Is the Republican Victory Plan Another Great Depression?
STEPHEN CROCKETT FOR BUZZFLASH
It seems like the Republicans in Congress have decided that sabotaging economic recovery and employment growth is their best tactic for electoral gains in the November elections. Indications of this plan have been around since the Democratic victories in 2008. It seems that all doubt about facilitating the economic downturn as a path to political power for Republicans have been removed by recent legislative votes.
Economic recessions and depressions almost always result from insufficient “effective” consumer demand for goods and services produced domestically. In economic terms, wanting something is not “effective demand” . For a want to become a demand for goods or services, it must accompany the desire to buy with the ability to actually purchase. Money is required.
Jobs are not created by just having large pools of investment money available. There must be the opportunity to invest in a business that will have customers who can buy the goods and services before the investment money flows into job creation activities. The Republican Right economic theory that economic prosperity and employment ” trickle-down from the wealthy” has proven to be unsound by historical experience.
Tax cuts for the wealthy create huge investment money pools but not jobs. Our nation has plenty of money setting idle in corporate and personal coffers. Corporations have almost a trillion dollars setting essentially idle in corporate accounts at this time.
Republicans are seeking to extend the tax cuts for the wealthy by falsely stating that increases in taxes for the upper 2% of income earners would hurt demand and prolong the economic downturn. Experience and history prove otherwise.
Tax cuts at the highest marginal incomes brackets do concentrate wealth and political power in the hands of the economic elite. The resulting political power by the economic elite pushes government policy in directions that dramatically cut the percentage of the nation’s wealth and income held by the vast majority of Americans. This reduces the ability of most Americans to buy goods and services. As a result, the economy unwinds because customers do not have enough disposable income to keep the flow of goods and services at a healthy economic level. The former middle class disposable income now controlled by the economic elite funds speculation and unsound “bubbles” in the economy instead of a healthy economy because sound businesses now lack paying customers.
Deregulation helps corporations charge excessive prices. Not enforcing anti-monopoly laws permits price gouging. Not capping interest rates concentrates wealth and reduces consumer spending. Outsourcing jobs to foreign nations reduces incomes available to buy goods and services. Union-busting keeps wages and benefits down which undermines the purchasing power of workers.
Privatizing government services costs consumers more in out of pocket expenses once provided by government. This reduces disposable income for these consumers. When employers reduce benefits and increase co-pays, it increases the cost-of-living for workers. As a result, these workers have less disposable income to spend on goods and services.
Middle class tax cuts do help the economy because they increase the disposable income of those members of society who spend the vast majority of their incomes and have little left over to save. The money changes hands over and over again instead of setting idle. This is the multiplier effect in economics.
Extending unemployment benefits has a huge multiplier effect. This is because unemployment benefits are so low that essentially all of it gets spent on goods and services immediately.
Excessive concentration of wealth and income unwinds our economy. All the Republican policies for the past 100 years have been designed to concentrate wealth and income in the hands of the very few. Every time they reach the economic concentration levels that currently exist, we have a serious depression. This is a direct result of increasingly “Republicanized” governmental policies over the previous 30 years.
Economic concentration of wealth and income are currently at levels very similar to those just before the Great Depression in 1929. The only reason our current situation has not quite deteriorated to that of the last Great Depression is that the Republicans have not been completely successful in undoing the reforms put in place as a result of the New Deal. Despite repeated attacks by Republicans our social safety net remains only damaged but not destroyed. It is not from lack of trying by Republican politicians.
Republican attempts to gut Social Security continue. Privatization keeps coming back to threaten the stability and viability of Social Security. Cutting Social Security benefits instead of increasing revenue seems to be the most effective avenue for the current attack. This approach is being pushed by most Republicans and some corporatist Democrats. A wiser economic approach would be to remove the income ceiling over which Social Security tax is not paid.
Why should almost all workers be taxed at over 13% while those making a million a year are paying closer to 1% and those making 10 million dollars a year are taxed at around 1/10th of 1% on their income? Social Security taxes are the most regressive tax system I know of in our current system. The poor and middle classes pay much, much more in percentage terms than the wealthy.
