Falling Gas Prices prove, yet again, that Repub Supply-Side Economics is Bulls***.

Falling gas prices have recently created a huge demand-side boost to our economy. Millions and millions of dollars worth of boost: serious money. The increase comes from families having a few hundred extra bucks a year to spend on things other than filling their tanks. That is the free market in action, folks: consumers consuming, and by so doing creating jobs where they spend that additional money.

Classic, common-sense, evidence-based economics. People making additional purchases with the money they are saving because of lower pump prices. Demand-side economic stimulus via the private sector. Somewhere in the Afterlife, Adam Smith is shouting “See? SEE, motherf***ers? Who’s the man? I toldjaso!”

And none, repeat NONE of those falling petrol prices had Thing One to do with tax breaks for millionaires. No, oil prices are falling because of supply and demand. Once again, class, all together: “supply AND demand”. But of course, “republicans” don’t care about anything but the supply side. Because that side has all the friggin’ millionaires and billionaires that can (and do) buy Teapubbie Senators and Congresscritters.

This blog has ofttimes posted about the complete and utter failure of supply-side “economics”, and the laughable Laffer Curve that it is based upon. (Click the links, Gentle Reader, lots of supporting data to be found if you folllow the breadcrumbs.)

Once again, all of the Post-Reaganista bulls*** has been exposed, in all of its fetid, malodorous splendor. The American economy used to grow, before these dark days, because sensible adults recognized that all sides and strata of the economy are interrelated, and that we needed to manage supply and demand, the rich and the poor, and everything in between. But because of the Voodoo Wing of the “Republican” Party (and by that we mean, “the entire f***ing GOP”) focusing ONLY on the supply side, we have naught but deficts, crumbling edifices, and corruption all around us.

The positive economic effects of falling prices for the consumer prove, once again, that the Teapublican party is, as usual, completely full of s***. Almost as full of it as the idiot voters who voted for them, or failed to vote against them. But hey, enjoy the cheap gasoline while it lasts; until the Teapubbies find yet another way to steal those extra dollars away from us, and hand it back to their supply-side patrons.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Even Big Business’s Mouthpiece Admits It: “Republican” Policies Suck.

When Forbes, of all magazines, says “Obama kicks Reagan’s ass”, or words to that effect, you know that the Supply-Siders are totally f***ed. And that they suck dead elephant d***s. And are too f***ing stupid to realize how stupid they are.

But Big Business follows data, and data proves that Voodoo Economics is a giant, stinking heap of dinosaur bollocks:

Bob Deitrick: ”President Reagan has long been considered the best modern economic President. So we compared his performance dealing with the oil-induced recession of the 1980s with that of President Obama and his performance during this ‘Great Recession.’

“As this unemployment chart shows, President Obama’s job creation kept unemployment from peaking at as high a level as President Reagan, and promoted people into the workforce faster than President Reagan.

“President Obama has achieved a 6.1% unemployment rate in his sixth year, fully one year faster than President Reagan did. At this point in his presidency, President Reagan was still struggling with 7.1% unemployment, and he did not reach into the mid-low 6% range for another full year. So, despite today’s number, the Obama administration has still done considerably better at job creating and reducing unemployment than did the Reagan administration.

Big businesses may not like Obama, but they (unlike brain-dead ideologues like Ted Cruz) can read a balance sheet. They know that good old-fashioned math-based accounting proves that supply-side economics is deader than a doorknob. So too do most normal Americans.

Why, then, does our nation persist in its apparent infatuation with such a bankrupt ideology? Simple: the Teabaggers who are dumb enough to buy the voodoo potion turn out and vote; and the precious few in the business world who are profiting by the Reagan-era policies spend lots of money buying elections for ideologues like Ted F***ing Cruz.

Sad to say, mere facts and common sense matter litlle when politics rears its ugly head. This writer hopes that you, Gentle Reader, will at least consider facts when you express opinions and cast ballots. The same facts that even the Repubs at Forbes are acknowledging.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

As predicted, “Voodoo Economics” has created a “Zombie Economy”.

This blog sneers ofttimes at “Republicans” and their stupid-f*** “supply-side” economics. (Here is one example of said mockery.) The gist is: tried and true data-based economic practices are the way to succeed, and Randian, Lafferesque Voodoo economic policies are the way to fail.

