stopwhining

Why Economic Dogma Threatens Our Future Prosperity

Herein lies the ultimate question. Is a person entitled to keep what he/she earns since gains are ultimately a product of superior efforts, or is success equally a product of luck, timing, and surroundings? If the former, then taxes should be low and spending reduced along with it, if the latter, then everyone should get over themselves and chip in for the greater good.

We all like to believe we rise or fall on our steam, but based on those I've met in this world, I would only ascribe 50% of any given outcome (on average) to the underlying persona.

Bring back the estate tax, raise taxes on the wealthy, lower gov't spending across the board, nationalize healthcare, and provide economic incentives to help make the U.S. energy independent. These are the keys to our long term success, but I have no confidence that they will be undertaken.

Bankslaughter

There should be criminal statutes against "gross financial negligence."

U.S. Supreme Court grants stay delaying Chrysler sale to Fiat.

These "rule of law" posts sound like sour grapes from a bunch of shorts who missed out on the market runup of the past few months.

Federal U.S. Debt Has Ballooned to Over $100 Trillion!

Btw, Wakeup - the fact that you have led a decent and constructive life does not make you special, nor does it entitle you to anything but what you've earned. The baby boom generation has reeked havoc on this country, and has perhaps the most overinflated sense of entitlement of any group in American history. Rampant consumerism, dumbass anti-intellectualism, the me-first, he who dies with the most toys wins generation... etc. etc. The boomers lived high on the hog by borrowing against the future of their children from the credibility earned by their parents in WWII and their grandparents in WWI.

I have no desire to starve seniors, but I also don't expect my government to wipe my ass for me when I'm old. Can you reconcile those two facts in your narrow minded, bitter little brain?

Federal U.S. Debt Has Ballooned to Over $100 Trillion!

I appreciate the vote of confidence, but how does my offering up potential solutions make me the second coming? Perhaps you'd prefer to sit idly by and complain no matter what happens? What would you propose?

Federal U.S. Debt Has Ballooned to Over $100 Trillion!

Whippet - your comment on Kim's last post regarding how employment arb replaces currency arb was one of the more interesting insights I've read in a while. That said, one could look at it from another angle - the UK can QE to save jobs (while Spain cannot) but the resulting inflation makes this is essentially the same as reducing all your employees' salaries (in real value) by 20% instead of firing 20% of them. For the purposes of maintaining social order, the latter is certainly preferred, but as any good manager can tell you, sometimes cutting heads is the right thing to do.

Federal U.S. Debt Has Ballooned to Over $100 Trillion!

It's really amusing how everyone here bitches and moans about the gov't, the politicians, and the banksters.

1) Where were all of you over the past 20 years? Where was the outrage then? Politicians are ELECTED - which means we are all to blame (and anyone who didn't vote should drink a tall glass of shut the f*ck up).

2) Absent the recent reflatoin actions of the US Treasury and Fed, where exactly do you think we'd be right now? Sitting at the bottom of the abyss perhaps? And I'm sure the same folks here would be screaming about how the gov't could be so stupid as to not do anything.

3) The massive leverage and monetary velocity of the past decade served to mask the massive transfer of wealth that has taken place, but everyone was complicit,... no one wanted the gravy train to end.

4) The way out of this is, at least theoretically, simple - a) scale back social security b) nationalize healthcare c) re-instate the estate tax d) increase the top tax bracket by 10% e) raise taxes on gasoline and institute a reasonable national sales tax e) use tax incentives to drive energy indepence f) let the dollar fall to a more natural level to help exports e) cut wasteful spending. In the short term, we need to reflate till the systemic risk subsides, and then cautiously raise rates once we start to come through the other side. 4%-6% inflation for a few years would be the worst thing in the world. Ok, maybe it's not simple, but it's doable. Maybe instead of coming on here to whine, you should be writing your representatives.

Dollar Chart Tells a Much Different Story than Pundits Do

Why is it that 50% of all the articles on SA have to start with a recap of just how "correct" the blogger has been over the past blah blah years?

Try making your point without shilling for yourself, and people might take start taking you seriously.

Financial Crisis Watch: Where's Timothy?

It's unreal the amount of bitching and moaning coming from Wall St. these days. Debt is nothing more than energy borrowed from the future. The velocity of money worked to the benefit of the rich and their financiers for many decades, now they are complaining like spoiled 2 yr olds after having lost their favorite toy. What they do not realize is that the illusion of wealth created by the debt bubble was just than, an illusion. Credibility is the only true currency is this world and we have been borrowing from ours for a long time. Now that credibility is in jeopardy and if we're not careful, it will be lost forever. The rich don't care, by the time the rest of the world figures out that the US has gone BK, they'll have moved all of their money overseas, and the poor will get f@cked once again as the dollar becomes worthless.

Deconstructing the Fed's Balance Sheet

Only way this charade holds up is with China's continued to support to act as creditor. I wonder how long they can continue to buy Tbills in light of slowing growth and the prospect of a falling USD. That said, where else can they put their money? In the 1930's, we financed the world in an effort to lend consumers the money required to buy excess production, now, China is lending us money to buy their exports. Now, as then, the situation has become co-dependent. That said, there are fundamental differences that will impact how this plays out.

At what point does the international community balk at the prospect of lending us additional capital? That is tough to say. So long as we can avoid blowing money on unnecessary wars (and diffuse larger real conflicts), we may yet survive with our hide intact.

Worth Thinking About How Falling Dollar Will Affect Tech Companies - JP Morgan

Only way this charade holds up is with China's continued to support to act as creditor. I wonder how long they can continue to buy Tbills in light of slowing growth and the prospect of a falling USD. That said, where else can they put their money? In the 1930's, we financed the world in an effort to lend consumers the money required to buy excess production, now, China is lending us money to buy their exports. Now, as then, the situation has become co-dependent. That said, there are fundamental differences that will impact how this plays out.

At what point does the international community balk at the prospect of lending us additional capital? That is tough to say. So long as we can avoid blowing money on unnecessary wars (and diffuse larger real conflicts), we may yet survive with our hide intact.

Don't Buy Into Share Buybacks

This article is flawed in many ways. Companies should buy back shares if the ROE on the company shares exceeds the expected ROI of capital spent on growth initiatives. For companies such as MSFT which generate significant ROE, the decision to buy back shares becomes very appealing relative to growth opportunities. The same can be said for certain oil companies - if the expected ROI of developing new finds is lower than the ROE, the smarter choice is to buy back shares.

Crude Sell-off: Solid Entry Point into U.S. Oil Majors

Why don't we open up offshore and the arctic, but require that 5% (or whatever appropriate %) of all revenues from dilling endeavors there be placed into a fund that will be used to develop alternative energy technologies?

Seems like a win-win for all.

Spitzer: Self-Destruction

Good point. He should have went to Wall St. instead. Christ... if a story like this came out about a big banker, he'd be laughed out of the room for consorting with low class hos. Everyone knows that true talent goes for $3,000/hr and up.