I wish someone of influence within the Democratic Party would learn some MMT. Unless that happens, their economic ideas are doomed.
Here's an example of the proposed "stimulus" being put forth by Democratic members of the Supercommittee:
| Supercommittee Dems push for stimulus to be part of deficit deal By Erik Wasson - 10/26/11 11:49 AM ET Democrats on the congressional supercommittee this week presented Republicans with a plan to cut the deficit that included billions of dollars in stimulus spending, aides told The Hill. In a private session of the deficit panel on Tuesday, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, proposed trillions of dollars in tax increases that would partially cover stimulus spending for the economy, aides said. |
The tax hike thing is just not going to pass. They should stop, already.
Or, they should call it what it really is: income redistribution. They should just come right out and say, "We want to redistribute income. That is our plan."
But for heavens sake, stop calling it a stimulus.
The don't do this because they are ignorant about how our monetary system functions. So are the Republicans, by the way, but at least the Republicans don't lie about their intentions. They pretty much come right out and say they want to give everything to the rich because the rich are "the job creators." We know that's a bunch of BS, but it's a sound bite that they've managed to make work.
This thing will never work. You have one party that is openly and unabashedly creating a policy conduit by which all of the nation's wealth is funneled up to an elite class of plutocrats, and then you have the bumbling Democrats who talk of "fairness" and greater equality, but then act like we've but a few crumbs left and we must struggle and strive and sacrifice in order to find a better way to divy those crumbs up among the citizenry.
It's truly pathetic. Both parties are to blame, but mostly I blame the Democrats. The party's leadership and its "intellectuals" are a bunch of snobby elitists who went to places like Harvard, Yale and Princeton who'll fight you tooth and nail so that that their misguided dogma rules the way they think and act.
It's hopeless.
You sound depressed. Understandably.
ReplyDeleteIf the agreement is that we spend money now and the reduction happen 10 years in the future it called negotiation and is most likely is not apocalyptic.
ReplyDeleteGet a grip.
Ok, maybe I was a bit, too negative.
ReplyDeleteWell right now they are boxed in by their own decisions earlier this year. The "supercommittee" is not charged with coming up with a stimulus plan, or an economic recovery plan or an economic development plan. It's charged with coming up with a long-term deficit reduction plan. Trying to turn such a thing into some kind of expansionary stimulus is obviously a difficult trick. All you can do is redistribute in a way which increases demand and activity. But if you call it "redistribution", people are going to counter that redistributing is just moving money around, not shrinking the deficit.
ReplyDeleteThe fatal decisions were made back in 2010, when Obama decide to throw in with Pete Peterson, Erskine Bowles, Alan Simpson and the rest of the deficit hawks and budget hysterics, and then worked this year on a "grand bargain." That set an agenda for budget austerity that hangs like a depressing cloud over everything, but that no politicians can just junk at this point.
They can't call it redistribution, not in America. It would lead to more accusations that the Democrats are socialists.
ReplyDeleteThis will really be the test of the impact of OWS. To date, they have been successful in turning the discussion from the non-problem of federal debt/deficit to the real problem of unemployment - as clearly shown in the statistics on word use by major media outlets in late July (height of the debt ceiling nonsense) as compared to now (current OWS coverage). That may, however, have more to do with the absence of debt/deficit activity on the Hill than with OWS. The test will be if the debt/deficit talks coming up will be as devoid of concern for jobs as it was in the debt ceiling debates/coverage of last July or will it be re-framed by Congress/Administation and the media within the context of the OWS issues.
ReplyDeleteToday's first report is not very heartening in that regard. It could be a long cold winter.
Many years ago I once heard a drunk talking politics to no one in particular at a dive bar on Long Island.
ReplyDelete"The Democrats are wrong for the right reasons," he said, "and the Republicans are wrong for the wrong reasons!"
Truer words were never spoken.