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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsKRUGMAN: On "Permanent Class Of Jobless Americans"-"Let’s be clear: this is a policy decision."
OP-ED COLUMNIST
The Jobless Trap
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: April 21, 2013 5
..................
So we are indeed creating a permanent class of jobless Americans.
And lets be clear: this is a policy decision. The main reason our economic recovery has been so weak is that, spooked by fear-mongering over debt, weve been doing exactly what basic macroeconomics says you shouldnt do cutting government spending in the face of a depressed economy.
Its hard to overstate how self-destructive this policy is. Indeed, the shadow of long-term unemployment means that austerity policies are counterproductive even in purely fiscal terms. Workers, after all, are taxpayers too; if our debt obsession exiles millions of Americans from productive employment, it will cut into future revenues and raise future deficits.
Our exaggerated fear of debt is, in short, creating a slow-motion catastrophe. Its ruining many lives, and at the same time making us poorer and weaker in every way. And the longer we persist in this folly, the greater the damage will be.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Read it all:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/opinion/krugman-the-jobless-trap.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)It is being done because the corporations profit from a desperate workforce, and greedy, boot-licking politicians oblige.
Occulus
(20,599 posts)We should call it what it is. It is intentional, and it is being brought to us by people who out and out lied to elected. THAT is fraud, involving public monies at all levels, and it could and should be argued is in itself an actual crime.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)nxylas
(6,440 posts)senseandsensibility
(16,713 posts)That's also why labor history is never to be spoken about on corporate TV or taught in schools.
fasttense
(17,301 posts)over the wealth we create. We workers create the products, provide the service and build the structures. Why don't we workers control the wealth that we create from those products, services and structures? Why do we allow CEOs and board members to take the things we create and make money off them? Why don't we make the decisions of what to do with our creations and what to do with the profit from our creations? Why do we turn those decisions over to a handful of corrupted men? The whole structure of corporations is what is destroying our country.
By letting them make those decisions over the wealth we create, we are giving them money to buy our political system. So that when and if rational laws are passed to control corruption and excess, these CEOs, bosses and board members use that wealth to overturn rational regulations.
We have to take back the wealth that we make.
IthinkThereforeIAM
(3,072 posts)...eom.
vi5
(13,305 posts)This is what happens.
When "we" try to play nice and aknowledge some merit in the other's side's viewpoints (even when there is none) so as to seem "fair":
This is what happens.
When "we" don't vigorously make the case for the historical and economic data that proves and shows time and again that progressive economic policies benefit the entire country and make the economy stronger:
This is what happens.
Republican obstructionism or not, fillibuster or not, our elected Democratic politicians should have been out there calling bullshit on this manufactured deficit hysteria from day one. But much like the Irag war they instead chose to cower and instead chose to try and win the love and affection of beltway "centrists" and the "serious" people in DC. And now we are all paying the price.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Our problem is that they work for corporate interests, just like Republicans do. Our problem is corporate money in government, both parties. Our problem is Wall Street's purchase of our government and our elections, and their bankrolling of groups like ALEC and the Third Way, and their purchase of the media. It is a problem of corporate money purchasing candidates and purchasing policy.
It is important for us to be clear about this. The one percent would love us to spend another four years bewailing the psychological state of our Democrats, and doing nothing to solve the problem.
We have a systemic problem of corporate money in politics, that we need to fix.
vi5
(13,305 posts)That is most definitely a bigger part of it. I was merely oversimplifying with snark, lest I be compelled to go on a much longer rant on this subject. The point being I am with you 100%.
xtraxritical
(3,576 posts)None of these problems can be addressed until we get strong Democratic majorities in all three branches of government. If we keep wailing about "corporate money" our funding will dry up and we'll have no chance of reaching our goals. You're just giving a gift to the RepubliCONs and the Kochs. Get real people, get out the vote and stop broadcasting the "negative" information.
vi5
(13,305 posts)Yes, we need a democratic majority. But that doesn't excuse the Democrats who are in office from acting and speaking and voting as they do.
