March 6th, 2017 § Comments Off on Inner Child § permalink
‘It demonstrates a conflict between a man and a woman as well as the outer and inner expression of human nature. Their inner selves are executed in the form of transparent children, who are holding out their hands through the grating. As it’s getting dark (night falls) the children start to shine. This shining is a symbol of purity and sincerity that brings people together and gives a chance of making up when the dark time arrives.’
—AlexanderMilov (artist)
March 6th, 2017 § Comments Off on Trump’s tax reform could tip America into recession § permalink
A breeding ground for the next Great Depression now exists.
In simple terms a depression is a recession that begins at a time when there are extreme levels of private-sector debt, an over-leveraged fragile banking system, and stratospheric asset prices.
According to the Bank of International Settlements, the relative level of private debt today is comparable to and, in many cases, worse than in the late-1920s.
Trump recognizes that America’s private sector desperately needs reflating, but doesn’t realize that this involves alleviating personal and business debt and enabling more equitable distribution of wealth and incomes, especially in favor of the poorest and lowest earners.
It seems that we can expect some redistribution of funds from the U.S. government to the wealthiest and those earning more than $1 million per year who will claim almost half of the tax cuts expected to be offered:
GOP tax reform blueprint, would significantly reduce marginal tax rates, increase standard deduction amounts, repeal personal exemptions and most itemized deductions, allow businesses to expense new investment, and not allow businesses to deduct net interest expenses. Taxes would drop at all income levels in 2017, but most savings would go to the highest-income households. Federal revenues would fall by $3.1 trillion over ten years and the federal debt would rise by at least $3.0 trillion over the first decade and by at least $6.6 trillion over the second ten years.
Former Fed governor Ben Bernanke acknowledged that tax cuts have a much smaller impact on economic growth than government spending has on growth. The National Bureau of Economic Research estimates that of every dollar of corporate tax cuts, only 50 cents reappear in economic circulation – meaning that it has a very limited positive effect, despite all the false rhetoric claiming that tax cuts are a significant economic stimulus.
Whatever proprietary dynamic models the Trump economic team uses to support its fictional future growth forecasts, the $6-7 trillion of proposed tax cuts will ultimately be funded by reduced spending.
At the precise time when increased government spending is required to reflate America, the redirection of this funding into tax cuts is almost certainly adverse. Maybe this explains why Trump tax reform’s timeline has now been extended until the August recess.
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/analysis-house-gop-tax-plan
November 3rd, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink
The Federal Reserve announced today that it would be purchasing $600 billion in U.S. treasury bonds to boost the economy in a program euphemistically called Quantitative Easing.
Thirty-year treasury yields hit their highest since the 5th of August after the Fed said in a statement at the end of a two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting, that it will make 4 percent of its purchases in the 17 to 30 year notes.
The only boost to come, however will be to the Fed themselves. The Fed will collect interest payments on purchased notes from money created out of thin air; that is from money that they print.
What a great scam! It’s been going on since the inception of the Fed in 1913. How can I get a Federal Reserve franchise?
The most interesting aspect of the Fed is that since the beginning of the United States in 1792 after the ratification of the Constitution up until the inception of the Federal Reserve, the United States experienced a total inflation of 13% during that 126 year period. Since the Fed, 1913 to the present, (97 years) the inflation has been well over 2000%.
Now that’s what I call Quantitative Easing!
October 24th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink
What at first glance looked like a potential public relations nightmare for the U.S. gov’t and the Pentagon is now being spun by some media outlets to portray the U.S. military as the “good guys” and the unintended victims of their own best efforts in the Iraq war.
Originally seen as verifiable proof of American incompetence, disingenuous motives and probable war crimes ala Abu Ghraib, the Wikileaks documents on Iraq are now being put forward as evidence that the violence, destruction, murder of innocents and escalating civil unrest in Iraq were brought about by Iraqi criminals, Iranian support and insurgency, corrupt government officials and home-grown sectarian violence.
News articles titled WikiLeaks show U.S. failed to probe Iraqi abuse cases and Leaked Iraq war files portray weak, divided nation epitomize this blame shifting from the disease to the symptoms.
More to the truth, the 400,000 pages of classified military documents about the Iraq war reveal a willful and malicious disregard for innocent civilians and private property by U.S. and allied forces. The documnets identified hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers. The leaks also appeared to show U.S. troops did nothing to stop state sanctioned torture. The leak also added more than 15,000 unreported civilian deaths in previously unknown incidents.
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