Election Results: A Speaks Perspective

[speaks]

I am dissapointed that the Republicans Swept the house in such large numbers. I feel that anyone making less than $500,000 a year or so that votes Republican is voting against their own interests. There are some that vote on 'moral' issues. My mom will basically vote for whomever promises to outlaw abortions, despite the fact that Roe v. Wade is

Comments

[martinhesselius]

Interesting article --
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/how-obama-saved-capitalism-and-lost-the-midterms/

You'll have to ask an economist if it's accurate.
I mostly just work with science-type researchers, not those kind of dollars.

[chapel_of_words]

Read that article this morning, it has numerous facts that are inherently inaccurate, and even more assumptions that are grossly erroneous. Chief amongst them is that by artificially taking the market price at two fixed dates in time (Obama's inauguration and the election) and then comparing the difference can speak to the relative or qualitative "good" that one has done while in office. By the same token one could arbitrarily take a measure, such as unemployment, at two fixed points and say that Obama has been without question "bad". Neither measure is a good indicator to the health of the overall economy (though employment may be closer than stock market share prices); and certainly the connection to the qualities of a president are more tenuous, though many falsely aruge we can use those proxies to "keep score

[logiphage]

Thanks Tim, saved me the trouble.

Short answer, sorry Bushbama, bailouts and nationalizing industries is not capitalism. For that matter currency is not necessarily capital (cough QE2 cough).

As for GovMo their 'profitability' received a huge boost from government subsidies like cash for clunkers and now with the Volt, clearly a hybrid, being classified as an 'electric car' for purposes of tax break. So much of what GovMo counts as 'profit' is funded by taxpayers. Certainly we hold the risk.

I'd go one further and point out that most people don't realize that the Tea Party probably started in concept on the vote for TARP.

Yep.

It was Santelli's rant that was heard round the world, but the fury for that rant, and for many Americans, was established with TARP. Lots of teabaggers are small business owners and bailing out banks and Wall Street was an assault on capitalism, and be sure Bush was not exempted from the fury.

[chapel_of_words]

Don't forget GM has received special treatment in taxation. Typically a business can carry forward losses against future taxes, *unless* they go bankrupt (where the process wipes away the debt/loss). GM got to go bankrupt, shed the bad assets, but retain the losses for carry-forward tax treatment as if they still had the debts on the books.

Tim C.

[ladyapple27]

GM did get a sweetheart deal, one that was unfair to its competitors, including Ford, which saw the handwriting on the wall and made efforts to save itself before it imploded. Basically, GM was rewarded for having no foresight at all, but a lot of union workers.

[chapel_of_words]

Don't forget local campaign-donating auto dealerships who ran to Congress to prevent GM from closing them down. Now Congress is asking GM to provide "more detail" on why certain dealerships are being shut down; very similar to Sen Webb slow-walking the DoD on trying to shut down JFCOM. BRAC has come to car dealerships!

Tim C.

[kingfrog]

This is what you get when you ask the government to "pretty please save us from ourselves". :)

[ladyapple27]

LOL.

[logiphage]

Chrysler too. Hey I can call myself a 'successful capitalist' too if I can float billions in bonds, run my company into the ground, then have the government write down the bonds so I'm no longer in debt!

That article was incoherent at best and factually inaccurate at worst. In other words, standard NYTimes. But his theme is essentially correct if you count big business on the public dole should definitely thank Obama. People needing jobs otoh did the right thing Tuesday.

[chapel_of_words]

Chrysler too. Hey I can call myself a 'successful capitalist' too if I can float billions in bonds, run my company into the ground, then have the government write down the bonds so I'm no longer in debt! Twice.

There, fixed that for you. =)

Tim C.

[ladyapple27]

Yep. TWICE. Will we let Chrysler go the way of DeSoto, Studebaker, and Packard should they do it a third time? Evil chuckle-perhaps representitives from defunct automobile manufacturers will descend on Washington and implore us to revive their long-gone companies for the good of the economy. After all, Chrysler got two bailouts, and they didn't get any. Soon, the our roads could resemble the streets of Havana! Just think, I could trade my Toyota for a nice, boxy, gas-guzzling DeSoto. Maybe the government might even give me a tax credit for doing so. Meanwhile, people with chronic illnesses will still do without medical care and our schools will continue to crumble.

[chapel_of_words]

Do you hear the knocking? It's the horse-buggy industry, and they've come looking to "get some."

Tim C.

[kingfrog]

REALLY? THAT's how it works? That is broken on so many levels!