It's two separate issues and not mutually exclusive. So we're not allowed to want and work for a Democratic majority while still being able to complain about the Democrats we do have being horrible at messaging and communicating and for not giving full throated voice to progressive economic issues and/or not buying into painfully obvious spin and horseshit?
We can play chicken or the egg all day long. By the same token of needing that majority I'd say it's pretty goddamned hard to actively convince people they should vote Democratic when most of the time what they see is Democrats addressing things with Republican framing and proposing solutions based on Republican talking points and ideology.
It's awful hard to convince people that the deficit hysteria and especially the tie in to Social Security/Medicaire/Medicaid is bogus when the leaders of our party stand up there and talk about it as though the issue is real and those things are tied into it.
xtraxritical
(3,576 posts)convincing people.
vi5
(13,305 posts)You really laid out your case eloquently.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)And the poster obviously was unable to respond to the points you made, except with a juvenile insult.
There is no good argument for not addressing the corruption of money in the system, so the defenders will always resort to diversion or pollution of the thread with unpleasantness.
One way the defenders of corporate policy seem to try to discourage these important discussions is to try to make them so juvenile and socially unpleasant that people will keep silent instead of speaking out.
xtraxritical
(3,576 posts)HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Last edited Tue Apr 23, 2013, 10:39 AM - Edit history (1)
A serial defender of corrupt bankers for the SEC; the architect of "Kill Lists" and supporter of torture, drone wars, and telecom immunity for the CIA; and a Monsanto VP who has lied and been involved in extremely disturbing claims regarding food safety for the FDA. An Attorney General who has not prosecuted a single large bank but wages war against medical marijuana users and *for* strip searches and warrantless surveillance of Americans. And let's not forget Tim Geithner.Bailouts and settlements for corrupt banks (with personal pressure from Obama to attorneys general to approve them),
Refusal by Obama's DOJ to prosecute even huge, egregious examples of bank fraud (i.e, HSBC)
signing NDAA to allow indefinite detention,
"Kill lists" and claiming of the right to assassinate even American citizens without trial
Expansion of wars into several new countries
A renewed public advocacy for the concept of preemptive war
Drone campaigns in multiple countries with whom we are not at war
Proliferation of military drones in our skies
Federal targeting of Occupy for surveillance and militarized response to peaceful protesters
Fighting all the way to the Supreme Court for warrantless surveillance
Fighting all the way to the Supreme Court for strip searches for any arrestee
Supporting and signing Internet-censoring and privacy-violating measures like ACTA
Support for corporate groping and naked scanning of Americans seeking to travel
A new, massive spy center for warrantless access to Americans' phone calls, emails, and internet use
Support of legislation to legalize massive surveillance of Americans
Militarized police departments, through federal grants
Marijuana users and medical marijuana clinics under assault,
Skyrocketing of the budget for prisons.
Failing to veto a bipartisan vote in Congress to gut more financial regulations.
Passionate speeches and press conferences promoting austerity for Americans
Bush tax cuts extended for billionaires, them much of it made permanent
Support for the payroll tax holiday, tying SS to the general fund
Support for the vicious chained CPI cut in Social Security and benefits for the disabled
Social security, Medicare, and Medicaid offered up as bargaining chips in budget negotiations, with No mention of cutting corporate welfare or the military budget
Advocacy of multiple new free trade agreements, including The Trans-Pacific, otherwise known as "NAFTA on steroids."
Support of drilling, pipelines, and selling off portions of the Gulf of Mexico
Corporate education policy including high stakes corporate testing and closures of public schools
Legal assault on the union protections of hundreds of thoudands of federal employees
New policies of targeting children and first responders in drone campaigns,
New policies of awarding medals for remote drone attacks,
Appointment of private prison executives to head the US Marshal's office
Massive escalation of federal contracts for private prisons under US Marshall's office
had nothing to do with Republican obstruction anyway.
chervilant
(8,267 posts)your rather erudite summation of the glaring "missteps" of the current administration has garnered a thunderous sound of silence.
