16 posts
"State Street was also able to tap into billions of dollars the US central bank made available in the fall of 2008 to avoid further financial chaos."
<hate>
That's where a real political crack shows imo.
The interventions in the financial system weren't down to saving firms it was to save a globally interlinked capitalist system from collapse.
So it is socialistic - it was done for a greater good of capitalism - ironically.
And watching the individuals running these firms behave like that is outrageous.
But to do anything else is to entrench socialism into the system permanently.
Really need to kick them of the tit at the first opportunity back into the market and on their own feet and make a profit.
And then government needs to make sure it never needs to bail the system out again, which was as much down to them as it was the firms.
It was all a class A enormous fuck up of the first magnitude.
It's galling but if banks start becoming an arm of government permanently it won't be good either.
We had to enact mass socialism and save the economy with our hard-earned tax dollars, so these firms could then go out and act like the worst, ugliest capitalist pigs you can imagine.
I have thought for some time now, and seen several articles that confirmed, that the unemployment numbers are really without a good reason. Lots of companies are making a lot of money and used the recession as an excuse to lay off a lot of people, when they weren't really losing any money. The evidence is all around us... companies are making money. And their profit margins, because of reductions in pay, benefits, and workforce, are way up.
it has shown itself to be a global oligarichal system, masquerading as a free market economy.
we haven't had a capitalist system in this country for at least a hundred years.
the ideals of american capitalism are long gone. we are no longer balancing greed among men, we've shifted to jealousy. we don't have property rights anymore. we don't have equal justice. we don't have equal protection. we don't have due process. we are not free, we don't have a fair market and to say we are capitalists is just a bad joke at this point. all the sloganeering about american entrepreneurial spirit, innovation and general badassery is a sad relic, a sham, total bs. it's just there to keep the average guy feeling good... compliant and patriotic while his assets are devalued 20-50%.
It's just a phony demand driven craptocracy.
merry christmas!
That is true - but it also points to a latent and potential large recovery bounce.
But that won't happen until confidence is restored and gov finances and deficit is a big part of that defensive plan for the worst strategy,
So digging in and letting the tax cuts expire would likely have been the best thing
So long as it was backed with cuts to show it isn't a one way street on tax.
That's the tough bit though, the tax raise would be the final act for 2 years, no chance of cutting anything.
But perhaps it would be worth it - the biggest element of the deficit removed.
honestly, the tax cut debate is irrelevant. either way.
people arguing about 700 billion over ten years when we're spending 14,000 billion in deficit over that period at the current pace. it's ridiculous.
any real boom would probably occur in china. here, we'll have a fake one propped up by some contrivance... like solving the debt burden through asset forfeiture (nationalize 401k's outright or by regulation forcing people to hold a significant percentage of treasury debt in order to retain tax qualified status). our new-found solvency would be cause for a few years of boom followed by another reckoning since we refuse to actually solve anything.
who knows though, the absence of law and principle makes this terrain impossible to predict. that is the ultimate source of the ongoing decline in confidence imo. another temporary sunset deal no matter the ox being gored... doesn't help at all. I think we'd be vastly better off if the current rates were either retained, modified or reverted... whatever, just make it permanent.
I think we've just hit a new high in greed and a new low in patriotism for American corporations. Corps discovered that, guess what, we can lay off shitloads of people and still make lots and lots of money... something like 1.6 trillion in corporate profits last quarter--all while squeezing more or the same work out of less people. What motivation do they have to hire more people? Things are going great for the corporations. This economy will work well for them with 10% unemployment for a long, long time. And if they do start hiring, why not do it overseas? Add more capacity without cutting into that juicy profit?
We are fucked.
ironsheep — Dec 10, 2010
any real boom would probably occur in china. here, we'll have a fake one propped up by some contrivance... like solving the debt burden through asset forfeiture (nationalize 401k's outright or by regulation forcing people to hold a significant percentage of treasury debt in order to retain tax qualified status).
The trick with China is, it is only so long before those people start getting so educated and so aware that they want the rights that westerners have. Not if, but when democracy hits, it will slow China waaaay down... when people start to realize that they don't have to live next to a polluted river, that they shouldn't be exploited at their jobs, that they should earn decent money in their factor, etc. It's entirely conceivable that we could become cheap labor for them someday.
China growth will asymptote - but at several times the population of anywhere but India it will eventually be the #1.
It is happening faster than I ever expected.
Pretty amazing really -
Europe and by extension US has had it's time and it is back to Asia.
Historically it is the norm.
Sheeeeit, I saw Blade Runner...
A billion Chinese can't all be Wong. ;)
asymptote
have to get a maths word in :)
Meant to comment on that - I like it! Of course, Hooky probably read it as a typo... ;) :D
I guess I misread that last 4 letters. I saw toke, and I did. ;D