Saturday, February 21, 2009
News we knew already department
One major metropolitan area is not only avoiding the severe recession that is whacking the rest of the country, but its economy is growing. I bet, if you tax your noodle to the utmost, you can guess which one.
6 Comments:
By 
Viking Kaj, at
Sat Feb 21, 05:39:00 PM:
With 1.7 trillion served it's not hard to guess.
By Viking Kaj, at
Sat Feb 21, 05:41:00 PM:
Was that reference to taxes an intentional pun?
If so, it was in extremely poor taste given the season.
By TigerHawk, at
Sat Feb 21, 06:00:00 PM:
It was, actually. I chuckled as I wrote it. It's how I roll.
By 
, at
Sun Feb 22, 10:32:00 AM:
That giant sucking sound you're hearing is money and power going to DC. This went on with Bush & Co to an alarming degree, and is now accelerating with Obama & Co.
As I've ranted about here, game theory would suggest that a two party system leads to both parties trying to buy the votes of key blocks with money taken from all of us.
Once in DC, power and money are unnacountable.
We'll either fix this or we won't. If we don't, it'll be the end of American greatness. The greatest threat to us is from within.
By , at
Sun Feb 22, 12:12:00 PM:
There's an article in today's Washington Post previewing Obama's first budget, some details of which are supposed to come out this week.
You can find it here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/21/AR2009022100911_pf.html
Axelrod is a mouthpiece for it. They say they plan to cut deficits with reduced war spending and increased taxes on the wealthy.
It confirms where Obama-Axelrod are headed. Axelrod has a key tell: "Most Americans will come out very well here." Obama-Axelrod expect that most Americans will support a plan if they don't think they're the ones paying for it.
What's missing from the equation is jobs and growth: Obama-Axelrod are taking us down a path that will likely lead to stagnation, with little or no economic growth. There's a world of difference between a US GDP growing at 3-4%, and one where we're not. When we grow at 3-4% ... our long-term historic average ... we double in just over 20 years, so that every generation can be better off. If instead, we have a "lost decade" it will be very hard for our government to support its commitments.
I also expect that the numbers in the plan won't add up. In a world where the new measuring stick is a trillion dollars, the expected cost savings will look small ... they'll look small even when compared to the increased spending commitments in the stimulus bill. It'll be hard to narrow the deficit by just eliminating the Bush tax cuts for those who make over $250,000 ... which would take us to a top rate of 39.6%. As sources of spending cuts, Obama-Axelrod are touting reduced Iraq war expense as the biggest source of saving, but that can't be more than $100B per year, and more likely less ... chump change in this context.
If you're trying to make the numbers work on paper, you'd need to
Define "rich" at a lower level. Say $150,000 or even lower.
Eliminate caps on payroll taxes. In effect this would raise the top marginal rate to 50% or more. Many state and local governments are also looking to raise their highest tax rates.
Increase other taxes like the estate tax, and promise aggressive collections.
But it's not a revenue problem. The federal government has consistently gotten 19% of GDP in taxes, no matter what tax system it has in place ... but spending has jumped to 26% ... which is why we have deficits of over $1 trillion. We can't ever hope to get the budget in line without getting serious about cutting spending.
I've feared exactly this: that Obama-Axelrod have a Machiavellian plan to use enormous deficits and our tax system to level society in a bloodless revolution ... but it won't make us a worker's paradise ... it'll just turn us into a big Argentina.
Link
By Georg Felis, at
Mon Feb 23, 12:58:00 AM:
Washington: The only place where muggers routinely take thousands of dollars from you, give you back a small fraction the heist, and then expect you to be happy to set up an appointment to do it again next year.
