11 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba
10 Temmuz 2012 Salı
9 Temmuz 2012 Pazartesi
The GOP's War on Americans
Today I re-posted two articles that I think are significant to the unemployedif they rely on any type of government assistance. One article debates what theRepublicans define as "welfare" and the other article refers to theRepublican's proposed cuts in spending next year.
Also read "The Human Disaster of Unemployment", posted inthe NewYork Times by Dean Baker and Kevin Hassett on May 12, 2012:
"Older workers have seen the largest proportionate increase in unemployment. The number of unemployed people between ages 50 and 65 has more than doubled. A worker between ages 50 and 61 who has been unemployed for 17 months has only about a 9 percent chance of finding a new job. Economists estimates a 50 to 100 percent increase in death rates for older male workers in the years immediately following a job loss. There are various reasons for this rise in mortality. One is suicide."
I am the 'Beast' the Republicans want to 'Starve': Starve theBeast is the well-documented and radical 34-year-old plan that Mitt Romney,the Republicans, and the Tea Party endorses for deliberately bankrupting thegovernment."
Define ‘Welfare State,’ Please
Even those who denounce our “unsustainable welfare state” don’t agree on what it is or how its spending should be measured.Brandishing the phrase in his recent call for a structural revolution, David Brooks of The New York Times didn’t get specific.
The Heritage Foundation sometimes offersa narrow definition of the “unsustainable welfare state,” based onmeans-tested programs – benefits directed to those with income below a povertythreshold, like Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, food stamps andMedicaid.
Like many conservative Republicans, however, the Heritage Foundation oftenincludes bigger entitlement programs that are not means-tested, like SocialSecurity and Medicare, within its unsustainable category.
The ball seems to get bigger as it rolls downhill. Some criticsconsider the entire government payroll part of the unsustainable welfare state.Others use governmentspending as a share of gross domestic product as a warning sign. By thesemeasures, military expenditures also count.
Academic researchers also disagree about specifics. The economists IrwinGarfinkel and Timothy Smeeding, for instance, assertthat spending on education should be considered part of the welfare state,emphasizing its productive contributions to the development of human capital.
Like many other researchers, including Christopher Howard, author of “TheHidden Welfare State,” they insist that analysis of government spendingalone provides an incomplete picture, because tax expenditures, such as thecosts of tax breaks for employer-provided health insurance, or for children,should also be counted.
It seems odd to give the same “welfare state” label to all thesedifferent categories of spending. Their distributional impact varies enormously.Means-tested government spending on low-income families is small relative toother transfers. Social Security and government employment tend to benefit themiddle class. Tax expenditures, in particular, tend tobenefit the rich.
Spending trends also vary enormously. Spending on means-tested programs otherthan Medicaid has not increased much over the long run. According to the Budgetof the United States Government for fiscal 2011, it represented about thesame percentage of G.D.P. in 2007 as in 1976 – about 1.3 percent. It increasedto 1.7 percent in 2009 as a result of the great recession.
When unemployment goes up and stays up, spending on programs like food stampsand the earned income tax credit goes up, helping people who can’t find a joband buffering the economy from the effects of income loss.
Spending on Social Security, often treated as the greatest bugaboo of ouraging society, has remained at 4.5 to 5 percent of G.D.P. since 1985. Thealready carried out transition to a higher retirement age is contributing tocost containment.
The scary increases in government spending have come in Medicaid andMedicare. These two programs, which consumed 1.2 percent of G.D.P. in 1975,reached 4.1 percent of G.D.P. in 2008.
These increases have less to do with government spending than with theincreased costs of health care, regardless of who is paying the bill.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research offers anonline calculator showing how much lower our projected deficits would be ifwe could reduce health care spending per person to levels comparable to those ofother affluent countries. The center also graphs the improvement that wouldresult from successful fulfillment of the AffordableCare Act.
If you distrust these calculations, consider that government spending onretirement and health security is largely a substitute for private spending. Tryprojecting your personal expenditures on retirement and health care if SocialSecurity and Medicare are downsized. Your taxes might go down, but you mightneed to spend more out of your own pocket to buy the services you need.
All government programs deserve critical scrutiny, and there is plenty ofroom for meaningful debate over the relative efficiency of public versus privateprovision. But there is no evidence that social spending in the United States isapproaching some upper limit of feasibility.
What is unsustainable (or should be) is the current level of confusion,misinformation and paranoia about the future of the so-called welfare state.
My Post: Obama's 'Welfare State'
- "Define Welfare State Please" posted in the New York Times by Nancy Folbre on May 14, 2012
The Federal Stimulus Plan
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is now law and
was effective February 22, 2009. Here are some basic facts about how
this law affects Unemployment Insurance.
The Federal Additional Compensation
The recently enacted Federal Additional Compensation Program (FAC)
provides a $25 weekly supplement to individuals who are eligible to
receive unemployment benefits under federal or state law.
FAC is payable effective February 22, 2009. Therefore, the weekending
February 28, 2009 is the first week your unemployment
payment will reflect the $25 FAC. Payment of FAC will continue
through the week ending July 3, 2010 as long as your benefit year was
established prior to January 1, 2010 and you continue to be eligible for
unemployment benefits.
FAC benefits are subject to federal and state taxes. If you are paid
FAC to which you were not entitled, an overpayment will be
established.
An individual may not receive a FAC supplement if they are ineligible
for unemployment benefits.
YOUR FAC PAYMENT WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE INCLUDED WITH YOUR
REGULAR PAYMENT AND IDENTIFIED SEPARATELY ON THE PAYMENT
NOTICE.
Federal tax exemption:
The first $2,400 of UI benefits received during the 2009 tax year are
not subject to federal taxes. If you wish to change your withholding
status on your current claim, please complete the TAX-2 form and fax
the form to 1-217-557-2067 or mail the form to:
IDES
850 E Madison
First Floor
Springfield, IL 62794-9295
Governor Quinn Announces Recovery Money to Help Unemployed
CHICAGO – April 16, 2009. Governor Pat Quinn today announced that the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) will fund an additional 13 weeks of unemployment insurance for Illinois
unemployed workers who otherwise would have exhausted their benefits. The news comes after the Illinois
Department of Employment Security announced that the Illinois unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent last
month.
