WELCOME TO OPINIONS BASED
ON FACTS (OBOF)
&
THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (TYMHM)
|
Name
|
Published
|
|
OVERVIEW
|
Dec. 28, 2010
|
|
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 1
|
Dec. 30, 2010
|
|
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 2
|
Jan. 10, 2011
|
|
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 3
|
Jan. 17, 2011
|
|
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 4
|
Jan. 24, 2011
|
|
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 5
|
Jan. 31, 2011
|
|
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 6
|
Feb. 07, 2011
|
|
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 7
|
Feb. 14, 2011
|
|
SPECIAL ISSUE
|
Feb. 18, 2011
|
|
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 8
|
Feb. 21, 2011
|
|
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 9
|
Mar. 01, 2011
|
|
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 10
|
Mar. 07, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 1
|
Mar. 14, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 1A
|
Mar. 21, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 2
|
Mar. 25, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 3
|
Mar. 29, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 4
|
Apr. 04, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 5
|
Apr. 11, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 6
|
Apr. 18, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 7
|
Apr. 25, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 7A
|
Apr. 29, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 8
|
May 02, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 9
|
May 09, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 10
|
May 16, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 11
|
May 24, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART
12
|
Jun. 06, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 13
|
Jun. 20, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 14
|
July 05, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 14A
|
July 18, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 15
|
July 19, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 16
|
Aug. 03, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 17
|
Aug. 15, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 18
|
Aug. 29, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 19
|
Sept. 12, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 20
|
Sept. 26, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 21
|
Oct. 10, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 22
|
Oct. 24, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 22 EXTRA
|
Nov. 04, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART
23
|
Nov. 07, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART
24
|
Nov. 21, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART
25
|
Dec. 05, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART 26
|
Dec. 19, 2011
|
|
SS & MORE PART
27
|
JAN. 03, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
27A
|
JAN. 05, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
28
|
JAN. 17, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
29
|
JAN. 31, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
30
|
Feb.
14, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
CL1
|
Feb.
21, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
30 EXTRA
|
Feb. 23, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
31
|
Feb.
28, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
CL2 - 59
|
Mar.
06, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
31 EXTRA
|
Mar.
07, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
32
|
Mar.
13, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
CL3 - 1
|
Mar.
20, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
32 EXTRA
|
Mar.
24, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
33
|
Apr.
10, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
CL 4 - 2
|
Apr.
17, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
34
|
Apr.
24, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
CL5 - 49
|
May
01, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
35
|
May
09, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
CL6 - 19
|
May
15, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
35 EXTRA
|
May
18, 2012
|
|
.. SS & MORE PART 36
|
May
22, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
36 EXTRA
|
May
25, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
36
|
|
|
EXTRA II
|
June 01, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
37
|
June 05. 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
37 EXTRA
|
June 07, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
38
|
June 12, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
39
|
June 19, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
40
|
June 26, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
41
|
July
03, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
42
|
July
10, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
43
|
July
17, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
44
|
July
24,2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
45
|
July
31, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
46
|
Aug. 07, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
46 EXTRA
|
Aug. 09, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
47
|
Aug. 14, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
48
|
Aug. 21, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
49
|
Aug. 28, 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
50
|
Sept. 04. 2012
|
|
SS & MORE PART
51
|
Sept. 11. 2012
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM
PART 1
|
Sept. 20, 2012
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM
PART 2
|
Sept. 24,2012
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM
PART 3
|
Oct. 02, 2012
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM
PART 4
|
Oct. 04, 2012
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM
PART 5
|
Oct. 09, 2012
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM
PART 6
|
Oct. 18, 2012
|
IN THIS
ISSUE
1.
Personal note.
2.
What a night and what a day after - - Vice Pres. debate.
3.
Paul Ryan 24 myths.
4.
What a night and what a day after - - Presidential debate.
5.
Unfortunately Racism is alive and well.
6.
Job report and unemployment.
7.
Romney's 12 million jobs in four years.
8.
The January fiscal cliff.
9.
Who hijacked the world's greatest economy?
10. Closing thought.
~~~
"VOTE,
AN EDUCATED VOTE"
What is an educated vote? It is one that has been made with as much
knowledge, based on facts, not misinformation, that an individual can obtain.
