, refresher. Class was done and we knew how to put the chord on our camera for usp port. We did hear about pro and cons of google and other print shops but no editing, no hands on anything. They get paid and you bought a usb plug for your camera. I went back, it was ground hog day. Went to Career Program, they could not talk, lost concentration, couldnot answer questions.
Fine they know what they are doing but Cannot teach to save their lives. How did they get these jobs? Now OVR says you can go to this School I said you have got to be kidding, I said I know them they have not changed in 5 years. The CC is computerized and the teachers out on errands for themselves while you read your course on line. Parents ask your kids and start taking Control
thanks for that
There seems to be a lot of popular opposition to the politicies of both parties, and what keeps one party from acting is the percerption that the country is wedged into inaction by disagreement but I wonder if the perception that there are so many that disagree is not just all of us being faked out by a massive online distortion campaign by corporations who have automated the illusion of non-concensus and technologized the manufacture of consent or hopelessness?
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