in this case the government will be creating jobs for americans by hiring contractors to rebuild our bridges and roads among other things .
On Jan 12, 10:51 am, frankg <[email protected]> wrote: > Mike, > > It's not mythbusting, it's simply presenting a different opinion. > > > This argument is based on the limited view that wealth is mainly > > generated by loaning or borrowing at interest - a common enough > > assumption among financial people over the past 30 years. A more > > progressive view is that real wealth is generated by labor, combined > > with access to resources required for production. Putting people to > > work creates wealth. > > Businesses have always invested their capital to create more > > capital. The best parts of Obama's proposal involve getting the > > government to do the same thing. Conservatives are resisting this > > because don't believe that there's such a thing as the common wealth > > The idea that government, by putting people to work, will infuse the > economy is troubling because the government doesn't create anything. A > business creates goods and services, and consumers spend money on > these goods and services. This generates capital, which can then fund > jobs or be reinvested back into the business for growth. But > government doesn't do this. Government doesn't create it's own > capital. Government relies on business to fund it's operation, and so > as it increases it's spending it must draw more capital from business, > making it harder for business to reinvest or maintain a payroll. It's > like suggesting we use a battery to drive a motor to turn a generator > to create electricity to charge the battery. This doesn't work and > eventually the battery will die. > > On Jan 12, 9:42 am, "florida mike !" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Mythbusting the Obama Recovery Package > > http://www.truthout.org:80/011109E > > The self-serving myths about President-elect Barack Obama's economic > > recovery plan are starting to fly so thick and fast that we have been > > working full-time to keep ahead of them. Here's what you need to know > > to fire back. > > > Here it is: our moment of economic truth. We're standing at that > > historic fork in the road where the nation decides, now and for the > > foreseeable future, whether it's going to hang on to the catastrophic > > assumptions of the free-market fundamentalists and rely once more on > > the nostrums that have so far failed to fix the mess, or take a bold > > step down a new, more progressive path that will finally re-empower > > the American people to build an economy that works for us all. > > > As usual, the conservatives have absolutely no conscience about > > what they did to create this mess. If they did, they'd all be holed > > up > > in their gated communities or on their private islands, embarrassed > > into silence at best and terrified of peasant uprisings at worst. > > Instead, they're jetting into D.C. en masse in a last-ditch attempt > > to > > head the country off - or at least make sure that any money that does > > get spent ends up, as it always has, in their pockets. > > > To that end, the self-serving myths are starting to fly so thick > > and fast that the staff here at CAF has been working full-time to > > keep > > ahead of them. Here's some of what they're flinging in this latest > > B.S. storm - and what you need to know to fire back. > > > 1. The proposed recovery package is too big. > > > False. Most progressive economists agree (and Paul Krugman is > > downright emphatic) that it's going to take a minimum of a trillion > > dollars of well-placed investment to pull our economy out of this > > ditch. This is no time for half-measures, blue-ribbon committees, > > pilot projects, or trial balloons: this is a life-or-death crisis > > that > > requires immediate and massive intervention. > > > CAF Senior Fellow Bernie Horn puts it this way: "The American > > economy is huge and it's at a standstill. It's like a motionless 100- > > car freight train - or one going backwards slowly. A small locomotive > > simply can't pull it forward. We need an engine large enough to work, > > one that can create millions of jobs. If anything, a $775 billion 2- > > year plan may be too small rather than too big." > > > Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research echoed > > this same thing on Rachel Maddow's show last Tuesday night. It's got > > to be big. And it's got to be now. Anything too small - or too late - > > and the American economy will be at serious risk of stagnating the > > same way Japan's did in the 1990s. > > > 2. If we can't afford (insert pet project here), we certainly > > can't afford this. > > > Yes, we can. What we really can't afford is a huge recession that > > undercuts the tax base. That's a vicious cycle that will make it > > increasingly harder to dig out the longer this goes on. The > > Congressional Budget Office projects that the current slowdown will > > cost the federal government $166 billion in lost tax revenues in 2009 > > - a number that could easily get even larger in coming years if we > > fall into a real depression. If we get on that trendline, we could > > lose a trillion dollars in government revenues by the end of Obama's > > first term. We need to invest what we have while we still have it if > > we hope to have a strong economy going forward. > > > This argument is based on the limited view that wealth is mainly > > generated by loaning or borrowing at interest - a common enough > > assumption among financial people over the past 30 years. A more > > progressive view is that real wealth is generated by labor, combined > > with access to resources required for production. Putting people to > > work creates wealth. So does ensuring that our current failing energy > > regime is replaced as rapidly as possible with one that's infinitely > > renewable and that we will finally be in full control of. And so do > > other kinds of infrastructure investments, which form the footing on > > which a new round of businesses can rise and thrive. > > > Businesses have always invested their capital to create more > > capital. The best parts of Obama's proposal involve getting the > > government to do the same thing. Conservatives are resisting this > > because don't believe that there's such a thing as the common wealth > > - > > which is how they've rationalized their plundering of our common > > assets. We need to make it absolutely clear that we do believe in the > > common wealth - and that their assaults on everything that allows > > America to generate national wealth are going stop, right here and > > right now. > > > 3. It's more important to balance the budget. Fix that, and the > > rest will take care of itself. > > > Read history much? Herbert Hoover is history's poster boy for the > > idea that balancing the budget during a recession is the best way > > known to turn it into a full-on depression. And that wasn't a one- > > off: > > FDR repeated the lesson in 1937, when he succumbed to the pleas of > > budget-hawk conservatives and tried to balance the budget - a move > > that put the brakes on what had, until then, been a solid recovery. > > > Looking forward, this year's numbers also show the case clearly. > > Economists are already estimating that spending by individuals and > > businesses will be off by $300 to $500 billion in 2009. The upshot of > > this will be millions of lost jobs, which in turn will mean even > > lower > > spending and more job losses next year as the country accelerates > > toward depression. > > > The only way to halt this slide is for the government to step in > > and fill the hole with an additional $300 billion-$500 billion of its > > own spending - and to spend that money on investments that will > > create > > as many jobs as possible. The longer we wait, the more government > > spending it will ultimately take to pull us out of this - and the > > less > > able we'll be to muster that much cash. > > > Balanced budgets are important, but not as important right now as > > making sure every American has a paycheck they can count on. We can't > > afford to sacrifice the fate of the entire country to this one > > economic ideal.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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