Daily Archives: November 19, 2010

Schakowsky Proposes Alternate Budget Plan: Save Social Security, Tax Millionaires

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The article, Schakowsky Proposes Alternate Budget Plan: Save Social Security, Tax Millionaires, shows that there are far better alternatives to balancing the budget than those proposed by the heads of the Presidential Commission.

After the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform released a polarizing deficit reduction proposal on November 10, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) did not hesitate in expressing her disapproval. “This is not a package I could support,” she said  at the time.

On Monday, Schakowsky, who also serves on the commission, released her own proposal, which contrasts significantly with the plan compiled by commission co-chairs Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles. Most notably, Schakowsky’s plan approximates a $426.95 billion reduction, a higher figure than the $250 billion target President Obama recommended to the commission. The Bowles-Simpson proposal had a final reduction amount of $200.3 billion over the same time period.

The article The Schakowsky Deficit Reduction Plan: A Proposal that Actually Strengthens Social Security offers more detail on the plan.

Axis of Depression

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In the column, Axis of Depression, Paul Krugman explains the real motives of the Republicans.

So what’s really motivating the G.O.P. attack on the Fed? Mr. Bernanke and his colleagues were clearly caught by surprise, but the budget expert Stan Collender predicted it all. Back in August, he warned Mr. Bernanke that “with Republican policy makers seeing economic hardship as the path to election glory,” they would be “opposed to any actions taken by the Federal Reserve that would make the economy better.” In short, their real fear is not that Fed actions will be harmful, it is that they might succeed.

If this isn’t another perfect example of Greenberg’s Law of Counterproductive Behavior, then I don’t know what is.

Ratings Agencies Among Top ‘Devils’ of Meltdown, Authors Contend

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You might find a remarkable similarity to how these authors describe what happened to what I have been saying on this blog for quite a long time.

My only quibble is their contention that Democrats don’t want to admit that the government screwed up. Their description of how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac got involved in the mess is exactly what I have said on this blog and on many discussion boards.

The Democrats and I were complaining about the laxity of the regulatory agencies in the executive branch run by George Bush. The description of how politics got in the way of regulators who wanted to put a stop to this is described quite well for the S & L fiasco in the book The Best Way To Rob A Bank Is To Own One. A book that I have featured on this blog.

Let me give credit to RichardH for making me look for something to post about these two authors and their new book All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis. I have been touting Naomi Klein’s book, but RichardH thought that Bethany McLean was prettier. Actually, my suspicion is that RichardH is just trying to avoid admitting that he won’t read Naomi Klein’s book because I recommended it to him.