...or, is it crickets?
Neither of our "two parties" resemble the parties with which I came of age. My father was IBEW all the way, and encouraged me to read and understand everything about Watergate (the only thing he liked about Tricky Dick was the pardon he gave 'felons' charged with possessing small amounts of marijuana). For many US citizens, Watergate was the iconic unveiling of the "man" behind the curtain.
We MUST get beyond these discussions that deteriorate into derisive and divisive comparisons of the "two parties." The ruthless corporate megalomaniacs own and control our media, our politics, AND our global economy. The "two parties" do THEIR bidding, throwing us little folk a pathetic bone every so often, primarily to succor anew the derision and divisiveness--a distracted citizenry is much easier to control.
OneGrassRoot
(22,917 posts)antigop
(12,778 posts)Triana
(22,666 posts)Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)Like other DUers, I make noise or take actions(s) on the various things our legislators are supposed to address. Each cause - a battle of it's own. And each cause - supported (or opposed) by SOME big monied, special interest working JUST outside the public's field of vision. We MAY even achieve a victory on one issue now and then - mainly on issues that don't have the monied's interests at heart. The truth is, while the individual battles ARE of worth, it's the overall war of special interest influence (money) that we're losing.
Heh - our Rethug congressdolt - has NEVER held an open town hall or Q&A of any sort in the decade he's been in DC. So now - how the HELL does he know what the mood and attitudes of his constituents is??? But not to worry! He's got nicely lined coffers made cushy by corporate farming interests. As a consequence, he needs NO input from the average citizenry he supposedly speaks (and votes) for. Never ONCE has he asked his district: "How would you have me vote on this?" Not once. This performance is basically a crap in the face of those who keep voting him back to DC. And these folks vote how they're TOLD, not on a rep's performance. The money's gotta be removed so that regular folks can act on common sense and need instead of nonsense and greed.
HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts)EVERYthing has to be about going beyond just making A BUCK. Health. Education. Human Rights. Culture. Work. Religion. Entertainment. Journalism (or what's left of it). Leisure. Tourism. Transportation.
Government and Politics.
To hell with "WE" . . . What's in it for "ME"?
We're not progressing into the 20th century, let alone the 21st, because corporate and wealthy interests have to have their needs met first, foremost and ONLY.
Think about a simple issue of Universal Health Care.
Tell me, WHAT'S in it for the wealthy to keep it from happening in this country? What's in it for the upper echelons of Corporate America, and in turn, Government, to keep America from resolving a long-term human rights failing?
None of their GREAT-Grandchildren at this point are ever going to be financially affected by a catastrophic medical bill, let alone their present selves.
There are certain things that a normal, non-Ovarian-Lottery-Winning human being cannot pay for out of pocket, and six-digit medical bills and five-digit education bills are two of them.
In WHOSE national interests is it to have an uneducated, sick and dying population?
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Everything in this country revolves around making money by any means possible, fair or foul, while the pious hypocrisies of endless opportunity and 'murkan exceptionalism are used to bamboozle the sheeple.
I just got a job offer that will require me to relocate to Hangzhou, China. The company itself is owned and run by Germans. I am gone like shit through a goose as soon as the bureaucratic stuff is completed. The Chinese are at least honest: "This is our system and it is what it is. Take it or leave it." That I can at least somewhat respect.
After 25 years of being treated like dogshit in the professional world despite being a law school classmate of the FLOTUS (I am from a very working class background and was diagnosed Aspergers eight years ago) I have reached the Popeye point: "I've had all I can stands and I can't stands no more."
