Puterbac News Network and Political Discussion Thread

[puterbac]

I want Clinton back as President and Newt back as Speaker. They remain the fiscal Dream Team of the past 40 years.

Bush, McConnell and Boehner were big borrowers and spenders. Obama, Pelosi and Reed were bigger borrowers, bigger taxers and catastrophic spenders.

I wish it were that simple, but ignoring the main reason we had surpluses doesn't mean its going to happen again.

The internet age led to tens of millions of high paying jobs requiring well educated people (aka non-union HEH). Those biz and employees CREATED wealth that was taxed and led to huge increases in revenue that DC didn't expect. Therefore it took them a little time to figure out how to spend it and when they did the dot com crash occurred and Y2K spending evaporated.

Throw in VERY low energy prices and relative peace (less military spending pressure) and you get surpluses with Newt and Bill.

I'm sure some other enormous market is out there waiting to be tapped, but nobody knows what it is yet.

[sardis]

History shows, when it comes to budget matters, you want R's in congress.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHASSLEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

You mock the truth...

[bluetick]

Party Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . Average Annualized Market Gain

Democratic President, Dem Congress. . . . . . . . . . 6.53%
Democratic President, Rep Congress . . . . . . . . . . 9.60%
Republican President, Rep Congress . . . . . . . . . . 1.54%
Republican President, Dem Congress . . . . . . . . . . 6.37%

historical data from DJIA, 1901-2006


History shows you want a R congress and a D president. And it's easy to see which combination works the least..

[Professor Tiger]

You've gotta have the right kind of Dem President. Clinton was every bit the moderate centrist that he was advertised. Obama turned out to be every bit the uber-liberal his detractors warned against (at least in his economics; foreign policy-wise, he has been the second coming of W).

[bluetick]

DRIVER'S SEAT on msnbc.com
by Paul Eisenstein 7/6/2011

For the first time in years, a U.S. automaker has topped the passenger car sales charts.

Chevrolet's new compact Cruze was the best-selling car in the United States in June, new sales data show, cruising past perennial chart-toppers like the Toyota Camry and Honda Civic.


flashback to comments made about the GM and Chrysler bailout made in Dec 2008:
"Their business model is a disaster and their decisions are terrible," said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL. "It is unrealistic to think that companies who have failed to make tough choices over decades will get their act together now that they have received a downpayment from taxpayers."

[AlabamAlum]

Their sales are good. What's their balance sheet look like? I havent owned GM stock since 1994. Would be kinda nostalgic to pick up a few shares if they are making money.

[bluetick]

More from Sen. Shelby (May 2009):

"We should have let the market forces work it out. That's the way we've always done it... What we've done...it's the road towards socialism, government intervention in the market in a big way. What's the end game here and can the American people afford it. I think the answer is obviously not."

[TheBigMook]

You've gotta have the right kind of Dem President. Clinton was every bit the moderate centrist that he was advertised. Obama turned out to be every bit the uber-liberal his detractors warned against (at least in his economics; foreign policy-wise, he has been the second coming of W).

again.... BWAHAHAHAHAHAHASSLEHAHAHAHAHAHA! That was a joke right? Obama is pretty much exactly the same as Clinton. Maybe a smidge further left or right but near enough to make no difference.

[bluetick]

Their sales are good. What's their balance sheet look like? I havent owned GM stock since 1994. Would be kinda nostalgic to pick up a few shares if they are making money.

They're trending UP UP UP!

heh - at least for the last 3 weeks

[AlabamAlum]

Their profit by % of sales is still anemic for the auto industry. Their bottom line did get a 1.5 billion dollar shot in the arm because they sold off Delphi and Ally Financial.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 30534.html

[Professor Tiger]

again.... BWAHAHAHAHAHAHASSLEHAHAHAHAHAHA! That was a joke right? Obama is pretty much exactly the same as Clinton. Maybe a smidge further left or right but near enough to make no difference.

When you borrow a trillion dollars from the Chinese, tripling the debt in just two years, and spend it mostly on Democrat constituency groups (especially union government workers), and call it "stimulus," you are an economic liberal far beyond Clinton's wildest dreams.

