Thread: American Politics
+
Add Report
Results 901 to 915 of 14427
-
11-05-23 03:31 #13527
Posts: 5462Originally Posted by Tiny12 [View Original Post]
Your "real interest rate" concept existed under Carter when inflation was rising the same as it existed under Reagan when the rate of inflation was declining virtually every month and quarter as it had been since before he took office.
Even by your assessment above, Carter faced even worse economic hurdles than Reagan did yet his policies and stewardship did not produce rising to skyrocketing unemployment rates into double digits for a whopping 10 consecutive months and his annual average jobs creation dwarfed that of Reagan's. And he did it without tripling the National Debt as Reagan did.
-
11-05-23 03:16 #13526
Posts: 5462Originally Posted by Tiny12 [View Original Post]
-
11-04-23 23:37 #13525
Posts: 1807Originally Posted by EihTooms [View Original Post]
-
11-04-23 23:14 #13524
Posts: 1807Originally Posted by EihTooms [View Original Post]
By your reasoning, when the Turkish equivalent of the Fed Funds rate was at 12.5% in mid 2022, monetary policy was contractionary, because the rate was high. Well, at the same time inflation was running 75% and GDP growth was galloping along at 7. 6% YoY. Erdogan, the Turkish president who controls the central bank, was letting it rip.
That's kind of like what was happening under Fed Chairmen Arthur Burns and G. William Miller from 1975 to 1979. CPI inflation was higher than the Fed Funds rate more often than not, even though inflation was high, in the range of 5% to 12%. But the difference wasn't anywhere nearly as extreme as Turkey's.
Volker replaced Miller, and under his leadership the Fed jacked up the Fed Funds rate to a maximum of 22% in July, 1981, during Reagan's first term. At that time, CPI inflation was running about 11%. That represents a real interest rate of 11%. At the tail end of the 1982/1983 recession, Fed Funds flattened out around 9%, while CPI inflation bottomed at 2. 6%. Monetary policy was still very much contractionary. Yes, it resulted in sharply higher unemployment and two recessions, during the end of Carter's term and the first half of Reagan's first term. That's what it took to slay the inflation beast. Lots of pain.
But from the 2nd half of 1983 through to the end of Reagan's 2nd term, GDP growth was very good by today's standards, from 2. 7% to 8. 6% per annum (YoY). Furthermore, the unemployment rate fell from its peak of 10.8% in October, 1982 to around 5% to 5. 5% and the end of Reagan's time in office, which was lower than the unemployment rate anytime during Carter's administration.
Please note I'm not crediting or blaming Carter or Reagan with recessions, booms, or employment, even though I believe in the longer term some of Reagan's changes to the tax system were very beneficial. I'm just pointing out how economic statistics varied through time, using their terms as references. It wasn't the party of the president that was the biggest driver of events, it was the Fed. And oil prices (detrimental to the economy during Carter's term and Reagan's first term and beneficial in Reagan's 2nd term) would be second. These are related. Oil price shocks drove inflation, which drove Fed policy.
-
11-04-23 22:22 #13523
Posts: 1807Originally Posted by EihTooms [View Original Post]
I wonder how this would have turned out if the USA hadn't backed Israel at every turn. Maybe there never would have been a 9/11, or wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe we wouldn't be a pariah in the Arab world. And just maybe Israelis and Palestinians would have come to a two state solution, and be living together today in peace. And yes, maybe our national debt wouldn't be as high. If that makes me a piece of shit, then so be it. But don't label me as a piece of shit Republican based on my beliefs about Israel and Palestine. And please note I used the word "maybe." I don't necessarily believe all those positive outcomes would have occurred, but can't help but believe the world would be a better place if the USA hadn't always unconditionally supported Israel.
-
11-03-23 16:27 #13522
Posts: 5462Perfect
Originally Posted by Tiny12 [View Original Post]
Good to know.
Now we know you would have applauded Trump "saving" America about a $100 Million when he spent 2 years defunding and removing the Pandemic Prevention and Response teams from those Chinese labs if only you had known about it in 2018 and 2019.
Congratulations. You have just defined and epitomized crap Repub policies and stewardship and illustrated why their consistent producing and presiding over every Great Economic Disaster and Historic Jobs Destruction of the past 100 years and NONE of the boom times and Historic Jobs Gains has most definitely not been a matter of "economic cycles", "bad Repub luck", a witches curse on Repubs or a series of wild coincidences.
-
11-03-23 16:07 #13521
Posts: 5462There you go again
Originally Posted by Tiny12 [View Original Post]
And stop changing the subject. Volcker was already lowering the Fed Funds Rates by the time Reagan took office.
See your local bank if you are concerned about interest rates. The bank president might be some guy named Bill Jones, not Paul Volcker.
Feds interest rate history: The federal funds rate from 1981 to the present
https://www.bankrate.com/banking/fed...al-funds-rate/
The fed funds rate began the decade at a target level of 14 percent in January 1980. By the time officials concluded a conference call on Dec. 5, 1980, they hiked the target range by 2 percentage points to 19-20 percent, its highest ever.
......