I cannot imagine what would ever motivate me to return to the US.
sikofit3
(145 posts)NT
CrispyQ
(36,230 posts)fine & beautiful on this planet. Love of money is the root of all evil. Well maybe not all evil, but it sure is the root of a whole ton of suffering & stupidity here on planet Earth.
A government of, by & for The People would provide the following:
- 3 hots & a cot
- health care
- round the clock child/elder care
- education through college
- decent public transportation everywhere
daleanime
(17,796 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)The economic assaults and craven sellouts are multiplying on every single front now, assisted by our own government. They will find a way to charge us for the air we breathe.
juajen
(8,515 posts)AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)+10000!
on point
(2,506 posts)SomethingFishy
(4,876 posts)Step two no more "legal" insider trading in congress. Step three limits on lobbying gifts. Step four, no politician is allowed to leave office and work for a company in which they lobbied for, gave a contract to or passed a law for. Stop the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington.
Our problem as a nation is that the only way we measure success is wealth. The richer you are the more successful you are. We don't value knowledge, insight, compassion and love... In general anyway...
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)It is important to start talking specifics.
But I love your summary, too....because, really, what we are talking about is changing the malignant messages and corporate brainwashing that we are marinated in from birth. We are talking about changing the values and priorities of our nation.
Martin Eden
(12,803 posts)I agree with the rest, but term limits would encourage the revolving door. Genuine public servants like Dennis Kucinich would be booted out just as they were beginning to become effective lawmakers and champions of the public interest. Many who would want that kind of career would be dissuaded because they'd have to abandon it when the limit is up. We'd have a Congress full of rookies learning the ropes, and very likely a bunch of short term advantage seekers. There will always be ways to parlay that time in office into something more lucrative in the private sector whose interests were represented.
We have to cut the cord between corporate/one percenter cash and campaign financing. Almost everything else is a symptom of that core disease.
dotymed
(5,610 posts)Most at DU will not admit that most democrats are sold also....including the POTUS obviously.
If we do not run a Bernie Sanders type of president soon, IMO, we will never regain (at least some) control of "our" govt. We KNOW the dlc and media will be gunning for a real person as our leader.
It will take d&r's to elect him/her.
Trying to get election reform from those who need reformed is impossible. It will take a leader who will stand among the majority and get dirty.
America is almost a third world nation already. One more 4 year term from a fascist will seal the deal.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)leftstreet
(36,081 posts)Martin Eden
(12,803 posts)Without a doubt our erstwhile democracy is corrupted and owned by the corporate oligarchy.
But I have difficulty understanding how the profit motive would yield a policy destructive to economic growth. When Joe six-pack has money in his pocket, corporations end up with that money when he spends it. I understand why the 1% refuses tax hikes and cuts to the MIC, but why would they want austerity when deficit spending will put more money in their bank accounts?
I think there must be a strong ideological desire on their part to destroy the New Deal and Great Society while there is an opportunity to do it. They're willing to forego profits in the near term to realize a long term goal.
On second thought, at the core of that ideology and their long term goal is lust for wealth and power on an even larger scale -- unfettered CORPORATOCRACY.
You and Paul Krugman are right!
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)I picture people like Tweety grabbing off the hors dourve tray as it goes by and bloviating at one end of the room and Hannity doing the same at the other end of the room.
ctsnowman
(1,903 posts)OneGrassRoot
(22,917 posts)especially in those in their 40's and 50's, too young for retirement though too old to obtain a livable wage, having no safety net any longer, and thus feeling they are literally worth more dead than alive.
I have a friend who is director of a suicide crisis center in a major metropolitan area, and we've been discussing this growing horror.
Just look at the captions from the various letters sent in to gawker regarding long-term unemployment. It's fucking heartbreaking...and maddening...because the bulk of the suffering is SO UNNECESSARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://gawker.com/tag/hello-from-the-underclass
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)to happen. Don't ever think it isn't. It is by design.