“The proud workers of Illinois deserve this additional help to weather the storm of this national
recession,” said Governor Quinn. “We need to do more than just extend unemployment benefits – we need to
pass legislation to put the people of Illinois back to work. Two weeks ago I signed the Jump Start Capital Plan
to start projects that put people to work; now I am working with the General Assembly to pass the rest of the
Illinois Jobs Now! plan which will support 340,000 jobs.”
The Extended Benefits Program provides up to 13 additional weeks of unemployment insurance to
workers who have exhausted their 26 weeks of benefits through the state and the additional 33 weeks
provided through federal emergency extensions approved by Congress. Without the Extended Benefits
Program, Illinois workers who exhausted their regular and emergency benefits would no longer receive
unemployment benefits through the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES).
The Extended Benefits Program activated April 5 after the insured unemployment rate exceeded 5
percent. The extended benefits automatically will become payable for weeks beginning on or after April 12.
With extended benefits come more rigorous federal requirements. In order to qualify for extended
benefits, claimants must document their job search, which must generally include at least five personal
contacts with prospective employers each week and three work applications each week. Those eligible for
extended benefits will receive more detail in the mail and do not need to contact the department. Details are
also available at www.ides.state.il.us.
“To assist working families with the more stringent documentation rules, the Department has set up a
centralized customer service center and will provide individual notices to claimants along with required forms
necessary to receive the benefit payment,” IDES Director Maureen O’Donnell said.
Cut-Off Dates for Certain Unemployment Benefit Programs
Under current law, the number of weeks of benefits available to Illinois claimants, based on a single
application, has ranged from 26 to 99, depending upon when they initially applied for regular benefits.
The maximum 99 weeks of benefits has included 26 weeks of regular state benefits; 53 weeks of
emergency unemployment compensation (EUC), in four separate tiers of 20, 14, 13 and six weeks, and 20
weeks of extended benefits (EB).
Under the federal additional compensation (FAC) program, claimants have received an extra $25 per
week in addition to the unemployment benefits they would otherwise receive.
Under current law:
Individuals who did not exhaust regular benefits by May 22, 2010, will not qualify for EUC.
Individuals who exhausted regular benefits on May 29, 2010, potentially qualified for one week
of EB.
Individuals who exhausted an EUC tier after May 29, 2010, will not graduate to the next tier.
The EB program terminated in Illinois as of June 5, 2010.
Individuals who initiated a regular benefit claim after May 29, 2010, will not be eligible for FAC.
There have been several so far unsuccessful attempts in the U.S. Senate to pass legislation to extend the
cut-off dates for qualifying for an EUC tier, as well as the duration of the EB program in Illinois.
However, many observers now expect the Senate will have enough votes to pass an extension by the week
of July 18, when a critical Senate vacancy is expected to be filled. At this point, it does not appear that
the cut-off date for qualifying for FAC payments will be extended or that the total number of weeks
available based on a single application will be increased beyond 99.
Benefit payments to individuals with certification dates occurring the week of July 11 or 18 will be based
on current law. For example, individuals who exhausted any of the first three EUC tiers as of July 10 and
who certify on July 19 will not be paid benefits for the week ending July 17, unless and until federal
legislation is enacted to extend the cutoff date for qualifying for the next EUC tier. Claimants who will
not qualify for further payments without an extension of the cutoff dates for EUC or EB should
continue bi-weekly certification using Teleserve or the Internet on their regular certification days.
If legislation permitting further payments is passed, the Department will release payments for all
unpaid weeks for which claimants are eligible as quickly as possible.
Please check this site for further updates.
Revised: July 15, 2010
YOUR DEBIT CARD IS ABOUT TO CHANGE
How is the debit card changing?
The card that unemployment security bene�ts are deliv-
ered on is going to change. The current blue Visa card will
be replaced by a new red debit MasterCard from Chase.
When will I receive my new card?
The new red Chase debit MasterCard will arrive by mail in
June. It will come with information about how to activate
the card. If you have moved in the last 12 months and have
not updated your address, please call IDES at 800-244-
5631 and make sure we have a current address on �le for
you. If IDES does not have your current address, your
bene�t payments may be interrupted.
How soon can I begin to use the new card?
You can begin to use your new red Chase debit MasterCard
in July. Until then, you can continue to use your current
blue Visa debit card.
Will the new card work differently than the
card I have now?
Basically, the new card will work the same as your existing
card. The color and the name of the card is changing,
but it can be used at all of the locations you currently go to.
Speci�c details about the new debit card will be sent
with the new card in June.
Will the new card affect my unemployment
bene�ts?
The new card will not affect your unemployment bene�ts.
However, there may be a delay in receiving your card if
IDES does not have your current address on �le. If you have
moved in the last twelve months and have not updated your
address, please contact IDES at 800-244-5631.
What will happen to my current debit card?
After June 30, no bene�ts will be deposited on the blue
Visa debit card. You can continue to use the blue Visa
debit card until all funds are spent.
What will happen to any money I have left on
my current card?
Money on your blue Visa debit card will not be trans-
ferred to the new red Chase debit MasterCard. Spend
your blue Visa debit card balance to zero.
What if I make automatic payments from the
old card?
If you have a recurring payment set to be charged to
your blue Visa debit card, the recurring payment can
continue until the balance on the blue Visa debit card is
zero. Then the recurring payment should be redirected
to the new red Chase debit MasterCard.
What should I do if I do not receive a new card?
If you do not receive a new card by July 1, please call
IDES at 800-244-5631.
Who should I contact if I lose or misplace a card?
Blue Visa Debit Card: 800-627-2069
Red Debit MasterCard: 866-728-2167
Address updates and bene�t questions: 800-244-5631
8 Temmuz 2012 Pazar
Recent eats: Classic Frozen Custard, University Library Cafe, Los Laureles.
With the coming of spring I resumed my visits to Classic Frozen Custard [see blog post] and found a new flavor to sample: Green Apple – creamy with an oh-so-slight Granny Smith tartness. A squirt of caramel sauce on top would be delightful.
I talked a friend into breakfast at the University Library Cafe after enjoying several meals there a few month's back [see blog post]. They got bacon and eggs with hash browns, I ordered corned beef hash with eggs. The chunky hash browns – accentuated with peppers and onions – were cooked through well but could have used some browning. Corned beef hash was quite rustic, with abundant shreds of beef. A tad greasy though, but worth trying again to see if it was a fluke.
