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6/11/2010
Things that make me wonder…

Some mornings I spend just shaking my head. Like, what am I missing here? – just where is this country going?

From the Daily Reporter: “Union draws line on domestic partner proposal.” “A Wisconsin labor leader is wary of a Madison alderman’s proposal to require contractors on public works projects provide domestic partner benefits to employees.” Imagine that. When they’re the ones paying the full freight, even the union objects to domestic partner benefits. Geeez.
Michael Lind calls himself a “radical centrist.” He’s a real live intellectual, a conservative defector and most always comes at an issue from the left. And he’s telling us the “center-Left” (not even just the left or the Progressives or the radical left!) needs to get “reality-based in a hurry” about transportation spending, global warming and energy issues. Tells you something.
How about The Hill on PAYGO - Now it’s not just a problem that a stimulus bill’s not fully paid for – it seems no one breaks a sweat until “a majority of the bill isn’t paid for.” If “only” 49% of the bill added to the deficit, would that be ok? Not only is the supposedly emergency stimulus bill not paid for, it’s a Christmas-tree bill, with tons of stuff hung in it.
Workforce housing? Where did that expression come from? Is it a nicer way to say “affordable housing?” Or “low income housing?” My take is at its genesis, “workforce housing” meant housing affordable for those in a community protecting and serving – teachers, police, firefighters. It seems to have become more of a euphemism for “low income housing.” Whenever a definition says a word or group of words is “a relatively new term… gaining cachet…,” beware.
So MillerCoors gets a break from soaring Milwaukee water rates.

The mayor and city hall in April sought a special fix for MillerCoors, which told the PSC it might have to cut production and move some jobs from Milwaukee if the larger rate hike went through. The city persuaded state lawmakers in April to insert a tax credit into state legislation. It will offset a good chunk of the brewery's future water cost increases. MillerCoors is by far the city's largest private water customer.

WE Energies got the break as well. Probably Cintas too. Who does that leave holding the [big!] bag?

Dad29 and Jeremy Shown were shocked - shocked! Sad but true – BP is no great free-market crusader but instead

[is] a close friend of big government whenever it serves the company’s bottom line. While BP has resisted some government interventions, it has lobbied for tax hikes, greenhouse gas restraints, the stimulus bill, the Wall Street bailout, and subsidies for oil pipelines, solar panels, natural gas and biofuels.

Dad29 picked up this little irony via Tim Carney at the Washington Examiner.

Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net

COMMENTS

Thanks Jo. I am also shaking my head.

David (Fri Jun 11 08:28:58 2010)

Thanks for the link by Lind. He might be right about rail, I don't know enough about it. The cost of wind and solar are cheaper than fossil fuels if the external cost of pollution and gobal warming are factored in.

I do like this from him;

"The U.S. economy is in trouble. Disappointing employment growth figures show that mass unemployment may be with us for some time. The stimulus spending in the U.S. was far too small and depended too much on tax cuts. State budget crises that result primarily from the Wall Street-created global crash, not statehouse mistakes, may yet cripple the economy, as the effect of federal stimulus spending wears off.

All of this strengthens the case for more government spending for years to come. After bailing out the states, the best use of federal dollars would be massive public investment in infrastructure that increases long-term U.S. economic growth. Like other capital improvements, infrastructure investment should be financed not by current taxes but rather by federal, state and local government or agency bonds. In the case of infrastructure assets that deliver benefits for generations, it makes sense to borrow in order to build them and to pay down the debt over decades. The faster the economy grows as a result of infrastructure investment, the less burdensome debt service will be. And we know from 200 years of experience that falling transportation costs and plummeting energy costs are among the major drivers of economic growth.

Unlike most conservatives and libertarians, most progressives support large-scale public investment in transportation and energy infrastructure to prop up aggregate demand in the short run and enhance national productivity in the long run. They are right to do so."

Dean Weichmann (Fri Jun 11 11:05:08 2010)

What's with all these Dem "special occasion fixes"? Why not just cut taxes and regs on businesses and let them do what they're in business to do? Why do businesses have to go through all that sturm and drang to push state government into doing what they should have done right from the beginning?

C.R. Stevenson (Fri Jun 11 11:10:45 2010)

CR, why not cut taxes? Because the state government can't borrow or create it's own money. What services do you want to cut? Snow removal? Schools? Libraries? Police? Prisons?

What particular regs do you want to cut? Will it save money for all of us or just allow more pollution, scams,food contamination....

Some businesses have to be held in check, just remember Enron, AIG...

Dean Weichmann (Fri Jun 11 13:13:36 2010)

Dean
Cutting services is not always the answer.
Liberals always use "THAT" as a bargaining (?) chip.
When you have State and Federal Payrolls that are bloated, you cut them.
Additionally, right now, the average government employee earns more than private sector employees. THAT needs changing !
But, the most important of these is the Pensions.
I have looked at some of the Government provided pensions, AND they are absurd !

Madison "conviently" hides this as a off sheet obligation, so the two billion we are in the hole,is really like 5 or 6 billion with Pensions.

Many of us private sector folk have no pensions, and its about time for the politicos and those that support them to realize they are "FAT"

Rich (Fri Jun 11 14:55:16 2010)

Why are they "shocked"? It's only to be expected that big govt is in bed with big corporations!

emily matthews (Fri Jun 11 16:19:19 2010)

" right now, the average government employee earns more than private sector employees. THAT needs changing !"

Why? Are these employees doing a poor job? Are you envious? Do you feel the same way about CEO's that are paid millions?

"But, the most important of these is the Pensions.
I have looked at some of the Government provided pensions, AND they are absurd !"

Perhaps you could provide some evidence.
Again, is this envy? So, with the economy in recession you want to cut old people's pensions?

