{"id":2024,"date":"2009-12-09T18:16:06","date_gmt":"2009-12-09T23:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/?p=2024"},"modified":"2009-12-09T18:30:36","modified_gmt":"2009-12-09T23:30:36","slug":"clowns-to-the-left-of-me-jokers-to-the-right%e2%80%94dude-wheres-my-stimulus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/2009\/12\/09\/clowns-to-the-left-of-me-jokers-to-the-right%e2%80%94dude-wheres-my-stimulus\/","title":{"rendered":"Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right\u2014Dude, Where’s My Stimulus?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\""Recession<\/a>
"Recession Special" Gray's Papaya, 2 October 2004, Manhattan, NYC Taken by Kenneth M. Kambara<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Years ago, I once had a conversation with an economist who freely admitted that there was no unified macroeconomic theory. \u00a0What works versus what doesn’t work in a particular sociopolitical context is really just so much spitballing. \u00a0This never surprised me given the complex realities of global capitalism.<\/p>\n

I’ve been genuinely perplexed by Barack Obama and Tim Geithners’ macroeconomic policies regarding managing the US through this Big Recession. \u00a0So, today’s news that the administration was extending the $700B financial bailout <\/a><\/strong>until next October came as no surprise. \u00a0I was reading a very interesting blog post on The North Star National, “As Obama and Geithner continue Bush\u2019s too-big-to-fail fiasco, blue may turn red in 2010<\/strong>,”<\/a> which contextualized Obamanomics. \u00a0The right is blasting the Obama Administration for Keynesian statist interventionism, while the left, including fellow Democrats in Congress, is getting increasingly impatient with the lack of Keynesian stimulus. \u00a0Who’s right?<\/p>\n

Well, the fact of the matter that in terms of economic policy, precious little has changed since the heady deregulatory days of Bill Clinton when the economy was flying high. \u00a0What has changed is the economy itself. \u00a0Valuations of assets have often been distorted and instruments and markets were allowed to be developed in ways that underestimated or distorted the risks. \u00a0Of course, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, so many were caught off-guard when the house of cards fell and the asset bubble burst. \u00a0How did this happen? \u00a0Only a select few know that the house of cards of the economy was built with a stacked deck. \u00a0In the aftermath, the economy languished and unemployment rose. \u00a0All the while, the meter was running with Team America, World Police, with surge on the way<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So, while billions are being pushed towards the “too big to fail,” what’s being ignored are::<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Job creation, as double-digit unemployment sweeps the nation<\/li>\n
  2. Consumer debt forgiveness\/restructuring<\/li>\n
  3. A restoration of faith in financial intermediaries<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    While Wall Street got theirs, I’m concerned that “Main Street” is left high and dry. \u00a0The danger is a negative feedback loop, where unemployment not only leads to more consumer debt, bankruptcies, foreclosures, and lower consumption and savings {further tightening credit}, but less tax revenues. \u00a0Less tax revenues at the federal, state, and local levels. \u00a0Unless the economy turns around soon, the next crisis will be the local governments with the critical services they provide saying the well is dry.<\/p>\n

    Recently, I saw Joe Biden doing a song and dance on the Daily Show::<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    The Daily Show With Jon Stewart<\/a><\/td>\nMon – Thurs 11p \/ 10c<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Joe Biden Pt. 1<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    www.thedailyshow.com<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    <\/object><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \n\n\n\n
    Daily Show
    \nFull Episodes<\/a><\/td>\n    		Political Humor<\/a><\/td>\nHealth Care Crisis<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    The Daily Show With Jon Stewart<\/a><\/td>\nMon – Thurs 11p \/ 10c<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Joe Biden Pt. 2<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    www.thedailyshow.com<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    <\/object><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \n\n\n\n
    Daily Show
    \nFull Episodes<\/a><\/td>\n    		Political Humor<\/a><\/td>\nHealth Care Crisis<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    Readers in Canada can see the interview here in a link to the full episode <\/a><\/strong>on the Comedy Network.<\/p>\n

    Biden claimed that the bailouts were necessary to prevent a fully-blown depression. \u00a0I’m not convinced. \u00a0The NorthStarNational blog makes reference to a report that is very critical of the Obama\/Geithner approach<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0The preface starts out with this::<\/p>\n

    “The Obama administration has implemented several policies to \u201cjump-start\u201d the U.S. economy. Two core premises are thatmonetary measures are required to strengthen the financial system before the rest of the economy can recover, and that most major banks have a temporary liquidity problem induced by malfunctioning financialmarkets.The administration\u2019s efforts have largely focused on preserving the financial interests of major banks. Research Associate \u00c9ric Tymoigne and Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray believe that maintaining the status quo is not the solution, since it overlooks the debt problems of households and nonfinancial businesses\u2014re-creating the financial conditions that led to disaster will set the stage for a recurrence of the Great Depression or a Japanese-style ‘lost decade.'”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    What are the answers? \u00a0At the risk of sounding populist, there needs to be real job creation on a large scale and deficit be damned. \u00a0Oh, and about Afghanistan and its hefty pricetag…<\/p>\n

    Twitterversion:: <\/strong> #TimGeithner& #Obama extend fin.bailout, but w\/unemp% in double-digits, what about consumer spending, savings, & tax rev? http:\/\/url.ie\/3yv5\u00a0@Prof_K<\/a><\/p>\n

    Song::<\/strong> The Hold Steady-“Stuck Between Stations”
    \n<\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Years ago, I once had a conversation with an economist who freely admitted that there was no unified macroeconomic theory. \u00a0What works versus what doesn’t work in a particular sociopolitical context is really just so much spitballing. \u00a0This never surprised me given the complex realities of global capitalism. I’ve been genuinely perplexed by Barack Obama […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[729,2185,818,2181,2186,2182,2183,2184],"class_list":["post-2024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-barack-obama","tag-financial-bailout","tag-financial-crisis","tag-joe-biden","tag-keynesian-economics","tag-stuck-between-stations","tag-the-hold-steady","tag-tim-geithner"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2024"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2042,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024\/revisions\/2042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}