Let My Free Market Go: Alternate Recession Strategy

Some Economists Say Best Way to Battle Recession Is a Do-Nothing

abc news

By JOHN HENDREN and MELLEN O’KEEFE

Jan. 31, 2009

The debate on Capitol Hill this week is all about the size of the stimulus: Should it be big? Bigger? A behemoth? But there is another school of thought that’s getting less attention.

Call them the do-nothings.

In these free-spending times there’s a growing movement among economists who say the best way out of this recession is to do nothing, nothing at all.

“I think there’s nothing wrong with doing nothing,” David Henderson of the Hoover Institution told “Good Morning America.”

Nor do the 250 other economists who signed on this week to an ad in the New York Times and Washington Post.

“Government just doesn’t work very well,” said Dan Mitchell, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. “We tried big spending under Bush, it didn’t work. We tried big spending under Hoover, it didn’t work.

“A lot of bad government policies got us into this mess and we don’t have a magic wand to get us out right away,” he said. …

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=6776245&page=1

Just what are they talking about when they say:

“Government just doesn’t work very well,” said Dan Mitchell, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. “We tried big spending under Bush, it didn’t work.

What BIG SPENDING under Bush is Dan Mitchell talking about? The Iraq war? The stimulus program? Both?

If Mr. Mitchell is saying what Mr. George W. Bush tried did not work, the world already has experienced that fact. But Mr. George W. Bush’s government was not indicative of American governments in general. Mr. Bush’s government with neocons driving it turned into a disaster. There is a hint here that something Mr. Bush tried was suppose to work. That is wishful thinking.

Mr. Mitchell may be close to being correct if he is saying Mr. George W. Bush spent BIG on the Iraq war and that did not work – there he might get other than neocons on his side.

Mr. Mitchell said:

We tried big spending under Hoover, it didn’t work.

If Mr. Mitchell is talking about the Hoover who presided over the Nation’s first Depression then eyebrows should be raised. Those 30’s Republicans were interested in using TARIFFs to bail America out of the depression. No one was speaking of “cause and effect” regarding the TARIFFs but after the TARIFFs were applied, what was an American depression turned into a WORLD WIDE DEPRESSION. Other countries followed America’s lead on TARIFFs.

Mr. Mitchell also said:

“A lot of bad government policies got us into this mess and we don’t have a magic wand to get us out right away,”

It is said that, “Confession is good for the soul”. The above statement is good for the soul. Mr. Mitchell put his finger on the CAUSE of the economic meltdown. And if the cause of a problem is known why not fix the problem by addressing its cause. That is a rational approach. How could it make sense to do otherwise? If bad government policies got us into this mess, admit it(even though it pains neocons) and proceed with the problem solution.

The idea of doing nothing while waiting to see “HOW LOW WE CAN GO” is ludicrous. But it might cast suspicion away from the current neocons who got America into this mess.

The below is an excerpt from the Hoover Institution’s Mission Statement:

… Ours is a system where the Federal Government should undertake no governmental, social or economic action, except where local government, or the people, cannot undertake it for themselves…

http://www.hoover.org/about/mission

While America’s federal government is certainly powerful – in the hands of some “administrators” it can host a series of mistakes, train-wrecks and miscues. That is the current situation today. If the federal government makes mistakes, the federal government owns the mistakes.  And a member of the old Bush team made that point clear when he said, of Iraq, if you break it you own it. The Bush team broke Iraq but handed the broken pieces to Iraqis to put together again.

If the federal government creates an American  problem, then the federal government owns that problem. Ex-President Harry S. Truman put his “The Buck Stops Here” on his desk. For the neocons it has been, “round and round she goes – where she stops nobody knows”.

Republicans(neocons) and Opportunity

The pre-2006 congress was in the hands of neocons. And those neocons( the extreme right wing of the Republican party) RULED Congress with an IRON HAND. For example, the Democrats tried to TALK about the new judge that the Bush team was adding to America’s Supreme Court. The IRON HAND of the neocons came down HARD on the Democrats. The neocons, with their Congressional majority, threatened to KILL THE FILIBUSTER DEAD. The filibuster has long been a tradition in America’s Congress. But the Republicans had the power to kill the filibuster and the Democrats believed the Republicans had the will to kill the filibuster.

Democratic opposition to Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito softened. And the filibuster survived to later become acceptable to the neocons especially after the American electorate, in 2006, “remodeled Congress”.

