Showing posts with label bootstraps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bootstraps. Show all posts

Discussion Thread: Recession Realities

In comments, Shaker CassieC writes:
I was wondering if there could be a thread for shakers to share what this recession/depression/catastrophe is doing to them and their friends and loved ones. ... I've just been reading people's accounts here and there, on various threads, and I know how strong the pressure is not to tell these stories of personal difficulties in the US, because of our society's f-ed up code of personal success/failure, which makes it so difficult for the personal to be seen as a collective, legitimate phenomenon.
Here it is.

Commenting Guidelines: Commenters are strictly prohibited from criticizing each other, auditing other commenters' choices, questioning other commenters' circumstances, or offering advice, unless it is explicitly solicited. You are being invited to talk about your own experiences, not stand in judgment of anyone else's.

I Write Letters

Dear Corporations, Rich People Who Were Pissed at the Possibility of Having to Pay Slightly Higher Taxes, and the Politicians Who Represent Your Interests:

Congratulations! You will continue to do very well.

Good for you.

No Love,
Liss

P.S. Just a reminder: The conservative philosophy asserts that private charitable enterprise and philanthropy are better at solving the problems of need than the government. I can't wait to see you fix all the problems this is going to cause!

P.P.S. HA HA JUST KIDDING! You fucking assholes.

OMGLOLWTF WHUT?!

As those on the left of the political spectrum in the US react with outrage to the report that Obama is willing to treat Social Security and Medicare as bargaining chips with the Republicans, Obama has responded by acknowledging that "there is going to be pain involved politically on all sides" during debt negotiations.

Yep. That was definitely my biggest objection. That it might be politically unwise to dismantle the nation's social safety net.

Blink.

I mean, that is some profoundly clueless shit, right there.

Don't get me wrong. It is politically unwise. But I think most of us are rather more concerned about leaving people to eat dog food until they die in abject poverty without heat or healthcare, than concerned about whether the assholes who refuse to tell the rich and corporations that kicking a little bit more into the kitty is JUST PART OF LIVING IN A DECENT SOCIETY get reelected.

Let them eat bootstraps!

I'm So Glad We Elected a Democrat, Part One Billion and Five

Hell to the no:
President Obama is pressing congressional leaders to consider a far-reaching debt-reduction plan that would force Democrats to accept major changes to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for Republican support for fresh tax revenue.
What the everloving fuck. That was a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad plan when George W. Bush proposed it, and it's a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad plan now.
At a meeting with top House and Senate leaders set for Thursday morning, Obama plans to argue that a rare consensus has emerged about the size and scope of the nation's budget problems and that policymakers should seize the moment to take dramatic action.

As part of his pitch, Obama is proposing significant reductions in Medicare spending and for the first time is offering to tackle the rising cost of Social Security, according to people in both parties with knowledge of the proposal. The move marks a major shift for the White House and could present a direct challenge to Democratic lawmakers who have vowed to protect health and retirement benefits from the assault on government spending.

"Obviously, there will be some Democrats who don't believe we need to do entitlement reform. But there seems to be some hunger to do something of some significance," said a Democratic official familiar with the administration's thinking. "These moments come along at most once a decade. And it would be a real mistake if we let it pass us by."
Yes, it would be a real mistake for Democrats to let pass the opportunity to unwind all that socialist claptrap instituted by that loser FDR. Why let the Republicans get all the credit for ruining the country?!

For the record, although I sincerely doubt there's any confusion about this outside the White House: All the times I've written some variation on, "I hope Obama is a more successful president than Bush," that did not mean, "I hope he is more successful at DISMANTLING THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET."

Trickle Down Economics Rulezzz

Firms Have Record $800 Billion Of Cash But Still Won't Hire:
Companies are hoarding a record amount of cash as fears of another Lehman-like credit crisis, weak demand and a lack of incentives from the Obama Administration cause chief executives to choose a negative real return on their money over hiring workers or building a new plant.

The current members of the S&P 500 are sitting on about $800 billion in cash and cash equivalents, the most ever, according to data by Birinyi Associates, even as the unemployment rate has ticked back above 9 percent.
Lower corporate tax rates! Cut payroll taxes! Let's make those corporations filthy rich so they can KEEP NOT HIRING PEOPLE.

Also! I propose a vice tax on bootstraps!