Rates began drifting downward sharply, falling first to a target range of 13-14 percent on Nov. 2, 1982, then down to 11.5-12 percent on July 20, 1982. After some oscillation, interest rates havent eclipsed 10 percent since November 1984. The effective fed funds rate averaged at 9.97 percent during this 10-year period
As stated in the text, 1980 was the high point for Fed Funds Rates. Reagan's years in office, especially those first, second and third years, were gifted with almost constant reports of lowered Fed Funds Rates, not rising rates.
His Great Reagan / Repub Recession began in the final quarter of 1981, really confirmed by the first quarter of 1982. His whopping 10 consecutive months of 10%+ Unemployment Rates began in September 1982, just 2 months before the Fed hit its lower target range.
That series of 10%+ Unemployment Rates went far beyond and years after the Fed Funds Rates hit their peak and began "drifting downward sharply".
Are you now blaming declining Fed Funds Rates, "drifting downward sharply", for plunging us into the Great Reagan / Repub Recession and causing those months of 10%+ Unemployment Rates? LOL.
Seems to me just almost 3 years ago we were hearing hysterical predictions of a Great Biden / Dem Recession and double digit Unemployment Rates by now due in part to rising Fed Funds Rates because Biden's thoroughly understandable stimulus measures were not dime perfect in the face of totally unkown and unprecedented future conditions re Trump's Pandemic, his Trump / Repub-apponted Fed Chairman and the likely outcome of that first midterm.
Bidenomics has not benefitted from a single month or report of "drifting downward sharply" Fed Funds Rates. Not one.
Reaganomics was gifted with practically every month of his presidency accompanying a rosy report of "drifting downward sharply" Fed Funds Rates. Yet, in the end, his Repub policies and stewardship wound up tripling the National Debt while producing a pathetic Job Gains result compared to Carter, when Fed Funds Rates were also on the rise and hit a record high, and virtually every other Dem who didn't get hit with a Niagara Falls Economic Crash and Jobs Destruction from the outgoing Repub as he was taking the Oath of Office.
-
11-03-23 04:41 #13520
Posts: 1807Originally Posted by MarquisdeSade1 [View Original Post]
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trade-d...ustry-fc9fd0c7
Oren Cass’s “Why Trump Is Right About Tariffs” (Review, Oct. 28) errs most fundamentally by assuming higher tariffs can—costs and corruption notwithstanding—reduce the U.S. trade deficit. Leaving aside whether said deficit is actually an economic problem (it isn’t), reams of evidence show that tariffs don’t offer a solution.
For example, a 2017 Peterson Institute examination of 183 countries found that those with higher tariffs tended to have larger trade deficits. The U.S. International Trade Commission, also in 2017, calculated that a 10% increase in U.S. tariffs would cause a small long-run increase in the trade deficit. And despite President Trump’s tariffs, the U.S. trade deficit in goods was a smidgen higher during his tenure (averaging 4.2% of GDP) than during President Obama’s last year in office (4%).
National trade balances are driven by macroeconomic forces—primarily national savings and investment patterns—that are immune to changes in trade policy. Without altering these, higher tariffs that reduce imports will also reduce exports, thanks to a stronger U.S. dollar, higher input costs and foreign retaliation. National welfare declines, but the trade deficit doesn’t.
Scott Lincicome
General Economics and Cato Institute
Raleigh, N.C.
By asking rhetorically, “Does making things matter?” Mr. Cass sneaks in a fallacy as if it’s a fact. Americans do make things. Manufacturing output is now very near the all-time high that it hit on the eve of the financial crisis. Further, as reported by Colin Grabow, “In 2021, [the U.S.] ranked second in the share of global manufacturing output at 15.92 percent—greater than Japan, Germany, and South Korea combined—and the sector by itself would constitute the world’s eighth-largest economy. The United States was the world’s fourth-largest steel producer in 2020, second-largest automaker in 2021, and largest aerospace exporter in 2021.”
It’s therefore unsurprising—except, perhaps, to Messrs. Cass and Trump—that U.S. industrial capacity is also today near its all-time high.
Prof. Donald J. Boudreaux
Mercatus Center, George Mason U.
Fairfax, Va.
High tariffs on goods such as steel or aluminum would shield domestic producers from foreign competition, providing them a short-term boost. But they would make producing goods much more expensive for the U.S. businesses buying the metal. Given tariffs tend to be passed on to consumers, this also means the public has less money to spend on other products.
Even businesses in the “protected” industries are harmed. When other nations impose retaliatory tariffs, U.S. producers would lose market access to hundreds of millions of consumers. Shielding industries from foreign competition also leads to inefficiency. Free trade forces domestic producers to up their game, whereas tariffs make them less productive. In the long run, they make less of their product.