LiberalLoner
(9,761 posts)The resources are running out fast and so they need to cull the herd so they have enough for themselves and their children.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)KG
(28,749 posts)closeupready
(29,503 posts)byeya
(2,842 posts)want approx. 6% unemployment to keep the cards stacked in their favor. They even have taken to calling it "the natural rate of unemloyment" which, of course, is BS.
Why do you think Bernacke has said he will stop QE3 when the unemployment rate nears 6.5%? Even though the Federal Reserve has the dual charge of containing inflation AND promoting full employment, Ben is siding with his class against wage earners.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)And the "official" unemployment numbers are bogus.
byeya
(2,842 posts)It's interesting that austerity undermines to monetary policy of the Fed and other central banks around the world. Austerity mainly inflates the stock market at the expense of jobs and wages and austerity mainly pumps up the borrowers at the expense of savers.
The ultras are getting it both ways to their financial advantage.
duffyduff
(3,251 posts)both subscribe to discredited and debunked "globalism" pushed by neoliberals which is a race to the economic bottom.
Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)... our policies will increase them!
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)erity ....and outsourcing jobs = less revenue ....LESS TAX REVENUE
Yavin4
(35,357 posts)That was the lesson of the 1970s. Back then, we inflated the currency in order to pay off the Vietnam war. The problem was that American labor was heavily unionized, so whenever cost of living rose, so did the pay of a large percentage of American workers. Paul Volcker, the then-chair of the FRB, killed off hyperinflation with 20% interest rates.
Policy makers need a steady rate inflation in order to pay for our MIC, and our banks need it in order to pay back shitty loans. The key to creating this steady stream of inflation is to cut labor out of the picture. Hence, the permanent UE class.
byeya
(2,842 posts)weight - have pricing power so inflation for them is not the horror they claim it is. Strong unions can successfully demand cost of living increases that keep their purchasing power.
It's the rentier class that suffers and the capitalists invariably side with them against labor.(Also hurt are savers and pensioners but they don't have the clout or the friends that the rentier's have.)
abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)with tax breaks and subsidies? Maybe we should so something about countries that offer subsidies to lure work away from our shores. Maybe if our country valued workers (aka taxpayers) and had reasonable trade policies we wouldn't be losing good paying jobs and could hire more people here?
One thing that has to change though is health care attached to employment. No one wants to hire workers over age 50 because they fear that they will be saddled with large health care expenses. It is simply a fact of life that the cost of health care rises as we age. We need single payer. Now. Every day we wait more and more people over 50 will find it difficult if not impossible to find work. That's what is so cruel about third way and republican plans to raise the age of eligibility for ss and medicare. WTF are people supposed to do between age 50 and 67?
Canuckistanian
(42,290 posts)Funny how that coincides with the the election of Obama.
byeya
(2,842 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)The right-wing experts blamed what looked like statistically slow growth on the high debt of the Japanese government.
That scared everyone. But I don't understand what caused Japan to fall into such economic stupor. Perhaps the economy of Japan is not really as stagnant as we hear?
Krugman adjusted the growth statistics to compensate for the fact that the Japanese population is on the average older than ours. Krugman took into account the fact that so many Japanese live very long and discovered that maybe Japan is not doing as miserably as many Americans of the Heritage Foundation ilk think.
Here is an article discussing Krugman's optimistic statements about the Japanese economy.
Not only is he right in dismissing the basket case story but if you look at the aggregates that matter to Japanese policymakers, it is clear that Japan has done far better than the United States over the last two decades. For a start Japan has increased its net overseas assets by nearly $3 trillion at a time when the United Statess net overseas LIABILITIES ballooned by $8 trillion. Underlying this contrasting trajectory is the fact that Japan ranks with Germany as the only major advanced nations with super-strong current account surpluses (the current account is the widest measure of trade and is not affected by the distortions caused by rampant transfer pricing, which have disguised the strength of Japans visible trade in recent years).
