Breaking: The Budget

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Look, what TheoCon and Neo Liberal Economists don’t get is that National Budgets are not at all like Household or Corporate Budgets. If you print Money in your basement you’re a counterfeiter unless you’re careful to make sure they’re labeled I.O.U.s on the Bank of Me and then try exchanging them for Ur Cow Tokens.

If on the other hand you are a Nation-State, they are “Fiscal Stimulus” which will enhance Economic Growth provided your Economy is not operating at full capacity as both Keynes and Modern Monetary Theory show, How do you tell if your Economy is operating at full capacity? Anecdotes (stories about individuals) no matter how many of them there are and Statistics are unreliable indicators. The acid test which is always true is a rise in Inflation and Interest Rates (provided that rise in Interest Rates is not artificially engineered by a Central Bank as the Fed now seems intent on doing to reduce Labor bargaining power).

Deficits and Debt DO NOT MATTER!

Now you can spend that money on things which are generally beneficial (high multiplier) or on stupid things (low multiplier) and theres an actual non-subjective test for which is which- how much does it grow your Economy?

If it doesn’t grow your Economy much (Bombs, Walls) it’s stupid. If it grows your Economy a lot (Food Stamps, Infrastructure, Social Security, Medicare) then it is beneficial.

This is basic Economics folks, not Rocket Science. The same people who deny it think the World is Flat, Global Warming does not exist, and the Earth is 6,000 years old.

But ek, Jesus looks so bad ass riding a Dinosaur.

Get over it idiot.

Trump’s Bonkers Budget
Robert Reich
3/14/17

1. Trump’s budget will increase military spending by 10 percent (even though U.S. military expenditures already exceed the next seven largest military budgets around the world, combined). And that’s frankly scary for a lot of reasons from what it signals about his foreign policy priorities to the impact of that whopping spending hike like this on other parts of the budget.
2. Trump actually plans to cut corporate taxes (even though U.S corporate profits after are higher as a percentage of the economy than they’ve been since 1947).
3. He’s going to pay for this – in part – by cutting billions of dollars from the Environmental Protection Agency (which would strip the EPA of almost all its capacity to enforce environmental laws and regulations, at a time when climate change threatens the future of the planet). This is precisely the opposite of what the United States ought to be doing.
4. Last – but by no means least – huge leaps in military spending plus tax cuts will also mean big cuts to programs like food stamps and Medicaid (at a time when the U.S. has the highest poverty rate among all advanced nations, including more than 1 in 5 American children).

This is only the first step in the budget process, but with Republicans in control of both the House and the Senate these priorities have a good chance of being enacted, which is why we have to raise our voices – and push back – now.

Republicans in Congress are likely still recovering from the last recess – dubbed appropriately “Resistance Recess.” We need to take that winning spirit of resistance into the budget fight – and the time to start is right now.

So, let your members of Congress know that Trump’s budget is not your budget. Trump’s spending and tax priorities are not in the best interest of most Americans. And then let’s get to work to make sure we get a Congress in 2018 that reflects YOUR priorities.

I’m told that people don’t laugh because I’m not funny. John Oliver is funny.