In the United States, the only honest fiscal solution is to end the Bush tax cuts, end foreign military adventurism, stop pretending that it’s necessary to spend more on military and ostensible national security hardware than the rest of the world combined, and end all forms of corporate subsidies. If a corporation cannot survive on its own it deserves to die. If a corporation’s survival serves some vital social or security need and it cannot survive on its own, then it should be socialized rather than publicly subsidized. After all, public subsidies to privately held corporations already are a form of socialism, it’s just that much of the money goes into private pockets rather than serving the public good.
That we are even discussing economic austerity is itself proof that the political systems of the developed world are but servants to private industry. We know how the world dug itself out of the Great Depression, and it wasn’t economic austerity. It was deficit spending. It was Keynesian economics. It was a widespread series of policies that laid the foundation for true economic growth. From the ground up.
Really? Reduced spending on social entitlements has nothing to do with it. Talk about la la la.
only problem with this article was a misspelling.
“…the political systems of the developed world are but servants to private industry.”
Should have been butt
AC
don’t forget its a crisis initiated by the US and England in europe
Will Spending Like There Is No Tomorrow Kill Europe, Then Us?
Actually, the USA is worse off then Europe already.
Just ask the $5 trillion dollar debt man, President Obama.
http://goo.gl/nXWkw
The United States isn’t “doomed”.
In Europe with the European Union, member states lose some of their freedom and sovereignty and are hamstrung.
So Greece and Ireland and Portgual and Spain and Italy get told by the international banks what they must do.
This puts the bankers interest first and the interests of the entire EU over the interest of the actual country, like Greece.
If the USA ever decided to “man up”, we could kill trade agreements and print tens of trillions of worthless paper money left and right to pay off the debt and manufacture everything here.
Sure the world would be mad.
And shoes would expensive because they would be made by an American and not an 8-year old in a sweatshop in Thailand.
Sure all yah got to do is print worthless money and inflate your way out taking the savings of everyone who wasn’t a wasteful idiot with along the way and making it impossible to import jack because nobody is going to accept you trash money.
That is good point. Inflation does really penalize people who manage their finances well.
I’ll take that into account for future consideration.
Thanks for that thought.
He contradicts himself in his own article. Why raise taxes and cut spending if austerity is not the answer?
what ac in mich said.. true that… no but seriously folks tax cuts, tax increases, yada yada yada… its just rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. this country is going down and it is going to go down hard. the baby boomers took over the country from a generation of depression era havenots that built the country into a superpower and they have ran it into the ground. there has never been a more pampered, self absorbed, whinning, selfish, finger pointing generation than the boomers and they are going to get what they deserve. they are going to lose their inheritances, pensions, 4o1k’s all will be wiped out leaving them with nothing. good riddens couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch…
“have run it into the ground” not “have ran”…
Just inflate themselves out of the mess…. The Euro is way too high against the USD, and it feels like out USDs bailed them out in 2008.
Wow… Almost that entire thing was total crap, aside from letting failed businesses die.
+1
P.S. I have to wonder if anyone even knows what a dictionary is. That word is not in my American Heritage edition. However, it does seem to be a word since I found a definition on (cough) Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austerity. Here it is:
In economics, austerity is a policy of deficit-cutting, lower spending, and a reduction in the amount of benefits and public services provided.[1] Austerity policies are often used by governments to reduce their deficit spending[2] while sometimes coupled with increases in taxes to pay back creditors to reduce debt.[3] “Austerity” was named the word of the year by Merriam-Webster in 2010.[4]
“Word of the year” by Mister Dictionary himself, Merriam Webster? I though he was dead!
Doesn’t it really sound like more political rhetoric? I mean, how the hell is tripling a national debt and falling just short of total Fascism with banking bailouts anything like deficit cutting?