In Kansas, one of several states that have decided Ayn Rand was the false Goddess they shall worship, Voodoo economics have had the result most of those in the Reality-Based community have predicted:

In Kansas, the right wing has completely run the show in the state capitol since the 2012 elections, when Sam Brownback (who became governor two years earlier) led a purge of moderate Republicans who were acting as a brake on his agenda in the state Senate. Kansas is now a laboratory for what would happen if conservative Republicans gained full control of government. Empowered state Republicans slashed taxes for the rich, arguing that an economic boom would follow. It didn’t, as job growth in Kansas has underperformed the national average (as has Scott Walker’s Wisconsin, another state that moved hard right around the same time). But what did follow was a huge hole in the state’s budget (while liberal-dominated California is running a surplus and paying down debt).. (Emphasis via Cranky)

In state after state, the predicted results have occurred: Voodoo economics have created a sort of Zombie economy. What might seem just a mildly amusing turn of phrase is in fact a devastating blow to those of us not in the 1% (said 1% motherf***ers not being in the least incommoded by the Undead Economy). The economy is limping along, barely alive as far as most of us can tell, and that is not a sustainable path.

In Kansas, Wisconsin, Ohio, and indeed across the nation, we see the results of “Republican” policies: and rotten results they have proven to be. Using millions of people to test their voodoo theories was unethical at the outset, and has since sucked most of the life our of our economy.

Unlike the zombies one sees in movies, our Repub-afflicted economy can be healed and brought back to life. All that is needed is to lay off the voodoo, apply some healthy policies, and the rotting ambulatory corpse of our nation will be restored to health.

And the first step of that cure? Get out and vote. Vote against each and every “Republican” in every race, in every location. Banish the witch doctors and bring back the trained, educated professionals that had served us so well for centuries. Ditch the dream of Supply-Side, and awaken to reality.

That ‘dream’ turned out to be a nightmare the likes of which even Romero could never have envisioned, anyway.

Mr. Blunt and Crankly

No wonder they killed him: MLK was working for economic justice for ALL the poor.

Racial equality wasn’t all that big a deal to the plutocracy (AKA the 1%), because they weren’t going to lose any money from it. But when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. started the Poor People’s Campaign, that’s when s*** got real. A multi-racial, cross-class movement for economic justice? That was gonna cost some change.

And if you think about it, the leaders of every movement that tried to empower the many and free them from the oppression of the few have been so treated. Jesus, and Gandhi, to name a few. Others survived (like Mandela) but suffered horribly as they were made an example of by the 1% of their day.

Because ultimately the color wars, the culture wars, the party wars, all are of relatively little import to those who would use the world as their own private slush fund. They matter to US, we who are not of the Plutocratic Elite, but all they care about is cash and control. When wealth and power are put on the table, that is when people start getting killed, to protect the fortunes and privileges of the few. If they can mute the voices of freedom and justice, they will do so: but kill they will, if they deem it expedient and to their own benefit.

The leaders of Occupy managed to avoid King’s fate, because they refused (wisely) to have one single person as their capital-L Leader. Their message was marginalized by less drastic means. But marginalized it was, because when it comes to wealth, any and all means will be used to maintain the positions of the Plutocrats.

Remember, Gentle Reader, as you honor Dr. King on this day: he did not only die because he wanted people of color to be free: he died because he wanted all of us to share in the fruits of our labor. That is why he was murdered, as were other warriors before him. And we can best honor him by carrying on that fight.

Mister Blunt and Cranky

PS: This is not intended as slight on those who have bravely fought for justice based on color, creed, class and culture. Those are serious struggles and are very important to the vast majority of us. This post is about the economic aspect of Dr. King’s legacy, which is ofttimes overlooked.

Screw the Catholic Church, but the Pope is speaking some truths.

This writer has been trickling all over supply-side economics for quite some time now, going back to the Reagan era when the idiotic notion first reared its ugly-assed head. And so have many others. But Pope Francis has outdone us all.

Here is Francis taking the academic approach:

“Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world,” Francis wrote in the papal statement. “This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacra­lized workings of the prevailing economic system.”

“Meanwhile,” he added, “the excluded are still waiting.”

And here he is with the killer phrase, offering a perfect summation of Voodoo Economics:

“The promise was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, benefiting the poor. But what happens instead, is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger, and nothing ever comes out for the poor”.