I also lightly twisted the same dining companion's arm into huevos rancheros at Los Laureles. Some ranchera sauces have pork or beef, some are meatless like the sauce atop my eggs on this visit. Having frequented Los Laureles many times [see blog post] I was pretty much satisfied with my order. The ensalada with a juicy ripe slice of tomato was a pleasing accent. Tortilla chips only came with two kinds of salsa, with the tart, citrusy tomatillo being absent. It wasn't my favorite of the three – the others being tomatoey salsa roja and picante avocado-tomatillo – but I still appreciated its unique flavor.
| Photos from the Picasa Web Albums: Reviewed Foods and More Reviewed Foods |
Nutty Buddha Roll… Veggie Roll and Fried Tofu… All this at Haiku.
For appetizer I tried the Age Dashi Tofu (deep fried tofu). Encrusted with panko bread crumbs it's lightly crisp on the outside, but silken and creamy within. Fresh from the fryer its piping hot! Think of it as vegan fried cheese. You may have to use your imagination on this one.
The Buddha Roll with honey roasted peanuts and avocado is a unusual pairing, but surprises the palate with crunchy, creamy, nutty and sweet all in one dish. The Vegetarian Roll with avocado, cucumber and seaweed salad is a more familiar combination. The seaweed salad adds some chew and sweetness.
Strongly flavored wasabi and pickled ginger should be employed in the slightest of amounts on the Vegetarian Roll. The sweeter Buddha Roll can easily handle a smidgen of wasabi. Soy sauce adds salty balance to the sweetness of either roll.
Of the two, the Buddha Roll clearly is the standout with its peanutty flavor, crunch and honey sweetness. You could have them for dessert.
| Photos from the Picasa Web Album: More reviewed Foods |
Recent eats: Chinese buffet
I was a late bloomer in regards to Chinese buffets, only frequenting them since 2000 when China One International Buffet on Ingersoll was on my way home from work. I liked loading up on fresh items at their Mongolian grill with added heaping spoonfuls of minced garlic and chili paste. I also enjoyed their Hunan tofu which utilized a firm, springy variety of tofu that offered a very satisfying chew. In recent years the tofu went the way of the dodo, along with a few other items of interest. Egg foo young – the Chinese omelet that everyone has heard of but never knew what it was – is a recent addition along with steamed pork dumplings.
A relatively newer buffet in town that I've enjoyed despite its cramped environs is New China Buffet and Grill in Southridge Mall. It's where I first came across candied meatball skewers and wonton in chicken broth. Though lacking a decent vegetarian entree – which I've since learned to be par for the course – I could usually cobble up a decent meal. The fried spring rolls in comparison to China One were on the small side though.
With the train wreck known as Southridge Mall undergoing a major overhaul, New China's location became a parking lot. Good news is that New China moved into a not-so-big-box standalone building nearby. I'm looking forward to a visit to their new digs soon.
For decades I've passed by Ming Dynasty on S.W. Ninth just south of McKinley. One occasion when I was making a beeline to New China, my curiosity in this long-standing fixture finally resulted in a visit. I've since been quite pleased with the selection and quality of items served here, despite the lack of vegetarian entree and small fried spring rolls.
Standard fare like potstickers and candied meatballs are par, but the cream cheese and spinach puffs are sweet and crispy. I could load up on them easily.
| Photos from the Picasa Web Album: Reviewed Foods |
Picnic of the Gods! B.Y.O.A. [Bring Your Own Ambrosia]
The grinder has become the E. 14th location's most popular lunch item. With a choice of side it's a quick and satisfying meal for the hordes of State office workers streaming over from the Capitol Complex dragging themselves through the negro streets at noon looking for an angry fix (apologies to Carl Solomon). With Angelo's prime location, they likely give nearby Kelly's Little Nipper's gargantuan grinder a run for the money [see blog post].
On revisiting the sandwich at E. 14th I found all the aspects that made me swoon over the earlier grinder remained true. The toasty Vienna-style bread, the mozzarella and banana peppers, and of course the abundant Italian sausage/ground beef mixture. So much so that I had to spoon up quite a bit off the waxed paper.
Keller's mac and cheese. | Cool, crunchy cole slaw at Ted's. |
| Photos from the Picasa Web Albums: Reviewed Foods, More Reviewed Foods, and Des Moines area chili joints. |
Perk-up for breakfast at the PerKup Cafe
But what brought me back to this tiny cafe on the northwest corner of 70th & Douglas was a review in one of the local entertainment rags with the headline, "PerKup serves best biscuits and gravy in town." Bold words, indeed. Incredulously the absence of a published photo of said "best" dish piqued my interest even further. On a very busy Sunday morning at the Cafe I sat down for a plateful.
The biscuits and gravy ARE quite good; with plentiful, large chunks of sausage swimming in a well-seasoned gravy. Though a tad loose, the gravy is otherwise quite homey and delicious.
Are these the best biscuits and gravy in town? I can't declare that, but certainly among the best. I'll give props to the Waveland Cafe for toasted biscuits [see blog post] with peppery gravy awards split between the Waveland and D's Main Gate [see blog post]. But in regards to the aforementioned chunky sausage, PerKup rates at the top, and the gravy certainly has a genuine housemade appeal. I may enjoy gravies elsewhere but I'm certain more than a few places make theirs from a mix.
The thin pile of hash browns I ordered on the side – along with fried eggs – are quite brown and crispy! Enough so to require a little effort to cut off a forkful; just perfect! The eggs over easy were ideal. Though I had a short wait to get seated the food came out in no time!
Coming back the following Saturday I resolve to try a single biscuit with a side of strawberry jam. The jam is a little sweet for my tooth, but most things are anyway. The biscuit sported a tender crumbly texture with a subtle undertone of baking soda which I find appealing.
| Photos from the Picasa Web Album: Reviewed Foods |
7 Temmuz 2012 Cumartesi
Will JP Morgan Executives Plead the Fifth?
JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon
The Supreme Court ruled that corporations may be compelled to maintain and turn overrecords. The court has held that the FifthAmendment protections against self-incrimination extend only to "natural persons." [U.S. v. Kordel, 397 U.S. 1 (1970)]
But oddly, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission [558 U.S. 50 (2010)] the court also ruled that corporations are realpersons.
The court has also held that a corporation's custodian of records can be forced to produce corporate documents, even if the act ofproduction would incriminate someone personally. [Braswell v. U.S., 487 U.S. 99 (1988)]
Former CEO of Columbia/HCA Health Rick Scott pleaded the Fifth Amendment for Medicare fraud. His company pleaded guilty to 14 felonies and agreed to pay a $600+ millionfine, at that time, the largest fraud settlement in US history. (Currently over 2,600 pharmacies are also being investigated for $5.6 billion inMedicare fraud.)