Still, that definition sure sounds pretty accurate. I might even agree with it if it weren’t for the taxes crap. About the only thing I agree with in this entire line of piss-water debate is that if a business can’t survive then it should die. Period. End of discussion. Let the chips fall where they may and let the heads roll like France 1789 if it causes widespread pain due to the greed of few assholes in power.
So, the way I understand your comment is to:
Increase the Bush tax cuts
Ramp up even more foreign military adventurism
Spend even more on military than the rest of the world combined (see above)
Increase all forms of corporate subsidies
That’s your solution.
Yay! If it’s not black, then it must be white! To think that these people actually vote…
I’m wondering how well the proposed Reaganomics’ “Starving the Beast” strategy will work in Europe. The riots and public outcry over there seems to suggest it won’t take hold without a more authoritatian stance from the governments involved.
Agree totally.
However the sheeple are trained to live in fear and never ever challenge the status quo.
Based on the purchases the department of homeland insecurity have been making it looks like they are preparing for war and since their equipment all seems to be designed to deal with the American Civilian population I doubt if they agree with you; 440,000,000 rounds of .40 cal. hollow point handgun ammo is a lot of ammo.
The regular military is not about to give up their rifles. They consider handguns and SMGs to be a very poor second choice.
Have no idea what you’re trying to say.
The topic relates to the US Defense spending is larger than the next 28 nations combined.
The sheeple are trained to live in such fear that this amount of spending is a priority over everything else.
I have too much to read but yes, I agree people are trained to live in fear and never challenge the status quo.
Today’s society means the average person needs to get consent from everyone else they know before they feel like they can hold an opinion or have a thought.
You are of course free to check this out.
It is my understanding that the first countries to recover from the great depression had governments that did the least to alleviate the suffering of their citizens.
People had no options other than to try what ever they could think of to make a living.
The governments that did the most took the longest to recover because people waited, and waited, and waited for things to get better/ return to normal. I think it was Ben Franklyn that warned against making people too comfortable in their poverty. Apparently he thought that if people were comfortable living on charity they wouldn’t try as hard to find other options and would continue doing what was comfortable. I know I’ve had friends that did exactly that.
This should not be construed as meaning I want to let people who need help starve. I don’t. I give to “God’s Storehouse” as my charity of choice.
I do agree with with Paul when it comes to people who can help themselves and want a free ride: “Let him who will not work, not eat.”
Do-ill. Such a typical Puke talking out of both sides of your mouth when you aren’t shamelessly just making BS up.
Want to NAME THE COUNTRY you are “thinking” of–or just keep it completely vague?
Should people who aren’t working be allowed/required to starve to death or not? Take a firm position one way or the other way==not both ways like some shit for brains ditto head.
Stand Your Ground.
People who are not working should be supported by the Government for a minimal (and paid-for through insurance they paid into while working) time period (6-9 months?). After it, private charities should take all the burden. Local charities, knowing who and why they are helping and what is achieved by that help. People should prepare for potential loss of work themselves and have reserves. Any other Government help must be limited strictly to people below poverty line. Not 110% or (nowadays) 400% of it.
Douche-Anal==speaking out of both sides of your mouth. Do you have a brain capable of recognizing it before or after it is pointed out to you?
Answer the question directly: Should people who aren’t working be allowed/required to starve to death, or not?
No more PUKE BS talking points: Stand Your Ground.
…..and btw==comical how you think the % of poverty level is anything other than going to “11” on the volume knob.
Dumb Ass.
Knock, Knock!
Who’s There?
A Dumb Ass on a Donkey!
Hello Pedro–now get off my lawn!!
Before the system that Congress passed in the 1930s what happened to the poor?
Have you ever looked into it?
Did you know the states had to do most of it keeping the states poorer in result of it?
Did you know that the charities of both church and philanthropic backing could not keep up with the demand and still cannot?
Did you know that the elderly, children and disabled could not earn any kind of living to feed themselves and died in hunger and sloth more than they do today?
If you did not, then go and learn about it.