~~~
PERSONAL NOTE.
As you know, I cut my
last posting short, as I need to go to the hospital. Don't want to bore you with my health
problems, we all have them from time to time.
Suffice it to say, that I am going to have to have a couple of
surgeries. They used to be a big deal,
but it seems they are rather simple now.
Not sure when, but until you hear otherwise, I'll be here.
I have a lot for you
in this posting and I am treating it just like I did before, after the
Presidential debate - - waiting until after the commentaries Wednesday evening
to finish up about my thoughts on the Presidential debate. I have also, posted my thoughts about the
Vice Presidential debate, which follows.
~~~
WHAT A
NIGHT !
WHAT A
DAY AFTER !
BUT
DIFFERENT THAN LAST WEEK
by Floyd Bowman
Opinions Based On Facts.
Published 10-4-12
October 11, 2012 was
the night of, what is called, the 2012 Vice Presidential Debate. I watched the entire 90 minutes, as I
did the Presidential debate last week,
and some commentary following. Today,
October 12, 2012, I have read many accounts of the debate, talking about who
won and, of course, who didn't win, and why they felt as they did. I have been watching MSNBC tonight with Al
Sharpton, Chris Mathews, Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell. In addition, because I was able to record the
debate, I have watched the entire debate twice.
Last week, I pointed
out that President Obama, whom I have observed for the past five years, just
didn't show up at the Presidential Debate, BUT Vice President Joe Biden did
show up last night and he was ready to go.
Before my comments
regarding the Vice Presidential candidate debate, one note about the reaction
of President Obama's supporters last week, compared to the reaction of the
Republican supporters to this week's debate.
All of the supporters
of President Obama acknowledged that he did not do very well, while Governor
Romney mis-spoke on 27 points, all that was said was to point those out. There were no insulting personal attacks on
Governor Romney, as there has been this time by Republicans on Vice President
Biden. There was no nit picking about
smiling or squinting or interrupting. All we did was point out the truth. That's all, nothing about Governor Romney
personally.
NOW, look at all the personal attacks on the VP. The Republicans said he was rude, disrespectful,
over-bearing, and a lot more relating to the VP's interruptions. The smiling, laughing, and interruptions were very much
justified, as in ever case, it was to bring out the truth when Congressman Paul
Ryan made a statement that was not true and Biden did a darn good job at
getting things straightened out too.
With regard to the
smiling and laughing, I have been watching others in commentaries and I find,
in one particular case a Mr. David Cay Johnston, an author on the Ed Show
MSNBC, did just what Biden did, when Ed asked him about some misstatements that
had been made. That is a normal reaction,
when someone says something that you know is not true.
With regard to the
interruptions, the Republicans make a big issue about it, but when it happens
the other way it is just fine with them.
Case in point, during a recent interview with the President, the
interviewer, from Fox News, interrupted the President 16 times and this was the
President, not a candidate for the office.
Nothing was ever said about that.
In my last report
about the Presidential debate, I pointed out that Governor Romney made 27 myths
in 38 minutes (I'm being polite).
Congressman Ryan didn't do as good as his boss. He only said 24 myths in 40 minutes.
Paul
Ryan Told 24 Myths in 40 Minutes
12
October 2012
1.
"It took
the president two weeks to acknowledge that [the Libya
2.
"The
administration was blocking us every step of the way. Only because we had
strong bipartisan support for these tough [Iran Iran , which have
significantly slowed Iran's progress.
3.
"Medicare
and Social Security are going bankrupt. These are indisputable facts." [T]he possibility of
Medicare going bankrupt is - and historically has been - greatly exaggerated.
In fact, if no changes are made, Medicare would still be able to meet 88
percent of its obligations in 2085. Social Security is fully funded
for another two decades and could pay 75 percent of its benefits thereafter. There is also an easy way
to ensure the program's long-term solvency without large changes or cuts to
benefits.
4.
"The vice
president was in charge of overseeing this. $90 billion in green pork to
campaign contributors and special interest groups." Multiple reviews,
including an independent review of all Department Of Energy loan programs by
Herb Allison – finance chair for McCain for President 2008 – have found no "pork"
in the stimulus' funding of green projects, concluding that the loans were not
steered to friends or family, as Ryan claims.
