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Mainstream Economists: "Mission Accomplished"
Numerous current stories show how disconnected mainstream policy-makers are from reality.
For
example, Ryan Grim points out that there is an "unbelievable
disconnect" between the American people (who are people are against the
Afghanistan war) and Congress and the political elite (gung-ho to
escalate this never-ending war):
Even after the Wikileaks revelations, even though there is no logical reason to be in Afghanistan, even though the war won't help the economy, and even though most Americans want us to get out, Congress keeps increasing funding for the endless war.
And
Alan Blinder (economist, banking consultant and former Vice Chairman of
the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System) and chief Moody's
economist Mark Zandi wrote a paper yesterday called How We Ended the
Great Recession:
How We Ended the Great Recession
A source on Capitol Hill sent this to me, telling me that the paper is making the rounds on the Hill.
In the paper, Blinder and Zandi congratulate the Bush and Obama administrations for saving us from the Great Depression 2.0:
Eighteen
months ago, the global financial system was on the brink of collapse
and the U.S. was suffering its worst economic downturn since the 1930s.
The Great Recession gave way to recovery as quickly as it did largely
because of the unprecedented responses by monetary and fiscal
policymakers.
In other words: "Mission Accomplished".
In the real world, however, the economy
is on the second leg down of the crash, and the government's policies
have not addressed the real problems. See this and this. (no wonder consumer confidence is plunging but Wall Street is partying like it's 1999).
Indeed,
while Blinder and Zandi and Congress are patting themselves on the back
for a job well done, the facts simply do not bear out their claims. As
just one example, they claim that the TARP bank bailouts helped the
economy. But as I pointed out in March 2009, the bailout money didn't actually go to any productive economic uses:
The
bailout money is just going to line the pockets of the wealthy, instead
of helping to stabilize the economy or even the companies receiving the
bailouts:
- Bailout money is being used to subsidize companies run by horrible business men, allowing the bankers to receive fat bonuses, to redecorate their offices, and to buy gold toilets and prostitutes
- A lot of the bailout money is going to the failing companies' shareholders
- Indeed, a leading progressive economist says
that the true purpose of the bank rescue plans is "a massive
redistribution of wealth to the bank shareholders and their top
executives"
- The Treasury Department encouraged banks to use the bailout money to buy their competitors, and pushed through an amendment to the tax laws
which rewards mergers in the banking industry (this has caused a lot of
companies to bite off more than they can chew, destabilizing the
acquiring companies)And as the New York Times notes, "Tens of billions of [bailout] dollars have merely passed through A.I.G. to its derivatives trading partners".
***
In other words, through a little game-playing by the Fed, taxpayer money is going straight into the pockets of investors in AIG's credit default swaps and is not even really stabilizing AIG.
The super-wealthy have been bailed out, and life is great for them. For everyone else, things are not so good.
The system is rigged to benefit the elites and their sycophants at the expense of the country. See this, this, this, and this.
And - because Congress members tend to be wealthy, and because they can engage in insider trading without having to worry about pesky things like the law
- they continue (with only a handful of exceptions who challenge status
quo thinking regarding finance and war) to make decisions which benefit
their own bank accounts, instead of working for the American people.
- advertisements -
1 has 2 destroy proceeds, output, assets, yields... To...Have demand or command of production.
It should have been titled: "How We ended The Great Recession Which We never Thought Could Ever Happen and Did it So Well That We Must Do More Of That Great Stuff Which Ended the Unforeseeable Recession Because It May Not Really be Quite Ended, Yet".
i guess the rating agencies are the first to walk the plank.i suppose they deserve it. who's next? anybody's guess? hedge funds? all roads lead to treasuries, somewhere down in the leaking gunwales,near the engine room.
The Raters must have DOCUMENTATION of Wall Streets' crimes. They will sing loud and clear.
Look for some "suicides".
Is there a pdf of this. scrib wants me to sign up for facebook in order to download it. scrib is the worst thing i have every seen in terms of being able to view information.
