ScamWow

[SnakeBoy]

I remember Rendell on MSNBC touting how great the stimulus was going to be for repairing our infrastucture.

[SonOfAGun]

It's all a game. All empty words. Big money and empty words.

It makes since though. Man-made currency in a man-made system would ultimately be mastered by some men.

I watched about 45 mins of CSpan last night (wow a pathetic life) with Chris Dodd and some healthcare committee and they (dems and reps) brought up some great questions, but no one had any answers. Strong "just get something out there, there is no accountability and the next generation will just push it over to the following into eternity" vibe.

[SnakeBoy]

Hi, this is Vince for scamwow. Yer gonna be saying wow every time you see this stuff. It's like a scam-you-all! It's like a trowel! It's like a sponge! Sucks up the bucks! Pays off the clucks! Holds 20 times it's weight in needless pork. Easily redistributes wealth without a fuss! You followin me Joe da Plumber guy?

Made in Congress. You know the Obama/Pelosi Congress always makes good stuff. They tried this in Germany -- you see how well that turned out!

Special offer:

Buy now, pay dearly later! Support one huge ScamWow now, and wait for multiple mini ScamWow's later. HURRY! Say yes now, you know we can't do this all day.

Now look at this- here's some spam, pork, tax hikes and earmarks. Not only is the damage gonna be obvious- there's your change you can believe in that's gonna smell! See that?

They're gonna do this in real time. You took yer ballot see, and you voted Nov. 4th for all democrats, and look! They started scamming right away. They call it a stimulus. This kind of deal, I don't know it sells our souls. Not only is the damage gonna be on top, it's gonna filter its way down to us. No other scam is gonna do that. It sucks like a vacuum! And look at this - virtually no job creation or stimulus! This is a mess so big, not even a Pittsburgh Steeler terrible towel can clean this up. You'll say wow, what the happened, every time.

Ok now look at this you already bought this in November too but I'm gonna show you again how bout the Crap Chop? Yeah, it chops up any good decent bill, fills it with pork and earmarks, and turns it into useless mush.

Yer gonna love my nuts. Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Dodd, Schumer -- that's right, Crap Chop. Get yours now, here's how to order. Oh, wait you already did order it. Don't you feel stupid now?

(Actual economic stimulus and job creation guarantee not included.)

[Winehole23]

I smiled.

[Winehole23]

That's mildly funny, SnakeyB.

[Winehole23]

Better than the other spoofs posted today, IMO.

[Winehole23]

The other two overcooked the stewmeat.

[boutons_deux]

The buzz phrase "shovel ready" seems to mean 12 - 18 months away.

[DarrinS]

I don't mind the concept of economic stimulus -- just not the way they're doing it. Can we actually pump some money, NOW, into the private sector, instead of growing the govt?


I never understood why some of the stimulus won't be destributed for a few years. How in the is that going to help the economy NOW?


When a private company needs some emergency cash and goes to a VC, they don't need money 2-3 years in the future, they need it ASAP.

[Winehole23]

DarrinS echoes the early criticism of neo-keynesians Krugman and Stiglitz.

[Winehole23]

Too small, too back-loaded.

[DarrinS]

DarrinS echoes the early criticism of neo-keynesians Krugman and Stiglitz.

He was great in Quincy, M.E.

[Winehole23]

Jack Klugman

[Extra Stout]

So let me get this straight...

The first stimulus so far has not stimulated the economy. However, this isnot because Obama was wrong, rather it's because it just hasn't had enough time to work yet, because you don't see the effects of the stimulus for many months.

Therefore, in order to stimulate the economy now, we need another stimulus like the first one.

So, the plan is, in order to stimulate the economy now, to do something that by our own admission won't have any effect for many months.

Screw it. I quit. I'm done. Let the God damn country burn. No more political discussions. It's pointless.

[jman3000]

Another stimulus is political suicide. They wouldn't do it.

If they do it, I'll be first in line to be the dark guy at the tea parties. As ES alluded to... em.

[Winehole23]

[SnakeBoy]

Another stimulus is political suicide. They wouldn't do it.

They'll do it. Probably break it up into little ones tagged onto other bills so you won't get outraged.

Buy now, pay dearly later! Support one huge ScamWow now, and wait for multiple mini ScamWow's later. HURRY! Say yes now, you know we can't do this all day.