5.
"Was it a
good idea to spend taxpayer dollars on electric cars in Finland , or on windmills in China Finland China
6.
"When they
see us putting – when they see us putting daylight between ourselves and our
allies in Israel
7.
"You see,
if you reform these programs for my generation, people 54 and below, you can
guarantee they don't change for people in or near retirement." Here is how the
Romney/Ryan Medicare plan will affect current seniors:
1) by repealing Obamacare, the 16 million seniors receiving preventive benefits
without deductibles or co-pays and are saving $3.9 billion on prescription
drugs will see a cost increase, 2) "premium support" will increase
premiums for existing beneficiaries as private insurers lure healthier seniors
out of the traditional Medicare program, 3) Romney/Ryan would also lower
Medicaid spending significantly beginning next year, shifting federal spending
to states and beneficiaries, and increasing costs for the 9 million Medicare
recipients who are dependent on Medicaid.
8.
"Obamacare
takes $716 billion from Medicare to spend on Obamacare." Ryan is claiming that
Obamacare siphons off $716 billion from Medicare, to the detriment of Medicare
beneficiaries. In actuality, that money is saved primarily through reducing
over-payments to insurance companies under Medicare Advantage, cutting waste
fraud and abuse, and eliminating inefficiencies in the
system. Ryan's budget plan keeps those same cuts, but directs them
toward tax cuts for the rich and deficit reduction.
9.
"And then
they put this new Obamacare board in charge of cutting Medicare each and every
year in ways that will lead to denied care for current seniors." The Board, or IPAB is
tasked with making binding recommendations to Congress for lowering health care
spending, should Medicare costs exceed a target growth rate. Congress can
accept the savings proposal or implement its own ideas through a super
majority. The panel's plan will modify payments to providers but it cannot
"include any recommendation to ration health care, raise revenues or
Medicare beneficiary premiums…increase Medicare beneficiary cost-sharing
(including deductibles, coinsurance, and co- payments), or otherwise restrict
benefits or modify eligibility criteria" (Section 3403 of the ACA). Relying on health
care experts rather than politicians to control health care costs has
previously attracted bipartisan support and even Ryan himself proposed two IPAB-like structures
in a 2009 health plan.
10.
"7.4
million seniors are projected to lose their current Medicare Advantage coverage
they have. That's a $3,200 benefit cut." Enrollment is actually
projected to increase by 11 percent in Medicare Advantage (MA) in 2013. Since
the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010, Medicare Advantage premiums have
decreased an average of 10 percent and enrollment in these plans has increased 28 percent.
11.
"This
[Medicare premium support] plan that's bipartisan. It's a plan I put together
with a prominent Democrat senator from Oregon
12.
"Eight out
of 10 businesses, they file their taxes as individuals, not as corporations." Far less than half of
the people affected by the expiration of the upper income tax cuts get any of
their income at all from a small businesses. And those people could very well
be receiving speaking fees or book royalties, which qualify as "small
business income" but don't have a direct impact on job creation. It's
actually hard to find a small business
who think that they will be hurt if the marginal tax rate on income earned
above $250,000 per year is increased.
13.
"[Unemployment
is rising] all around America U.S.
14.
"The
average tax rate on businesses in the industrialized world is 25 percent, and
the president wants the top effective tax rate on successful small businesses
to go above 40 percent." The U.S. U.S.
15.
"He'll keep
saying this $5 trillion plan, I suppose. It's been discredited by six other
studies." The studies Ryan cites actually further prove that
Romney/Ryan would, in fact, have to raise taxes on the middle class if he were
to keep his promise not to lose revenue with his tax rate reduction.
16.
"You can –
you can cut tax rates by 20 percent and still preserve these important
preferences for middle-class taxpayer. It is mathematically possible. It's been
done before. It's precisely what we're proposing." If Romney/Ryan hope to
provide tax relief to the middle class, then their $5 trillion tax cut would
add to the deficit. There are not enough deductions in the tax code that
primarily benefit rich people to make his math work. As the Tax Policy Center
17.
