What REALLY caused the economic crisis, inflation,...

Discussion in 'Political Opinions & Beliefs' started by Golem, Apr 17, 2024.

  1. Golem

    Golem Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    You describe taxes as "theft". But people WILL pay taxes in any developed nation... because it's through taxes that you pay for infrastructure, security, benefits, ... everything that MAKES us a developed nation.

    So I say again: your only alternative is to move to a country that doesn't collect taxes (if there is one), or to a deserted island in the Pacific.

    That's reality. In THIS nation, you WILL have to pay taxes. Because just about everybody else prefers to keep this a developed nation. And the Constitution indicates what the government should DO with those taxes. And, guess what, it works! We ARE the most developed nation in the world. And most of us like that. Even if you don't.

    I see. So you think we should have a government and not pay the employees We The People hire to run it a salary. Or were you thinking of NOT having a government at all? Karl Marx proposed that, you know. But it hasn't worked anywhere it has been tried. In either case, this tells us all we needed to know about how seriously we should take your post.
     
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2024
  2. Jack Straw

    Jack Straw Newly Registered

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    Never did I say i don't think we should pay ANY taxes, or am in favor on NO government. However, I believe the scope and practice of the federal government should be very small, as per the Constitution. You liberals believe the federal government should be involved in every aspect of your life, as long as someone else is paying for it.
     
  3. Golem

    Golem Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    It is what you said. You just didn't realize what you were saying.

    Point is that this nation was constituted to accomplish what the Preamble delineates. If accomplishing that requires not giving tax breaks to billionaires, then that's what we must do.

    Nowhere in the constitution does it say anything about the size of the federal government. It only delineates what MUST be accomplished. Whether it's accomplished by the states, private businesses or the federal government is something we can debate. But it HAS to be accomplished. Your claim that paying taxes is "theft" was utter nonsense and I'm happy to see you backtracking.

    No we don't! We don't believe the federal government, the state government or... ANYBODY should be involved in forcing a woman, especially a minor, to carry a child against her and/or her parent's will, for example. Different topic though. It's ok and understandable that you want to change the subject. But please do it in a different thread.
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2024
  4. Jack Straw

    Jack Straw Newly Registered

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    While I appreciate you putting words in my mouth, it's not what I said.

    The Constitution and amendments were designed to limit the power of the federal government. If you can find anywhere in there that states it's up to the federal government to run education, healthcare, marriage, foreign aid, etc, please post it here.

    Ah yes, the one and only topic libs don't want government involved in....
     
  5. Golem

    Golem Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Not true. We don't need to speculate. The Preamble of the Constitution explicitly STATES what they were designed to do (or what they SHOULD be designed to do). There is not mention whatsoever about the size of the state or about any limit.

    I know this is a right-wing dogma. So you can repeat the dogma, or look at the facts. Your choice.

    Absolutely! The Preamble. Read it! If they contribute to establish a more perfect union, or secure the blessings of liberty, or achieve the general welfare, (...etc) then the Constitution was DESIGNED to do them.

    Not true. But it IS one that the right DOES want the government involved in. Remember one thing: dogmas are for the right. The left has NO dogmas. The government needs to be involved in what they were designed to be involved in, and not in what it's NOT designed to be involved in. The Preamble of the Constitution is one heck of a guide as to how to determine what is what.
     
  6. Jack Straw

    Jack Straw Newly Registered

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    Wow. Just wow. So the preamble encompasses literally anything the government decides?
     
  7. Patricio Da Silva

    Patricio Da Silva Well-Known Member Donor

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    I've been studying the cause of inflation for years, starting when I first researched it in 1972. There are a couple of schools of thought on this, and though I disagree with economic policy decisions by monetarists, who are largely neoliberal/libertarian/conservative, one thing they get right is the cause of inflation and it's cure. This fact is evidenced by Paul Volcker, Fed chairman a monetarist during Carter/Reagan, who licked inflation and Jerome Powell, the current Fed chairman who is a Republican but he's applying the successful policies of Paul Volcker, and it's working. Volcker was appointed by Carter towards the end of both their terms (Mills & Carter) and left to finish the job by Reagan, and Powell was appointed by Trump, and left to finish the job by Biden.

    So, the best metaphor to understand inflation is to use the metaphor of the swimming pool, where the ripples in the water are caused by people splashing waves in the pool, this can be likened to the bidding economy, but 'inflation' or the aggregate level of water in teh pool will not rise until more water is pumped into the pool. The temporal ups and downs of waves might seem like inflation, but the trend line will still be flat. Pump more water into the pool then the aggregate level of water, i.e., the inflation 'trend line' will start to rise. Inflation, therefore, is caused by the pumping of more dollars into the money supply faster than the GDP can absorb the dollars. More detail, below.

    Inflation is largely a monetary phenomenon, that means that it is largely caused by Fed policies, which manifest as QE's to M1. (more on this below on #2). There are two other factors related, including the tax cut.

    1. The tax cut, but deficit financing by public debt only causes inflation on those parts of it financed by QE's to M1 above and beyond debt financing.

    2.. 2 Major QE's to M1 (Quantitative Easing--Fiat currency issues to the main money supply, expanding it beyond the ability of the GDP to absorb the dollars, creating a 'too many dollars chasing too few goods' scenario -- $4billion) by the fed (to finance CARES and ARP promoted by Trump and Biden, respectively) CARES and ARP were necessary to prop up the economy to thwart a potential depression caused by the pandemic.

    One can argue they over did it, which perhaps is true, hence inflation, but the thing is, the Fed deemed it better to over do it than to not do enough.
    Inflation as a consequence was seen as less of a national security threat than a depression. Most people, namely republicans, will not not understand these things and use inflation as a political cudgel on Biden, which is disingenuous because both presidents contributed to it due to CARES and ARP but only because of the pandemic.

    3. Then big corps gouging the public because they could blame it on the pandemic and 'inflation' called 'greedflation'. This contributed, though it's not true inflation, theoretically, but had the same outcome, higher prices. Thing is, without pandemic inflation, they couldn't have gotten away with it. Think of corporate greedflation is one big fat guy jumping into the pool, raising the tide above and beyond the trend line because of HIM.

    Of the three, only #2 was unavoidable.
     
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  8. Golem

    Golem Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Yep! It should... I mean, it explicitly states WHY we constituted a nation in the first place... But I've found most folks on the right don't care much for the Constitution. They SAY they do. But when one SHOWS them what is actually written, it's more like they feel they can cherry-pick only what they like.
     
  9. Golem

    Golem Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I should apologize for the title of the thread. I already explained it to a few poster who pointed this out. But this thread was more intended to analyze the debt, rather than inflation. I realize the OP is insufficient to address inflation. Your post is a more complete analysis. There should be NO doubt that inflation is the consequence of pumping more money into the economy. I think the recovery from the unemployment numbers created by Trump was underestimated by the Biden administration. It happened quicker than they anticipated. And that probably made it more difficult to control the inflation produced by Biden's attempts to compensate for the high unemployment they expected.
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2024
  10. Jack Straw

    Jack Straw Newly Registered

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    So again, you want government to be your daddy and master. You want them to be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want. (of course we all know that's only when a democrat is in charge, right?) Why not tax every American 100%? Why not tax everyone and give it all to you? No, you don't want (or understand) the Constitution. What you want is communism. You'd feel right at home in North Korea
     
  11. Golem

    Golem Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I want the government to do what the Constitution demands. We are a democracy. So we are the daddies and masters of the government.

    The rest of your post is a childish rant. Not interested... Just be more prepared next time, and you won't have to resort to temper tantrums.... Read my sig!!!
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2024

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