Oh, this is rich, Moody's using their computer models to argue the counter factual of how bad things would have been.
They were so dead on with their AAA ratings that helped cause all this.
The Banks. Let 'em burn.
The recession is over
In fact, the recession ended a year ago.
The economy HAS recovered.
Welcome to the future
Welcome to the new normal
I believe this guy's grandfather also wrote the headline "Dewey Wins"
BLINDER than what!?!?!?!
Blinder than a BLINDMAN? (apologies to Blindman)
Yes, I can see an example of B9K9's 'law' at work here, but good wordplay has to be -- well, played...Nobody else had grabbed it yet...
Oh, do we still find entertainment in the current spin of, "NO, NO, IT'S NOT REALLY NOT THAT BAD, REALLY!!"
http://wallstreet.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/07/28/the-silver-lining-in-...
What I like most, beyond his flag-waving support for "Dr. Bernanke," is his opening argument, which apparently (wait for it) envisions what would happen if unemployment were to hit 16.5%. Just let it sink in, and savor in the agony of living among such fools as Zandi.
It's really a sad day in America when I read these posts and laugh instead of crying and stuffing my face with mickey d's.
don't mean to cross post but headline from Drudge this evening links to infowars
top of the left column http://www.drudgereport.com/
2017: 'The Year America Dissolved'...
Same note on a different horn.
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/07/charts-show-analysts-...
Horseshit called success is still stinky.
This is something completely "odd" for this site:
I believe that the US government is corrupt and broken. I believe that the US and global financial system is corrupt and broken. However, the company that I work for is having the best revenue and profit year EVER! We have MANUFACTURING operations in the US, China, Singapore, Korea and the UK. We distribute product globally and provide materials to the leading "western" (and some eastern as in Samsung and Hwa Wei) electronics companies (including Intel, AMD, Apple, RIM and all of the major EMS houses) globally.... go figure.
So, tell me why ...
... the opinion I have expressed to the ownership is that the US has written off the bottom 20% ... and after that it is business as usual.
I believe it's because the middle classes of China, India, Brazil, ect are picking up the slack of the rapidly shrinking American middle class. They are the new trophy wifes that our executives in America are smitten with. We are the haggard, beat looking wife who raised the children and kept turning a blind eye while whispering to ourselves "It could never happen to me."
More like the bottom 80%.
They (ruling class) do not take into account what happens if 80% get pissed off. They should look up what happened in 1789 and 1917.
If Blinder, Zandi, et al., are so smart, how could they have not seen the Great Recession coming at us like a house on fire? How did they really think all of the reckless mortgage lending would turn out? And, because they were blind-sided by the Great Recession, how likely is it that they'll be any more able to see the coming bursting of the sovereign debt bubble? No, these guys are like a drunken driver who nearly drives off a cliff and then congratulates himself for being such a great driver when he stops just short of the precipice.
Yep. This paper is just front running for QEII. What's the big deal?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQRMtGhegrs
.
U.S. Government to Gulf War Vets: Drop Dead! PART 1 of 6
.
the great depression 2.0 has yet to begin, for some. for some it
is already immaterial, you know , the dead ones. parasites have no
special fondness, affiliation, recognition or compassion for their hosts.
.............................
Excellent Blindman.
And it looks like we have parasites running the show eh?
"no special fondness, affiliation, recognition or compassion for their hosts."
Sounds like the current crop of "leaders" the world over.
And this article. Hmmmmmm...... enough said already.
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com
yea, they destroy these souls and then forget them
like old cars and trucks in the junk yard. run 'em to
hell and then cut 'em loose when they have lost their
shine all for that political agenda that has no public name
other than power for parasites feeding on good faith, trust
and youth. a soul less confidence game is in play, dressed
up as politics.
"parasites running the show eh?" , yes, and they find it so
taxing that they demand more and more blood every day.