It appears that the neocons can “go either way” on the life of the filibuster. If it suits them, they’ll use it. If it does not suit them, they’ll kill it. They’ll go where ever the opportunity is. Too much of what defines America seems to be “up for grabs” in the minds of the neocons. The “EXPLETIVE DELETED” description of America’s Constitution trumps the neocon’s feeling about the filibuster. So, just what is it, that neocons hold in “high esteem”? What is it, that the neocons are unwilling to bargain away? What is CORE neocon? Could CORE neocon be described here?

With Mr. George W. Bush gone, and America now looking “cross-eyed” at neocon “management” maybe the world can once again embrace the civilizing rules that were so hard to achieve in the first place.

It took the death of the “League of Nations” to allow the birth of the “United Nations”. The United Nations – itself no where near perfect, fell to even lower levels under the dominance of Mr. Bush and his neocons.

U.N. rules on outer space and the ocean’s floor were ignored – first by the Bush team then by others. The United Nations’ definition of “aggression” was ignored by the Bush team. The Bush team did redefine aggression to “PRE-EMPTIVE SELF DEFENSE” to make aggression palatable to the Western tongue. The Bush team led the world to lower values in multiple categories – war being one of the categories.

Today the neocons recognizes an opportunity in BIPARTISANSHIP. They are once again the “victim” of their own “train-wreck” behavior – first in ethics(2004) and now in domestic and foreign policy.

The Republicans “expressed need” for bipartisanship occurs when they know they are in trouble with the electorate. They were in serious ethics trouble in 2004. The unethical “muck” was deep and smelly. They welcomed the Democrats to “come on in” and lets show America a rare glimpse of BIPARTISANSHIP.

A Midwest columnist was cheerleading an effort to get then Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain to work together at bipartisanship. [That same columnist wrote a column favoring the immediate seating of Judge Alito on the U.S. Supreme Court, without further discussion. That column, likely archived by now, ought to be required reading for historians looking for Mr. Bush’s legacy.]

The Democrats, in 2004, declined to wade into the neck-deep MUCK to put their arms around the Republicans. And, of course, the Republicans, earlier had given the Democrats the same treatment after the Democrats overused their postal services.

The Republicans were left “waiting” for a Democrat to get caught in the MUCK. A single Democrat did get caught in the MUCK some time later. A history making effort by America’s FBI produced a Democrat for the MUCK.

The FBI, on the Bush team’s watch, did something it had never done before. It raided the office of a Congressman. The “Tell America” press reported the entry of a Democrat into the ethics MUCK. Now publications could present the “bipartisan nature” of unethical behavior – one democrat – twenty Republicans.

I noticed that many blog posts, in commenting on the lone Democratic entry into the MUCK,  left out the “first time in American history” part. I attempted to comment about the “first time in history” part. My comments(all three attempts) wound up on the “cutting room floor”. And this was pre-Wordpress, pre-Technorati and pre-Capitol Hill Blue.

Jokes about “refrigerator Jefferson” posted at the website that I was trying to post my comments. After three attempts to get a word in “edgewise” I quit trying. The even-handed management of Internet blog connections is sometimes difficult to understand.

[ The Internet has a comfort zone for everyone – for the good, for the bad and for the ugly. And anyone can play any role at any time. ]

Republicans(of the neocon persuasion) and the opportunity to advance their cause, do seem to go hand-in-hand. The path the neocons takes seems to be the path that offers the best opportunity. It is difficult to predict what the neocons won’t do – if they were presented with an opportunity to achieve something they wanted. Rules seems to be disposable or breakable

Technorati Tags: republicans,neocons,opportunity,congress,iron hand,bush team,kill filibuster

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Back Arrow Normal at Start-Of-Day(Jan 31, 2009)

joejolly’s back arrow is normal at the START-OF-DAY on Saturday, January 31, 2009. It is very likely that this back arrow “problem” is driven by human intellect and not software or hardware malfunctions.

In addition to a possible human intellect component, can the “problem” be further related to a work schedule component? If the problem is driven by human intellect on particular days of the week, does that human being’s work schedule include Saturdays?

At this time, my back arrow problem appears to contain multiple conditions:

• The political  “flavor” of my post
• Possible day of the week(work schedule) of a human intellect

The below post started out the day with a proper back-arrow button. It remains to be seen if the back-arrow button remains true to its “calling” throughout the day, today. If it does, then work schedule might turn out to be a “candidate condition” for my misbehaving back arrow button:

The back arrow(Older Entries) button is shown on the last post on the last page of my blog.

Technorati Tags: back arrow button

Missing Back Arrow Button(01-30-09[03])

Navigation problem continues at a fast pace at WordPress.com. There is no back arrow button on the above webpage.