"So they
proposed a $478 billion cut to defense to begin with. Now we have another $500
billion cut to defense that's lurking on the horizon. They insisted upon that
cut being involved in the debt negotiations, and so we have a $1 trillion
cut." Ryan has frequently gotten in hot water for criticizing President Obama
for the very same defence cuts that he voted for
in 2011.
18.
"If these
cuts go through, our Navy will be the smallest – the smallest it has been since
before World War I." PolitiFact rated this claim as "Pants on Fire,"
noting that "a wide range of experts told us it's wrong to assume that a
decline in the number of ships or aircraft automatically means a weaker
military."
19.
"Look at
what they're doing through Obamacare with respect to assaulting the religious
liberties of this country. They're infringing upon our first freedom, the
freedom of religion, by infringing on Catholic charities, Catholic churches,
Catholic hospitals." Religious institutions haven't been forced to "violate their conscience"
by paying for contraception. Houses of worship and other religious nonprofits
that primarily employ and serve people of the same faith will be exempt from
offering birth control.
20.
"If you
like your health care plan, you can keep it. Try telling that to the 20 million
people who are projected to lose their health insurance if Obamacare goes
through or the 7-point million – 7.4 million seniors who are going to lose
it." The Affordable Care Act would actually expand health care coverage to
30 million Americans and all seniors will keep their guranteed Medicare
benefits, despite Ryan's fear mongering. The Congressional Budget Office
estimates that very few people will have to enroll in new coverage.
21.
"We should
not have called Bashar Assad a reformer when he was turning his
Russian-provided guns on his own people." In March 2011,
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton noted that "many of
the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria
22.
"When
Barack Obama was elected, they had enough fissile material - nuclear material
to make one bomb. Now they have enough for five." This is misleading and
unproven. Iran Iran ISIS noted
in June."
23.
"[Iran
24.
"We don't
want to do is give our allies reason to trust us less [by announcing a
withdrawal timeline for Afghanistan
FINAL FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Is it important to you, asLawrence United States
FINAL FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Is it important to you, as
We are not
electing a "Debater in Chief,"
We are
electing a "Commander in Chief."
~~~
WHAT A
NIGHT!
WHAT A
MORNING AFTER!
&
WHAT A
DIFFERENCE!
By Floyd Bowwman.
Opinions Based On Facts.
Published 10-18-12.
Oh yes, it was
different. I, of course, am referring to
the Presidential candidates debate night of the 16th. President Obama, this time, showed up ready
to go. Now, I could write volumes about
this and about all the positive talk today.
However, I am going to be honest with you. I am tired and not feeling the greatest. That in no way should be interpreted, as if I
am not real happy, pleased, and energized by the President's performance last
night. I am just plain thrilled to see
the President, that I have seen for the past four years.
Now, I am not going to
delve into much about who won and who lost.
I know, that to the general public and many commentators ,it is
important. I guess, it is important for
the voters in trying to determine how they want to vote. However, I want to refer you back to Lawrence
From my viewpoint, our
President won last night - big time! He said the right things and didn't pull any
punches. It has been pointed out today,
that in the first Presidential debate, Romney stayed around in the room with
the press and commentators after the debate and was very vocal with all
present. Apparently, after last night's
debate, he left very shortly following the debate. That may not be important, but to me, that
alone says that he didn't want to talk about what just took place.
There have been
comments about two points I want to address.
First, the Right has been criticizing the moderator for interruptions
and the way she handled the entire debate.
I and a number of others on the internet, think she was the best yet and
that she did a fine job keeping it going and interrupting at the right
times.
Second, the Right has
also, been criticizing Obama for not laying out what his agenda will be for the
next four years. In my opinion, he has
been very smart in pointing out what he has been able to get done, with a
gridlocked Congress, and pointing out the flaws in Romney's agenda. As far as the President's agenda for the next
for years, it should be obvious. It will
be more of the same if he doesn't get a Democrat Congress and still more of the
same, successfully, if he gets a Democrat Congress.
What people
keep forgetting is that a President, no matter who he is, can do very little by
himself. It takes Congress to get
anything substantial done. People, in
general, blame a President for things that he has no control over. Gas, for instance, is one in which the price
is set by the Market, daily, even sometimes hourly. The President has no control over that, at
all. THE SMART PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
NEVER SAYS WHAT HE/OR SHE IS GOING TO DO.