Since then, RickScott became the Republican Florida Governor. Besides Governor Rick Scott, below are some other unregulated "job creators"who pleaded the Fifth Amendment:
- Enron executives Andrew Fastow, Jeffrey Skilling, and Ken Lay.
- Maurice R. Greenberg, CEO of AIG (American International Group)
- Rajat Gupta, board member of Goldman Sachs
- MF Global executive Edith O'Brien (former head of Goldman Sachs, Jon Corzine)
- Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison and CFO W. G. Stover
- Richard Scrushy, CEO of HealthSouth
- Bernard Ebbers, CEO of WorldCom ($11 billion accounting fraud)
- Richard Grasso, CEO of the NYSE
- Jeff Neely, head of the General Services Administration
- Stewart Parnell, CEO of the Peanut Corporation of America
- Ann Baskins and Anthony Gentilucc of Hewlett-Packard
- Richard Theriault of Revolutions Medical Corp
- Marylin Star, the pornstar, arrested for insider trading with banker James McDermott
- Executives at Bain Capital
Here's my complete list of other Wall Street Fraudsters. (Remember, the Republicans want less regulation.)
JP Morgan Chase: The Canary in the Mine
Does anybody remember the housing bubble, the stock market crash and the Great Recession?Since then, nothing has ever been fixed yet. The Dodd-Frank bill was just a band-aid, and the Republicans and bankers have been kicking and screaming to repeal itever since.
Recently JP Morgan Chase took risky bets and lost two billion dollars in a matter of weeks. CEO Jamie Dimon hasn't pleaded the fifth, instead he went on TV and called his bank's bets “poorly reviewed" and even "sloppy." He added, "We will learn from it, we will fix it,and we will move on."
Elizabeth Warren says, "Frankly, I don’t think we should just trust Wall Street banks to regulate themselves. Because as we learnedduring the 2008 financial crisis, they are not just taking risks with their own money -- they are taking risks with the whole economy."
New York Times: JPMorgan Chase Executive Resigns in Trading Debacle by Nelson D. Schwartz and Jessica Silver-Greenberg
The Case for Repealing the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and reinstating theGlass-Steagall Act
Elizabeth Warren is calling on Congress to put Wall Street reform back on the agenda and to begin by passing a new Glass-Steagall Act. This was the law that stopped investment banks from gambling away people's life savings for decades -- until Wall Streetsuccessfully lobbied to have it repealed in 1999. (Signher petition here and/or contacther to help.)
A new Glass-Steagall Act would separate high-risk investment banks from more traditionalbanking (like it used to since the start of Great Depression). It would allow Wall Street to take risks, but not by dipping into the life savings and retirement accounts of regular people.
And by making banks smaller, a new Glass-Steagall Act could also help put an end to banks that are "too big to fail" -- further avoidingcostly taxpayer bailouts.
New York Times: Breaking Up Four Big Banks BySimon Johnson
Wall Street's risky bets nearly brought the economy to its knees in 2008. But instead of taking responsibility, Wall Street lobbied towater down the Dodd-Frank financial reforms of 2010 and fought to weaken the reforms Congress passed.
Huffington Post: JP Morgan's Loss Could Be America's Gain by Joseph A. Palermo
As a Republican U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Phil Gramm introduced the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, deregulating the banks in 1999. Three years later after leaving office in 2002 Senator Phil Gramm served as Vice Chairman and a memberof the Swiss banking giant UBS AG.
In May 2009 UBS AG completed the acquisition of the bailed-out AIG Financial ProductsCorp., including AIG’s rights to the DJAIG Commodity index.
Phil Gramm was also John McCain’s presidential senior economic adviser in 2008. Economist Paul Krugman named Phil Gramm asthe # 2 man of the economic crisis. Alan Greenspan was # 1.
Personally, I would have also named Goldman Sachs CEO and U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson as # 3 and PresidentBill Clinton as # 4 for signing the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act into law --- AND forlowering capital gains taxes below the "effective" corporate tax rate (funneling profits into pockets, instead of re-investment andemployment).
Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987-2006, had said, "The regulation of derivatives transactions that are privatelynegotiated by professionals is unnecessary. Regulation that serves no useful purpose hinders the efficiency of markets to enlargestandards of living."
Greenspan opposed the regulation of derivatives on free market grounds and thought the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission had no legal authority to do so. After all the financial mass destruction, in 2012 the Republicans are still demanding lessregulation.
New York Times: Why We Regulate Banks ByPaul Krugman
The banking industry had been seeking the repeal of the 1933 Glass–Steagall Act since the 1980s, if not earlier. In 1987 theCongressional Research Service prepared a report that explored the cases for and againstpreserving the Glass–Steagall Act.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1999 and it repealed part of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933, opening up the market among banking companies(e.g. Goldman Sachs), securities companies (e.g. Enron) and insurance companies(e.g.American International Group - AIG). The Glass–Steagall Act had prohibited any one institution from acting as any combination of an investmentbank, a commercial bank, and an insurance company.
Respective versions of the legislation were first introduced in the U.S. Senate by Phil Gramm (R- Texas) and in the U.S. House ofRepresentatives by Jim Leach (R-Iowa). The third lawmaker associated with the bill was Rep. Thomas J. Bliley, Jr. (R-Virginia).
Most economists stated that the 1999 legislation (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) spearheaded byPhil Gramm and signed into law by President Clinton, was significantly to blame for the 2007 sub-prime mortgage crisis and 2008 global economic crisis, the act that was widelyknown for repealing portions of the Glass–Steagall Act, which had regulated the financial services industry.
Phil Gramm's support was later critical in the passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of2000, which kept derivatives transactions, including those involving credit default swaps, free of government regulation.
In its 2008 coverage of the financial crisis, The Washington Post namedPhil Gramm one of seven "Key Players In the Battle Over Regulating Derivatives".
The 2008 Nobel Laureate in Economics Paul Krugman, a supporter of Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton, described Grammduring the 2008 presidential race as "the high priest of deregulation," and has listed him as the# 2 person responsible for the economic crisis of 2008, behind only Alan Greenspan.
