dimelab dimelab: shrinking the gap between talk and action.

rounds Topic in The Credit Debacle Catalog

essay rounds (1); rounding error (1).

Phil's Favorites - By Ilene Thu 2010-08-19 15:58 EDT

Time for a New, New Deal?

...The Big Lie being told by the right is that we can solve our problems by cutting spending and (ROFL) lowering taxes...Of course, let's keep in mind that the $1.5Tn the government spends directly employs 2.7M people and millions more indirectly so, for every person you cut, make sure you add back $20,000 a year for unemployment benefits and administration (or are we going to throw them all on the street?)...the real glove-across-your-face insult to your intelligence comes when they try to tell you that giving tax breaks to the rich and to corporations will help...US Corporations only paid a grand total of $138Bn in taxes in 2009 (6.5% of all taxes collected)...US Corporations have done nothing but outsource America's future for decades and it is time for the bottom 99% of the income earners (those earning less than $250,000 a year) to wake up and smell the class warfare that is being waged against them. How can we even begin to entertain the idea of cutting government and cutting government spending when the sum total contribution of Big Business America represents a rounding error in our national budget?...When private business fails to expand, when the budgets cannot be balanced because 25% of the population is unable to make income tax contributions due to loss of jobs and homes -- then a wise man knows when it is time to step in and let the Government fill the void. Not with more bailouts to the rich who, like Reagan's deficit ``are big enough to care for themselves'' but with bold programs that invest in the future of this country and utilize the skills and labor of this country and make America strong and independent...

Ilene; new; new deal; Phil's Favorites; Time.

naked capitalism Mon 2010-04-12 18:08 EDT

Guest Post: Is Debt Repudiation a Good Thing or a Bad Thing?

I hesitated in posting on this subject, as I thought it might be too ``radical''. But after reading what economists Steve Keen, Michael Hudson and Murray Rothbard said about debt repudiation, I decided to post it. This essay rounds up arguments for debt repudiation, because that side is rarely heard. But feel free to post comments on why debt should not be repudiated -- the issue is still an open question in my mind.

bad things; Debt Repudiation; good thing; Guest Post; naked capitalism.