For decades, working people have been paying in far more than the current needs for each respective year of Social Security payments. These surpluses were “borrowed” by the federal government so they could fund annual deficits created by cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans, cutting taxes on corporations by huge margins and nearly eliminating taxes on imports. It is only fair that corporations, wealthy Americans and foreign exporters selling in the American market pay higher taxes to fund these previous decades of “borrowing” since they reaped the benefits of that “borrowing”.
Republicans only want to look at cutting benefits instead of making Social Security taxes fairer by equalizing the Social Security tax rate for all income levels! These Republicans do not want to pay back the Social Security tax money borrowed by the federal government to fund tax cuts for the wealthy, fight two wars on credit and allow the near elimination of taxes on imports.
Sound economics says government should run surpluses in good economic times and deficits during economic downturns. Following this advice helps reduce the severity of economic cycles. Under the Republican Presidencies of Reagan and both George Bushes, we did exactly the opposite and created both the current downturn and the debt crisis. The vast majority of our total national debt developed under these three conservative Republican Presidents.
Currently, the Republicans in Congress have fought every measure to increase employment and help small businesses. They have fought all kinds of economic reforms that would curb corporate abuses of consumers, shareholders or workers. They have fought all attempts to curb excessive corporate political or economic power. They have been against any measures that would increase demand for goods and services or levels of employment.
By their actions, it is hard not to conclude that the Republicans want to worsen the economic downturn until it reaches Great Depression levels. The economic downturn was created by “Republicanizing” our economy and the Republicans want to blame the Democrats instead! With tons of corporate money behind them and a corporate dominated media helping them, it might just work.
Written by Stephen Crockett (host of Democratic Talk Radio http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com and Editor of Mid-Atlantic Labor.com http://www.midatlanticlabor.com). Email: demlabor@aol.com.
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Republican Villains and Democratic Collaborators
It is true that the Republican Party promotes an agenda that means ever-greater wealth for those at the top and ever-smaller slices of a diminished economic pie for those who must work for a living, but this is only so because of the Democrats' willingness to play along. Before the election even occurred in 2008, Obama compromised his own integrity by helping to ram through Congress a giveaway to Wall Street that was directly out of the G.O.P. Trickle-Down Playbook. His continued palling up with Timothy Geithner shows that he has no concern for simple justice; instead of heralding Geithner's greatness, a New-Deal Democrat would have seen that he and all of his kind would be (at best) pushed to the margins of American society.
The majority of those who voted for Obama did so because they wanted "Change You Can Believe In" along with a more open government that isn't dominated by corporate special interests. Where is that change? Obama's so-called "health-care reform" simply further enriches the bloated insurance industry by requiring hard-working people to shell out more of their dollars for mandatory coverage. Meanwhile, since that so-called "reform" doesn't regulate the companies in any appreciable way, they are raising their rates sky-high and making ever-greater profits in an industry that used to be taken for granted as a public service... where the interests of the patient came before those of MBA-toting greedmeisters on Wall Street.
Then there are the ever-expanding wars in the Mideast. Arms manufacturers and Blackwater-type "security corporations" surely must love Obama and the Democrats, because the current administration has increased greatly the funding of their overseas operations. Pelosi and Company have remarkably shifted their positions about American overseas entanglements now that their man is in the White House.
I was until recently a lifelong Democrat, a believer in the old principles of FDR. I detested trickle-down economics and longed for strong leadership that would see to value returned on the taxpayer dollar, reestablishment of our image as a beacon of democracy by example, and re-regulation of the various corporations that exist only for greed without concern for workets or the public. I re-registered as Independent when Obamacare became a reality... This was after alarm bells had already gone off due to the multiple bailouts (Where are all of those displaced auto workers, now that their bosses have billions in what should be THEIR money?), expansion of U.S. military intervention in wars that accomplish nothing for us, Obama's failure to clean out Bush's appointees from the "justice system," and a host of other betrayals.
The Nazis were evil. Their collaborators in places like Norway and France were even worse, because they knew better and handed over their own people to invaders. We have had an invasion in our own country, an invasion of Wall-Street fascists who would make Mussolini and Hitler blush in their blatant dedication to making everyone other than their own small coterie poor and powerless. It's one heck of a choice that working people face in the upcoming midterm election: Do we vote for those who very honestly stand up and say that we need to give yet more power to the super-rich, or do we vote for the liars and traitors among the Democrats who mouth the right words but act only on behalf of their thoroughly evil masters?