Ben Ramanauskas
-
11-03-23 04:17 #13519
Posts: 2579Voter fraud is a lie
Nothing to see here folks just move along.
https://apnews.com/article/connectic...968ffdaa0b6369
-
11-03-23 03:25 #13518
Posts: 1807Originally Posted by EihTooms [View Original Post]
You only need to look at a graph of real interest rates to understand what was happening during Carter's and Reagan's administrations. Real rates shot up to around 6% at the end of Carter's administration and stayed there through most of Reagan's terms. Under Tooms Rules, this is Carter's responsibility, because Carter appointed Volcker as Fed Chairman. And Volcker, a Democrat, aggressively pursued much-needed anti-inflationary monetary policy, which adversely affected GDP growth and employment. Or that's the logic you and Spidy apply to Powell anyway. Spidy's complaining about our current measly 2.2% real rate.
-
11-03-23 03:19 #13517
Posts: 1807Originally Posted by EihTooms [View Original Post]
So what kind of return is the government receiving on that $14.4 billion it's giving the IRS? Well, the CBO provided this year-by-year estimate of outlays (from $14.4 billion aid to Israel) and foregone revenues (from the reduction in the additional $80 billion allocated to the IRS):
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/202...p_Act_2024.pdf
I entered the numbers into an Excel spreadsheet, and the government's internal rate of return (IRR) on the 14.4 billion is 22%. The government gets back $1. 86 (being 26.8/14.4) for every dollar it "invests" in the IRS. The 22% IRR a good return for a business. But not a great return. One of my old employers required an estimated 20% IRR on any projects we undertook.
But the investor here is the United States Government, and its business is taking money out of the pockets of its citizens and businesses. If I bought a gun and got a monopoly on extorting money I'd make a hell of a lot higher return on my investment than 22% a year. I'd make millions off that $800 handgun!
This is another illustration how inefficient our federal government is, and why more of the power of the purse and power to spend should be vested in state and local governments.
-
11-02-23 18:25 #13516
Posts: 2579The WSJ no less proof even a broken clock is correct 2 x a day
"Damn, It looks like Mike Johnson's promoting a bill to fund $14.3 billion for Israel by cutting the IRS's budget by $14.3 billion. It would be part of the $80 billion originally allocated to the agency in the Inflation Reduction Act last year.
I'm actually starting to like this guy!
I was somewhat disgusted with Chip Roy, but see he's insisting any money for Israel include offsetting spending cuts. I'm starting to like him too!
Now admittedly this is a lesser of two evils thing. I don't really believe we should be sending money Israel's way, considering it's a wealthy country. But if the money's coming out of the IRS's hide, well, that makes it somewhat more palatable. "
https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/wh...riffs-3cad4097
-
11-02-23 11:22 #13515
Posts: 5462Surprise, Surprises, Surprise!
Guess what, everybody. Separating Israel support from the rest the way Repub ChristoFascist Mike wants it done does NOT save money. It will ADD $26 Billon to the Trump / Repub's mounting deficits!
Surprised? You shouldn't be. Repub economic policy and stewardship always adds to their economic disaster deficits with no meaningful positive gain in jobs, GDP, economic recovery and expansion, national security, etc to show for it. *.
Quite the opposite of what Biden and the Dems have done for America.
*Otherwise promoted in MSM as, "handling the economy better than the Democrats. " LOL.
House GOPs Israel-IRS bill could add more than $26 billion to deficit: CBO
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4...d-deficit-cbo/#text=It%20 is%20%2426%20 billion. ,Office%20 (CBO)%20 said%20 Wednesday.
$26 Billion added to Trump's Repub Policy and Stewardship Disaster deficits just to convince Xi snd Putin that even as little as a Pink Tinkle in the House is enough to cripple America's recovery from the latest Great Repub Economic Disaster and its standing as the recognized Leader of the Free World? Sad.
100% Repub-supported Mike would actually be less harmful and more beneficial to America's economy and national security if he just handed the gavel back to Nancy or over to Hakeem and spent the next 13 months in his Fake Electors tree house praying for guidance on how to outlaw Sex For Pleasure, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Sex Outside of Marriage, Access to Contraception, etc.
-
11-02-23 06:02 #13514
Posts: 5462Was that the big Sink of my facts I waited for?
Originally Posted by Tiny12 [View Original Post]
Meanwhile, even that 3% more popular vote for Repubs in the midterms that you are clinging to, a good chunk of which went to George Santos for impersonating a normal human being that could at least temporarily fool a few New York State residence, still does not come close to that 22 point advantage on the economy that you loved so much and still counts as one of the poorest gains in Congress for the out of WH Party in that particular midterm of all time.
LOL. I love when you admonish me for "being better than that" after you make up a straw man argument I never made and then can't refute one actual significant point I make. Yeah, apparently I am "better" than what you fabricate to argue against. And, of course, your misstating it is all the more reason I apparently must repeat it as often as I do. LOL.
-
11-02-23 04:12 #13513
Posts: 1807Originally Posted by Spidy [View Original Post]
I'm glad you're not running our monetary policy. We'd end up like Turkey.
And yes I give Biden credit for not criticizing the Fed or replacing Powell. And yes, Trump pushed the Fed to lower rates and he should not have.
Your lavish praise for Biden is unwarranted. He gave away a lot of money which should have produced a sugar high. Instead we ended up deeper in debt and inflation kicked off earlier in the USA than other places. And after adjusting for inflation, the working man is now making LESS than when Biden took office.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/COMPRNFB