"No matter how paranoid or conspiracy-minded you are, what the government is actually doing is worse than you imagine." - - - William Blum

August 05, 2009

Bits and Pieces for the Week of August 2 - 8

Ahh, the banks, the banks. They are holding toxic mortagages (to the tune of $2T, yes trillion) in order to appear solvent. Sooner or later the dam is going to burst and the financial industry will once again resume its cliff-diving, unless the govt. increases its rate of printing money, which will spur inflation (and continue the cliff-diving anyway). (Mike)

The republi-cons like to argue that they are not obstructionists... really? Six months in office and President Obama still cannot fill his Justice Dept. (7 of 6)

Kudos to former President Bill Clinton. He got the release of journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, from North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. (7 of 6)

Ok, this just pisses me off... "The White House's acting cybersecurity czar announced her resignation..." And why... "People familiar with the matter said Ms. Hathaway has been "spinning her wheels" in the White House, where the president's economic advisers sought to marginalize her politically. Perhaps because of Goldman Sachs new super fast trading computer that gets the jump on all other traders? (7 of 6)

GOP Teabaggers latest unpatriotic, un-American strategy: shout down the healthcare townhall meetings across the country. (Mike)

Hey boys and girls... who says that tax cuts stimulate the economy? Criminal republi-cons... that's who! Now we don't have money to pay for a damn thing. Tax Revenues Post Biggest Drop Since Depression. Or how about we get back to taxing the rich... they have gotten away from paying taxes long enough. We can also stop these stupid fucking wars. (7 of 6)

Just when it was safe to talk about the police in America again... (7 of 6)

4 comments:

muckdog said...

Don't worry, Seven. Recessions last about 18 months and this one is over. The stock market is the best crystal ball out there. Not only has the fat lady belted out a tune, but she's in the back at the after show party.

And to that we owe credit to Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, George Bush, Geithner, and Obama for spending money we don't have to create a short-term burst in the economy.

I'm not really worried about the Wall Street party ending until we see gonzo job growth, the savings rate decline, and Bernanke raising raising raising rates. No time soon, my friend.

Hey, see this?

Newly released data from the IRS clearly debunks the conventional Beltway rhetoric that the “rich” are not paying their fair share of taxes.

Indeed, the IRS data shows that in 2007—the most recent data available—the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid 40.4 percent of the total income taxes collected by the federal government. This is the highest percentage in modern history. By contrast, the top 1 percent paid 24.8 percent of the income tax burden in 1987, the year following the 1986 tax reform act.

To put this in perspective, the top 1 percent is comprised of just 1.4 million taxpayers and they pay a larger share of the income tax burden now than the bottom 134 million taxpayers combined.

Seven of Six said...

I still don't care about your article... the rich have to pay more. The separation between the uber-rich and middle class has never been greater... time to pay the fucking piper!!

gone said...

Yes, the whiners are correct, we need to go back to simpler times - I hear the rich were taxed 90% in the good old days! That's socialism I can get behind!

muckdog said...

Financial stocks still rallying. Money falling from the skies helps. Cash for clunkers? How about cash for foreclosures? How about cash for vacations? How about just plain CASH!!!

There will be another bear market. When? Wish I could tell you. Not right now, though. Interest rates are near 0% and the government is going hog wild on deficit spending.

Party on!