Being a descendant of Huguenot refugees who fled from the terrors and crimes of Rome, Mr. B & C has long felt (and continues to feel) a huge antipathy towards the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Screw that organization with a rusty chain saw. They have done immense damage to Jews, Protestants, women, and the LGBT community over the centuries, and continue to to wreak havoc today, bringing misery and death to untold millions. And they rarely (if ever) apologize or make recompense for their crimes. So, again, screw that organization.

But let’s give credit where it’s due: Pope Francis has revealed the Laffer-Curve Emperor to be naked. He has brilliantly summed up the con job that was foisted upon the world by a bunch of fake “Republicans”, starting in the late 70’s. He has linked the cause (Supply-Side Economics) to its effect: the historically unprecedented inequality that plagues our planet. He has, in short, truly done God’s work this time.

It may be nothing more than the leader of one criminal organization calling out another: but it is truth. It is a truth that the world needs to hear. So, bless you, Pope Francis. Just for today, and thank you.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

A Song For The Kasich

A “shell game” is an old trick, beloved by con artists: they have three shells and one small pebble. They put the pebble under one of the shells, and then rapidly move the shells to and fro, mixing them up so you can’t tell which is which. They then ask you “which one is hiding the rock?” Most of us guess wrong, and lose our money.

Ohio Guv-boy John Kasich is clearly a connoisseur of the shell game: he has outlined a large number of changes to the tax code that are confusing and nearly impossible to follow, and labeled them a “tax cut”. Not surprisingly, people in and out of government are scratching their heads, trying to follow The Kasich’s sleight-of-hand routine.

Ohioans would do well to remember a few things:
Number A; Bob Taft once noticed that an income tax cut was about to bankrupt the state, and proceeded to push through a sales tax increase-this cut taxes on the rich and shifted the burden to the middle class and poor. The Kasich is doing something similar, but with more smoke and mirrors-while “cutting” taxes, he is proposing a whole raft of new taxes, again mostly hitting everyone but his wealthy paymasters and cronies.

Letter 2; this is just another example of the discredited and failed theory of Trickle-Down economics. Steal from the poor, give to the rich, and the rich keep the money, instead of magically giving it back to the unwilling donors.

Thirdly; the late great George Harrison summed up The Kasich’s little scam very neatly, as Mr. Vaughn demonstrates:Taxman. That is the Song For The Kasich.

The entire history of The Kasich’s tenure has been one shell game after another. People need to remember the reason con artists work the shell game in the first place: the con man always wins, and the other players always lose.

Mr. B & C

Lying Sacks of S*** of The Week: Austerity Advocates

This week, the Crown O’ Polished Turds has thousands of worthy recipients: anyone and everyone who still pushes Austerity as a solution for an economy in recession. It hasn’t worked, doesn’t work, and won’t work in the future. Like Supply-Side economics, it is a theory with no supporting evidence and lots of information proving it wrong.

Recent examples include Greece and the rest of the EU, as well as Great Britain. The record pretty clearly proves that Austerity Does. Not. Work.

So to all the s*** heads pushing yet another reverse-Robin-Hood scam, we present even more s*** to put on top of your noggins. Wear it with pride, and to warn the rest of us of your approach.

Mr. B & C

PS: remember the huge 1991 Japanese recession, where they tried Austerity to fix the economy? They are STILL in a recession, 22 years later.

Faith Must Be Used in its Proper Time and Place

If someone built a bridge of twigs and mud, and told you it was an Interstate Highway bridge, Mr. Blunt and Cranky hopes you would not drive over it; (if you would, he shan’t ride in a car with you). Oh, the person might ask you to “trust them”, to “have faith”, and urge you to drive over the bridge despite the obvious weakness. But no one possessed of even a moiety of their marbles would be fool enough to do so. Faith is a wonderful thing in its place, but one must not let it be used to enable folly or to cause harm.

A pity, then, that so many people put their faith in structures of similar weakness; theories of economics, political party affiliations, and the like. These are matters of propaganda, philosophy and convenience, but still subject to validation by evidence. And, regardless of what we might wish to believe, facts will have their way in the end, regardless of how earnestly we might wish otherwise.