THEY SHOULD ALWAYS SAY WHAT THEY ARE GOING TO TRY TO DO.
There is one more
Presidential debate next Monday night and as of now 20 days from election. The entire campaign boils down to these 20
days. I would imagine that some of the
hardest hitting negative ads from the right will be on TV during the next 20
days.
What about next Monday's
debate? I expect it to be the most
combative of all the debates. It could very
well be a deciding point for many voters.
There does not seem to be a Myth list on this debate, as there has been
in both of the previous debates. I'm
glad for that. I don't know if it is
because there were no myths or the person that has been putting that together
just didn't get it done. Either way, it
seems that things are a little cleaner and that is good. While these debates do little to tell how a
person would act as President, they do seem to be important to voters, and I,
like many others, am looking forward to Monday night.
~~~
UNFORTUNATELY,
RACISM IS
ALIVE
&
WELL IN OUR
COUNTRY.
This week I have seen
more straight out demonstrations of Racism, than I have seen since the
60s. One man, at a rally, had a tee
shirt on that said, "Send a white man back to the White House." I have seen about six or eight articles that
refer to various organizations blaming a black man for all our troubles.
It is a sad time,
in our country, to be going back to the 60s and it, openly, started the day
after Obama became President. Before
Obama had said or done one thing, Republicans said, out loud, that their agenda
for the next four years was to see to it that Obama would be a ONE TERM
PRESIDENT.
Now, I ask
you, what reason, could they have for making such a statement even before the
man had set down in the Oval Office.
There could only be one reason, in my opinion, he was BLACK. We should be proud that our country had come
so far with our civil right status, as to have a black man President of our
great country.
~~~
LET'S, LOOK
AT THE JOBS REPORT
The
monthly job report is NEVER correct at it's first reporting. Therefore, about 98 % of the time it is
revised upward in one or two months later.
The big problem is that no one hardly pays any attention to the revised
figures. They always look at the initial
report and that's it. That is
unfortunate, because it paints a wrong picture to the public, and particularly,
in an election year.
The
Labor Dept. collects information monthly, using both a survey of employers and
a smaller survey of households. The two
surveys don't always tell the same story, over time they are revised to be more
comprehensive and realistic.
In
September, there were 114,000 new jobs reported and unemployment fell to
7.8%. That is down to the same rate when
President Obama took office in 2009. At
the same time, July and August reports were revised to add 86,000 more. So, you see, that changes the July and August
picture considerably, but few pay attention to that.
Of the
8.8 million jobs lost during the financial crisis, about 4.3 million have been
added back. In addition, the Labor Dept.
has signaled last week that it may revise the gains higher. We need to add an average of 150,000 jobs per
month to keep up with population growth.
Now,
there is no question, at all, that this is not satisfactory. However, with the
tremendous crisis that we have experienced, and the Gridlock Congress it is
great news. The real IMPORTANT POINT is
everything, even though it is slower than we would like, is going in the right
direction.
KEEP
IN MIND, IT IS ALL POSITIVE, NOT GOING THE OTHER WAY. AND I PROMISE YOU, THAT IF CONGRESS HAD
PASSED PRESIDENT OBAMA'S JOBS BILL THINGS WOULD BE HAPPENING FASTER. One other point of interest is that the
recent rebaselining exercise, that discovered 400,000 missing jobs, was a
reminder that the online press has started paying too much attention to this
monthly data. The job numbers get
revised twice. Once from a second review
of the surveys and then it is subject to further revision as per the
rebaselining. VERY LITTLE CONFIDENCE CAN
BE PLACED IN THE ACCURACY OF THE MONTHLY REPORTS.
~~~
ROMNEY SAYS HE WILL CREATE
12 MILLION
NEW JOBS BY THE END OF HIS FIRST TERM
Romney's 12 Million Jobs Pledge Based on Totally
Bogus Math
Mitt Romney says he has
a five-point plan to create 12 million new jobs, but Glenn Kessler at the Washington Post does a little digging and
finds that the estimates the campaign is basing
that on don't even remotely support that assertion. Here's Romney in
a new advertisement:
"Let me tell you
how I will create 12 million jobs when President Obama couldn't. First, my
energy independence policy means more than three million new jobs, many of them
in manufacturing. My tax reform plan to lower rates for the middle class and
for small business creates seven million more. And expanding trade, cracking
down on China
That's 3 million jobs
from more drilling, 7 million jobs from tax reform, and 2 million jobs from
trade-related measures. So Kessler asks
where do these numbers come from:
We asked the Romney campaign and the answer turns out to
be: totally different studies … with completely different timelines.