Technorati Tags: missing back arrow,webpage

Missing Back Arrow (01-30-09[2])

The below webpage should allow access to older posts but at this time the back arrow button is missing.

Back arrow is missing from above webpage.

Turkish PM cheered after Davos walkout

CNN.com europe

January 30, 2009

DAVOS, Switzerland (CNN) — Thousands of people turned out to greet Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his return home from Davos Friday, a day after he stormed off stage following a heated exchange with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

The pair exchanged angry words during the debate but Peres told CNN on Friday the two leaders had spoken on the phone to clear the air.

In a press conference earlier, Erdogan said his words were directed at the Israeli government, not the Israeli people.

“I heard his press conference and he said it was nothing against me, nothing against Israel. So I called him up and said yes it’s nothing against you, nothing against Turkey, we consider you as a friend,” Peres said.

But Peres said it had been his duty to “answer unfounded accusations” and denied either side had apologized to the other.

“I didn’t take it personally, I didn’t go for a personal fight. I answered unfounded accusations, it was my duty, and they didn’t change my mind. I have relations with Turkey, relations with the prime minister, relations with the president and that’s it.”

Erdogan returned home to a hero’s welcome following his scene-grabbing moment in Davos. Thousands of people lined up at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, cheering and waving signs. A large banner read, “You Will Never Walk Alone” and other, smaller signs bore phrases including “Davos Conqueror.”

People were also seen waving Turkish and Palestinian flags and throwing flowers on the road leading to Erdogan’s home. Despite the glowing response at the airport, there has been some criticism in Turkish media of Erdogan’s exchange with the Israeli president.

CNN Turk’s Deniz Bayramoglu said the issue was still “hot” with Erdogan’s secularist political opponents speaking out against the prime minister.

“They also say that Israel’s behavior in Gaza is unacceptable but they are very critical of Prime Minister Erdogan’s behavior,” Bayramoglu said.

“Some are saying they are really proud of Prime Minister Erdogan and some are saying it is a diplomatic scandal.”

Erdogan had been angered after Peres said that Israel is committed to peace and blamed Hamas for the fighting in Gaza, where Israel staged a three-week military operation that ended earlier this month. …

Technorati Tags: davos,turkish pm,israeli prime minister,angry words

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/01/30/davos.wef.friday.wrap/index.html

Missing Back Arrow(01-30-09)

Technorati Tags: missing back arrow,high frequency,wordpress

A Warning to the President

TOP STORIES IN Opinion

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

REVIEW & OUTLOOK | JANUARY 30, 2009

The cost of abdicating to Nancy Pelosi.

Barack Obama promised to end the “politics of division,” unite Washington’s factions and overcome partisanship. And what do you know — so far he has: The President’s stimulus plan generated bipartisan House opposition, with every Republican and 11 Democrats voting against it on Wednesday. It passed 244-188.

The political class is feigning shock that Mr. Obama’s stylistic olive branches to the GOP — cocktail hour at the White House, cutting a line item for shrubbery on the National Mall — failed to peel off even a single vote across the aisle. The chatter is that Republicans were taking a great political risk to oppose a President with 70%-plus approval ratings on his first piece of legislation.

But the real risk here is to Mr. Obama, and it isn’t from Republicans. It’s from his fellow Democrats. Given the miserable economy and the Beltway’s neo-Keynesian policy consensus, a true compromise would have gathered overwhelming support. But rather than use Mr. Obama’s political capital to craft such a deal, the White House abdicated to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. House Democrats proceeded to ignore all GOP suggestions as they wrote the bill, shedding tax cuts while piling on spending for every imaginable interest group. The bipartisan opposition reflects how much the Pelosi bill became a vehicle for partisan social policy rather than economic stimulus. …

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123327812504331563.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#

The Republicans have, once again, “ managed” America into a recession. Only, this “recession” is the BIG one. And while Americans sink into greater and greater despair, articles, like the above seems to portray neocon management as still a viable option. The article mentions both Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter but failed to mention Franklin Delano Roosevelt whose administration inherited an America much like today’s America.

The domestic and foreign conditions today are not like the conditions inherited by Bill Clinton. The domestic and foreign conditions today are not like the conditions inherited by Jimmy Carter. The domestic and foreign conditions today are much closer to the conditions inherited by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR.