[AlabamAlum]

Obama/Biden < Clinton/Gore.

It's not really even close.

Anyway, as we all know, the president gets too much credit when things are good and takes too much heat when things are bad.

What I'd like to see from Obama.

1. Drop the Patriot Act like it was hot.

2. Get out of wars in countries that will hate us no matter what - unless we get oil, influence or land/bases as a result of our involvement.

3. Get control of the border with Mexico by drying up jobs for illegals by putting teeth to the penalties for hiring illegals.

4. Raise taxes, but agree to cut spending and waste. I would actually like to see a 1:1 spending cut to tax raise. For example, raise taxes by 600 billion, cut spending by 600 billion (etc). Would that be painful? Sure. But we spent 3.5 trillion last year- which is 500 billion more than we spent in 2008.

5. Tie corporate tax breaks to their employment of full-time employees. Give a % of the salary for each FTE added in the previous year. For example, a company with 215 FTEs in 2010, that goes to 300 FTEs in 2011, added 85 employees. If those employees have an average salary of $40k, give that company a $2000 tax break (5%) x those 85 employees, or a 170k tax
break. Put caps on it as needed (we've had programs like this before and they've been successful). This will not reward companies who eliminate jobs or sends those jobs overseas.

[Professor Tiger]

Here's my list, which is pretty similar to AA's:

1. To make the R's happy, pass a 2013 budget that is a carbon copy of the 2008 budget. If we didn't have millions dying in the streets in 2008, then we probably won't in 2013 either. That simple reasoning would probably appeal to the public, and would be hard for the D's to attack. If we need more money for the social safety net in this recession, then take that money from the countless other worthless programs in the federal budget.

2. To make the D's happy, return tax levels back to the last year of the Clinton era. If the economy didn't implode with that level of taxation, then it probably won't in 2013 either. That simple reasoning would probably appeal to the public and would be hard for the R's to attack.

3. Pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, which would require a supermajority congressional vote to pass any deficit.

4. While you're at it, pass another constitutional amendment banning the use of US military forces on nation building escapades abroad. Abolish the War Powers Act and go back to the Constitutional requirement for Congress to declare war.

5. Abolish ObamaCare unless they can find a rational way to pay for it in compliance with a budget amendment.

6. Make the border with Mexico impregnable, then give amnesty to the non-criminal illegals already here.

[Professor Tiger]

7. Make Social Security solvent by rising the retirement age and means testing. This should take effect in 10 years to give everybody time to prepare for it.

[Big Orange Junky]

It's kinda easy to be atop sales when you get an unfair advantage over your competition via the gubment to enable you to absorb underpricing your competition via oodles of cash stolen from the taxpayer.

Throw in all the free advertising from the gubment slurping mainstream media and you SHOULD be atop sales.

[bluetick]

Thank God BOJ stepped up; all of the preceding clear thinking/problem solving was giving me the willies.

It's kinda easy to be atop sales when you get an unfair advantage over your competition via the gubment to enable you to absorb underpricing your competition via oodles of cash stolen from the taxpayer.

Ford passed on the bailout, so the only ones who could claim "unfair advantage" would be foreign automakers. Hello?

Throw in all the free advertising from the gubment slurping mainstream media and you SHOULD be atop sales.

Assinine. Where did you dream THAT one up?

[Toemeesleather]

I'm guessing the % unemployed is dropping like a rock...

[AlabamAlum]

GM is still a dog financially. Whatever pol lambasted them (Shelby?) was spot on.

[bluetick]

Heh @ "whatever pol."

No doubt the Yellowhammer State produces more Mercedes, Hondas, Toyotas, and Hyundais as a group than any other comparable land mass anywhere on the globe. Shelby has been described in some circles as a foreign corporate agent moonlighting as a US Senator. You gotta say the man had chutzpa for taking on the role of point man for trying to effectively gut the Detroit automakers.

Anyway. In my naiv-i-TAY, I thought a US automaker leading the way in sales for the first time this century over Japan and the rest of the world was a pretty good thing. Obviously others don't see it that way.

sushi lovers, the lot of them... even on the Fourth

[bluetick]

T. Bowden, R. Shelby, G. Stallings