The explanation for the stimulus package, Fed rate cut, and other economic incentives are really quite simple——it’s a major election year stupid!

Neither the present administration nor the current Congress wants to be associated with a serious economic downturn——better to delay the inevitable for the next administration and congress and let them suffer through it.

Also, extensive Fed rate cuts can lead to an inflationary period though that takes a bit of time to materialize——probably just in time for the new administration! 

Remember, the piper always has to be paid!

I just heard that the Democrats in the Senate want a rebate package that includes checks that will get sent out EVERYBODY, even to the likes of Bill Gates and Donald Trump.

It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, knowing that my original $1,600 rebate has already been whittled down by $400 thanks to Pelosi and one of her cohorts, and that this new sum may eventually get dropped below $1,000 if the Senate actually gets its way. And for what? So Bill Gates and Donald Trump can pay the gas and electric? Yeah, riiight.

If I was Bush I’d cancel the damn rebate altogether and let the public figure out exactly WHO gets the blame for its demise. And then let the responsible party pay for it in November at the Ballot Box.

And fwiw I’m a registered Democrat for the last 40 years. Not bragging, not complaining, just saying…

We could call it the Keynesian chickens coming home to roost…

Its so deep we’ll all need a set of wings to stay above it.  I read an interesting analysis recently that discussed how much the Dow actually has to gain to keep up with our currency depreciation.  Long story short: it isn’t.  And those rate cuts (i hear another is on its way) only ramp up the money production, which drives down the value of the dollar.  I also read that something like two trillion has been pumped into the markets over the last nine months to keep them going.  The longer we put off the inevitable, the worse it will be.  But like getting a new CC so that you’re neighbors don’t think you’re poor…we’ll do our best to keep up appearances.

Nope, the angel of repose will not be denied…and from my reading of mythology, Nemesis is not so much into the forgive and forget philosophy.

^ I’ve just checked the market and it’s not down all that much today, in fact it’s up for the last two days….why?

It seems to me that with the entire sub-prime dive, the market should be down.  I think the new guy Bernanke, is going to majorly screw up and pander to the market rather than let the market find its own level.  This will speed the dive towards the coming crash and will exacerbate the effects on our economy.  Bottom line; we’re in deep shit!  This is the tip of the iceberg and with all of the economic indicators pointing to a correction and Bernanke doing everything to avoid the inevitable it all must come crashing down and a depression (not recession) may be in the offing.  One can only manipulate things just so far; the angle of repose will not be denied!

Thanks jbart

Your post came up apparently after I posted (my second post), at least from where I sit.

I appreciate it.  Hang tough. It’s going to be a “long haul”.

Never give in, never give up, and only make amends to those who are quite sincerely, unaware.  Ahhh…such a heavy task…..then again…maybe not.

In the business world I believe they call “it” EMPOWERMENT.

Even “single lane” roads TECHNICALLY go both ways.

Demand the senate address this imperative issue.  Write your senators.  A valid showing of names and addresses with this legislation WILL GO FAR.  Do it.  Don’t be sidetracked with extraneous garbage.  Let your senators KNOW with names, addresses and zip codes your dissatisfaction with the meat and potatoes of this legislation.  Do it now BEFORE it is well gone and decided.  People DO make a difference. (Yes, I mean YOU)  Your senators have yet to vote, make sure that it is in YOUR interests. 

Five will get you ten that they would love to, but they need to be able to SHOW that they are acting in the interests of their constituents.  Demand it.  This is America folks.  Make sure that, THAT, is taken into consideration and RECOGNIZED.  Your voice is everything.

Always….“they” (who ever “they” are) would like you to believe that money is everything….in the REAL world, do you find this to be true….?  Do you…?  Money is something…sure.  But is it EVERYTHING…?  I think NOT.  There IS something bigger…..of course there is….but they don’t want you to “remember” that.  There is US, folks, “WE THE PEOPLE…...........

Ideological republicans and certain democrats are not in congress to run or manage the country’s business.  They are there to steal from the citizens and give to the rich while putting a “few bucks” in their own coffers as well.  I thought it was transparent in Bush’s attitude during his SOTU just how much the citizenry of this country, THE ONES WHO ACTUALLY PICK UP THE TAB, meant to him.

Did you notice how it was all about “what he will and will not do?  And his smirking smug contempt for those who will have to learn to “tighten their belt” to deal with these “tough economic times”.  Yet in a time of record profits for huge private corporations the average worker’s wages stagnated or fell.  Not because of “economic conditions” but because of greed. 

It is a purposeful endeavor of big business to undermine the safety nets for all Americans.  Get rid of Social Security, unemployment, food stamps, unions and any type of economic relief or assistance because it is in this way that they will have a steady supply of workers to work to death.  When they’re gone (or done with) there will always be another starving American to work for low wages just to eat.  Crooked multinational corporations have been doing this in other countries for decades.  It’s no secret.  And they want to do it here.

The only way to reverse this is to have more economic assistance, unionize, stop the government from pandering to big business interests, enforce labor laws, close business tax loop holes and enforce them, end free trade agreements and otherwise enforce fair business and labor practices.  Doesn’t the “economic stimulus” package include money to business?  This money won’t go to the small businesses which in fact might actually stimulate the economy, but will go to big corporations who have already robbed the citizenry blind.  Think of it as a “tip” for a job well done.

Stand up and be heard America.  File that lawsuit, write those letters to congress and sign that petition.  Watch local politics, this is how they measure just how well they will be able to implement these “policies” en masse.  This is especially true in smaller communities with large multinational corporation plants or subsidiaries.

