On MSNBC's "Morning Joe" today, the host Joe Scarborough was discussing the airline industry with business reporter Erin Burnett.
Burnett said something like "I'm against regulation and in favor of the free market, but something has to be done about the failing airline industry. Perhaps it's time to nationalize it." Joe seemed to agree.
What was the reason these two stauch Republican free market advocates think the airlines should be nationlized or at least regulation be reinstated? They both fly a lot and they are concerned about cancelled flights, smelly airplanes and poor treatment.
We're hearing the same kind of thing about the housing industry now that everyone is losing equity in their homes and we are in a recession because greedy companies violated the ethics that are supposed to be automatic in a free market, part of Adam Smith's "invisible hand." And we heard something similar during the Enron debacle which cost California and innocent Californians billions of dollars.
Republicans love the free market, except when it fails, or inconveniences them. They love deregulation until it hurts them. They believe in the invisible hand, until that invisible hand sticks itself into their pocketbook and withdraws cash.
When will they learn that deregulation and the free market have some dangerous downsides and that unrestrained greed inevitably wreaks havoc on economies?
They will never learn. Even those who are today calling for regulation will change their mind when the economy gets back on track with a Democratic president and congress.
This is why Democrats cannot ever allow Republicans to foist their free market, deregulation voodoo on the country again.
That is one of many reasons why John McCain must be defeated.
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
One solution fits all
Ever notice how the right wing free market trickle down politicians have a one solution fits all approach to the economy? When the government had a huge surplus, Greenspan was worried that this might be a problem. Right wing politicians' solution: huge tax cuts, especially for the wealthy.
Now that we are either in or on the verge of a huge slowdown, if not recession, with enormous budget deficits, the same politicians are suggesting that what the economy needs is to make the tax cuts permanent.
Now I'm not an economist, but I just don't get it.
How can the solution to two completely different problems be exactly the same thing, both of which benefit the wealthy far more than the poor, and enrich corporations far more than individuals?
The bozos who use that kind of logic might also think the appropriate response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks was first to wage war against those who sponsored the attacks, and then to wage war against those who didn't.
They wouldn't be that stupid, would they?
Now that we are either in or on the verge of a huge slowdown, if not recession, with enormous budget deficits, the same politicians are suggesting that what the economy needs is to make the tax cuts permanent.
Now I'm not an economist, but I just don't get it.
How can the solution to two completely different problems be exactly the same thing, both of which benefit the wealthy far more than the poor, and enrich corporations far more than individuals?
The bozos who use that kind of logic might also think the appropriate response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks was first to wage war against those who sponsored the attacks, and then to wage war against those who didn't.
They wouldn't be that stupid, would they?
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
No one mourns for the canary
It's just my own observation here, but the country appears to be in bad shape economically.
We have admittedly been in bad shape in many other areas these past seven years. Our politics have been ugly. Our voting rights and reliable voting systems are under attack. Our Constitution has been in shreds. Our emotions have been manipulated by our leaders. Our jobs have been outsourced. Our children have been tested but not educated. Our military has been misused. Our good reputation in the world has been squandered. And all the while we have been looking over our shoulders for the bogey man who the government keeps saying is coming to get us.
But through all of this, we have seen a rising stock market and consistent economic growth. Now, in the opinion of us ordinary plebeians that doesn't mean squat, as wealthy people can benefit from such an economy even when the rest of us are losing jobs and houses. Such is our current economic system.
But that is all changing.
Now the wealthy are losing money, as the housing crisis is simply affecting too many plebes who, as a result, no longer have enough dollars to keep the economy growing.
You can see it on the street in my town. There simply aren't as many cars headed to the mall. We can't even afford the cheap goods manufactured in China, let alone the gas to drive to the import store, even if the car hasn't been repossessed. And there aren't as many plebes in the stores, even in the grocery stores, as people who have just been handed pink slips eat what they have in the pantry for as long as they can. Along the roads there are foreclosure sale signs, and vacant homes.
And everyone you talk to predicts it is going to get much worse. Talk about consumer confidence!
So in this pyramid scheme we call capitalism, the capitalists are finally feeling the heat. The loan sharks who sold those deceptive and horrible loans to people all too eager to own a home they couldn't otherwise afford are losing their shirts as well as their jobs. And investors who bought packages of those awful loans are finding their portfolios devalued. Banks and loan companies are being bought and sold at fire sale prices, sometimes to oil rich countries in the Gulf. And the Dow is taking big hits. And that means, in a few months, we will probably be told by the government that we are in a recession. Except we plebes already knew that.
We're like the canary in the coal mine. We know first that we are dying, but no one mourns the death of the canary. It's only when the miners start dying that anybody pays attention, but even then little is done to improve things until the mine owners realize that dying miners cost them money.
We have admittedly been in bad shape in many other areas these past seven years. Our politics have been ugly. Our voting rights and reliable voting systems are under attack. Our Constitution has been in shreds. Our emotions have been manipulated by our leaders. Our jobs have been outsourced. Our children have been tested but not educated. Our military has been misused. Our good reputation in the world has been squandered. And all the while we have been looking over our shoulders for the bogey man who the government keeps saying is coming to get us.
But through all of this, we have seen a rising stock market and consistent economic growth. Now, in the opinion of us ordinary plebeians that doesn't mean squat, as wealthy people can benefit from such an economy even when the rest of us are losing jobs and houses. Such is our current economic system.
But that is all changing.
Now the wealthy are losing money, as the housing crisis is simply affecting too many plebes who, as a result, no longer have enough dollars to keep the economy growing.
You can see it on the street in my town. There simply aren't as many cars headed to the mall. We can't even afford the cheap goods manufactured in China, let alone the gas to drive to the import store, even if the car hasn't been repossessed. And there aren't as many plebes in the stores, even in the grocery stores, as people who have just been handed pink slips eat what they have in the pantry for as long as they can. Along the roads there are foreclosure sale signs, and vacant homes.
And everyone you talk to predicts it is going to get much worse. Talk about consumer confidence!
So in this pyramid scheme we call capitalism, the capitalists are finally feeling the heat. The loan sharks who sold those deceptive and horrible loans to people all too eager to own a home they couldn't otherwise afford are losing their shirts as well as their jobs. And investors who bought packages of those awful loans are finding their portfolios devalued. Banks and loan companies are being bought and sold at fire sale prices, sometimes to oil rich countries in the Gulf. And the Dow is taking big hits. And that means, in a few months, we will probably be told by the government that we are in a recession. Except we plebes already knew that.
We're like the canary in the coal mine. We know first that we are dying, but no one mourns the death of the canary. It's only when the miners start dying that anybody pays attention, but even then little is done to improve things until the mine owners realize that dying miners cost them money.
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