Sort thru the Democrats and find the good ones
Some really do share our values and fight on our behalf. Support them but not the corporate clowns.
If you cannot find a good guy in a certain race currently running, you can always recruit a candidate or run yourself.
Host of Democratic Talk Radio & Editor of Mid-Atlantic Labor.com
the economic truth
The republicans will cause an immediate depression,the Democrats will do it more slowly.Until this country gets rid of its free trade started by reagan and followed by every president after we will never have enough jobs.As far as social security,Obama's commission to reduce the debt is loaded with his usual bunch of hard core Republicans and DLC Democrats.The Republicans sitting on this commission are many who have called for the end of social security.It is no coincidence that the committee wouldn't report until after midterm elections.Those saying to support Obama are putting a noose around all our necks
The Republican threat.
First I want to say that Democrats are far from perfect. Most are timid and disorganized, and they are way too intimidated by the Republican smear machine. That being said, its also true that the most flawed Democrat in D.C. is way better than any Republican there. This is a fact, and yet millions of middle-class Americans have been duped by Republicans to believe that Democrats are out to get them. This is a malicious power grab and if the majority of American voters are ignorant enough to believe this load of crap, then we are in big trouble. I sincerely believe that the biggest threat that America faces is the Republican party. If they regain power they will wipe out any semblance of a society that cares about its people, including abolishing Social Security and Medicare. We will have a country where 5% of Americans are rich and the rest of us are poor. If progressives don't stop whining about Obama and instead, get to work supporting him and the Democrats, they will become enablers that allow Republicans to retake the majority. DON'T LET THE PERFECT BE THE ENEMY OF THE POSSIBLE!!!!
Bush got in, Naderites
Bush got in, Naderites wouldn't believe me that the Iraq was was done deal the moment he got in, Naderites won't acknowledge today that Al Gore opposed that war, Naderites today do not acknowledge that that war would never have happened if not for Bush having got it, Naderites didn't notice any of that at all and if they did then they still think it's cute to say Bush=Gore, McCain=Obama, Social Security isn't single-payer so it's a dumping ground, or whatever talking point they get. Naderites won't acknowledge any splits in the Democratic Party, remember, anything with a (D) after it must be DLC even if it's something the DLC oppoeses like the Public Option.
They're a waste of time and many of them ARE Conservatives, one was up here, a regular Naderite poster, he must have gotten his handles mixed up and logged in with the wrong one because he posted a 2nd Ammendment screed comparing Obama to Hitler, and that was one of the most regular Naderite posters up here on this board.
Recession fighting policies
Republican policies would reduce effective demand. Democratic policies would increase effective demand.
Republican policies would worsen the recession. Democratic policies would improve the economic environment and employment.
Host of Democratic Talk Radio & Editor of Mid-Atlantic Labor.com
Vote GOP..get the government you deserve.
A lot of people and the US media are anticipating that Republicans will gain strength in the Congress in the midterm elections. Expect gridlock. Together, we are going nowhere.
R's will attempt to reign in spending. That will translate to massive layoffs and a continuation of our downward economic spiral. But they will still aggressively work to keep the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy from expiring. The US has again come to a gilded age. Restoring Bush tax cuts will help us toward a permanent aristocracy.
R's are tireless in protecting the rights of Corporations. Bush left his legacy on the Supreme Court, so the Citizens United decision protects corporate rights to personhood, to spend as much money as they like for elections, and to fabulously fund the Congress. Mussolini (and some dictionaries) define fascism as control of the government by corporations. Do we not have that ? Republicans solidly oppose legislation that might mitigate this corporate takeover of our (already flawed) highly suspect elections.
R's will strain to roll back regulations that restrict Banks rights to get bailed out, dole out big bonuses, write sub-prime loans, charge as much as they want for credit card interest, gamble with taxpayer insured money, and, if they don't get their way, crash the economy. New regulations could get in the way of all that, R's are determined to roll them back.
R's will work hard to protect insurance companies rights to refuse health coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, to cap the amount of coverage, or to drop sick people. They will work to repeal Obamacare because it would get in the way of that.