Because Faith, by definition, is reserved for things that may not be proven or disproven: one can have (or not) faith in a God or Gods, for instance (as Mr. Blunt and Cranky does, stubborn old Presbyterian that he is). But how can have faith in something like a theory of economics, which can be proven right or wrong?

Things of the real world are solid, and not subject to alteration by our wishes, no matter how passionately we may believe them. Put another way, we are all entitled to our opinions and beliefs, but not to our own set of facts. Disagree? Then let’s see you walk through a solid granite wall, defy gravity, or overdraw your checking account. No matter the depth of your faith, you’ll wind up sorry and sore in the end.

When politicians ask us to “trust them” as they keep secrets from us, we are being asked to use faith in the wrong place: because their secrets will come out in the end, and their follies will hurt us and break our hearts. Politicians CAN give us information if we demand it. They are not suitable objects for our faith, and we do wrong when we give it to them.

As the parties build their flimsy structures and ask us to drive across them, we owe it to ourselves and each other to look upon them with clear eyes; yes, and to use our brains, too. Because if we all drive across their flimsy bridges based on mere faith, we and our fellows are quite likely to come to a very bad end.

Mr. B & C

Lying Sack of S*** of The Week: All Supply-Siders. Yes, including Romney and Ryan

Mr. Blunt and Cranky is bestowing this week’s Crown O’ Polished Turds upon any and everyone who is still pushing Voodoo Economics. They do so in spite of the recent Congressional Research Service analysis that proved that Supply-Side Economics Does. Not Work. Period. End of Story. Mourners, please omit flowers.

One would think that the GOP (and some few Dems) would be changing their tune, given the news. After all, if what they are proposing to do would damage the economy, run up deficits, and possibly foment civil unrest,  surely any responsible politician would change course, for the good of the nation. One would think that, and one would be wrong. Why?

The one effect that supply-side HAS had is the concentration of wealth among the top 1% of Americans. This is the primary funding source of the “Republican” party in this day and age, and that is what their priority is: the pipeline of cash (legal and otherwise) that lines their pockets and bloats their offshore bank accounts.

“Give us more time”, they say; “trust us”, as they siphon money from our pockets. Perhaps one might be inclined to give them said time, were it not for this little fact: the supply-siders who have had 3 ½ decades to prove their plan will work (and want more time) are the same people who are saying that President Obama should be thrown from office for not fixing the Great Recession in 3 ½ years.

Got that? They have had ten times as long to make their case, and want more time; time that they will not give to the other party. Feh.  They know that their theory is bogus, and rather than act in a patriotic manner, they are choosing to continue lining their pockets at our expense.

Throw them out, the lot of them, the lying, sneaking, pilfering, cheating scumbags.

Mr. B & C

Trickle-Down Economics is Dead: Yes, Mitt, it’s Official

Mr. Blunt and Cranky has been saying that the Supply-Side Voodoo Economics theory that “Republicans” have been pushing for the past few decades is a bunch of mule muffins, and has further challenged adherents thereof to provide impartial proof otherwise. Thus far, no Pro-Trickle proof has been presented.

Meanwhile, the Congressional Research Service (said Congress being under the effective control of the Repubs, mind you) has just put out a report saying that the Reagan/Bush/Romney plan does not work, and has never worked. The first link is a summary news story; the second is the actual report, suitable for OCD data freaks like your humble correspondent.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/tax-cuts-wealthiest-don-t-stimulate-economy-report-160714639.html

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/news/business/0915taxesandeconomy.pdf

Here’s the money quote from the Congressional Research Service:

“The results of the analysis suggest that changes over the past 65 years in the top marginal tax rate and the top capital gains tax rate do not appear correlated with economic growth. The reduction in the top tax rates appears to be uncorrelated with saving, investment, and productivity growth. The top tax rates appear to have little or no relation to the size of the economic pie.

However, the top tax rate reductions appear to be associated with the increasing concentration of income at the top of the income distribution”.

All y’all got that? The Romney/Ryan plan will do nothing to create jobs or boost the economy. It WILL, however, make those two rich f***s even richer, along with their cronies. They are pushing a plan that will screw us all, while lining their own pockets.

You might not call that criminal behavior –  politicians running on a platform that enriches themselves at the expense of the nation they profess to “serve”. This writer does. And if you vote for them, you’re just as guilty as they are.

Mr. B & C