For instance, the claim that 7 million jobs would be
created from Romney tax plan is a ten-year
number, derived from a study written by John W. Diamond, a
professor at Rice
University
This study at least assesses the claimed effect of specific
Romney policies. The rest of the numbers
are even more squishy.
For instance, the 3-million-job claim for Romney’s energy
policies appears largely based on a Citigroup Global Markets study
that did not even evaluate Romney’s policies. Instead, the report predicted 2.7 million to
3.6 million jobs would be created over the
next eight years, largely because of trends
and policies already adopted – including tougher fuel efficiency standards that
Romney has criticized and suggested
he would reverse.
The trade-related claim
is, if anything, more ridiculous. The
study they point to is a 2011 U.S.
International Trade Commission report claiming that Chinese IP violations cost the United States 2 million
jobs. That's almost certainly
false, for starters, but more to the point there's just no way a Romney
administration is going to coerce the PRC to adopt the intellectual property
rules American business interests want. China
Long story short here,
however, of the 12 million jobs only 7 million are attributable to the policies
Romney is talking about. The claim is that ambitious base-broadening tax reform
would boost job creation by about 58,000 jobs per month. And maybe it would. But as has been discussed ad nauseam, the only way to implement such ambitious reform is through
a large middle class tax hike that Romney claims not to favor. If I've said it once I've said it a millions
times, but it's really true that the giant middle class tax hike version of the Romney plan
should boost growth by pairing lower marginal tax rates with lower
incomes. But "faster growth through lower incomes" isn't a great campaign
slogan, so Romney keeps disavowing the policy plank that's actually the
lynchpin of his jobs strategy.
~~~
How
January’s Fiscal Cliff Turns Into a Gentle Hill by February (or March)
By Robert Reich
Friday, October 12, 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
These are awkward days for deficit hawks who believe the American economy
can get back to health only if the nation gets its fiscal house in order. If
they get their wish, the economy goes
over a cliff.
Regardless of what happens Election Day, at the beginning of next year more
than $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts automatically go into
effect. That’s equivalent to about 5 percent of the entire U.S.
The problem is, if we fall off this fiscal cliff we plunge into recession.
That’s because the cliff withdraws too much demand from the economy too
quickly, at a time when unemployment is still likely to be high.
The Congressional Budget Office projects real economic growth will drop at
an annual rate of 2.9 percent in the first half of 2013, and unemployment will
rise to 9.1 percent by the end of next year.
As Spain and Great Britain
America is about to fall off the fiscal cliff because Democrats and
Republicans in Congress haven’t been able to agree on a plan for long-term
deficit reduction – and this failure will trigger automatic spending cuts in
January. Meanwhile, the temporary tax cuts enacted by former President George
W. Bush in 2001 and 2003, and extended for two years by President Obama, will
run out December 31st, as will the President’s temporary jobs measures – a payroll-tax
holiday and extended unemployment benefits.
In a rational world, deficit reduction on this scale wouldn’t happen until
the economy is once again healthy – when unemployment has dropped to below 6
percent and economic growth is back to at least 3 percent. These would be
sensible triggers.
But hyper-polarized Washington
This is why the nation is heading over the cliff – or, more accurately, appears to be heading that way.
Congressional Democrats have concluded Republicans are more afraid than they
are of going over it because the pending tax increases will fall most heavily
on America
So most Democrats have decided to wait it out in order to maximize their
bargaining power in negotiations over how to reduce the long-term deficit. They
want a deal that raises taxes only on America
Democrats also reason that, once the Bush tax cut has been terminated,
Republicans won’t be able to resist an offer to reduce taxes on the middle
class (those earning $250,000 or less). After all, Republicans have pledged to
vote for any and all tax cuts. Once Democrats get the best deal they can,
they’ll make it retroactive to January 1.