R's want to privatize Social Security, log the national forests, expand offshore gas and oil drilling, privatize highways and waterways, and continue to outsource government. These are some of the ways that the poor could pay for the perks for the wealthy.
R's will oppose using taxpayer money for all those deadbeats who are unemployed and can't find work. Companies should be able to cut wages, benefits, and bust uppity unions so they don't get in the way. Anyway most work can be offshored to low-wage countries, so unions don't matter much any more. Poorly paid people are not able to support a robust economy, but then, if you got yours, it won't matter to you.
R's are tough on crime. When Ronald Reagan invoked the southern strategy, declared war on drugs, privatized the prison industry, and oversaw drug running into poor communities, he not only made the US number one in incarcerations, he made the policy creating a new Jim Crow. He implemented the R's racist strategy. See The The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander if you have any doubts about US institutionalized racism. Since poor people of color overwhelmingly vote Democratic, putting large percentages of them in prison deprives them of the vote, and assures more Republican election victories. At the same time, proceeds from drugs financed death squads in Central America. Remember Iran/Contra ?
Continued at http://www.seconnecticut.com/republicans.htm
George Penman
Naderites will post their
Naderites will post their post again for the millionth time, Moderates will wring their hands over having authoritarian legislation in front of them that they "have to" vote for - like Hillary Clinton talking about how hard it was for her to help Bush get his war in Iraq.
Both parties are similar, Republicans are honest
Republicans make no excuses for their love of giant corporations and the wealthy. Democrats do most of what the Republicans do but try to hide it on election day. Democrats have had a year and a half to undo the horrible things the Republicans did to the economy and they didn't lift a finger. We're still fighting two unwinnable wars, the already bloated defense budget is growing, insurance companies got a huge windfall, and this list could go on for days. Republicans had control of all three branches of government for six years and did little to please their base. Last time I checked gays still walk the streets, abortion is still legal in all 50 states and churches haven't taken over the job not providing social services.
Both parties exist to serve the wealthy and giant corporations. Both will throw a few crumbs to the masses to keep getting votes but they mostly do what their big money donors bribe them to do. Things will only get worse as long as the Republicans and Democrats have a monopoly in Washington.
Vote different in November. Vote for anyone but a Democrat or a Republican.
Republicans are not honest & Democrats are not nearly as bad
The contention that Republicans are honest in terms of either policy or tactics is absurd. In label terms, is the tax on really large estates a "death tax" when almost nobody who actually dies has their estate taxed by the federal government except a very, very tiny percentage of the wealthiest of the wealthy?
Was the WMD ploy that got us into Iraq honest?
Only counting tradition income taxes as "cuuting taxes for those who actually pay them" while ignoring payroll "income" taxes is not honest in my opinion.
Saying the stimulus program did not create or save jobs is dishonest.
On student loans, Obama and the Democrats made strongly progressive changes.
On manufacturing jobs, the Democrats have just passed significant new laws that otherwise would have not passed.
On protecting credit consumers, Obama and the Democrats have made significant steps forward. Under Bush, the Republicans made several major moves in the opposite direction under the dishonest label of "bankruptcy reform."
Obama started his term by signing a law to protect equal pay rights for women that Republicans had been blocking for years.
This list goes on and on.
Democrats made some progress in a progressive direction since Obama was elected.... insufficient but some. With Republicans you would only have lost even more ground.
Host of Democratic Talk Radio & Editor of Mid-Atlantic Labor.com
Its The Enthusiasm Gap, Stupid
The GOP is unable to increase the percentage of voters it gets nationwide. The way they win is twofold: A motivated base for themselves and a discouraged base that largely stays home for the dems. Both Clinton and Obama were swept into office by PROGRESSIVE voters, even thought the Corporatocracy will always make sure that any true progressive never gets to the national electoral stage.
Whether 1994 or 2010, the only way GOP gets congress is when Dem voters stay home. And why shouldn't they. Clinton's signature gave us the Telecommunications Act, NAFTA, and repeal of Glas-Steagal. Obama's "Health Care" makes us indententured servants to Corporate Health Insurance. His cabinet is infested with Wall Street vermin.
