JoB
skylark2625..
according to most economists.. devaluing the toxic assets by 50% isn’t enough.. 20% is more realistic… 50% would be accurate if there had not been massive mortgage fraud which was translated to security fraud by our banks…
are you aware that most of our retirement funds hold those fraudulent security assets?
Who do you think will absorb those losses?
we agree that nationalizing failing banks would be a good idea…
but immediately selling off their assets to private investors simply means that you and i pick up the bill for all of those failed assets… twice… maybe not the best idea.
when the banks fail, business fails since business runs on credit… and then we lose even more jobs.
govt purchase of mortgages is not a bad idea… it’s what stabilized housing after the depression.
as for preventing another mortgage bubble.. all we really have to do is restore the line between private and commercial banking. if banks can no longer package their private loans as commodities and sell them, they lose all incentive for mortgage fraud. one in ten won’t do that… nor will gutting progressive programs that make it illegal to discriminate against borrowers on the basis of their race or sex or ….
do you really think ending capital gains tax will beef up our 401ks and home values?
capital gains only apply to appreciating assets and those assets are pretty hard to come by right now…
i suspect we could abolish capital gains this year and not see any affect on our economy…
cut the tax rate by 20%… sounds great.. but how exactly would that stimulate the economy?
wouldn’t it be smarter to enlarge the food stamp program to include those who are employed… food stamp dollars provide maximum stimulus.. they are actually spent.
a nine month term????
do you really think this will last only 9 months even with a stimulus package?
Current wisdom is if we allow the banks to fail we will no longer talk about the great depression because this one will be much worse… we have already exceeded the stock market losses that triggered the great depression.
and which common commodities would you like to peg the dollar to? Have you been following the futures market for commodities? it’s not looking so much healthier than the stock market.
as for your long term solvency programs…
you propose to drastically reduce the safety net programs and throw the cost of them onto the states…
where will the states get the money to fund them?
and if you end social security or tie it to the poverty level you effectively bankrupt an entire generation of middle class workers who invested in social security.
do you know what the minimum social security benefit is? depending upon the state.. it is between $500 and $1000… less than the cost of rent.
so who will feed those who no longer have the benefit of their social security checks?
not to mention medical care…
and why would you choose to close the governmental agencies that actually offer benefit to taxpayers.. “Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Energy, Education, Health and Human Services, and Transportation ” ??????
isn’t that sort of short sighted?
we are rapidly falling behind other industrialized nations in all measures of national health… health, education, transportation, infrastructure, etc….
unless we invest now that trend will only accelerate…
how can that possibly be good for the long term health of our nation?
***
as for calling a spade a spade…
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/call-a-spade-a-spade.html
it seems it’s origins predate the popular use of the term spade referring to Negros…
of course the term gay had meaning predating it’s current usage as well….
so maybe the jury is out on this.. though wikipedia currently agrees with you.