America, after about twenty-four years of neocon management, must now be awash in the ideas of the neocons – in both the domestic and foreign arenas. In the domestic economic area, Reaganomics gave new direction to America’s economy. Serious tax cuts were given big business and the wealthy. See the below point of view:

Trickle Down Economics was a Trojan Horse

In the 1980’s Ronald Reagan ushered in a new era in American economics as he cut the top tax bracket from 70% down to 50% and then down again to 28%. In order to get support for doing this from the people, and also from politicians, a very crafty set of lies were produced. As David Stockman, then Reagan’s budget director, put it: giving small tax cuts across the board to all brackets was simply a “Trojan Horse” that was used to get approval for the huge top tax bracket cuts. “Trickle-Down” was a term used by Republicans that meant giving tax cuts to the rich. Stockman explains that:

“It’s kind of hard to sell ‘trickle down,’ so the supply-side formula was the only way to get a tax policy that was really ‘trickle down.’ Supply-side is ‘trickle-down’ theory.”

“Yes, Stockman conceded, when one stripped away the new rhetoric emphasizing across-the-board cuts, the supply-side theory was really new clothes for the unpopular doctrine of the old Republican orthodoxy.”

“…the Reagan coalition prevailed again in the House and Congress passed the tax-cut legislation with a final frenzy of trading and bargaining. Again, Stockman was not exhilarated by the victory. On the contrary, it seemed to leave a bad taste in his mouth, as though the democratic process had finally succeeded in shocking him by its intensity and its greed. Once again, Stockman participated in the trading — special tax concessions for oil — lease holders and real-estate tax shelters, and generous loopholes that virtually eliminated the corporate income tax. Stockman sat in the room and saw it happen.”

“‘Do you realize the greed that came to the forefront?’ Stockman asked with wonder. ‘The hogs were really feeding. The greed level, the level of opportunism, just got out of control. …’”

http://rationalrevolution0.tripod.com/war/trickle_down.htm

The “Warning to the President” article calls today’s Republicans – GOP. That could fit “centrist” and “conservative” Republicans but not “neo-conservative” Republicans. And before the neocons  exposed their performance talent, they wanted a distinction from the staid old GOP and the traditional conservatives. They were neo-conservatives – neocons for short. But the performance nightmares of neocons have persuaded them to quietly dispose of   “neocon” in favor of a name/acronym  that has a better reputation. GOP.

Calling the “new conservatives” GOP adds no clarity to what they espouse. Now that the neocons have established a reputation of their own, why not let them live it?

The neocons want to be called by the same name as Barry Goldwater? The neocons want to  be called by the same name as Dwight D. Eisenhower? The neocons want to be called by the same name as Everett Dirksen? The neocons now want to be called GOP.

If reality matched rhetoric, it would be easier for Democrats to work with neocons.  But the neocons are in a class by themselves. There is nothing, with traction, to the right of neocons. Leaving the neocons, all roads lead left. The John Birch Society does not have traction.

America is too close to the edge to focus on anything but America. The neocons had the opportunity to manage America. But something went wrong. Something went very wrong. Something went terribly wrong.  America is now on its way to oblivion while the neocons still seem to be in “LA LA” land.

How can the neocons still be in LA LA land?

Because most Americans can still get their money out of their banks. Why is that? Because of what Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democrat) did in his effort to help America recover from the first Republican economic debacle of the 30’s.

How did bipartisanship rank during Congressional recovery attempts in the 30’s? There were issues. But FDR had America in focus. America is what President Obama must keep in focus. It is un-smart to think that Republicans and Democrats will reach a “happy medium” on all issues. If that were the case, the neocons would likely still be in power.

America turned “thumbs down” on the administration of Ex-President George W. Bush. And President Barack Obama would be wise to “weigh carefully” political input from that failing extreme right wing of the Republican party. It makes no sense to continue policies that have practically wrecked the country. Trickle down economics(called Voodoo economics by some) don’t work and have been “not working” since the administration of Ronald Reagan. Still, neocons want to solve broken economies with tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. America has excused them from running the country.

Any author who thinks political bipartisanship means caving in to stonewalling Republicans whose management of America has presented America with its SECOND grave economic catastrophe may need to take a little time off – rest a spell. If President Barack Obama relaxes his standards to accept “right wing” Republican dictates – that could be an early step toward Rush Limbaugh getting his “failure” wish. When President George W. Bush failed, the country failed. But Rush Limbaugh is not hoping that the country fail, is he? Opportunists might harbor such a thought.

Missing Back Arrow Button(01/29/2009)

Second case of missing back arrow button on 1/29/09

Back button SB above

Missing Back Arrow Button(01/29/2009)

The above page is missing a back-arrow at the time of this picture. The back-arrow may have returned by now or as on other occasions it may still be missing.