“despite all evidence to the contrary that times are pretty damn good”

Really? You’re talking about the US? The new Bush ‘emergency mortgage’ plan? The US dollar which has almost vanished into thin air? Unemployment? Health Care? Upcoming Elections? Iraq?

Why don’t you sing with me.. (Chic Lyrics)

Good times, these are the good times
Leave your cares behind, these are the good times
Good times, these are the good times
Our new state of mind, these are the good times
Happy days are here again
The time is right for makin’ friends
Let’s get together, how ’bout a quarter to ten
Come tomorrow, let’s all do it again

Left by Jacques on December 8th, 2007 at 6:52 am

Thou hath not so much brain as ear wax.

Left by no2liberals on December 8th, 2007 at 4:01 pm

And another simple quote from our beloved y2l. Boy start to be original or shut the fuck up.

Left by Jacques on December 9th, 2007 at 3:38 am

Make me, commie.

How now, wool-sack, what mutter you?

Left by no2liberals on December 9th, 2007 at 11:39 am

It’s true, no one can make you be original.

If I may intrude on the schoolyard squabble many readers here may find interesting this debunking by conservative economists the notion that tax cuts raise revenue:

If there’s one thing that economists agree on, it’s that these claims are false. We’re not talking just ivory-tower lefties. Virtually every economics Ph.D. who has worked in a prominent role in the Bush Administration acknowledges that the tax cuts enacted during the past six years have not paid for themselves–and were never intended to. Harvard professor Greg Mankiw, chairman of Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2003 to 2005, even devotes a section of his best-selling economics textbook to debunking the claim that tax cuts increase revenues.

The yawning chasm between Republican rhetoric on taxes and even informed conservative opinion is maddening to those of wonkish bent. Pointing it out has become an opinion-column staple. But none of these screeds seem to have altered the political debate. So rather than write yet another, I decided to find out what Arthur Laffer thought.

Laffer is a bona fide economist with a doctorate from Stanford. He’s also largely responsible for the Republican belief that tax cuts pay for themselves. Now 67, Laffer runs economic-consulting and money-management firms in Nashville. About the best I could get out of him on the question of whether the Bush tax cuts have paid for themselves was “I don’t know.”

Left by Preston on December 9th, 2007 at 3:46 pm

it took the fiscal discipline of Bill Clinton to mop up the resulting red ink.

Oh My!
If his name wasn’t laffer, he would need a name change.

Left by no2liberals on December 9th, 2007 at 8:07 pm

I think Democrats beat you to that joke by about 27 years…

In any case, you understand that there was a surplus under the Clinton administration for the first time in 30 years?

Perhaps your appreciation of Clinton’s economic achievements is clouded by your fixation on the Clinton hit squads taking out Ron Brown and Vince Foster.

Left by Preston on December 9th, 2007 at 10:26 pm

Henh.
I haven’t seen any evidence of Clintoon’s economic achievements to date. I will say, that his wifes botched attempt at commandeering one seventh of our national economy with her commie health plan, did usher in the Republican controlled Congress in ‘94, so I will recognize his achievement in screwing up in reverse.
The fact that the dot com boom occurred during his administration, had nothing to do with his policies, or algore’s inventions, and had momentum of it’s own, until the bubble popped in his last year of office, leaving the Clinton recession to start off W’s administration.
Tax cuts have worked in increasing revenue, every time they have been tried; under (John)Kennedy, Reagan, and Bush. The problem with the Republican Congress that got turned out in 06 is, they spent too much money, which the donks are trying to expound on.

Left by no2liberals on December 10th, 2007 at 12:50 am

Incidentally, Democrats have not offered a single spending cut proposal during their time at the helm. Not one. That’s just one reason why—not to mention what I expect to be continuing growth in 2008— I believe the economic pendulum will soon swing in favor of the GOP.

There’s no recession coming. The pessimistas were wrong. It’s not going to happen. At a bare minimum, we are looking at Goldilocks 2.0. (And that’s a minimum). Goldilocks is alive and well. The Bush boom is alive and well. It’s finishing up its sixth consecutive year with more to come. Yes, it’s still the greatest story never told.

Larry Kudlow.

Left by no2liberals on December 10th, 2007 at 7:00 am

You’re right- growth under Republican Presidents was a result of conservative policies but growth under Democratic Presidents was all a coinicidence.

Left by Preston on December 10th, 2007 at 10:41 am

Henh.
Too much credit and blame is given the POTUS on the economy, except when he signs off on outrageous spending by Congress.
As for the last Democratic President that was worth a flip, Kennedy, he was a conservative, but the modern donk party doesn’t allow conservative members a seat at the table. Just ask Lieberman.

Left by no2liberals on December 10th, 2007 at 12:50 pm