The Obama Recovery Continues
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| Source: Dallas Fed |
Meanwhile huge deficits continue to build up the national debt, unfunded liabilities continue to grow (compare the 1983 social security reform that plugged trillions of dollars of unfunded liability in the social security funding hole, without which today baby boomers would be seeing massive cuts in social security benefits) and un-/under-/non- employment aggregate running at levels not seen in decades.
It's Bush's fault, no Reagan's, no Sarah Palin's, no Paul Ryan's. No it is the rich people. You the people, the real people should have an opportunity to get what you what when you want it without work, foresight, saving and provisioning, making hard choices, financial responsibility and sacrifice. It's working. No need to change course. There. I got it. Go.
I am a huge supporter of gay marriage, a supporter of increased taxes, and a huge supporter of Obamacare (or at least a version that is not as screwed up as the current model), yet I am a conservative Republican. How and Why? The core of being a conservative is something I learned years ago as a caddy." Golf not Played by the Rules is not Golf", and no matter how bad your luck, one still "Plays it at it Lies". Those two golf idioms are the bedrock of conservative political beliefs. No matter how badly life has treated you, you are still responsible for your own destiny, and you take responsibility for your own actions. And as a result, conservatives are wealthier (I know more than a few vey well paid liberal real estate agents who are living pay check to pay check, but boy, do they dress, drive, and play well ), and they are FAR happier in their primary familial relationships. So taking responsibility for me means taking my party's share of the blame for the explosion in the national deficit, and it began with Ronald Reagan. He played Chicken with the budget, and every succeeding President has played the same game. (Clinton gets some credit, but his Presidency was during the time of the aftermath of the end of the Cold War and an explosion of technology that profoundly influenced productivity as well as cheap goods made available to American that resulted from manufacturing going overseas.) Today we have none of this, and as a result, America is worse off. I understand full well that taxing high income earners is not going to ameliorate our debt problems by itself, the need and moral imperative for doing so could not be any more transparent. THE GAP BETWEEN HIGH INCOME EARNERS AND THE MIDDLE CLASS AND THE WORKING CLASS AND THE IMPOVERISHED CLASS IS AT ITS LARGEST EVER. Increasing taxes will reduce the deficit and it will create more cohesion among Americans. The alternative is become exquisitely class conscious. Just take a look at the Geni Index where only Brazil is higher...(Part 1)
ReplyDeleteAnd I certainly understand your profound and heartfelt frustration with what you observed in DC over your truly distinguished career (Not that many Americans can rightfully claim that they saved our great country a cool billion as you can). But while you were in Washington living a relatively stable life with stable income, I was home in Chicago living a life of outright chaos as a result of a mistreated closed head injury that took FOUR DECADES ( and about $300K out of my pocket) to successfully treat (Although I still go to my craniosacral therapist once a week). Moreover, I have lived a life where I drove a cab for 70 hours a week making poverty wages if I only drove 40 hours five days a week, and I am now making (and will for some time) an income that puts me near the top one percent of Americans. So I have lived life from all ends, which gives me a wisdom and maturity that very few people have. (My assistants say the same thing. "Scott knows how to make friends faster with more people than anybody we know as well as get under their skins quicker.) And here is what I have seen from the heartland of America: 1): An absolute evisceration of manufacturing and with it family stability. Endless jobs have been shipped overseas. 2): The rise of the paper class where inputting of "paper" becomes a means in itself. One need look no farther than what has happened to African American Families to understand what the combination of these two trends has meant. And the largest individual component of the paper class is MEDICINE where SGA dwarfs that of all other industries, And make no mistake about it, there is NO incentive to cut costs by any medical provider--No today, not in the near future, and certainly not in the past 30 years. None of the dramatic increase in medical costs over that time was attributable to Mr. Obama. What will bring down medical costs? When each and every tax payer comes to the realization that THERE IS NO FREE RIDE. It is my belief that Obamacare will lead to this conclusion. Time will tell (Part 2)
ReplyDeleteThe year is 2013. In less that three years, there will be a Presidential Election. If Real Clear Politics is to believed, it is going to be very hard for the Democrats to win in 2016 unless Obamacare makes a dramatic comeback and does not further drag down the economy as it will most surely do for quite some time. Accordingly, the Republicans are going to have an unfettered opportunity to fix the economy in a way they never have had as the odds are very high that they will have control of the House and most likely the Senate. They will need to focus on REALISTICALLY managing expectations, and rebuilding the culture of RESPECT for working with one's hands. Work of any sort is dignified. And since those who have lost are my primary source of clients, I can tell you that these people get it big time. They know that things are never going to be as good as they once were. If they do not screw up and start to balance the economy, the Republicans will be in charge for the next 20 years simply because of the energy boom that is going to happen. But if they stick with their goofy social agenda and do not tax the rich, they will go nowhere. Oh yeah, one other group of people who are not doing that well. Lucy goes to a Magnet School in Chicago, where resources are maximized. No art. No real music. Crummy technology. Park View was better. (Part 3)
ReplyDeleteNow for what I observed in Chicago. Coincident with the demise of the manufacturing class in Cook County was the growth of the medical class. And with it came massive increases in paperwork relative to the actual work being done. John Kass, who is the current Mike Rokyo of the Chicago Tribune first came to prominence when he wrote a series of articles on an outright hustle whereby private psychiatric hospital institutionalized behavioral challenged teenagers for times that dwarfed far more serious diagnoses for adults. (Ultimately, these hospitals were closed after the government cracked down with no harm to society.) In particular Kass wrote about Old Orchard Hospital in Skokie, which (as I recall) an average patient stay of some 90 days. The money made off of private insurance was staggering. This is just one example, as there were many more when MRIs were used to diagnose all kinds of soft tissue problems that were easily diagnosed by other much cheaper means. All of this was a hustle supported by insurance companies, the very same companies that for the time being are benefitting from the first iteration of Obamacare. But no one cared because health insurance was free. But as of now, health care costs is much more a part of national scrutiny. And that (as awkward as it seems) is a very good thing. Finally, let me put it this way. "I am glad Obama gets first crack at this program, because no matter who was in charge, would have screwed it up.".
ReplyDeleteOne final fact. Guess who the medical director of Old Orchard Hospital was?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the above graph says it all. Your work is first rate. This is not an economy that is recovering, and when Robert Shiller worries about a bubble in the US stock market, it is time to worry.
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ReplyDeletethat is always what I hear you say
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