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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
organized religion and capitalism.
It's pretty hard to "buy American" these days. But a good start is checking out the above site: stillmadeinusa.com
You may have to do some additional research -- some companies make only certain models in the US, or use all foreign-made parts etc.
I think the line was from "Hello Dolly!" that money is like fertilizer.
You want people to buy things? Get them jobs, jobs that pay. The feds need to spend money on the infrastructure where people get good-paying jobs. Raise the minimum wage, build mass transit systems, invest in a national healthcare system where the d-bags at the top aren't pocketing billions. And using the latest technology, develop an energy industry where crews are upgrading homes with top-notch insulating technologies and covering roofs with solar panels.
When people have jobs that both pay and enrich society then the society as a whole will grow.
Also, figure out a way where we build some of this crap here.
There's only one shopper with a purse large enough to make a difference in this kind of mess -- and that's the U.S. government.
Right now that large purse is essentially filled with fairy gold. It may be a good idea to use it anyway, all things considered, but we'd better not forget that the US government -- we taxpayers, really -- don't have any real money in that purse.
I question myself why it always amazes me on how economically ignorant we are as a country, but then I read articles (and comments) such as this, and it becomes crystal clear. The major fault with this article is it sounds like Paul Krugman wrote it (and that is not a compliment by the way). Krugman believes, as does Sullivan, in this magical 'circular flow' model of an economy, where as consumers spend less, there are less profits, and then less jobs, and it continues to get worse and worse. The solution? To have the government spend more (read: infuse more money into the economy). If this was the answer, why not let the government always infuse massive amounts of fiat currency (and deficit spending) into the marketplace, as we'd be ridiculously wealthy, right? Wrong. The circular flow model fails because of what 'true' economists (Krugman not included) know regarding capital goods. In layman's terms, we can think of it as TIME. Products take time to manufacture, and the capital goods that help make those consumer products take time, which throws a huge wrench into the Disney-dream-world circular flow version of an economy. And what helps create capital goods? Savings! That's right folks, when we consumers save money, it is actually a good thing for the economy.
We are in an economy that is correcting itself, and the sooner it is allowed to correct itself, the better. If, on the other hand, we have economists and journalists and talking heads continuously telling the masses that spending is patriotic and government bailouts and deficit spending are all needed, we are in for a long and horrible spell. If you need proof, look no further than the interference in the early 1930's to see what that led to.
If you are lucky enough to have two dimes to rub together, take one and try to nudge down your credit card debt a little and buy some food with the other.
Screw shopping and giving gifts for Christmas! It's totally against everything Jesus stood for to spend money on a bunch of useless crap when you can instead give the kids a good meal and some family time together. Perhaps take the kids to a soup kitchen and volunteer for a day.
Meet people and give them some love and companionship and hope for a day! THAT is what we should all be doing during the Christmas season!
And for God's sake (no pun), please do NOT buy one of those poor Christmas trees that just spent ten freakin' years growing so there would be cool homes for birds! It is a travesty to take them into our homes and to "decorate" them, generally ignore them, then throw them unceremoniously into the dumpsters come New Year's Day.
Screw the federal government and their balance sheets!
PLEASE DON'T GO SHOPPING FOR CHRISTMAS!
TRY TO FIND THE SPIRIT IN WHAT YOU DO, NOT WHAT YOU BUY!
Education, housing, healthcare, green energy (including manufacture), transportation (roads, bridges, rail), these should be considered essential infrastructure when we get about rebuilding the country's economy. Mr. Leonard is correct to point out that individual consumers, prudent or not with their spending decisions, can't effect the glaring infrastructure problems we face after these many years of economic profligacy. Nor can huge financial bailouts to the banks and robber barons of the financial industry bring about the changes that we need.
Mr. Leonard is correct to argue that it's the government that needs to do the investment in these items of actual infrastructure. The list I offer above is not exhaustive; there are surely things I've left off, like child care, care for the elderly and mentally ill, rebuilding cities, things that have been shamefully neglected in this country for decades. The necessary sea change, at this juncture, is for us Americans to try to conceive of our government as one that actually tries to take care of us first and foremost, by assuring protections in health, education, employment, and doesn't function simply as a handmaiden to the corporate swine who've driven us to this point. Of course national defense goes on the list, but a less bloated, profit-driven version.
The most sensible ideas I have heard along these lines come from Bob Kuttner (Obama's Challenge), who argues that government spending, as a percentage of GDP, should increase from its current level of about 20%, to 40-60% (more in line with levels of spending in the European democracies) and that this spending should be on these types of infrastructure. That is where the cash should come from to get us going again and that's how it should be spent. I'm no economist (obviously), but of all the talk about how to get things going in a sensible direction, Mr. Kuttner's ideas don't stink coming out of the box. Unlike, say, Paulson's.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
