Liberal Policies Historically Benefit the Economy

[trdsf]

We have to do it while they're not looking.  Otherwise they'll have to makeup a lie to yell until their lapdogs believe it.

Funny thing is, it's really not all that damn hard to understand why: an economy only works when money is moving in it, not when it's parked in large concentrated pools.  If the money isn't moving, the economy isn't working, it's as simple as that, and no one billionaire can really spend as much or as broadly as the poor and middle classes of a decent sized city.  He has to heat a mansion, but we collectively have to heat hundreds of thousands of homes and apartments.  He has to fuel a few cars; we collectively have to fuel hundreds of thousands.  He can go to a top-class and top-dollar restaurant for lunch and dinner every single day, and that doesn't move anywhere near the money we spend collectively on fast food every day.

The amount of economic activity simply does not scale up with the concentration of wealth, and the more money concentrates out into single large pools -- the 1%, if you like -- the less work it's actually doing and the less economic activity it generates.  Money has to be spent in order for the economy to keep moving.  It really is just that simple.  Apparently it takes not being an economist to get that.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Makes you wonder why businessmen tend to be Republicans... they're not terribly good at doing a simple analysis at least.

It has more I think to do with marketing. Fear is a big seller and the mere fact that the news media has known for years.. If it bleeds it leads. It's easier to sell bad news than good news. Rubes are great at making people fearful some poor schmuck will get something free that you'll have to work for..

[trdsf]

It has more I think to do with marketing. Fear is a big seller and the mere fact that the news media has known for years.. If it bleeds it leads. It's easier to sell bad news than good news. Rubes are great at making people fearful some poor schmuck will get something free that you'll have to work for..

This is among the reasons I favor a transaction tax on market trades -- it would have a moderating effect on panic buying and selling.  It won't stop it, but it'll moderate it.

I mean, think about this: in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the NYSE lost 684 points, over 7% of its value.  And in the days leading up to the re-opening of the stock exchange, what few minutes on the news that weren't dedicated to replaying the impact and collapse footage over and over and over talked about how much the market was going to fall when it re-opened.

Fall why?  It's like the market is designed to react to every new crisis as if things are going to stay that way forever, and all it takes is one large player to trigger a panic -- and over the fear that they might lose a dollar if they wait and think about it for five fucking seconds, people will sell... and drive the stock prices lower, which panics more stockholders, which... yeah.  It's a feedback loop, and the result of it at the end is that those cheap stocks get bought up by someone who realizes that in most circumstances, you hold onto stocks for the long term for maximal return, and even worse, it concentrates wealth that much further.

We actually had this tax until 1966, and a form of it still exists to fund the SEC.  And it doesn't need to be large to bring in significant amounts -- we're talking a tax rate of 1% or less.  I defy anyone to call that an onerous tax burden.

[Solomon Zorn]

I'm buying this book, and passing it around. It will give the other democrats I know some ammunition. That's about all I can do.

I could, maybe, recommend it to Uncle Bill, my beloved conservative-blogging uncle, but I doubt that he would even read it. He is so immersed in the bullshit, he would never accept what it says if he did.

I don't know if this is allowed, but I'm posting a link to Amazon for your convenience: http://www.amazon.com/Bulls-Bears-Ballot-Box-Performance/dp/1599322889

It's a very inexpensive book, that should never become outdated, because it is an analysis of history.

[Solomon Zorn]

Oh, and thanks, trdsf, for the information, very compelling.