Grab Our Party » Economics

Obama, you are done

clay — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:06:46 +0000

A president who has lost the confidence of the American people blamed everyone but himself for the problems of the nation. He dared lecture the Supreme Court on jurisprudence, complained about Senate procedure (which he himself operated within and benefitted from) and then pointed the finger of blame (yet again) at his predecessor. The most comedic moment was when one of the biggest spenders in American history gave the country a lecture about the dangers of spending too much. He ought to know.

None of what happened in the last year he had anything to do with. Except the stuff he liked. ‘Natch.

That this most brazen nitwit (BN) got elected is testimony to how screwed up the NeoCons made things.

It’s incredible. After the BN increased domestic spending by 24% over the last Bush budget, he now claims that he wants to control spending. Yeah. If he’s serious about reining in spending, he should cancel his $trillion health care plan, his cap-and-trade plan, and rescind his efforts to increase the debt limit. The BN won’t do any of these things because he’s not serious about any of these things.

He has two core competencies: telepromptering and complaining. And to think I really thought he had legitimate political skill. He can’t hold Clinton’s jock (unless he asked *really* nicely – we are talking about the man’s livelihood here), much leass Reagan’s. Day 373 of “America Held Hostage”

It’s the jobs, stupid

patrick — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:17:38 +0000

10.0% unemployment is never a good thing.

What economic recovery?

It’s still the economy, stupid

patrick — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:26:09 +0000

About that recovery, Mr. President:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that mass layoff events, where a single employer lays off 50 or more employees, increased 24.7% from July, by far a high for this year. Initial jobless claims also hit a high, giving an indication that the economy is far from recovery.

via Hot Air » Blog Archive » Mass layoffs jumped almost 25% in August.

Rent and Taxes in the City of Austin

patrick — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:03:40 +0000

Seemingly related stories out of Austin that exemplify the “Let Them Eat Cake” mentality in our elected leaders:

The Austin City Council decided this morning to cut the rents for Austin Java and Fit City, two businesses that lease space on the first floor of City Hall.

As we explained in a story this morning, Austin Java will now pay only 4 percent of its gross monthly sales instead of its current rate of 7 percent. Fit City, owned by RunTex owner Paul Carrozza, will pay $10.50 per square foot per month instead of $28 per square foot.

via Council cuts Austin Java, Fit City rents | City Beat.

Meanwhile, taxes are going up across the city:

Transportation user fees, Drainage fees, Development and Zoning fees, and property taxes all are set to rise in the proposed 2009-2010 city budget. No layoffs of city employees or cuts to non-emergency city services are mentioned.

WSJ talks to Perry: fiscal propriety why TX rocks

clay — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:35:20 +0000

The Rick pontificates on Palin, Ahnold, and that choade Voinovich. It’s a good read, and illustrates that being pro-business draws good results.

“They spent too much money. They acted like Democrats. They got up in 1994 and said elect us, here’s our contract with America and here are the things that we’re going to do. And Americans said, by gosh, that sounds good, we’re for you, let’s go. And you know what, they went and did it for a while. And then, we took over everything, the presidency, Congress, senate—shoot, man—they lost their way. . . . And they started being more focused on maintaining power. They had ethical lapses. They had moral lapses, but the big issue was they started spending like Democrats. When they passed that pharmaceutical bill for everybody forever—I mean, one of the most expensive entitlement programs that this country’s ever seen before—we started on the road to hell.”

He adds, “I love George Bush, [but] the previous administration’s bailout, I happen to think, was as bad as any program on [Obama's] stimulus side.”

Mr. Perry does not see social issues as the raison d’etre of the Republican Party. “You may elect me if I am pro-life. You may elect me if I’m pro-family values. But you probably will not elect me if I’m not a proven fiscal conservative.”

Recently, Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio complained that the GOP is “being taken over by Southerners.” Mr. Perry responds with a laugh. “He’s a piece of work, isn’t he? ‘You Southerners!’” he points his finger in imitation.

He adds, “I love George Bush, [but] the previous administration’s bailout, I happen to think, was as bad as any program on [Obama's] stimulus side.”