.
i wish i never said any of this, but it appears to be so.
end the fed. that is the first problem. the fed. principle
and interest on loans must be collected by an instrument
of the people, the government, otherwise there is no government
of the people. the people become slaves to a cartel, indentured.
the new banking utility calls.
it is not the us government or people that are interested in war
in iraq, afghanistan etc., it is the mic and the banking cartel and
other insane resource hungry parties with soul less greed and
mental ineptitude.
if you are suffering from a parasite the first thing to do is
remove it by all and any means, then you have a chance to
recover and the world will change.
" a man cannot ride your back if you don't stoop over" mlk.
or something like that......
ps. nice blog ori.
GW, you forgot to include a picture of Bush in his flight suit under the now infamous banner. No sooner did he utter that phrase, then wheels fell off in Iraq. I suspect that history is about to repeat itself - this time with economics.
Save this paper; it is the "Smoot-Hawley" of our time.
Princeton, Harvard, Yale - starting to look like those are the schools you go to if you have money and you are stupid and retarded.....Schill paper on nothing. Print and burn after you drink with a few people and read it while laughing out loud if you can avoid puking.
War funding is guaranteed because it is framed around "supporting our brave troops", and "they are already there we cannot abandon them", and "we may be oppose the war but we cannot turn our backs on the troops", etc., etc., The MIC have erected an inpenetrable wall around our "heroes", one which none dare breach or even lay siege. Under this paradigm there is no limit to the length or quantity of such foolish adventures as we are witnessing in Afghanistan.
This is a nice bumper sticker but unfortunately my car would be torched if I would use it:
http://rlv.zcache.com/i_support_everyones_troops_bumper_sticker-p1280550...
Right. I makes me cringe when I see people with bumper stickers that state "My son is fighting for your freedom, US Marines" . I'm just like, w h a t t h e f uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu c k. Really, I mean really? Have you even contemplated for 2 seconds about what's going on. We're doomed. All hope is lost. I'm marrying my girlfriend and moving to Canada. It might just buy me a little more time before the Rubicon is Crossed.
I was watching a video game being played on PS3 the other day by a couple of pre-teen boys; one of the most popular games for PS3 - "Call of Duty"? The graphic and unending slaughter (of middle eastern terrorists) was appalling. When the first person hero died in battle, he was magically resurrected to begin again as if nothing happened. This "game" is a big seller.
Not only that, if the public really starts to demand an end to the war, just watch Bin Laden jump up out of his hidey-hole via yet another fake CIA tape, or worse, a new terrorist attack, in order to scare the sheeple back to their apathetic complicity.
Of course, with France recently declaring war on Al-Qaeda (which is nothing more than a CIA database of the Mujahdeen), war may escalate even without another attack.
False flag attacks, they're not just for breakfast anymore.
Got tinfoil?
It is not enough to obey him: you must love him.
Great article, GW!
Honest to God, I read the first page and just couldn't do it anymore.. That may have been designed to drive people with common sense crazy. I won't let that proclamation assault my senses.
The war: The wealthy against everyone else (class war)
Progress report: Mission accomplished
Prognosis: More Of The Same
like the other missions we constructed, the only thing accomplished is the servitude of the locals.
The propaganda mill turns. Completely discredited Zandi and eviscerates any respect left for him. Blinder is part of the Fed and has fully succumbed to the darkness.
There will always be employment for someone willing to shill for the government and be a good lap dog.
Just patently absurd on so many levels. Of course, got some nice air time on CNBS. Complimentary too.
No need to spend any more time on this. Just plain dumb. Would be funny if not so so so sad.
This is going to be one for the ages. I mean, seriously, people are going to be joking about these two guys and their (in)famous paper years from now.
Right alongside Neville Chamberlain: " I believe it is peace in our time."
the iPhone wasn't working too well that day back on Sept. 30, 1938 , only got the sound
http://ms.radio-canada.ca/archives_new/2004/en/wma/days19380930er1.wma
"I hold in my hand a piece of paper with his signature on it."
Molotov to Stalin; "Can we trust him?" Stalin; "Yes. He would not dare attack the great soviet."