Almost everywhere you look in the details of the Japan story you find that the basket case story could not be further from the truth. Just look at Japanese corporations. Virtually without exception they have continued to boost their revenues and maintained their employment levels in the face of a constantly rising yen. The Japanese car industry, for instance, has continued to make extraordinary gains. Toyota boasted sales in its latest fiscal year to $259.5 billion, more than three times its 1989 total of $84.1 billion. And this in a year when output was greatly curtailed by the earthquake. Nissan meanwhile clocked $119.0 billion, also more than triple 1989. Similarly the rest of the Japanese auto industry has gone from strength to strength. The same cannot be said for Detroit. Ford Motors sales last year totaled $133.3 billion, up a mere 44 percent on $92.4 billion in 1989. General Motorss sales were $150.3 billion, up just 24 percent on $121.1 billion in 1989. Not only have the Detroit companies retreated in the face of Japanese advances in the American domestic market but their European subsidiaries have also long been ceding share, as have such European players as Peugeot-Citroen, Volvo, Jaguar, and, of course, Renault.
Moreover the official growth numbers Krugman is working with actually greatly understate Japans true performance. This is because in recent years the Japanese Finance Ministry has taken to using the most conservative possible methods to calculate growth. Why? Because the basket case story is a great boon in fending off pressure for the opening of Japans still largely closed markets. It also keeps hot money out of the yen and shields Tokyo from lobbying by foreign foundations and governments seeking everything from educational grants to foreign aid.
As for Japans demographics, these are conventionally presented as obvious evidence of Japans malaise. They are actually the opposite. The reason Japans demographics are aging so fast is because the Japanese health service has achieved extraordinary success in boosting the Japanese peoples life expectancy. It should be remembered that in the late 1940s Japanese life expectancy at birth was eleven years shorter than in the United States. Now it is four years longer. Meanwhile the Japanese government went from promoting very large families in the 1930s to small families from the late 1940s onwards.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/eamonnfingleton/2013/02/06/paul-krugman-says-it-again-japans-stagnation-is-a-myth/
Cosmocat
(14,543 posts)January of 2009, the whole, you can't criticize the COMMANDER IN CHIEF when there are troops in the field thing came to an abrupt end. And, as noted, the world is coming to an end because of the debt that was piled up the previous 8 years became THE point of discussion.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)all around. The PTB know how to create jobs and lower unemployment. They have decided this other way works better for their bottom lines. They don't care about how destructive it is as long as their portfolios are profitable. We really need a general strike by the 99%. Nobody, who works, goes to work until this is resolved.
byeya
(2,842 posts)how society functions. However, it is more effective to strike when there is full employment; but then solidarity is even more difficult to attain and maintain.
We all need a day or so of unpaid, unapproved, leave.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)To do that will take some long term planning, like setting up food banks and food exchanges as well as bartering for goods and services among the 99% so we still are able to survive but they can't. The time as come.
byeya
(2,842 posts)and ordinary means need to be as prepared as possible for a long term action. One problem is that infiltrators and rats will bring down the conspiracy laws on many people - remember Oliver North's long term detention camps plans? - and great sacrifices will have to be made.
Occupy refused to interact with organizations that could reasonably be expected to side with them and refused to make known their plans and goals to avert, as much as possible, the power of police and the laws on the books to prevent a successful peaceful beginning to winning back the concept of We The People.
WHEN CRABS ROAR
(3,813 posts)outcomes that would never be voted on by either party, it also has the moral high ground in the fact that it is non- violent.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Greed on the part of the very powerful.
Are the powerful very often more capable than some of those they take advantage of? Probably.
But are the fates of the powerful nevertheless dependent in some mysterious way on the fate of the entire society and therefore of the poorest and most mediocre in their society?
Yes. Most definitely.
byeya
(2,842 posts)capable then the average American; they seem to be very average at best.
