08.04.08

It’s a silly term, but it’s also dangerous

Posted in Free-market Economics, Ideology, Law dhimmitude at 1:46 pm by Administrator

A Wall Street Journal editorial asking, just what is a “windfall profit,” anyway?

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17 Comments »

  1. Mr. Dings said,

    August 4, 2008 at 2:16 pm

    A windfall profits tax is not the solution, but it sounds as good as cake to eat to them who’re drowning greenbacks to quench that tiger in their tank. Of course this will ultimately be passed on again to them. Like shock and awe, though, you neo-cons are in for a period of retrenchment with unregulated free markets. Who are you going to blame now? Go try to stick it somewhere else for awhile. I’m sure we’ll hear your cries from the wilderness.

  2. Administrator said,

    August 4, 2008 at 4:58 pm

    It will be passed on to the consumer again, and not so ultimately. Actually quite directly. If The Marxist From Chicago and an FH-er controlled Congress were to slap such a tax on oil companies, they’d raise their prices commensurately.

    Try to stick what?

  3. Administrator said,

    August 4, 2008 at 4:59 pm

    Who am I going to blame now? Same folks I’ve always blamed: the hard left that is enshrined in the modern Democratic party.

  4. Mr. Dings said,

    August 4, 2008 at 6:07 pm

    Well, after nearly 8 years of a Republican administration that you now practically disown, we find ourselves in this stew. Been there, done that, so it’s on to other tacks. The markets are going to be more, not less, regulated, thanks to our experience with letting the greed cakes walk.

  5. Mr. Dings said,

    August 4, 2008 at 6:20 pm

    Sticking your hawkish, mawkish selfish and self-centered ways up our collective posteriors. Your day has passed. Again. Cry us a river. Thanks for the current economy too.

    June Sees Biggest Spike In Inflation Since 1981

    August 4, 2008 ยท Consumer inflation jumped by more in June than at any time in the past 27 years, helping to drive down spending as Americans fought to stay ahead of rising prices and a weak economy, the government said Monday.

  6. Administrator said,

    August 4, 2008 at 7:22 pm

    Nobody’s ever found a way to abolish the cyclical nature of economic activity. Not that things are in horrible shape. We aren’t in a recession. The GDP grew 1.92% in the second quarter of 08.
    Our problems come from straying from a free-market model, and they’ll get worse unless the country comes to its senses before November.
    Greed has nothing to do with it.

  7. Mr. Dings said,

    August 4, 2008 at 8:05 pm

    Even the Treasury secretary and the Fed Reserve chief are calling for more regulation, not less. The mortgage crisis is a result of legislation that removed oversight from the mortgage and consumer lending market and allowed greed cakes to gamble with our money and they wagered wrong. Greed has everything to do with it, for without it, we would need no regulation. Things are in horrible shape, kind sir. The worst shape since the election of Herbert Hoover who promised a chicken in every pot, a car in every garage. I am not surprised, though, that you are fooling yourself. It’s a neo-con failing. Trouble is, when they are in power, we all get fooled. No, I’m not with you on this, and, yes, I’m against you.

  8. Administrator said,

    August 4, 2008 at 9:39 pm

    What kind of regulation do you want to see?
    By the way, it’s a bit alarmist to speak of a mortgage “crisis.” Well over 90 percent of US homeowners are paying their mortgages on time every month.
    It appears we are at odds on this. Here’s what I know: What the government needs to do is stay out of the whole industry and let strong institutions thrive and the troubled ones fail.

  9. Administrator said,

    August 4, 2008 at 10:02 pm

    The worst shape since Hoover? By what standards? We’re not even in a recession, a condition we’ve experienced many times since the Great Depression.

  10. Mr. Dings said,

    August 5, 2008 at 2:09 am

    Well, let’s see, how about bank failures, for starters. Housing prices are down 18 per cent , which makes it a buyer’s market, I guess. The MacMortgage fall-out that all taxpayers must divvy-up for, a $9.5 Trillion federal budget deficit, gas prices, food prices, unemployment’s up (and part-time hours are being cut), record foreclosures, a flood of commercial and personal bankruptcies. Your figures, as they have since this blog began, are not telling the true tale. There is little hope for optimism, but hope springs eternal, and well, what goes around, comes around, for sure, but it is uncomfortable for many these days, for sure, and you can bet on much more federal regulatory and, for better or ill, bail-out involvement in the short run, at least, rather than less, as has been your mantra here, along with banging the drums of war every time things don’t move quickly enough diplomatically (or even in the direction of diplomacy where your precious Israel is concerned) for your tastes. I really don’t think the stinking economy is a matter most folks are siding with commentators of their political persuasion. Something’s gotta give. Keep those rose colored glasses on if you want. Oh yeah, another worry is the continued decline of the dollar. Since there is little liklihood of relief at the gas pumps soon, we can expect matters to considerably worsen before they improve. Finger-pointing on that front gets nothing done.

  11. Bentnotesmanhisself said,

    August 5, 2008 at 2:57 am

    Something’s gotta give? Well what?
    There is nothing wrong with the economy that maximizing human freedom wouldn’t remedy.
    Bail-outs, subsidies, sheltering borrowers and lenders from the consequences of their choices, and tax increases ain’t gonna get us there.

  12. Mr. Dings said,

    August 5, 2008 at 7:43 am

    Oh, and the Dow is down 11% since January. We got WalMart allegedly “hinting” that its workers to vote Republican, we got real troubles in the auto states. Your freedom model is fine in theory. It just doesn’t factor-in the reality of the rampant greed that you deny. It’s really gotten us into collective trouble here these days. Oh well, whistle a happy tune in your paper doll world. These matters will be argued about in perpetuity.

  13. Mr. Dings said,

    August 5, 2008 at 7:52 am

    Maximizing freedom is a fine fine mantra and I am all for it. Greed gets in the way when it comes to maximizing profits and returns. Deny it all you want. But you really can’t deny we are in a hell of an economic shape these days. Freedom was trampled, actually. I guess that gets to the core of the shadow side of mankind.

  14. Mr. Dings said,

    August 5, 2008 at 2:16 pm

    Sorry, that’s been tried, found lacking even as far as we went towards full freedom for the greed buckets who soured the entire economy with their gambling with our $$$ and losing. Time for the pendulum to swing the other way.

  15. Administrator said,

    August 5, 2008 at 4:33 pm

    How exactly does greed enter into this, and, again I ask you, what kinds of legislative curbs on the activity of banks is going to result in this more consistently favorable economic state you envision?

  16. Mr. Dings said,

    August 5, 2008 at 4:46 pm

    Ask the Treasury Sec’y and the Fed Chairman. They’re doing clean-up as we blog. Ever heard of CDOs (Collateralized Debt Obligations), These are the chief connection to the subprime debackle–they were purchased and repackaged by Wall Street into supposedly low-risk investnemtn products. When shaky borrowers began defaulting en masse on their mortgages, the whole scheme unraveled. Scheme! Hedge funds, derivatives. Schemes! Get honest and get real and free markets will work like they are supposed to. Deny greed as a dark side downer for us all and you have your nose in too many right wing economics tomes. What is it, if not greed? Simple bad judgement by good people?

  17. Administrator said,

    August 5, 2008 at 6:28 pm

    That was pretty dumb of thoe people who bought those CDOs, then, wasn’t it? Should have done their research and found out that the core of their investment was the funny money of these shaky borrowers.
    Yeah, simple bad judgement. I don’t know if they were good or bad people. They were probably all over the map morally.

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