Giveth X and Taketh Away

John Ransom:

Swift Boat Captn wrote: And things were so great before Obama took over. Let’s go back to the Chimp’s economy that he started by turning surpluses into deficits then finished by losing 800,000 jobs per month and Wall Street on the brink of extinction. – This Won’t End End Well: Obama Giveth X and Taketh Away 7.6 Percent More

Sounds like a LOT of liberals I run across. Mindless, disrespectful, and full of their own childish narcissism.

Dear Comrade Kerry,

In February 2007, when the terrible, evil George W. Bush was president, there were 2,427,000 more jobs than there are today.

In February 2007, when the terrible, evil George W. Bush was president, there were 5,167,000 fewer unemployed.

There’s more money in the system, going to fewer people than ever before.

The average American can’t afford to buy a new car now. Thanks GM/Obama.

The average American is watching as home prices climb for rich Americans, but stagnate for everyone else.

Top tier homes are selling- and have been selling since Obama became pope- outpacing middle tier and lower tier homes.

The rest of us have to make due with home prices that equal those seen in 1894…That’s 1894…not, 1994.

“Whether real or manufactured by record-low foreclosures, bank supply withdrawals, and fed-subsidized cash REO-to-rent trades,” writes Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge, “the sad truth is that jobs (and the GDP-enhancing multiplier effect that they create) are just not coming. Even Bob Shiller prefers the potential for 4% gains in stocks over housing risk in the medium-term as he points out that – inflation-adjusted – house prices are back at levels first seen in 1894… now that is a long-term investor. “

And just because the Dow’s making new highs, you think everything is wonderful. What happened to Occupy Wall Street?

This is a system that was deliberately crafted by your buddy BHO.

Congrats Comrade Kerry!

You’re right: In America, you in particular, have a right to be stupid.

With Democrats it’s an absolute must. Your brain is not allowed to question the Doublespeak BS coming out of your mouth.

The others are silly too, but they are more than just silly; they are deceptive. And they mean to be deceptive too.

Let’s look at the unemployment claims for example.

The real story there is that the trend for unemployment claims is dropping over a longer period of time.

“First-time jobless claims unexpectedly fell by 7,000 to 340,000,” reports Bloomberg “in the week ended March 2, the lowest since the period ended Jan. 19, according to data today from the Labor Department in Washington. The median forecast of 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an increase to 355,000. The four-week average dropped to a five-year low.”

Now that’s a good story.

Jobless claims are now on par with the worst of the Bush administration!

Congrats Mr. Obama.

But that’s not all that he’s accomplished.

The sudden, Fed-induced lunge in stock prices and home prices has restored the wealth of the national household back to levels not seen since 2007.

“Surging stock prices and steady home-price increases have finally allowed Americans to regain the $16 trillion in wealth they lost to the Great Recession,” reports CNBC. “The gains are helping support the economy and could lead to further spending and growth.”

And just in time too.

At a time when tax hikes, oil prices and stagnant wages are eating up families, more and more families are dipping into savings in order to pay the bills…just like the federal government is doing.

According to Zero Hedge, American household debt has actually gone down since the last time the stock market was at these levels.  In 2007, total household debt was $13.5 trillion, while today it stands at $12.87 trillion, says ZH’s Tyler Durden.  Households, it seems, have been able to accomplish what the government can’t do namely: Cut debt as household revenues stagnate. 

That’s good, because Americans are saving less and dipping into assets like 401(k)s and home equity in order to keep up with the government tax and spending jones.

“A new national study shows that too many of us are cashing out 401(k) accounts to pay bills,” reports a CBS News local affiliate in Pennsylvania. “If that retirement account is calling your name, a financial expert advises you to stop listening.”

The reason why families are dipping into retirement savings is because Obama’s tax hikes have wiped out any gains that they’ve made on the wage front.

“The good news,” says the Washington Post, “Many Americans saw their paychecks get fatter in 2012, as average weekly earnings rose 2.4 percent over the course of the year. The bad news: The expiration of the payroll tax cut this January will basically wipe away all of last year’s gains.”

The Post goes on to explain that the payroll tax hike “could” hurt the economy in 2013 because consumers will have less to spend.  What the Post didn’t reckon on, however, was that households would mimic Big Brother and just borrow from Peter to pay…um…Pelosi?

From Daily Finance.com:

Americans saw their income drop so dramatically in January that it marked the deepest one-month decline in 20 years. Personal income decreased by $505.5 billion in January, or 3.6%, compared to December (on a seasonally adjusted and annualized basis). That’s the most dramatic decline since January 1993, according to the Commerce Department. 

Yet still, consumer spending on the whole was not much affected.

Spending still increased although the increase wasn’t very fat.

And where, pray tell, did the magical money come from?

…consumers are benefiting from a housing recovery and rising stock prices….

They’re not able to save much, though. On average, people saved about 2.4% of their disposable income in January, down from 6.4% in December. That marks the smallest saving rate since November 2007.

So 3.6 percent wage decrease plus 4 percent less savings…carry the two, divide the whole number…is… 7.6 percent less for you!   

Now this is all so clear: So the Fed is printing money, which drives household wealth up, so that the government can raise taxes, so that families spend a little more and save a whole lot less, while wages go down and household debt starts to climb back up.

Now all we need for this genius plan to work out is for housing prices and the stock market to continue to climb forever, so that the government budget can always ask for a more of your wages in either taxes or borrowing even at a time when wages are shrinking the fastest in 20 years!  

A one-month high!  

Oh, and, this time it’s totally different.

This won’t end well a lot quicker than it did last time.  

As Mark Twain once observed of his misshapen theatrical production Ah Sin:

When this play was originally completed it was so long, and so wide and so deep–in places–and so comprehensive that it would have taken two weeks to play it…. [B]ut the manager said no, that wouldn’t do; to play two weeks was sure to get us into trouble with the Government, because the Constitution of the United States says you sha’n’t inflict cruel and unusual punishments. So he set to work to cut it down….I never saw a play improve as this one did. The more he cut out of it the better it got right along. He cut out, and cut out, and cut out; and I do believe this would be one of the best plays in the world to-day if his strength had held out, and he could have gone on and cut out the rest of it.

If Congress just had just half of the strength of that theater manager, I’d feel less cruel and unusual toward the government.

Half of sequester is aimed at money that is an increase in spending over what we are spending today rather than true cuts.

But then you’ll have all the gored ox’s screaming that Grandam was going to dy in the street and children will starve to death and dirty dirty water and breath nothing but dirty air, ad nauseum. The Apocalypse will be upon us all!

Government does not invest; it spends.

Government does not say, “Let’s take a trillion dollars and make it turn into five trillion dollars worth of value.” If they did, you wouldn’t have guys like Obama making the case that tax rates should go up based on “fairness,” while admitting that higher tax rates will lower government revenue.

That would be like a computer company arguing that, yes, profits will go down on computer sales, but prices must be lowered based on “fairness.” Government instead says, “Let’s spend a trillion dollars on highways, because construction contractors need the work and that money will come back from construction contractors to fund political campaigns.”

The return on capital to the overall economy is both incidental and accidental when government spends money.

And boy do Politician love to spend! Bribes don’t come cheap. 🙂

A government that controls your mortgage, your student loan, your car loan, your retirement savings, your healthcare, your right to own property and to defend your liberties- with a gun if necessary- is a government that owns your liberty and just rents it back to you for a while at election time.

Vote for Me, the Other Guy’s an Asshole! Or in the case of Queen Hillary, ignore everything that has ever happened prior to election day 2016 and just vote for the First Female President ever…Voting for the First Black because he was Black worked out so well! 🙂