Wanna get away? $2 trillion deficit adjustment as Obama heads to Martha’s Vineyard

patrick — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:59:40 +0000

From Politico comes this stunning bit of Friday afternoon news, as the first family heads to posh Martha’s Vineyard for a week:

The White House is likely to dramatically increase its projected 10-year budget deficit estimate next week by nearly $2 trillion, senior administration officials said Friday.

Obama administration officials have concluded the economy was much worse last year — and tax revenues much lower — than they had initially assumed, which means that the estimated budget deficit will increase from $7 trillion to about $9 trillion over the coming decade.

The administration have “concluded the economy was much worse last year“? Last Year? And we’re in what, now, sunshine and bunnies? A Reuters article, which seems to be where the story broke today, says,

“The new forecasts are based on new data that reflect how severe the economic downturn was in the late fall of last year and the winter of this year,” said the administration official, who is familiar with the budget mid-session review that is slated to be released next week.

“Our budget projections are now in line with the spring and summer projections that the Congressional Budget Office put out.”

The White House budget office will also lower its deficit forecast for this fiscal year, which ends September 30, to $1.58 trillion from $1.84 trillion next week after removing $250 billion set aside for bank bailouts.

My follow-up question would be why it took the administration months to fall “in line” with the CBO’s deficit estimates. How much uncertainty did that “he said, they said” put into the economy? This administration was supposed to be “the smart one.” “The ones we’ve been waiting for.”

My second follow-up is to ask why the revised deficit forecast for the fiscal year? That $250 billion “set aside for bank bailouts.” When does that get factored back into the equation? Is this like me taking a deduction on business purchases and depreciating it over a year? Something tells me, no, that’s not what this is like. So again, where does that quarter-of-a-trillion dollars get factored in? Why play with the deficit forecast for this year when the long-term deficit just got jacked-up into cold, naked reality?

An Associated Press story on August 4, in the Seattle Times, reported,

The recession is starving the government of tax revenue, just as the president and Congress are piling a major expansion of health care and other programs on the nation’s plate and struggling to find money to pay the tab.

The numbers could hardly be more stark: Tax receipts are on pace to decline 18 percent this year, the biggest single-year decline since the Great Depression, while the federal deficit balloons to a record $1.8 trillion.

The stories of lower tax receipts didn’t just start this past week, either. The numbers have been on the bad side for some time. Here’s a July Bloomberg story on New York State’s tax revenue drying up. Here’s one about Texas having 6 straight months of sales tax shortfalls. Six straight months in Texas, where we’re supposed to be weathering this recession better than the rest of the country.

It’s no wonder the President is taking time to go on vacation. In Martha’s Vineyard. At a place that costs $35,000 to $50,000 a week.On the environment, I believe when those who keep shouting that the sky is falling start acting like it, and aren’t out flying cross-country on private jets or building mega-million-dollar energy-sucking mansions – when they start acting like things are as bad as they say – I’ll start to believe them. On the economy, though. It’s a different story.

When the President goes vacationing at one of the most expensive vacation spots in the country while quietly doing a Friday afternoon “Bad News Dump” on a multi-trillion dollar deficit adjustment (for the worse)… Well, it’s hard to believe things are not as bad as all evidence to the contrary states. It’s not bad for him, apparently. Just the rest of us.

Where’d I put my cake? I’m getting a little peckish.

What economic recovery?

patrick — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:48:47 +0000

How will Gibbs spin this:

More than one in every eight homeowners with a mortgage was behind on home loan payments or in some stage of foreclosure at the end of the second quarter, as mounting unemployment aggravated the housing crisis, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Thursday.

The percentage of loans that were in foreclosure or at least one payment past due rose to 13.16 per cent, the highest increase since the MBA began keeping records in 1972 and a jump of more than a percentage point since the first quarter.

Not too sure I’d be out hyping it up that things are getting better. Unless, of course, I knew things were going to get much worse…

Line by line, it’s now Obama’s

patrick — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:48:24 +0000

It’s time for him to own the problem, line by line, if you will. More nice graphics by gunzip here.

It’s a cool take on the CBO’s graph you can see here.

(tip of the hat to Glenn Reynolds)