And then after that go and see what the numbers are to keep the poor from dying costs and how much more the government subsidises corporations.
You will find the corporations get far more than all of the people combined.
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CBO: If Congress does nothing, deficit plummets! Course, this has been true for DECADES. It takes an ACTIVE congress to muck things up.
Its just not the military we spend more money on than anyone else for little to actually destructive effects: its also Healthcare, Education, and……whatelse? Oh Yea—National Security a la the TSA, Environmental Protection, Border Protection, and on and on. Gee, just about everything the government does?
When you exclusively blame one party or the other—YOU are basically the problem. Suck it Pukes!!!!! And Yes, Ted Nuggent should be convicted of making Terrorist Threats against the President–put on 5 years probation, with mandatory psyche counseling and oversight. Suck it TWICE!!!!
Ha, ha.
http://washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/cbo-if-congress-does-nothing-deficit-plummets/2011/08/25/gIQATgE9eQ_blog.html
Keynesian economies and up one of two ways: economical death through hyperinflation and/or war. In both cases ordinary people suffer the costs of the Keynesian insanity, either through war damage or through loss of any saved value in hyperinflation.
Claim: “We know how the world dug itself out of the Great Depression, and it wasn’t economic austerity” is not about Keynesian economic success. It is about the war that destroyed millions of lives. No, thanks.
Finally – I grew up in a country that applied Keynesian economic “miracle”. Country is no more. And we have had “and” case. Both hyperinflation and the war. Had enough of that BS. (Joke from the time when out “dear leader” passed away: Person arrives in Hell after Dear Leader died. Person is very surprised: no damnation fire but gold and marble monuments and endless drunken parties and lavish meals. What happened? he asked. Well, it was all suffering and damnation until Dear Leader came and took loans, and here we are now…)
An economic philosophy did not save the world.
The world doesn’t need to be saved.
HUMANS are the ones that believe HUMANS need saving.
The world could care less.
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Conservative economics: save during the fat times so you can deficit spend during the hard times.
GOP economics: spend like crazy when the GOP are in power; whine and carp about spending when the Dems are in power.
Bingo . Well stated.
Reality:
Both parties spend like there is no tomorrow because they can both kick the can down the road for someone else to pay the bill.
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Boy that Comrade wrote the book. I have never seen such whining. What’s his nom de guerre on here?
Greg Allen is in the ballpark but more pointedly: Keynesian Economics by all expert opinion is shown over and over again TO WORK!!
The unspoken truth is NO ONE FOLLOWS KEYNES. We spend during downturns as we should, then we spend during good times, as we should NOT.
Most recent evidence: the austerity/spending reductions in Japan causing 20 years of malaise. Same with current downturn in Europe. The “real” issue is was the USA Stimulus Program actually too small? This certainly admits to the fact too much of the so designated funds were misspent and not any part of actual stimulus but rather 2/3rds of it was legal bribery to get the stimulus passed.
Anyone thinking Keynes doesn’t work, or the poor have it easy when they don’t have to work to get food, are either besotted idiots or shills.
I see Ted Nuggent is now saying he never threatened anyone and never would and has never in his life.
You see the right wing stupidity of double talking hypocrisy. Just as demonstrated by dismal and douche-anal. Loud when talking to themselves, spineless cowards when called on it.
C’mon Pukes: Stand Your Ground!
Morans.
What really are the odds of Ted Nugent — isn’t he like 70 — plotting a terrorist act? I mean really.
However, from what I’ve read his speech was a tad over the top and probably used unwise analogies. Shouldn’t they arrest Al Sharpton on that though?
Police state versus freedom of speech? I guess there is no answer in these unpredictable modern times and we have to settle for some sort of shade of gray.
Well HM–No reasonable person could possibly think Ted Nuggent was anything but your typical chicken hawk blow hard TeaPublican hypocrite. I doubt, and have heard, Teddy doesn’t have the focus to even wipe his ass.
