tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post4151750886077029645..comments2023-10-30T09:23:42.803-05:00Comments on Some Assembly Required: SAR #113311Charles Kingsley Michaelson, IIIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04364694465614330540noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-53648053136629835972011-11-29T21:46:06.337-06:002011-11-29T21:46:06.337-06:00Re "Tailored Fit": Eliminate all environ...Re "Tailored Fit": Eliminate all environmental regulation and these same companies would then be complaining about the unfair cost of worker safety regs, then product safety regs, then the 40 hour work week, then child labor laws, then indentured servitude. Oh wait, Newt the tool is already doing his handlers bidding by complaining about child labor laws. Guess I got the order of complaint wrong.kwarknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-55391719148091763682011-11-29T09:17:58.358-06:002011-11-29T09:17:58.358-06:00And yes, just to beat a couple of you to the punch...And yes, just to beat a couple of you to the punch line, assuming the Great Recession will ever be over assumes facts not in evidence.<br /><br />ckmCharles Kingsley Michaelson, IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04364694465614330540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-86970265199121412032011-11-29T09:16:18.861-06:002011-11-29T09:16:18.861-06:00Well, yeah. I'd like to make the nuanced argu...Well, yeah. I'd like to make the nuanced argument that the Dems fell into the Repubs trap on this one. The idea of getting more spendable cash into the hands of the people was and is valid. Doing it this way was stupid. <br /><br />There's the Kensyian argument that as long as the income stream is restored once the Great Recession is over will cure this and the rest of SS/Medicare's funding problem. Come happy days make all income subject to SS/Medicare taxation. Period. Dividends, cap gains, interest, with no caps.<br /><br />Or one could argue that Eat Drink and Be Merry in the face of what's coming is the only rational approach. That even if the GR doesn't get us, there's no way that the US taxable base (ie the middle class and poor) can ever pay back the money that's already been "invested" in Special Treasury Bonds and expecting the rich to begin sharing the load is simply not realistic.<br /><br />I'm just all in favor of keeping up the pretense for as long as possible.<br /><br />ckmCharles Kingsley Michaelson, IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04364694465614330540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-20904078669237488142011-11-29T08:23:13.768-06:002011-11-29T08:23:13.768-06:00Re Hoja's Donkey/payroll tax cut - I find myse...Re <b>Hoja's Donkey/payroll tax cut</b> - I find myself convinced by Dean Baker: The Payroll Tax Cut: A Stimulus That Progressives Should Oppose<br /><br />http://yubanet.com/opinions/Dean-Baker-The-Payroll-Tax-Cut-A-Stimulus-That-Progressives-Should-Oppose.php#.TtToyWPaLmk<br /><br />Basically, he says that cutting off the Social Security systems dedicated stream of revenue (the food for the donkey) is a prelude to killing the donkey (destroying Social Security as a reliable entitlement, making it into a "charity" that goes to "poor people"). <br /><br />See if you don't find Baker's argument reasonable.<br /><br />As George Carlin said, several years ago, "And now they’re coming for your social security money. They want your retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something. They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you sooner or later ‘cause they own this fucking place. It’s a big club. And you ain’t in it. You and I are not in the big club. By the way, it’s the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head with their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy."<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5dBZDSSky0mistah charley, ph.d.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06303695341246058680noreply@blogger.com