Time Magazine May 26, 2008 - Surviving The Lean Economy - What Will The Next President Do? Justin Fox Thinks About It

Time Magazine is running a story designed to sell lots of copy in these lean times: How the Next President Should Fix the Economy, by Justin Fox. Okay, so what does Justin Fox really know? It turns out that this Time Magazine fellow is a Reagan supporter of extreme vision. I wonder how old he is?

He begins his article by erroneously giving Ronald Reagan credit for creating a robust economy in the 80's--as if making speeches, dozing at staff meetings, riding horses, vacationing constantly, and running the nation with Nancy's psychics had any real effect? Justin does give credit to Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker (thank you!), the primary force for straightening things out and stopping the rampant inflation Carter had generously inherited from Richard Nixon. Lets' get some real perspective. I was there ... I lived and worked in Reagan's Washington ... And please don't forget the utter failure of supply side economics as Reagan ran record budget deficits and ballooned the size of government because the complexities of arithmetic were beyond his capacity. Justin notes the ultimate failure of the cuts, yes, but forgets the billions in taxes drained out of American paychecks needed to correct the problem.

Next, our Justin, in the context of bemoaning the wreckage created by income disparity vs. taxes, states: "Another potential path, although it hasn't been a theme in the campaign so far, would be a big effort to repair the country's crumbling infrastructure — which would create lots of jobs that couldn't be outsourced overseas and would also deliver long-term economic benefits." Um, ok, so who exactly is going to design, implement, and maintain such a vague and grandiose Great Society plan of repairing "infrastructure"? The same gov officials and incompetent asses who are running Iraq and the latest post-Katrina efforts? And by the way, why in the blazes isn't someone with half a brain talking about cutting the obese size of government? If we didn't feed the Federal Fat Boy with so much green salad he would be forced to lose weight and save us lots more taxes. What a radical concept!

As a matter of fact, I favor a new law that would fine, terminate, and even imprison any one of hundreds of thousands of Washington government career types, officials, managers, and political appointees who knowingly and willingly defraud the American treasury by engaging in waste, sloth, and abuse of power. Why not? We might save a few hundred billion per year at least. Heck, the Pentagon alone might be terrified into engaging in real integrity. Corruption in Washington is so devastating to the Treasury that the concept of it is unbelievably surreal.

Moving on to blame home owners for their part in ruining America, Justin Fox of Time Magazine states: "The mess has also caused some economists to question why we subsidize housing so heavily in the first place. The tax deduction for home-mortgage interest alone costs the government about $80 billion a year, and most of that benefit flows to the wealthiest 16% of taxpayers, according to the Tax Foundation ... " Costs the government? What's wrong with this attitude??? Is he telling us that our problems can be solved by giving even more tax billions to our incompetent, lazy, and utterly irresponsible government? Show me one study that proves more revenue makes governments less likely to waste that revenue!

Where is Thomas Jefferson when we need him?

Finally, our Time Magazine writer notes health care costs as a huge problem, and without offering any real solution, says: "It is possible to conceive of a system that brings the 47 million uninsured into the fold, improves medical outcomes and costs less than what we've got now." Well, is it possible? I can't help but conceive of a "system" run by the health care power brokers to serve only themselves and bankrupt what is left of middle-class America. There is no Tinkerbell, no magic wand that will convert one-track-mind sociopathology into responsible citizenship. Are you listening Justin? It won't work. Look up stats and studies on how many hundreds of billions that health care businesses and corporate hospitals have ripped off from Medicare alone! After Reagan became leader, predatory corporate parasites migrated in unprecedented numbers into Washington and began securing a fortress of great magnitude within our capital.

Yes, it's true. You must defeat the infection before you can heal the body.

And btw, stop worshipping Reagan. He wasn't the man you believe him to have been.

After Years of Skimming, Stealing, and General Mismanagement, Governments Create Pension Fund Nightmare

It's spreading like a case of budgetary muscular dystrophy and it cannot be exaggerated. Local and state govs around the U.S. are floundering and vampirishly draining pension funds to cover for their mistakes, and in many cases, outright criminal behavior. And this has been going on a long time. The Washington Post reported just recently that both Maryland and the state of Virginia have "redirected" hundreds of millions per year out of employee pension funds and as a consequence are now avoiding a crisis created not only by their predatory behavior, but by the downturning economy. As the tide of wealth recedes, the hulls of old wrecks grow more visible, and the cries of denial must grow ever louder to compensate.

And further:

By their own assessment, state and local governments acknowledge that their funds for retiree benefits are increasingly falling behind, with the number that are severely underfunded soaring to 40 percent in 2006, a five-fold increase from 2000, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

From as early as 2006, as reported by THI :

• The City of San Diego was embroiled in its worst financial crisis ever, with an estimated pension deficit of $2 billion threatening to consume as much as one-third of the city's general fund. The city's failure to properly disclose pension liabilities prompted a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation and led to the suspension of the city's credit rating. So far eight former pension officials have been charged with criminal corruption by the U.S. Attorney's Office and state District Attorney's Office.


• In Illinois, taxpayers faced a pension deficit estimated at $38 billion--the worst in the nation.


• The state of West Virginia faced a $5.5 billion pension deficit and an additional $3.3 billion in unfunded workers' compensation liabilities--a total deficit nearly three times the state's annual $3.1 billion general fund budget.


• In California, the teachers' retirement system faces a shortfall of more than $24 billion, and the state's combined contributions to the public employees' and teachers' plans now exceed $3 billion per year.

Are we all going to bend over and take it in the ass as usual? I have zero love for bureaucrats, but even less for stealing.