Nepotism plays a part in who is the exploiter and who is the exploited.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)and cannot live this Ayn Rand dream of the independent, high and mighty superman. It isn't real.
byeya
(2,842 posts)want to believe otherwise, they are part of it too and unless all strata function, even the lord high moguls will eventually have problems.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)exercise that strength with solidarity and determination.
midnight
(26,624 posts)profits from prison labor are so much rewarding....
MotherPetrie
(3,145 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022735360
I'm glad Krugman making an issue of the austerity lie.
'The Excel Error Heard Round the World'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022686815
markpkessinger
(8,381 posts). . . you shouldn't neglect to mention that Dr. Krugman has been very critical of the President's budget proposal, precisely because its priorities are based on the assumptions of that study that contained "the Escel Error Heard Round the World."
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/imaginary-grownups/
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"Since you are bringing up Krugman in this context . . . you shouldn't neglect to mention that Dr. Krugman has been very critical of the President's budget proposal, precisely because its priorities are based on the assumptions of that study that contained 'the Escel Error Heard Round the World.'"
...I saw that: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2650393
I tend not to ignore what Krugman writes.
Did you make a point about the proposal I posted?
markiv
(1,489 posts)'gang of 8 is the definition of bipartisan
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)florida08
(4,106 posts)HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)We have for too long been fed the lie that the economy is like weather, attacking randomly despite the efforts of noble politicians. People will endure a great deal of suffering if they believe it is unavoidable and people are working on their behalf. But the lie is falling apart.
The fact is that we are being looted and transformed, through policy, into a corporate state.
It is good to see such a bold statement of the truth, that these predatory policies are CHOSEN.
byeya
(2,842 posts)to take firm well reasoned stands against the shills and stooges of his profession. It's nice to see someone with ethical standards.
Yep, it's a policy decision and from my little vantage point, another lousy one which won't do the wage earners and pensioners much good. Just the opposite.
LibDemAlways
(15,139 posts)ruining the economy by waging 2 wars on a credit card. Only when Obama took over did the Repukes get concerned about the debt. They are determined to destroy the economy any way they can, while the Dems aid and abet.
secondvariety
(1,245 posts)David Harvey's explanation.
ctsnowman
(1,903 posts)Very well done.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Champagne and caviar for them, salmonella and e coli for you.
Amonester
(11,541 posts)And those relatively few (1%) who live it should read everything about New York, 1929-30, or even Versailles 1788-1789.
limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)xchrom
(108,903 posts)Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)Some things I've noticed. Despite record unemployment, and the numbers we're getting from the Politicians who fear lynching if they tell the truth are bogus, we don't have a homeless problem. Do you want to know how I know that? Where are the stories about the homeless? Every holiday season I could count on dozens of stories about the homeless, but now, none. Not one this last holiday season, or the one before it. Because stories about overflowing homeless shelters would not go well with the propaganda that the economy is doing fine. I mean think for a minute. We have had years of record bankruptcy filings and foreclosures. But we don't have any homeless according to the news. BS.
Wall Street is doing fine, and why shouldn't they? They got bailed out and handed the golden credit card. But we have a political class, corporate class, and both are telling the news people, even Faux News, not to report on the poor. We get statistics every now and then when they can't figure out how to cover it all up, like more people in poverty now than in the 1960's, but that is all we've heard.
Even our favorites at MSNBC have been silent on this story. Nobody and I mean nobody is reporting on the poor, and how they have to struggle to survive. Nobody and I mean nobody is reporting on the homeless and what they're doing to survive. I've seen one story from a British Press, and it was picked up by Huffington Post, but that's all. One lousy story, about how bad things are out there. The rest of the stories are how awesome the economy is and how great things are going for us Americans.
So I know we're being fed a pile of manure under the principals of propaganda. The only thing I can't figure out is why. The only answers I've been able to come up with is that the entrenched powers that be are determined not to talk about it. Because our nation has gone from facing problems, to hoping if we ignore them long enough they'll go away.