No, its Not Teddy actually doing anything that concerns me. It is however who his stupidity appeals to. You Know, those fellow gun toting, NRA Knuckle Dragging in-bred Puke voting base numbskulls like dismal and douche-anal. Just one heavy puff of bad stuff and I can see them living up to the hatred they spount. Just once, but thats all it takes.
Nuggent and his loose terrorist anti-Constitutional/Free Speech language SHOULD be made an example of.
Won’t happen because Obama wants as many gun nut votes as he can get himself. Sad that.
Great point and observation.
I saw that asshole Nugent at a football game (I was 10 ft away). You should have heard all his bluster to the suck up Teapublicans sucking his ass.
Disgusting what he said to our president. I would taser that sob all the way to Guantanamo .
Greece has been deficit spending for a long while and look where it got them..
Keynesian economics got us in this mess in the first place. The kos fails to recognize that the right and the left both adhere to Keynes’ principles.
You obviously aren’t aware of what the tenets that John Maynard Keynes even said.
He said that you spend on infrastructure and other projects that create wealth after the crisis is over and that you raise taxes to slow down an over-heated economy. Our economy is dead.
We are about as far as it is possible to get from Keynesian economic policies as its possible to get.
Our spending on the military is beginning to resemble North Korea’s.
Its just that they’ve been broke since WWII (which they have never stopped fighting.)
I live in Germany, a “social market” economy by constitutional definition. The Germans have found the equilibrium between capitalism and social welfare. It is possible. There are very rich people, a solid middle class, and a lot of poor people but everybody have access to a pretty decent educational and health system and social security. In this year all the main corporations had made record profits, taxes income for the government also reached a record, lowest unemployment in 20 years, even the public health insurance companies (public option) have surpluses.
The Great Depression was ended by WWII, not by Keynesian economics.
We know how the world dug itself out of the Great Depression, and it wasn’t economic austerity. It was deficit spending. It was Keynesian economics.
BS.
It was ended by building tanks and airplanes, real goods not social services, and selling them to countries abroad.
I love people with short memories.
They spout the most amazingly funny bullshit.
When was Hoover dam built?
When was the interstate system built?
When was the Golden Gate bridge built?
When were thousands of federal buildings built and furnished with art and furniture?
What is the difference between building a dam which irrigates vast areas of desert, an interstate system and bridges to carry the goods that you produce to distant markets, and plowing the wealth of the nation in the military?
Can you eat a bullet?
We have been lending the foreign markets (those countries abroad) the money to buy those tanks and airplanes that we have sold since WWII, and those sales have come back to bite us in the ass.
Wrong on all accounts.
Saying the dam was a make work project is false. The GD didn’t start until 1929. The Dam was authorized by Congress in 1928, after a decade of planning.
The Interstate highway system didn’t get started until the mid-50’s.
The Golden Gate Bridge was conceptualized in 1918 and was authorized by CA in 1928 (again, a year before the GD).
The only things that happened during the GD was a substantial increase in the number of welfare programs and a 1000% increase in the number of regulatory agencies, none of which did a single thing to pull us out. Production is how you pull yourself out of tough economic times, not make work projects.
What is the author complaining about? Austerity? The Senate hasn’t even passed a budget in 3 years. Their Budget Chairman finally decided to start this week. The Republicans showed up, but the Democrats stayed away, because their leader doesn’t want their members to have to take a difficult vote.
I guess it is a form of austerity to never even vote on a budget.
At the same time, Harry Reid is praising junk mail.
“A lot of it is what some people refer to as junk mail, but for the people who are sending that mail, it’s very important.” “And when talking about seniors, seniors love getting junk mail. It’s sometimes their only way of communicating or feeling like they’re part of the real world,” Reid continued. “Elderly Americans, more than anyone in America, rely on the United States Postal Service, but unless we act quickly, thousands of post offices . . . will close. I’ve
Keynesian economics is crap! If you want to read about it here is a Wiki link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_economics
Something you dipstick “economists” don’t seem to realize is that Keynesian economics was a THEORY from the 1930’s! It may have helped get the USA through some tough times like the great depression and World War II but that was at least HALF A CENTURY AGO!!!