I am absolutely AGAINST the stimulus package if ANY of the money goes to business, unless that business is VERY mom and pop.  This package is a facade.  An attempt to make the unaware “feel” something is being done to help.  Psychological chicanery is their MO.

Driving bear what kinds of jobs would they create?  One that would pay less than what you would collect in unemployment benefits?  What should every one who needs work do till these jobs are created?  No what we need are jobs that pay an honest wage.  One you can survive on working forty to fifty hours a week not sixty to seventy.  Take note I said survive.  But I guess you are right we need to create jobs but whats wrong with adding some unemployment till they can find a job that doesnt put them in the poor house.

But Hidden away in this mess are some tax breaks for business. I suspect to many in congress, tax breaks for business is the most important part of the legislation.

By focusing on helping consumers, congress can sound like a bunch of humanitarians trying to help a sick puppy limp up the steps to church.

Instead of the sick bunch of confused crooks that they are.

Out of the blue we find ourselves in a recession without a clue as to how we got there. But it doesn’t take Nostradamus to figure out why. It’s because of them.

They haven’t done their job, which was to check the insanity of the executive branch.  I know it was a big job this time. But it seems like there were only a few up to the task.

Right now I’m wondering out loud of Haliburton will benefit from some of these tax breaks?

Ah, to extend unemployment benefits would require admitting that there is an employment crises, which would contradict the “we’re growing jobs” and “unemployment is low” mantra spewed in Washington.

I do agree with driving bear; we need to create jobs more than anything, but we also must bridge the unemployed until there are jobs for them.

Personally, i would like to see a tax code that collects from stock investment at nearly punitive rates, but offers very generous rates for community investment.  If the money that the middle class poured into the stock market was poured into financing local businesses we might do better.  Of course, Wall Street wouldn’t make as much money so that idea is unworkable.

I’ll second Expat, excellent post, Mr. Chalmers.

“...the depressed economic situation has been caused by pandering to a sky-high stock market than any other single issue other than the existence of the military-industrial complex itself. Both have spawned an essentially corrupt economic framework - ultimately at everybody’s expense.”

As Frank Zappa would have said, the above is the crux of the biscuit.  Our manufacturing base has eroded as it has because business in America is oriented towards the short-term profits demanded by Wall Street.  The businesses don’t win, the employees don’t win, and the consumer doesn’t win.  Only the Street wins.

I know I’m a knowitall, but, as I see it, the sub-prime scam which the rich inflicted on the richer is kind of an irony.

The thing backfired, literally blew up in their faces.

To add insult to injury, the real victims, the middle class home “owner” will not soon recover, even with King Georgie’s and our beloved congress’ tiny ort.

I think they’re all a bunch of %*&^#@s.

My sympathy sincerely goes out to those devastated by this continuing assault on the middle class.

The A wholes who master-minded this scheme, it’s my understanding, got huge bonuses from Wall Street Fundies that make my 600 look like pocket change.

Gawd Bless Eyemarryica!

Douglas, well said.  I have to chuckle when I look at who finances everything and who then benefits from everything.  It ain’t the ones who finance everything!  Is that sick or what?

More like a bridge too far - Quote Marie Cocco: “Ask a worker to describe a recession, and it’s much simpler: It’s when people lose their jobs….. Unemployment insurance is such a surefire way to get money to people who will spend it immediately that, historically, it has been called an “automatic stabilizer.”...”

An Economic Bridge to Nowhere? More like a bridge too far, uhh! Stimulus packages are notoriously supportive of whoever they are mainly directed at - and politicians serving their own interests are noriously hopeless at arriving at a balanced perspective for everybody’s benefit.

Moreso, the depressed economic situation has been caused by pandering to a sky-high stock market than any other single issue other than the existence of the military-industrial complex itself. Both have spawned an essentially corrupt economic framework - ultimately at everybody’s expense.

All bridges lead to a bankrupt society when the main imperative is marketing packaged debt regardless of the price of what is being purchased. No wonder then, that politicians like to have their immunity to being sued just as judges and other compulsive criminals of the state’s heirarchy also protect themselves from the consequences of their own words and actions!

The worst issue is the fact that unemployment benefits are considered as merely temporary “insurance” and conveniently limited to 26 weeks of payments. It is also hypocritically slanted towards “families” when there is actually no such thing as any organization ever employing a “family”, uhh. Thus, singles (including married couples) as well as part-time workers are marginalized and discriminated against.

Requiring a person to be “looking for full-time work”  is an absurdity in an era of part-time employment and particularly discriminates against working mothers with young children who are unable to work full time. In other words, it is yet another excuse to shove people off the books of the welfare agencies at every opportunity. Politicians mostly never actually do any real work anyway so how would they comprehend never mind care?

The fact is that these people are then not counted amongst Nancy Pelosi’s “middle class”  and thus are of no political advantage to her as well as being of no supposed economic use. Their value as human beings is, of course, never considered. The fact that such people are constantly subjected to stress and anxiety and eventually become ill as a result is ignored as well. That’s just too much for America’s poor politicians and journalists to have to think about.

Thus the depressed economy and individual’s depressed economic circumstances inevitably lead to the risk of mental depression and illness. At that stage, they can be categorized as unemployable and eventually abandoned by the hypocritical health care system as unable to pay their bills, etc etc. Somewhere along the line, the police and the unsympathetic courts become involved as they take their turn at harassing these now-helpless victims of “the American dream” turned sour.

To come out of a recession new jobs must be created. adding to unemployment benefits does not do this and prolongs a recession. Also the problem today is not unemployment but rising prices due to high fuel/oil cost. The tax cuts and rebates will create jobs.