The government needs to get more money out there flowing somehow. Cutting pensions would be wrong right now.

Dean Weichmann (Sun Jun 13 05:59:07 2010)

Weichmann: Your naivete on Pension Plan structure and cost is legendary. Private sector Plans are designed to replace 33-35% of pre-retirement income at age 65after 35 years of service. Every major independent study ever done indicates most Public Sector Plans are designed to replace 100% of Pre-retiremnt Income(Net of tax) when combined with Social Security after 25 years service. That makes the Wisconsin Retirement Plan 2 1/2- 3 times RICHER than Private Plans. AND it's availible at age 52-58 with no actuarial reduction for longer payout such as takes place with Private Plans. This is why the total unfunded liability of the Plans of all the States is over $13 trillion. You see, in the Public Sector, there is no MANAGEMENT! The Unions propose; the Legislature approves; and the Govenor signs the improvements. Dah? And, they're all covered and benefit by the Wisconsin Reitirement Sysytem.

And don't give me that, "So you're going to take Pension dollars away from all those poor Wisconsin Retirees! Simply "Grand Father" existing Retirees and make formula/Plan reductions applicable to FUTURE Retirees. The problem is solved! But the Liberal/Progressives like you would never go for that because you need the Public Sector/Union voting base, to assure your continuation in power so you can grow Government and promote further dependency. GLS

G L Schilling (Sun Jun 13 14:53:21 2010)

Thank you Glen, for sharing your experience. Dean needed to hear it.

Jo (Sun Jun 13 15:46:46 2010)

Glen, thanks for the info. Where did you get it?

Don't misunderstand me, I am for fairness not favoring one sector over another. I am a dairyman, the only pension I get is SS and my own savings or equity.

The point I was trying to make is that cutting pensions now, in a recession, is counterproductive. Fiscal austerity especially by the Feds is exactly the wrong direction.

There was an opinion piece by Bruce Bartlet that explained this concisely.

Here it is
http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/04/depression-deflation-velocity-oped-cx_bb_1205bartlett.html

Dean Weichmann (Sun Jun 13 17:01:39 2010)

Dean
I think Mr Barlett has a few things wrong. When you cite Keyes, you must remember that Keyes stressed that Governments needed to have fiscal restraint BEFORE depressionary times. Dems forget this "little" fact.
The part that is missing is that money velocity increases tremendously with tax cuts, not increases !
Think of this simple test.
Lets say you want to buy a television.
If the store offered a discount (tax cut) you would buy ( money velocity)but if the store raised the price (tax increase !) you would not spend (- Money flow)
So what do you think OB and the boys plan to do ?
Why reduce money velocity !
Makes sense ?

PS Dean, I didn't say to take away current pension payments, but we should restrict future retiree benefits to realistic levels . The fact that you said "envious" signifies you know they are extreme now. Simple observation !

Rich (Sun Jun 13 19:26:50 2010)

Correction !
"The part that is missing is that money velocity increases tremendously with tax cuts, not decreases as when taxes are raised !"

rich (Sun Jun 13 19:33:43 2010)

"I think Mr Barlett has a few things wrong. When you cite Keyes, you must remember that Keyes stressed that Governments needed to have fiscal restraint BEFORE depressionary times. Dems forget this "little" fact."

Oh really? Then explain the graph at this link;
http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

"The part that is missing is that money velocity increases tremendously with tax cuts, not increases !"
Please let me know where you found this missing part. I would expect that tax cuts would have no effect on velocity. Your simple example is just nonsense.
Could you cite a link as reference?

Dean Weichmann (Sun Jun 13 20:45:12 2010)

Dean, Try This
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/09/elements-of-deflation-part-2/

Your website is a Democratic Blog.

I suggest you look at a non political Econ site like the one above for guidance

Rich (Mon Jun 14 12:03:03 2010)

Note the increase and reversed trend in M3 after the 94 tax cuts !
It carried through even into Clinton years

Clinton has the best econ record of the past 3 presidents. FYI

Rich (Mon Jun 14 12:06:47 2010)

Rich, thanks for the link. It looks interesting. I don't have time right now to read it all, but I will. This caught my eye;
"In fact, it is my belief that if the Fed were to withdraw from the scene of economic battle, the forces of deflation would be felt in short order. The answer to the question “Will we have inflation in our future?” is “You better hope so!”

Dean Weichmann (Mon Jun 14 15:55:21 2010)

Rich, let me point out a few inconvenient truths.

1. First, the books at several large corporations were cooked to boost stock prices. We were never as well off as percieved.

2. There are near term and long term consequences of government actions. The long term effects were, in part, that the stock market tanked just as Clinton's term was ending.

3. It is CONGRESS that sets the level of spending, not the president. And for 6 of Clinton's years, Republicans controlled congress. AND at every step of the way it was Clinton's desire to spend more than Congress allowed.

4. Unfunded liabilities, off budget deficits, continued to accumulate even during the best of the Clinton years. If GAAP had applied, that is, the same accounting rules required of every big business, the BEST Clinton year yielded a half trillion$ deficit.

5. The economy in part cooked along because the FED continued to distort markets with counterfeited money and artificially low interest rates. This led to malinvestments in businesses that can not be sustained, and must be liquidated.

In fairness, it must be pointed out that the response of the Bush administration and Alan Greenspan was to continue the deadly policy of inflating and devaluing our currency, which ultimately led to the crash of '08.

Also worthy of note is that the Bernanke/Obama response was again, more of the same, only add a zero or 2. Beware the echo crash of '11, if indeed it takes that long to again start to unravel.

Ken Van Doren (Wed Jun 16 12:14:40 2010)

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