Gramm had joined the bank UBS AG in 2002 immediately after retiring from the Senate, and this is precisely why banks andcorporations should NOT be allowed to contribute to political campaigns, and whymembers of Congress should be barred from accepting jobs from banks and corporations they legislated for.
New York Times: "Switzerland bowed to pressure from the U.S. government, and in an unprecedented step, gaveup the details of wealthy American clients of UBS who were suspected of using the bank's accounts to evade taxes."Today UBS still allows Americans to evade income taxes by using secret numbered bank accounts (Didn't Mitt Romney havea few of these?)
According to the information filed in a criminal case against UBS, some UBS executives are being treated asun-indicted co-conspirators. “These executives occupied positions at the highest levels of management within UBS, including positions oncommittees that oversaw legal, compliance, tax, risk and regulatory issues related to the United States cross-border business.”
If you were a company that had hired the former chairman of the Senate Banking Committee that designed the regulatory systemunder which your company operates, wouldn’t if be a breach of your fiduciary obligation to your shareholders NOT to have him on thelegal, compliance and regulatory committees?
Phil Gramm later became a senior economic adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign from the summer of 2007 until July 18,2008. While shaping McCain economic policy, Phil Gramm simultaneously lobbied Congress onthe mortgage crisis for UBS. Phil Gramm, vice chairman of Swiss-based UBS and McCain campaign general co-chair and advisor "was being paid by a Swiss bank tolobby Congress about the U.S. mortgage crisis at the same time he was advising McCain about his economic policy, federal recordsshow."
Gramm, who was reported to have been advising McCain on economic policy back in October 2006, "had an input onMcCain's March 26 policy speech about the mortgage crisis which recommended further deregulation of the banking industry as hisresponse" to the ensuing mortgage meltdown.
In a July 9, 2008 interview on McCain's economic plans, Phil Gramm explained that the nation was not in a recession, stating, "You'veheard of mental depression; this is a mental recession." He added, "We have sort of become a nation of whiners, you just hear thisconstant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline."
Gramm's comments immediately became a campaign issue. McCain's opponent, Senator Barack Obama, stated, "America alreadyhas one Dr. Phil. We don't need another one when it comes to the economy. This economic downturn is not in your head." McCainstrongly denounced Gramm's comments and on July 18, 2008 Phil Gramm stepped down from his position with the McCain campaign.
As of 2009, Gramm had been promoted by UBS AG as a Vice Chairman of the Investment BankDivision. UBS states that a Vice Chairman of a UBS division is "...appointed to support the business in their relationships with key clients."
His son Marshall Gramm is a professor of economics at Rhodes College, so if you hear his name nominated for economic adviser,start stockpiling canned food, gold, and bullets.
The Senate vote for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was primarily voted along party lines. The final bill was passed by the Senate 90-8,and by the House 362-57. This legislation was signed into law by President William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton on November 12, 1999.
In Conclusion
After doing much research for the last three years, I can now say unequivocally and with certainty that it's primarilybecause of Republican deregulation, union busting, free market polices, and tax favoritism that's put our economy where it is today.
The Republicans allowed for depressed wages, the outsourcing of jobs, tax shortfalls for our treasuries, and the 2008 financialcollapse of the stock market. And what's so frustrating is, today in 2012 the Republicans haven't learned a thing. The GOP and TeaParty STILL advocates for less taxes on the wealthiest among us, free trade agreements, and less governmental regulation.
Since the Great Recession began, millions of Americans lost their jobs, their homes, their cars, and many, their lives. There are moreAmericans unemployed today than there were at the height of the Great Depression. Ifit were not for unemployment insurance, food stamps, and Medicaid (with only one job available for every five people out of work)where would these people all be today? And the Tea Party and GOP want more of the same...lessregulation, tax cuts for the rich, and cutting social services for those wholost their jobs.
In a Wall Street Journalarticle (owned by Rupert Murdoch of Fox News, the propaganda arm of the GOP) on April 15, 2011, as abanking regulator that ruined the American housing market and collapsed our economy, Phil Gramm is now politicking as aneconomist...and now blaming Obama for everything, while praising Ronald Reagan. He takes no blameat all, and like the rest of the GOP, he too wants more of the same.
Some Unregulated "Job Creators"
Dennis Kozlowski, the Tyco CEO who was convicted in 2005 of grandlarceny, conspiracy, and fraud, was sentenced to 8 to 25 years in prison -- but he is out after only serving 13 months -- so sometimes white collar crimes does pay! Dennis Kozlowski walked with$600million.
Gregory Reyes, former CEO of Brocade Communications Systems, had his conviction on charges of backdating stock options thrownout by a Federal appeals judge in August 2009.
John Rigas, CEO of Adelphia Communications Corporation, was forced to retire in 2002 after being indicted for securities, bank andwire fraud; prosecutors charged him with the personal misuse of corporate funds and with hiding $2.3 billion in liabilities frominvestors. Rigas was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison; Adelphia filed for bankruptcy after admitting that the former CEOand his two sons had failed to record $3.1 billion in loans. Rigas, who petitioned for a Presidential pardon in January 2009 and wasrejected, will be 92 years old when his sentence runs out in 2017.
Joe Nacchio, CEO of Qwest International was convicted in April 2007 on 19 counts of insider trading. Prosecutors said he illegallysold $52 million in stock in 2001, even as he knew the company was taking on water. Nacchio was sentenced to 6 years in prison butremained free on $2 million bail pending an appeal. In 2008, a U.S. appeals court overturned Nacchio's conviction, saying a key expertwitness had been wrongfully barred from testifying. But this February the guilty verdict was reinstated, and Nacchio was ordered himto serve out the remainder of his term. In a last-ditch effort to stay out of the slammer, Nacchio asked a federal judge in March toreconsider his request to remain free on bail while he appealed to the Supreme Court for a new trial. No such luck: in April he wasordered to report to prison. Nacchio is now sharing a cell at a minimum-security Federal prison camp at Minersville, Pa. His SupremeCourt appeal is still pending.
Former porn star Kathryn B.Gannon, who goes by "Marilyn Star", was charged with receiving stock tips in 2000. Gannon was themistress of James McDermott, former CEO of Keefe, Bruyette and Woods, a multi-billion dollar Wall Streetfirm. KathrynGannon (who has appeared in films such as "Strap up Sally" ), passed thestock tips on to her other lover, New Jersey businessman Anthony Pompino, who, along with McDermott, was convicted of insider trading. Gannon fled to her native Canada, but was arrested and extradited back to theUnited States, where she was sentenced to only three months in prison. McDermott was sentenced to 27 months in prison, a $25,000fine, and 300 hours of community service.
