So the Utah Republican Party caucuses made a yes vote for TARP their bright line in the sand. They have it all wrong. A public that feeds on rhetoric can be deceived, confused and finally made fervent on exactly the wrong side of truth.
We experienced a lost decade from 2000 to 2008 when real income didn’t budge. According to Jon Talton and The Brookings Institute median household income in the greater Seattle metropolitan area rose to $66,995 in 2008 from $66,881 in 2000. Among blacks, income dropped to $39,748 vs. $46,738 in 2000. Hispanics also lost ground. Only a small upper echelon really got ahead during the Bush Republican era, while government deregulated safety controls, mortgage companies fabricated greater bubbles and traders leveraged the entire economic system.
You should know that the recession began in the 4th Q of 2007, long before you would have felt the repercussions. That is important to know because it helps to illustrate something called lagging indicators. If it were not for TARP, a low Federal Reserve interest rate and the fiscal stimulus we would now be in a second Great Depression. An overwhelming flood of money was what rescued the financial system. It worked, but at great cost. The recession ended in the 4th Q of 2009. We are in recovery, although, because of lagging indicators, it’s not obvious to everyone yet.
Back to the bright line in the Utahan sand, you do know that the TARP money is nearly repaid. Treasury has begun to divest itself of corporate stocks. The Fed will pull in excessive liquidity when they are confident that job growth has taken hold. The stimulus will drop off drastically next year. I understand that people are angry about all the interventions because taxpayers had to bail out the banksters. Because there was no choice once we were into the crisis, TARP had to be the result of desperation.
In the aftermath is the best time to engineer the strong protections needed by our financial system. There is a Financial Reform Bill in the Senate right now. The House passed an earlier version of the bill. Investors will respond to protective regulation and greater certainty with a positive effect on job growth. And if taxpayers will only remember lessons learned, they will never again have to bail out the banks. Back to that bright line in the political sand: DO NOT REELECT TO CONGRESS ANYONE WHO OPPOSES FINANCIAL REFORM.
It is so apparent that once George’s hole was dug, somebody has to come and fill it in.
It will take serious courage to balance the federal budget. Who can you trust to raise some taxes and cut some spending in the safest and kindest way?
Should some of the Raegan/ Bush tax cuts be allowed to expire? Most of them are being funded year after year with borrowed money. Because that is how Congress did it then.
Should we reduce the billions in oil subsidies to increase domestic production when half of that production is being exported?
How about those off-shore accounts that are so huge that little islands hold significant shares of foreign dollar reserves?
I’d like to see a financial transaction tax reenacted. It used to cost two tenths of a percent (0.02%) to trade stocks and securities. Voila! deficit gone.
Oops, (0.2 %) is correct, with an apology for the extra zero. It was called The Revenue Act of 1914.
Serious courage indeed, while experiencing the barbs of the Tea dudes and dudettes, and being called “socialist, fascist, communist” and whatever other epithets the parrots can come up with while listening to the electronic crowd who would commit us all to hell labeling our stones “Obamanism”, and frequenting Starbuck’s with side arms. It is ever so pleasant to know that all I have to do is turn off the switch, and ignore the rabble, but in the meantime, I cannot dismiss they have an audience, which becomes increasingly frightening with each newscast–example setting for the young warriors who will take home even more weapons at this weekend’s gun show. International observers are entranced with our befuddled mindset.
Eleanor, your analysis is stunning. Please continue to reward us.
Again on courage. Brave ones who find ways to plug holes and reduce will be labeled in the harshest terms. Brave ones (who must) establish new tax codes to benefit the middle of the people will also fall in grace. I have no proof, but am nearly certain that the rich and the stockholders are behind the noise. Money grubbing at the expense of Middle America is a heinous and unconscionable act.