By Owen Paine on Wednesday December 13, 2006 01:26 PM
Max "Factor" Sawicki wades into the pleb drowning pool with five boxes of populist economics -- poponomics, for short:
- Trade is most prominent, but it may be the least important of my top five. Measures to protect better-paying jobs in the U.S. are feasible but only promise results to a limited extent.
- Deficit dementia. The dirty secret in economic policy is that most economists, radical, liberal, moderate, and conservative, understand that the Federal budget need never be balanced, that moderate deficits can be sustained indefinitely. The implications of tolerating deficits of two percent of GDP -- over $200 billion in today's terms -- rather than a deficit of zero are huge.
- Social Security. Forget "there is no crisis," the clarion call of anti-Bush campaigners. The new slogan should be, there is no problem. No benefit cuts are necessary for the foreseeable future. If anything, there is a projected shortfall of income tax revenue required to repay debts to the Trust Fund, as per current law, as well as for maintaining other Federal programs.
- Health care. There is no crisis. There is, rather, huge projected growth in demand for an ever-expanding menu of treatments, and the burden of managing efficient, ample, and fair public sector finance of this care.
- The Imperial Fed. Our true economic overlords, the Federal Reserve Bank's Board of Governors, have arrogated to themselves the right to ignore their mandate for full employment, elevating slow-growth anti-inflation policy over the unparalleled benefits of tight labor markets. Trade is important, but in the grand scheme of economic security, it is also a pigeon-hole.
Comments (5)
wall flower poster
would love to be attacked
by flying pigbats
Posted by js paine | December 13, 2006 5:01 PM
Posted on December 13, 2006 17:01
...Health care. There is no crisis...
For who, exactly ?
Feh. Bring on the rotten tomatoes, Mr. Paine. I've had more than enough and I'm not even halfway through.
Posted by ms_xeno | December 13, 2006 8:43 PM
Posted on December 13, 2006 20:43
It's pretty tepid stuff, JSP, like what you might hear at a DLC meeting after the buzz from their methamphetamine suppositories had worn off and they were feeling a bit of melancholy. Maybe dishwater works better than tepid. There's nothing to rip into. It's stultfying. It means nothing is going to be pursued with any vigor, which we already knew, debt harpies will fatten on unprotected people and there'll be no healthcare for ever increasing numbers.
Posted by J. Alva Scruggs | December 14, 2006 12:01 AM
Posted on December 14, 2006 00:01
with a comment at his own site
(not decaf central )
joining points one
and five
i got Himself
to acknowledge
the strong dollar gig
IS IMPORTANT
and ultimately
the fed is its culprit
--------------------------
point two
may be his best presented
till he
over wonks it with his
"2% for ever
is a free be " meme
------------------------
i like the swing of
"debt harpies"
j alva :
u tube em !!!!
we can never have enough
on why uncle
isn't a damn bit
like you or me
when he draws
out of his own credit system
on four
the real pop answer Of course
is a savage cut throat
war on big pharma
the railroads of the new populism
"fathers of
an ongoing
african genecide "
sounds
like a good curtain raiser
then
on to the practical front:
start with mandated
price roll downs
for medicare/medicaid
and then move on to equalizing world pricing
since we yankless ones
here at home
now spring near double money
for an average patented tablet
where's the war on big
domestic energy btw
where's the call to tax away the oil pumpers
100 billion dollar
per annum
windfalls
where's the electro grid
we need a federal emergency seizure
and price rectification:
a one national
rate structure
to fit all regions
and cafe standards
with real ball buster intent
and and ...
oh the folly of it all!!!!!
ahh
gosplan my gosplan
this little red rider
turns his lonely eyes to u
Posted by js paine | December 14, 2006 9:54 AM
Posted on December 14, 2006 09:54
I reached the point long ago where I decided that anyone with the stones to claim there is no healthcare crisis should have to disclose the following:
If they're covered
How much they're paying
Whether they've read the fine print in their policy that allows some fucker in $600 shoes to yank their coverage whenever s/he feels like it.
Whether they can pay for COBRA tomorrow if the Grim Reaper comes calling for their job, and how long
How many times their premiums and/or deductibles got yanked upwards in the last 12 months.
>: Dr No Crisis up there can just eat me. >:
Posted by ms_xeno | December 14, 2006 2:51 PM
Posted on December 14, 2006 14:51