Our financial system is crumbling this week.

[Popeye_Card]

IMO, the single worst policy mistake of the last 10 years was the Bush tax cuts. The two largest factors in the current deficit vs. The surplus of 11 years ago are the poor economy, and the tax cuts. The problem is, the Tea Party is absolutely convinced that taxes have skyrocketed, even though the overall tax burden is the lowest it has been since 1958.

It really boggles my mind that they will not support raising taxes on the wealthy because of "class warfare". YOU ARE NOT IN THEIR CLASS AND YOU NEVER WILL BE. They are using you like pawns. Wake up. If you really want to cut the debt/deficit, then raise taxes.

[TimeForGuinness]

Remember they all threw tea bags in to the river? "Hey guys, to fight all this government spending lets go spend thousands of dollars on tea bags and throw them in rivers to protest government spending. It'll be like 1773 and the Boston Tea Party where those patriots threw the tea overboard!"

Except that was protesting taxes on tea (among others). And the Tea was from a giant corporation.

I had a conspiracy theory that Nestea was behind this.

[Hungary Jack]

IMO, the single worst policy mistake of the last 10 years was the Bush tax cuts. The two largest factors in the current deficit vs. The surplus of 11 years ago are the poor economy, and the tax cuts. The problem is, the Tea Party is absolutely convinced that taxes have skyrocketed, even though the overall tax burden is the lowest it has been since 1958.

I agree that those tax cuts were a bad idea, but it's a mistake that is pretty easily remedied, at least in theory. Maybe Warren Buffett's opinions will hold sway.

But the almost farcical invasion of Iraq was much, much worse. How many lives were lost? How much did it cost? Has it really changed things in the Middle East? Are we really any safer now that Saddam is gone?

[G. Keenan]

Well this is fun:

The Destructive Power of the Financial Markets

I feel like this is what I've been saying for years:

And still, says Heiner Flassbeck, chief economist at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, "the time doesn't seem ripe, and the crisis wasn't severe enough, to grant -- in defiance of the neoliberal zeitgeist -- economic policy clear primacy over speculation-prone markets and to systematically restrict the financial industry to its function as a service provider to the real economy."

Flassbeck believes that the crises in the globalized economy have "a common root, namely the inability of economists to correctly interpret the world." Because financial markets function in a completely different way from markets for goods, Flassbeck argues, they should never be left to their own devices.

Of all people, it was an academic specializing in literary studies who managed to most accurately analyze the insanity of the financial markets and the impotence of economists. With his short 2010 book "Das Gespenst des Kapitals" ("The Specter of Capital"), Joseph Vogl wrote a closet bestseller that, despite being a tough read, attracted attention far beyond the arts section of newspapers -- including among economists.

His theory is that crises are not some kind of occupational hazard in the financial system. Instead, Vogl argues, it is the system itself that inevitably leads to new crises.

[Popeye_Card]

IMO, the single worst policy mistake of the last 10 years was the Bush tax cuts. The two largest factors in the current deficit vs. The surplus of 11 years ago are the poor economy, and the tax cuts. The problem is, the Tea Party is absolutely convinced that taxes have skyrocketed, even though the overall tax burden is the lowest it has been since 1958.

I agree that those tax cuts were a bad idea, but it's a mistake that is pretty easily remedied, at least in theory. Maybe Warren Buffett's opinions will hold sway.

But the almost farcical invasion of Iraq was much, much worse. How many lives were lost? How much did it cost? Has it really changed things in the Middle East? Are we really any safer now that Saddam is gone?

Buffet has been saying the same thing for years now. Yet there is still a strong Taxed Enough Already sentiment.

The problem with cutting taxes is that it is really, really hard to get popular support for raising them back where they should be. Even old excuses for taxing more (wars) isn't cutting it.

I don't disagree that the Iraq invasion was a horrible, horrible idea. But I would rank it second in the W bad idea hall of fame behind tax cuts, and just before No Child Left Behind.

What an awful 8 years.

[Freed Roger]

Well this is fun:

The Destructive Power of the Financial Markets

I feel like this is what I've been saying for years:

And still, says Heiner Flassbeck, chief economist at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, "the time doesn't seem ripe, and the crisis wasn't severe enough, to grant -- in defiance of the neoliberal zeitgeist -- economic policy clear primacy over speculation-prone markets and to systematically restrict the financial industry to its function as a service provider to the real economy."

Flassbeck believes that the crises in the globalized economy have "a common root, namely the inability of economists to correctly interpret the world." Because financial markets function in a completely different way from markets for goods, Flassbeck argues, they should never be left to their own devices.

Of all people, it was an academic specializing in literary studies who managed to most accurately analyze the insanity of the financial markets and the impotence of economists. With his short 2010 book "Das Gespenst des Kapitals" ("The Specter of Capital"), Joseph Vogl wrote a closet bestseller that, despite being a tough read, attracted attention far beyond the arts section of newspapers -- including among economists.

His theory is that crises are not some kind of occupational hazard in the financial system. Instead, Vogl argues, it is the system itself that inevitably leads to new crises.

Thanks for the link. This isn't the first time this has happened.

this book- Wealth and Democracy took the long view on the history of economic powers and hit upon the terminology- Financialization .

A common trait in the history with economies - the historical superpowers all got to a point in believing in permanent economic dominance by being financial puppetmasters and outsourcing the hardships (low wage work) and adverse effects(environment, and natural resource depletion) of the real economy.

[Freed Roger]

Buffet has been saying the same thing for years now. Yet there is still a strong Taxed Enough Already sentiment.

The problem with cutting taxes is that it is really, really hard to get popular support for raising them back where they should be. Even old excuses for taxing more (wars) isn't cutting it.

I am getting a kick out of the run on editorial rebuttals to Buffet's recent opinion piece on taxes. Grover Norquist definitely got out the talking points out to the tea party hacks.

[Michael]

A few years ago in my macro economics class the text book had a rather hilarious sidebar. There was a professor at some university that proved that the improving economic stability in the past 200 years is mostly due to better data gathering. Meaning if we used the same methods of gathering data from the past the economy today would look as nearly unstable today as it did back then (more recessions, depressions, etc). The conclusion is modern economic thought has done little to improve the stability economies.

I left the class unimpressed with macro economics. A lot of the theories seems to based wonky conjecture and there were a mind boggling number of contrasting explanations for a single event. It seemed to me economists have still data gathering issues (quality and timeliness) and things are too damn complex.

[vinsanity]

The problem with cutting taxes is that it is really, really hard to get popular support for raising them back where they should be. Even old excuses for taxing more (wars) isn't cutting it.

Thing is, you seem to have some groups who just want to get elected and a group who wants to do what's best for the country (these groups are not divided among party lines, but I would argue the GOP is disproportionately represented in the 'get elected' group). Or just don't understand math.

I'm pretty sure everyone agrees running continuous deficits aren't a good thing, but when will they acknowledge the private sector won't create jobs until the consumers (you know that bottom 90% of the country) have money to create demand?

[Hudler]

I don't want higher taxes, I just want them to get rid of ways for people and corps. with really good lawyers to get out of paying ANY taxes.