James McDermott and Kathryn Gannon ("Marilyn Star")
Not only do we need more regulation, but we also need more regulators --- andwe need more people to watch theregulators. And we also need more IRS tax auditors too, because taxevasion is rampant.
- See my list of all the Wall Street fraudsters: JobCreators: The Root of Most Evil (I didn't list the ones that weren'tarrested or convicted yet.)
- Also see my post: Murderand Betrayal of the Rich and Famous (more "job creators".)
- Also see my list of tax evaders: Wesley Snipes and other Rich and Famous Celebrity Tax Dodgers (more "job creators").
- And my post: Subsidies of the Rich and Famous ("job creators" get money from us.)
- Goldman Sachs: Hookers, Thugs and Private Eyes ("Job creators"!)
Mitt Romney Just Took Lemons and Made Lemonade
If I opened a lemonade stand and paid some kid in the neighborhood 5 cents anhour to sell lemonade, I toocould call myself a "job creator". Sure, the guy that sells me the lemons,sugar and plastic cups is making a profit. But what good am I doing for theeconomy as a whole, and what kind of jobs would I creating?
But by its very nature, our economic system of capitalism and free marketsisn't about creating jobs, it's about creating money. Jobs are just sometimesthe by-product.
Banks gamble with derivatives and speculate in the commodities market to make profits,not to create low-paying bank teller jobs.
Manufacturers automate and robotize whenever possible to cut payroll costs,and technology and computers (called innovation), allow companies to producemore with less. Whenever possible, not only are their products exported, buttheir factories are exported as well to take advantage of low labor costsoverseas.
Just since the beginning of the "Bush Years" alone, the UnitedStates lost most of it's better paying jobs in manufacturing. Over 52,000factories had closed, but for almost 30 years before that, outsourcing becamecommon practice as many companies had union employees with collective bargainingagreements that negotiated wages to help keep up with the rising costs of living.
And if a factory wasn't outsourced to foreign soil, companies like Boeing movedto places like South Carolina. As Governor Nikki Haleysays: "We don’t have unions in South Carolina because we don’t need unions in South Carolina.
And when a company downsizes, if often means that hours are cut to denyfull-time benefits, while many times employees are required to take on extraduties, creating "higher productivity".
The fast food, service, and retail industries (e.g. McDonalds, Dominos,Staples, and Wal-Mart) improve our lives in some ways in thematter of convenience and lower prices, but in many ways they do not. They propagate a vastnumber of low-paying jobs, both here and abroad, that reduces our standard ofliving and reduces our overall tax-base.
The research and redevelopment that takes place in our universities andgovernment research facilities, are funded primarily by the taxpayers. CorporateR&D has become a much smaller share of their expenditures, but private companiesgreatly profit from the gains made by taxpayer-paid research and development(government jobs).
Bloomberg's Business Week has called "private equity" a re-branding ofthe corporate raider (leveraged buyout firms) of the 1980s. Among the most common investment strategies in private equity are: leveraged buyouts, venture capital, growth capital, distressed investments and mezzanine capital.
In a typical leveraged buyout transaction, a private equity firm buys a majority control of an existingcompany. There is a distinct difference from a venture capital or growth capitalinvestment, in which the investors invest in young or emerging companies(like Staples in the 1986), and rarely obtain majority control.
Besides his other "investments", Mitt Romney's Bain Capital usedventure capital to finance companies such Staples. The 100,000 jobs hetakes credit for were all the low-paying jobs at Staples and the Sports Authority;but Mitt shouldn't take credit for that, Staples founder Thomas G. Stembergcan take credit if you don't take into consideration their employeerelations.
By the end of 2011, Staples had about 89,000 employees. And BainCapital was only one of many private equity firms that invested in SportsAuthority, now a private company.
The Gartner Group (information technology research) formerly Saatchi &Saatchi, a London-based advertising agency, was acquired in 1990 with funding from Bain Capital and Dun & Bradstreet. In 2001 the name was simplified toGartner.
Mitt Romney's recent ad regarding Steel Dynamics implies that BainCapital was a "lone white knight". But in truth, there were eight financiers. Even more telling, the state and local government pumped in $37 million — twice as much as Bain Capital did. Then, five years later, Bain sold its stake and walked off with an $85 million profit, courtesy of this "government largesse."
SUCCESS!Bain Capital bought Wesley Jessen Vision Care for $6 million in 1994. It had been a division of Schering Plough and was not profitable. Bain Capital and a new CEO turned it around and sold it to Ciba Geigy for over $300 million in 2001.Today, the company is part of Ciba Vision.
But Mitt Romney, as a private equity manager, wasn't about creating jobs, butprofits. He didn't innovate and do anything to make the human condition of theeconomy as a whole any better for the common good. His "investments"sometimes produced the by-product of low-paying jobs in companies like Staples;but his efforts also produced many other low-paying jobs in foreign countries.The jobs that weren't outsourced or lost to downsizing were"re-created" to pay much less without healthcare and pension plans..
Mister Romney, like all corporate raiders, specialized in buying financiallytroubled companies (many on the verge of bankruptcy), breaking them up, andselling them off in smaller parts at a price that's worth more than the whole company, for profit.The workers bore the brunt of the cost with lost pensions, lost benefits, andlower wages -- if they weren't laid off.
Corporate raiders such as Carl Icahn, T. Boone Pickens, Kirk Kerkorian, Michael Milken,(and Gordon Gekko and "Larry the Liquidator") bought a large number of sharesgiving them significant voting rights to enact measures such as replacing top executives, downsizing operations,and liquidating the company.
Companies have used a variety of strategies to thwart the efforts of corporateraiders that include shareholders’ rights plans (poison pills), super-majorityvoting, dramatic increases of the amount of debt on the company’s balance sheet,"golden parachutes", and strategic mergers with a "white knight."
The threat of the corporate raid would sometimes lead to the practice of "greenmail", where a corporate raider or other party would acquire a significant stake in the stock of a company and receive an"incentive payment" (effectively a bribe) from the company in order to avoid pursuing a hostile takeover of the company. Greenmail represented a transfer payment from a company's existing shareholders to a third party investor(like Bain Capital) and provided no value to existing shareholders butgreatly benefited existing managers (like Mitt Romney).