As a practical matter, then, negotiations over America
But because everyone will know that the final compromise won’t be nearly as
draconian – and is going to be retroactive to the start of the year — the cliff
won’t feel like much of a cliff. In actual effect it will be more like a hill
whose slope remains uncertain but will almost surely be gradual.
With any luck, by the time significant tax increases and spending cuts take
permanent effect, unemployment will already have dropped and growth
accelerated. In other words, the irrational and irascible American political
process may come up with a timetable for reducing the budget deficit that’s
surprisingly sensible.
WHO HIJACKED THE WORLD'S
GREATEST ECONOMY?
By Thomas Magstadt
NationofChange
Published Sunday Oct. 14, 2012
Note from Floyd:
The first part of this article
may be a little weighty, but the entire article really drives home what we face
today and why.
Revolutions typically start with a theory and talk and
transition into practice and political action. They almost always end in disaster for the
societies they disrupt and the economies they destroy. That's the story of the French Revolution and Russia
What we are currently
witnessing looks worryingly like the end of the American Dream for most of us
and, in a real sense, the last act in the America
It started with two University of Rochester US
When the managers and
owners are one and the same, they can move fast, do whatever they please, and
aren't accountable to anyone. All you
need is "leverage" (lots of privately borrowed money). Out of this theory sprouted the seedlings that
grew into today's corporate raiders – the private equity firms like Bain
Capital and investment-bank behemoths like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.
And now that the bubble
has burst and the middle-class has been made to pay for billion dollars worth
of bailouts to banks and major corporations, now that hundreds of factories
have been closed and thousands of jobs lots, now that foreclosures have
disrupted the lives of families from coast-to-coast – now the old white titans
of industry have the audacity – nay, the indecency – to blame a black man,
Barack Obama, for everything.
Everything.
To say it's irresponsible
of the financial wheeler-dealers who caused the problem is a gross
understatement. These are the very
individuals who got rich by jumping on the high-speed train that took the American
economy from a model of profitability based on quality products and competitive
prices to one based on leveraged transactions – mega-million dollar deals made
behind closed doors with no accountability to any public authority.
This transformation ultimately
led us to the derivative economy that crashed within a period of less than a
quarter of a century. We have Wall Street, along with the Harvard
Business School
and guys like Willard Mitt Romney to thank for the reinventing of the U.S.
Nothing.
Romney's private
equity fortune amassed during his tenure as Bain Capital's boss is only one
example of how business in the U.S. was transformed from organization-based
(corporations that lived and died by the quality of the products and services
they provided) to transaction-based ("consulting firms" engaged in
private deal-making to avoid regulation and transparency, hostile takeovers,
leveraged buy-outs, restructuring schemes, lay-offs, and ruthless pursuit of
quick profits).
It's a transformation that
made a few people very, very rich, and put most of us very, very much at risk –
our homes, jobs, savings, and pensions . If Obama is to blame for anything,
it's for talking about hope in 2008 at a time when millions of Americans – poor
and middle class alike – were about to lost it.
In the brave new
economy the only thing that defines success or failure is the bottom lines for
the investors and owners (one and the same) of ephemeral companies constantly
moving across an ever-changing commercial landscape and providing no measurable
benefit to consumers, workers, or the society they exploit. If anything good and lasting comes out of
this election let's hope it's the truth about who hijacked the US
~~~
PARTING
THOUGHT
It Takes Just One
Autumn Day
It takes just one Autumn day
To know that I've been blessed
When the trees are red and gold
And Nature's at her best.
A kaleidoscope of colors
Is dancing with the wind,
As the leaves begin to fall
An birches sway and bend.
The harvest has been bountiful
Once again this
year,
And as I count my blessings,
I shed a joyful tear.
Adrift in Autumn's pageantry,
My heart is homeward bound,
As I recall my childhood days
With every sight and sound.
Leaf by leaf and branch by branch
Are colors I like the best...
It takes just one Autumn day
To know that I've been blessed!
By Clay
Harrison
If, the good Lord is willing and
the creek don't (doesn't) rise, I'll talk with you again next week, probably on
Wednesday the 24 of October after I have seen the various reviews of the final
Presidential debate, which is on Monday night the 22nd.
God bless all
of you
&
God bless the United
States of America
Floyd
No comments:
Post a Comment