Bad Is Good

John Maynard Keynes said, “Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.”

Ben Bernanke, of the Federal Reserve, tells us that the market will cause the too-big-to-fail banks to get smaller. He assures us that the people who caused this mess just need to be left to their own devices for the problem to be solved.

Did Ben listen to Alan Greenspan’s comment that he had been wrong to think that the market and self-interest would manage everything for the best? Alan. Give Ben a call.

How long has it been since 1984, the book? Do I remember it correctly? Good is bad. Up is down. White is black.

The Obama economic team has put together another stimulus plan. Wonderful. How do they propose to do it? Put the emphasis and the money into business, so they will create new jobs.

Wasn’t it the businessmen who kept the 22% increase in productivity during the Bush administration to themselves? Household incomes went down as productivity rose. So, business should get the stimulus? They sent jobs abroad. So, they should get the stimulus? They destroyed our manufacturing base, our middle class, jobs and our economy. So, they should get the stimulus?

The idea seems to be to give them tax breaks. Hmmm. You’ve undoubtedly heard that we have the highest corporate tax rates in the world. Well, actually it’s the second highest. Those anti-business Japanese have the highest, so their manufacturing base, middle class, jobs and economy must be worse than ours. Au contraire.

Here’s another dirty little secret. It makes no difference whatsoever what your tax rate is if you don’t pay it. Over two-thirds of corporations in the U.S., domestic, multinational and foreign, pay zero corporate tax. Really? Yes, really. That means while we have the second highest tax rate, we actually have the lowest effective taxes.

How much lower can we go? Aren’t two-thirds of the corporations going to be jealous when we cut the taxes of the other third? Will we need to subsidize those already not paying taxes? Oh. It turns out we already are.

What about those small businesses? Don’t they deserve a break because they create most of the jobs? True, they create most of the jobs. But, they are heavily skewed to low-paying jobs that replaced those good jobs sent overseas. They usually don’t offer medical benefits. That should have been a major impetus for healthcare reform. Real reform would have eliminated employer-based healthcare.

The bankers are sitting on approximately $2 trillion that they refuse to loan. Most businesses have experienced somewhat of a recovery. On the whole business is showing reasonable profitability. Now they need to show their claimed risk-taking and job-creating ability. They are presently a major drag on the economy.

We are told by the plutocracy’s bootlickers that the Bush tax cut for those with incomes over half a million must remain, else the apocalypse is imminent. Facts always seem to get in the way of the do-dos. The income of more than 60% of small business owners is at or below $170,000. For those making more than $250,000 a year, a small business is not their sole, or primary, income source.

It seems we could easily cut the taxes on the leisure class. It would only cost us $700 billion plus infinite interest over the next ten years. It would provide negligible stimulus but these people aren’t really drawing unemployment. However, the big Boehner . . . objection is to a stimulus of $50 billion for infrastructure. It would create the problem of actually stimulating the economy and providing jobs.

Just leave the economy to the bankers and unemployers. The market, their supreme intelligence and the politicians they own will make everything right – for them. They have a sound bite for everything, whether or not it’s apropos. I needn’t have said whether or not it’s true. There is never a question. It is always untrue. Their playbook is 1984.

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Tagged as: 1984, alan greenspan, bankers, ben bernanke, boehner, bush, capitalism, corporate tax, economic, federal reserve, healthcare, jobs, john keynes, market, obama, small business, stimulus, tax, too big