Corporate raiders like Mitt Romney cause large economic disruption and create unemployment as factories are sold off and closed.While he might have made money (whether the company failed or succeeded) he justmademoney, so therefore he is considered "successful", while the companymay have went bankrupt.
Bain Capital invested in Stage Stores in 1988 (family apparel, shoes, etc) when the company was young. Stage went public in 1996 with 9,606 employees. Bain realized $184 million from the investment. The company went into chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000.
Bain Capital bought Dade from Baxter in 1994. BainCapital took Dade public in 1996 and cashed out $216 million. Dade went bankrupt in 2002.
DDI Corp produced circuit boards for the telecom business. It went public with 1,800 employees in 1999. The company’s business declined and it went into chapter 11 bankruptcy.
American Pad & Paper (Ampad) was a manufacturer and marketer of paper-based office products. In 1992, Bain Capital acquired Ampad fromMead. It went public in 1996, but declined soon thereafter, going into chapter 11 in 1999.
And of all those people who were laid off - - while he himself might not havebeen physicallyin the office at Bain Capital since 1999, these days his friends, his philosophy,and his money still works there. And since Mitt Romney "retired", eventhough someof these companies may have come back, it was with no thanks to Mitt & Co.
NewYork Times - "Mr. Romney never really left Bain. In what would be the final deal of his private equity career, he negotiated a retirement agreement with his former partners that has paid him a share of Bain’s profits ever since, bringing the Romney family millions of dollars in income eachyear."
But Section83 of the U.S. Tax Code suggests that the granting of a stake in a firm'sfuture profits in "carried interest" must be in connection with theperformance of services. What service does Mitt continue to offer Bain?
And Mitt Romney pays only a 15% tax rate on his take, not the higher incometax bracket of 35%, or that of a firefighter, teacher, or someone in law enforcementwho typically pay a 25% tax rate...those "high-priced governmentemployees" earning an average middle-class income of $50,000 a year.
And Mitt pays ZERO in Social Security and Medicare taxes on that"investment income" as well.
And what about all those off-shore banks accounts?
After I made a profit on my lemonade stand, I laid off that kid, tookmy cash, and built an elevator for my car. Just like me, if Mitt Romany iselected, he'll take lemons and make lemonade for himself and all his pals, thenlay us all off. It will do nothing for our economy or tax base as a whole, butwill only enrich the top 1% more than they already are.
And what about hisdog? I hope Mitt treats the rest of his family better.
My other posts about the King of Bain:
- Mitt Romney's Mormonism & Gay Marriage
- Why Mitt Romney May be Mentally Unstable. No, really!
- Can I call Mitt Romney's pal Edward Conard an @sshole?
- Ann Romney Needs to get a REAL Job!
- How many jobs did Mitt Romney create last year?
- Mitt Romney Connected to $8.5 billion Ponzi Scheme
- Mitt and Ann Romney are Full of Horse Manure!
- Mitt Romney: Lobbyists, Special Tax Rates & Tax Evasion
- A vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for George W. Bush
- Tax rates under Clinton, Bush, Obama & Romney
- Mitt Romney: Mister 15% and Platinum Parachutes
- Efficiency expert Mitt Romney: "You're expendable."
GOP will Cut Foods Stamps to Starve the Beast
Government spending went up under President Obama because it was supposedto go up. The dramatic increases in food stamps, TANF, and unemploymentinsurance was supposed to increase because of the social safety nets thatwere put in place to protect average Americans in the event of economicdownturns.
And because of the last catastrophic recession, the worst economic downturnsince the Great Depression, Obama (and Congress) had no choice but to increasegovernment spending to help millions of Americans who lost their jobs and theirhomes (yes, even Republican voters benefited from these same programs).
But let's not forget how the recession started: Under George W. Bush we hadmore deregulation, theout-sourcing of 52,000 factories (which MittRomney helped along), two unpaid wars, tax breaks for the rich (for whichpeople like MittRomney benefited the most), and trillions more in spending for many other porkbarrel projects (e.g. "The Road to Nowhere" for Sarah Palin). Therecession was years in the making, so how can any sane person believe thatone man with only 4 years in office, and with 2 years of Republicanobstructionism, be expected to turn the economy around on a dime?
During good economic times, we were supposed to build up our reserves (likewe did under Bill Clinton), but instead, the Republicans went on a spendingspree. It was part of the GOP plan to increase debt, which I'll get to later.Now the GOP is complaining about "kicking the can down the road" whenit comes to our government debt. And to fix it, the GOP wants the very ones whowere the most hurt by the recession to suffer more.
Simply put, the GOP's plan for reducing the deficit is to cut food stamps andMedicaid (and other social programs) for the poor, cut Medicare and Social Securityfor the elderly and disabled, while at the same time cutting taxes for the rich,subsidizing profitable corporations like big oil, and subsidizingthe rich and famous -- including Tea Party politicians such as MichelleBachmann.
The Tea Party darling and Republican congresswoman Michele Bachmann and herhusband's "mental health" clinic (Bachmann & Associates) received nearly$30,000 from the government. They also received another $260,000 in federal farmsubsidies. And on average, they also received $600 a month from thegovernment for each of their 23 adopted children --- to feed them. But she andeveryone else in the Tea Party and the GOP wants to cut food stamps for theunemployed and poor to balance thebudget.
As an aside: In 2008, Michele Bachmann and her husband Marcus moved from their 3,056 square-foot Stillwater Minnesota home where they had lived for 16 years and moved into anew 5,300 square-foot home (built in 2007). The new house, also inStillwater (West Lakeland Township, Minnesota) is located overlooking the 18th hole on the StoneRidge GolfCourse where couplesmemberships are $4,150 annually. Theirnew home ( 4 bed/4 bath) was priced at $1.75 million when it first appeared in the 2007 Parade of Homes and featured as a “dream home". Later it was assessed at$1.27 million in 2008, but the Bachmanns nabbed it for a cool $760,000. Michele Bachmann also owns a share of a 950-acre farm in the town of Montana in Wisconsin. Her share is worth $500,000 to $1 million. She never need food stamps. (Her house and farm are pictured at the bottom of this post.)
You may remember when Tea Party radical MikePence, the Republican U.S. Representative for Indiana's 6th Congressional, said ofthe U.S. government: "Shut it down!"