I voted for Obama for the same reason I voted for Clinton. Maybe, just maybe, we would get a whiff of real progressivism. Of course I was just being stupid for thinking that, but I would continue to hope.
Legislation signed by Clinton damaged us more than anything Reagan and the two Bush's ever did. Its funny that even with Dems in control of government, reversing any of Clinton's "achievements" is never even DISCUSSED (although Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinich will mention it from time to time).
The only competition between the two parties in national elections is to see which one gets to carry water for Wall Street and the Corporatocracy.
Republican Victory Equals No Recovery for Average Americans
I have to take exception with you concerning the telecommuncations act. This was presented for Bush #1's signature towards the end of 1991, and he vetoed this legislation for a number of reasons. It went into effect, because the democratic congress was able to override his veto with a 2/3's majority vote. This particular piece of legislation was a disaster waiting to happen and it finally has occurred. I don't know about the rest of the country, but where I live in rural Northern California, there is only ONE cable company, Comcast, and they exercise a total monopoly. Starting next month, the service that I have been paying $35/month will increase to $85/month if I keep everything in tact. And the reason: it is digital so therefore the customers should pay out of every orifice. I am going to give up all of the service except limited basic, and subscribe to one of the satellite radio services for music. The cost of both will be less than $35/month and far less than $85/month. I have decided that I just don't need to watch television any more.
I have to agree with the author that voting for any democrat is better than voting for a republican and voting for a third party candidate just isn't going to do a damn thing except put our necks right into the proverbial noose. Progressives have to quit blaming the current administration for not acting quickly enough to fix their pet agendas. While much of legislation hasn't gone far enough due to many corporate democrats, I believe it is a start in the right direction. If republicans take back the legislative and the executive branches, then everything that has helped the middle class and working poor prior to bush #2's presidency, will go right down the toilet.
If one thinks things are bad now, a return to the gilded age of the roaring twenties and the years previous to that, would be far worse. I voted for Clinton on the hope of change. I voted for Obama, because I could never vote for someone like McCain and Palin. I think he has made the effort in some areas, but he also has to get congress to go along with his agenda, and that isn't easy as there 535 members of congress with 535 ideas of how things should be done, fixed, whatever. For some reason, people think that the president can basically do whatever he wants, but he still has to get congress to pass laws, which is not always easy.
So go ahead and vote for a republican or a third-part candidate and see what happens. You are probably right when you say that it could be gridlock for the next two years.
NAFTA was signed by the first President Bush
Clinton signed follow-up measures supporting NAFTA but George Bush was the originator. Most Democrats in Congress voted against it at every opportunity. I am not a big fan of Bill Clinton because of the so-called "free trade" deals and failure to enforce anti-monopoly regulations but Clinton was not with the majority of elected Democrats on these issues.
On trade issues and deregulation, Clinton was mostly siding with the Republicans not Democrats in Congress.
Host of Democratic Talk Radio & Editor of Mid-Atlantic Labor.com
Dems still don't get off the Hook
Stephen Scott....The dems play a game with the dem voters that is sick. Take NAFTA. True, most dems voted against it, but only because it was assured passage. But if there were any real doubts about NAFTA's passage, the Corporatocracy would get whoever they needed to change their vote among the 95% of Dem lawmakers who were pre-disposed to vote against NAFTA. Its a cynical rigged game that allows politicians to be on record of "opposition" to a bill, but only because the bill's passage is assured. This fools progressive voters time & time again and allows for the corporate agenda to always win.
The real negotiations are over who gets to be on record as the progressive as long as the Corporatocracy wins. A dem can get corporate money and still vote AGAINST the corporate agenda as long as that vote will not affect the outcome. Thus a lawmaker can be "on record" as voting your interests as long as your interests don't have a chance in hell of seeing the light of day.
So when looking at dems in congress, don't give them a PASS when they vote your interests. Judge them on what they do when their vote can make or break a bill.
My hope is that dem lawmakers will finally figure out that dem voters won't give them a pass on voting pro-progressive if the anti-progressive forces keep winning in the end. How can you get your base fired up to vote for you when you have no victories to show them.
How can you keep winning elections by saying you voted against all these awful bills that passed into law anyway?