Remember your history (or be condemned to repeat it)! Keynesian economics was developed at a time when America was still primarily agriculturally centered, when there were less people and a whole lot less technology, and when there were completely industry voids like high tech, interstate highway systems and even airplane manufacturing (sure, there were some fledgeling companies but it was mostly R&D). And do we really want to look at international trade? Get REAL!
So when you want to start spewing crap and showing your pseudo-intelligence about an ancient THEORY you simply are NOT worth listening to.
If you want to join the rest of us in the TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY then great. Just stop trying to apply old tech to new situations. It’s like trying to put Conestoga wagon wheels on a Porsche 911 – it’s beyond STUPID!
Let’s also not forget one other thing: applying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is quite literally a definition for INSANITY! Keynesian may have been credited for working THEN but this isn’t THEN!
duh?
So–I was reading the first page of comments and the note at the bottom said “Newer Comments” and brought me here.
These are “new” comments? Ha, ha. Very OLD comments–the non-think of Luddites.
We have our standard issue LIEberTARD Liberty Loser saying that the Great Depression was ended by building tanks and airplanes. It is a downright wonderment the child doesn’t realize that building took place on borrowed/printed money: ie Debt Finanacing, IE==Keynesian Principles.
What an IDIOT Loser proves himself to be. Maybe just a turd? Hard to tell. Has lots of company though like Anonamouse just above. Who knew that in the 1930’s America was primarily an agricultural society? Still, musta been pretty smart boys to turn all those corn fields into military arms factories. But Yes–lets criticize Keyns for being developed in the 1930’s and replace it with theories from 1650? Hah, ha. Dopes on Steroids.
Say Anon–could you copy and paste the verbiage from your link that indicate Keynes is crap? I didn’t see any in my quick read.
And sadly we have someone who might be an international reader? Che Jong-un advises: “There is just this idea (stupid one) that you should not spend more than what you make. As simple as that.” And who could ever disagree with that?……except spending more than we made was exactly what pulled the USA out of the depression by building tanks and airplanes and kicking Nazi ass?
Such simplicity does have its appeal. You know: like any business executive has the qualities to run a country? Or that a countries finances are just like a homeowners? Good solid common sense. The fact that Keynes recommends exactly that should not be missed.
Morans.
the problem with our situation isn’t the deficit necessarily. it’s that we didn’t follow the Keynesian policy when times were good. when times are bad yes with deficit spend to keep the economy from total collapse. but when times are good, we raise taxes, cut government, and cut the government to keep the economic growth from getting out of hand (sort of a counter-cyclical policy if you will). problem is we spent when times were bad but never paid it back when times were really good. that results in the supply-side stagflationary recessionary mess, like we’re in now. so when we all recover, it’s either face the tax hike to pay everything down or expect the downward spiral to continue.
Didn’t we just try trillion dollars worth of stimulus and $5 trillion worth of debt?
wait.. the Depression ended from the start of WWII.. car manufactures were told to build tanks and planes.. pll were able to get jobs from that. Bailout money isn’t the same thing and didn’t help ppl get jobs.. just got the execs another jet set vacation.
Food and other supplies were rationed. a lot of ppl sacrificed a lot of comforts and lifestyles to win the war. Resource poured into the war, and a lot of good came from it.
WE aren’t doing this on the “wars” we have now. bullshit meaningless political wars that have no end. not to mention the war “meme” with “war on drugs, war on terrorism, war on this, and that” all rhetoric horseshit.
We are sacrificing freedom and human rights over this bullshit. While the media pretends that the Kardashians are more important to report than all the real issues going on.
something is really fucked up in my generation.