He wasn't being overly dramatic or exaggerating...he was dead serious, as are most of the TeaParty members in the House. It's all part of a real plan the GOP had hatched decades ago.
The U.S. debt is real, but the "crisis" is fake. As James Kwak, an associateprofessor at University of Connecticut School of Law and co-author White HouseBurning writes, even though it's "a real problem that needs to be addressed; we need to address it in the waythat's best for the American people as a whole; that means preserving the social insurance programs that almost everyone dependson."
Yet the Republicans, the Tea Party, John Boehner and Mitt Romney are trying to turn the national debt back into a major political issue again. Andyou can expect the Republicans to bang on this drum from now until November.
"Starve the Beast" is a conscious strategy by conservatives to force cuts in federal spending by deliberately bankrupting the country.As conceived by the right-wing intellectual Irving Kristol in 1980, the plan called for Republicans to create a "fiscal problem" (or "debtcrisis") by slashing taxes -- and then foist the pain of re-imposing fiscal discipline (austerity) onto future Democratic administrations(e.g. Obama) who, in Kristol's words, would be forced to "tidy up afterward."
Starving the beast is the fiscal-political strategy of American conservatives to cut taxes in order to deprive the government of revenuein a deliberate effort to create a fiscal budget "crisis" that is intended to force the federal government to reduce spending (rather thanrestore tax levels). The short and medium term effect of the strategy has increased United States public debt rather than reducedspending.
We saw this vividly played out last year when the Tea Party Republicans almost shut down the government, which resulted inhaving the United States' credit rating reduced.
Just recently Democrats controlling the Senate rejected for the second year in a row Wednesday a budget plan passed by HouseRepublicans. The 58-41 vote against the GOP budget came after a daylong debate in which Democrats blasted Republicans forrefusing to consider tax increases as part of a solution to trillion-dollar deficits.
The Republicans in turn attacked Democrats for not offering a budget at all. Republicans launched the debate, which was aimed lessat successfully passing a bill than highlighting the failure of Senate Democrats to deal with a budget deficit expected to top $1 trillionfor the fourth consecutive year.
The Senate was to vote on five separate budget plans, including one based on President Barack Obama's February budget and offeredby Republicans to embarrass Democrats and the White House. It failed on a 99-0 vote. Three GOP senators elected in 2010 withTea Party support also offered plans in a competition to see whose budget could cut government the most.
Now the Leader of the House John Boehner is threatening to shut down the governmentagain.
Each GOP plan would sharply cut domestic programs such as food stamps and unemployment benefits, and also calls for a dramatictransformation of Medicare that would turn it into a voucher-like program. Democrats called for a "balanced" solution blending taxincreases on wealthier people with less severe spending cuts.
"We will not allow the debt and deficit to be reduced on the backs of the middle class and most vulnerable Americans without callingon the wealthiest to contribute," says Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) "That is not fair, it's not what the American people want, andit's simply not going to happen."
Many Republicans have already publicly come out and said they refused to compromise.
The GOP will do anything to have their own way and to get Obama out of the White House, evenif it means shutting down the government, and to hell with America's seniorcitizens, the unemployed, the disabled, and the poor -- even if it means anotherdownturn for America's credit rating.
The GOP wants to convince voters that the U.S. is spending too much borrowed money, but the GOP wasn't so concerned aboutdebt when George W. Bush was the president; and the GOP isn't concerned enough to raise taxes on billionaires. Instead, the GOP'splan to fix this "sudden and immediate crisis" is to cut food stamps for unemployed Americans-- and then give more tax breaks to all the billionaires who laid them off. To literally "starve the beast".
While although I realize that half the members of Congress are millionaires,but still, if the GOP wants to force a government shut down (and is so adamantabout cutting off funds to the most needy in our country), I would suggest thatwe first start with government handouts congressionalpaychecks.
See my other related post "Paul Ryan and the GOP has Waged Class War with Food Stamps"
(Below) One Beast the Government Didn't Starve - In addition to allher other government handouts, Michele Bachmann also gets an annual salary of$174,000 a year from the beasts.
Nick Hanauer Speech at TED University (Video & Text)
*** Editor's Note: Yesterday, the NationalJournal's Jim Tankersley had introduced the multi-millionaire Nick Hanauer, a venturecapitalist from Seattle, to the audience. But as one of the first non-familyinvestors in Amazon.com, Hanauer's speech at the TED Universityconference was at first deemed too politically controversial to post on theirweb site. Below is the video of his 5? minute speech and the full text. Animportant message for those who think the rich are America's job creators:
| "It is astounding how significantly one idea can shape a society and its policies. Consider this one. If taxes on the rich go up, job creation will go down. This idea is an article of faith for Republicans and seldom challenged by Democrats, and has indeed shaped much of the economic landscape. But sometimes the ideas that we are certain are true, are dead wrong. Consider that, for thousands of years humans believed that the earth was the center of the universe. It's not, and an astronomer who still believed that it was, would do some pretty terrible astronomy. Likewise, a policy maker who believes that the rich are "job creators", and therefore should not be taxed, would be equally terrible policy. I have started, or helped start, dozens of companies -- and initially hired lots of people. But if there was no one around who could afford to buy what we had to sell, all those companies and all those jobs would have evaporated. That's why I can say with confidence that rich people don't create jobs, nor do businesses, large or small. Jobs are a consequence of a circle of life-like feedback loop between customers and businesses. And only consumers can set in motion this virtuous cycle of increasing demand and hiring. In this sense, an ordinary consumer is more of a job creator than a capitalist like me. That's why when business people take credit for creating jobs, it's a little bit like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution. It's actually the other way around. Anyone who's ever run a business knows that hiring more people is a course of last resort for capitalists. It's what we do if, and only if, rising customer demand requires it. And in this sense, calling yourselves job creators isn't just inaccurate, it's disingenuous. That's why our existing policies are so upside down. When the biggest tax exemptions and the lowest rates benefit the richest, all in the name of job creation, all that happens is that the rich get richer. Since 1980, the share of income for the top 1% of Americans has more than tripled, while our effective tax rates have gone down by 50%. If it was true that lower taxes for the rich and more wealth for the wealthy led to job creation, today we would be drowning in jobs. And yet, unemployment and under-employment is at record highs. |
*** Editor's Note: This speech was originally posted at The Atlantic, but was wrongly transcribed. I downloaded thevideo, played it back, and re-wrote his speech verbatim. There's a relatedarticle at the Huffington Post.