[SnakeBoy]

"Paying for what you spend is basic common sense," Obama said.

[Winehole23]

They'll do it. Probably break it up into little ones tagged onto other bills so you won't get outraged.

I assumed from the beginning that Stimulus 1.0 was the first of many editions. The number would be entirely too big if they tried to do it all at once.

[Winehole23]

That the forecasted GDP gap is bigger than the stimulus we knew to start with.

[Winehole23]

The rosy spectacles of spring, as some may recall, forecast a turnaround in 3Q, 4Q 09.

[Winehole23]

Another Stimulus

A congressional report out today lays almost all of the blame on the financial crisis at the feet of Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRE), and those that fostered their growth and “mission.”

From CNSNews.com:

"Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the chief culprits in the housing crisis because they encouraged people who could not afford payments to borrow money, according to a congressional report released Tuesday.

"The claims in the report have long been advanced by conservatives, who argue that the Community Reinvestment Act and other federal programs fed the housing bubble that burst in 2007 and led to the economic downfall in 2008.

"But the report explains in detail how Fannie and Freddie -- government sponsored enterprises (GSE) that were not subject to the same oversight as other publicly traded firms -- “privatized their profits but socialized their risks.”

"The report cites Barney Frank’s accusations that to blame Fannie and Freddie is to blame only the lender and not the borrower: 'This misses the mark entirely. In fact, responsibility for the erosion of mortgage lending standards, which began with government affordable housing policy, rests squarely on the policy makers who advocated these ill-conceived policies in the first place,' the report says. '

" 'Borrowers quite naturally responded to the incentives they were given, irrespective of their socioeconomic status, and risky lending spread to the wider mortgage market.' "



This is nothing new to readers: We've talked at length about the government’s complicity in this Ponzi scheme (driving prices up devoid of value). Bernie Madoff was put in jail for running a Ponzi scheme, so what is the difference from what the government did? First, what the government did was legal. Congress approved and put in place the measures necessary for the GSEs to accomplish their “mission.”

Second, Mr. Madoff knew what he was doing, and he knew that it was wrong. Unfortunately, I cannot say this about the government.

So now the government which got us into this mess -- and let’s not forget the Fed, which isn't a government agency, but is closely tied to the government, and kept interest rates negative for years -- is going to get us out of it through a second stimulus and more?

If we haven’t learned by now that governments cannot create wealth, we may never learn. They aren't creating wealth out of nothing and giving it away; they're creating money out of nothing and giving it away (see my recent article, Money vs. Wealth, for more). But when they create money out of nothing, it has a cost. But that cost isn't evident right away. Price equals dollars divided by value. If you create more dollars, the value doesn’t change -- but the price goes up. When the government creates more dollars in a stimulus, all it's doing is keeping prices up, not giving people more value. So by definition the stimulus is doing nothing of value.

In addition, there's a long-term cost: lower productivity. By keeping prices high when they should be dropping, capital allocation is distorted, and capital is prevented from investing in productivity. Since productivity is wealth creation, every stimulus essentially takes away from long-term wealth creation.

Putting it simply, we're expecting the foolish people that created this mess to get us out of it.There's no easy way out of this -- but there is a simple way. Allow the productivity of the market to do its job. Allow the superfluous debt to be destroyed and prices to drop.

If prices drop, the families that were productive, that saved their money, will at some point buy up the houses and work off the excess inventory. If prices drop, that entrepreneur will be able to start a new company. If prices drop, those fat-cat bankers with all that debt will go out of business, and new banks will take their place.

Mr. President, you're listening to the same song your predecessors listened to. If you're really about change, let’s stop listening to the lobbyists and the economists indoctrinated in the system as it exists.

Let’s put back good regulation (Glass-Steagle and the gold standard), raise margin requirements for banks back to reasonable levels, accelerate the destruction of debt (which is going to happen anyway), and let the markets (us) allocate capital back to productive activities based on prices.

Risk is high.

[SnakeBoy]

This has probably been posted before but wth.



edit:Reigns comment at the end always makes me laugh.

[Wild Cobra]

How are people stupid enough to vote for that ? Or any democrat for that matter?

[Winehole23]

More on the GOP report, here. (H/T to WC for the heads up on the faulty link.)