The future hasn't worked out quite as planned.
Emperor's Clothes: "... the Euro does not work.” If Germany leaves the Euro, “the consequences would include... collapse of international trade.” And a recession worse than the 1930's. Oh, and war. But there's “close to zero probability” of this, according to UBS. Makes you wonder why they brought it up. Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank says "... numerous European banks would not survive having to revalue sovereign debt held on the banking book at market levels." Is that the Fat Lady I hear warming up, just off-stage?
Dogs/Fleas: Documents found in Tripoli document Gadhafi's secret police working closely with the CIA to capture and torture imprison terrorists. Or perhaps it was the other way around.
Excess Baggage: What if they held a Labor Day and nobody no reporters came? There were no 'labor' stories on the front pages of the NY Times, WSJ, LA Times, WaPo, CNBC... Before you can celebrate Labor Day, some labor would be nice – yet nearly half of the unemployed think it will be five years before the economy turns around.
Rule of Law: The two main arguments made against the government's lawsuit against the banks are 1) It's okay to lie, cheat and steal if people should expect you to lie, cheat and steal. 2) Making the robber give back the money would keep other robbers from robbing in the future. And 3) If you make the thieves give back the money, they'll go broke. Apparently the American banking system depends on deceit to survive.
Victory! Who said: "I have continued to underscore the importance of reducing regulatory burdens and regulatory uncertainty, particularly as our economy continues to recover." 1) George W. Bush. 2) Ronald Reagan. 3) Dick Cheney. 4) Other. Even FOX gets it: “Stick a fork in the EPA, it's done.”
Consistency: German Finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble says that the cure for everything is austerity. Austerity now, austerity tomorrow, austerity forever. Eventually – he claims – confidence will return and business will turn around and if it doesn't, well, suffering is good for the soul and virtue is its own reward. The fact that it hasn't worked yet means the people are not suffering enough.
The Right Way: Mitt Romney says it is true that he has crated more jobs by doubling the size of his house than Obama has by doubling the budget deficit.
Paying the Piper: The second Greek bailout, has collapsed - because of Greek failures to grovel comply with the terms of its fiscal austerity program. Greece now appears doomed. Italy thought it would sneak by, but ECB support is conditioned on Berlusconi behaving like an adult and Italy acting like a real country – neither of which is in the cards. Cue Hamelin and line up the children.
Chorus Line: The world’s developed economies are stalling out and need more fiscal stimulus (ie deficit spending) and less austerity – according to Nouriel Roubini, among others.
Smile, Pard'ner: Rick Perry says “I am actually for gun control. Use both hands.”
Practice: You already know the drill: Corporations are too heavily taxed and too heavily regulated, and that's what's holding back the economy. There's just one problem. It's not true. Corporations have literally never been more profitable than they are right now.
Suspicion: Last year New York police stopped-and-frisked over 600,000 people. Most were members of various minority groups. They walk suspiciously.
That Old Time Religion: My grandchildren don't believe that it used to be expressly and clearly legal to advocate violence against the country and its leaders. But back when the US government was still a going concern with a written constitution, the First Amendment guarantee of free speech covered such things as posting YouTube videos (which can get you over 20 years now) of selling access to the wrong TV channel (six years). Other political views will get you assassinated by the government. Let's go listen to some 9/11 patriots!
Inquiring Mind: How come welfare states like Germany, France, the Netherlands and all of Scandinavia haven't descended into a social abyss?
Didn't Get The Memo: According to the National Federation of Independent Business, the #1 problem cited by small business owners is the lack of demand - way ahead of government regulations and taxes (you have to sell stuff and make a profit in order to pay taxes).
Porn O'Graph: Plight of the Phoenix.
3 comments:
"How come welfare states like Germany, France, the Netherlands and all of Scandinavia haven't descended into a social abyss?"
Wow, just wow...here in Denmark out of 5.3 million citizens 2 million are on welfare.
850.000 public workers...our economy is all but collapsed.
This year alone our small country needs to borrow almost 20 billion dollars to keep the welfare state afloat.
Get your facts straight mr. Krugman...!
The item, was about the social not the financial abyss. The leaders have not chosen the rich (or vice versa) over the population and the discrepancies between classes is far less than, say, the US. Babies get healthcare, elders get healthcare, people are not tossed onto the street... Now the financial aspects are a different matter, but much of the current deficit has to do with the ruined economy, not how the proceeds of that economy are divided. Even Spain - which has some serious problems both financially and socially - had not gone to hell in a financial handbasket before the current economic system collapsed. But no one blames the social welfare state for the housing bubble or the banks' casual disregard for common sense - that was the capitalist part of even the more socialist of the social democracies.
ckm
Rule of Law: ....
According to the Law 'n Order Gang, when Crime is unprosecuted and unpunished, the Criminals just expand their operations and proliferate. Witness the Giuliani experience in NYC where Street Crime/Graffiti were agressively pursued. So, why is that now in the same NYC, center of a massive International Crime Wave, there is no prosecution, no pursuit, nada.
And does not this indicate what is really happening, that the Conomy becomes more and more criminalized and folks are less and less willing to participate in it.
Where is the Criminologist (forget the Jurists and Lawyers) who will shine the light of day on this phenomenon which impacts the Conomy way beyond just the FIRE arenas?
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