Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[froot loops]

Anyways, I'm bad faith? Check out this doozy

Currency isn't wealth. Paper is paper. Its intrinsic value is the heat that you get from burning it or its ability to communicate when you write on it.

He was previously humblebragging that he bought a brand new car with that paper. Hannibal benefitted, he still grumbled about it but he benefitted!

[froot loops]

I'm not particularly sure what this has to do with the point re "don't raise taxes; just print money." I rather doubt it does. But, I'll make a good faith effort here -- according to Powell, the current practice of printing money is "unsustainable" so we will need to pay for this stuff at some point so we need to raise taxes. Which, of course, means we're probably a lot closer to "the line" than you think.

Again, if we're not close the "the line" then there is no need to raise taxes. Just print, print, print.

You were blaming the Gentry progs! Powell is not one of those. He was appointed by Trump himself.

[iam416]

You were blaming the Gentry progs! Powell is not one of those. He was appointed by Trump himself.

Address what I say or don't. You brazenly lie about what I said two hours ago and, lol, want anyone to believe you remember what Hannibal said a year ago.

Bad faith. I tried. But, two trash responses.

Enjoy your reach-arounds with CGVT. I guess Strangelove is the only semi-serious poster on The Left.

He was previously humblebragging that he bought a brand new car with that paper. Hannibal benefitted, he still grumbled about it but he benefitted!

Yeah, he's said it's awful policy but it's been great for him. Same here. Again, utterly fails to address or even make any point. Bad faith and total trash.

You could be better. But, man, lowest common denominator posting ain't it.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Those who spy naught but doom in their stock market earnings (brought to you by the highly-esteemed Chairman of America, Inc.) would be wise to pass the doom along to me. I will bear the brunt of whatever evil surely awaits the cursed bearer of said bonds.

[froot loops]

Agreed, send me some of those Trumpbucks! I can power through the guilt to spend them.

[Mike]

Speaking of the Cares Act and related stimulus bills... I found myself on a Zoom conference that included the director of the Detroit HUD field office last week. He was presenting information on the new round of ARP money and fielding questions about Cares Act $. HUD was awarded $7B in Cares money for a particular grant program that was distributed to municipalities across the country. Do you know how much of that money has been spent in the roughly 10 months since the bill was passed? Ten. 10%!

The government clearly needed to provide stimulus to individuals and businesses but that should have been the extent of it. Instead, the majority of the money allocated in these bills is a bunch of pie in the sky bullshit, much of it completely unrelated to Covid in the first place. The above example is just one of many drops in the bucket. Here's how a lot of this "funding" works: The federal government sends a bunch of extra money to local municipalities that they didn't ask for and in many cases don't have the capacity to compliantly spend in the given time frame. If they just said, here's a bunch of money go spend it, that would be great. But they say "Here's a bunch of money. You must spend it in accordance with this 300 pages of federal regulations before X date. If you do not do that, we will monitor/audit you". Reps from various cities were asking how/if they can just turn down the money or pay it back now. It's not even worth the hassle.

This is why many people believe firing the money cannon at problems isn't usually the best course of action. The bills should have either been scaled back or just increase the direct payments to individuals and businesses.

[froot loops]

The simpler the better, that is why expanded UI and cutting checks to people is better.

[froot loops]

Ha, this is true. Nothing was grosser than opening up one of those bags with a full bottle of piss.

[Dr. Strangelove]

ARCH DELUXE Restoration Act of 2021

WHEREAS it is established that the Arch Deluxe was a delicious creation of all-beef patty, lettuce, pickle, onion, peppered bacon, and secret sauce on a sesame seed bun

WHEREAS the Arch Deluxe was one of the earliest victims of "cancel culture" in American society and remediation is long overdue

THEREFORE it is so ordered that the Arch Deluxe shall immediately be returned to its proper place on the menu at all US McDonald's locations, including commonwealths, territories, and overseas military bases under United States jurisdiction.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I want Affirmative Action in basketball. Although blacks are only 16% of the US population they account for 80% of the NBA players. This is horseshit.

[THE_WIZARD_]

ARCH DELUXE Restoration Act of 2021

WHEREAS it is established that the Arch Deluxe was a delicious creation of all-beef patty, lettuce, pickle, onion, peppered bacon, and secret sauce on a sesame seed bun

WHEREAS the Arch Deluxe was one of the earliest victims of "cancel culture" in American society and remediation is long overdue

THEREFORE it is so ordered that the Arch Deluxe shall immediately be returned to its proper place on the menu at all US McDonald's locations, including commonwealths, territories, and overseas military bases under United States jurisdiction.

Fuck the Arch Deluxe. Bring back the McDLT in it's environmentally destructive foam container...and the Cheddar Melt...and make the glorious McRib a permanent menu item.

Do. It. Now.

[iam416]

The Arch Deluxe was great. The McDLT was the pinacle of American cuisine. I'd settle for the Arch Deluxe restoration, but I believe all humanity's ills instantly cure upon the glorious rising of the McDLT. Ask yourself this -- would we really be trafficking in panguin meat if the McDLT was around? Ergo, no covid. QED.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Careful you are courting a page long post from Jeff Buchanan on MMT.

Nope, I'm sticking to COVID shit. That's in my wheel house. MMT isn't. I do think Talent has economic things about as close to my view as one could get ...... there's a line, not exactly sure where it is, where costs will become apparent and have to be addressed with increased taxes.

We're not there yet but we're close. From what I know about it, MMT fails at some point although that is arguable.

Hanni's post about the Weimar Republic applies as in learn from history. This is worth a quick read to refresh your mind about what a catastrophe German economic policy following a huge economically disruptive event (losing WWI) was. The pandemic is a similarly economically disruptive event. The US response to it does not appear to be much different than that of the Weimar Republic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperi...ons%20payments.

[froot loops]

When we saw real inflation in the 70s it wasn't stopped by increasing taxes. It was stopped by Volcker applying the brakes in dramatic fashion. It must be noted that it got inflation under control but the inflation of the 80's during Reaganomics had a much higher average, the Media.inflation rate from 81 to 90 was 3.9 percent. The median rate of inflation from 2011 to 2020 is 1.7 percent. Any analogy to the Weimar Republic is laughable.

If inflation ever shows it is going to even get to Reaganomic levels, the Fed has the appropriate tools to apply the breaks if you think 3.8 percent is too much.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I think I said it this morning but look at any graph of real wages over time. There was a steady climb for 25 years post WWII then it slammed into a brick wall in the 70's and actually declined slightly in the 80's and 90's. With real wages being very stagnant for nearly 4 decades now, it's not surprising that inflation has been under control for most of that time. Hell, other than a few months in 2008, inflation has never gone above 5% in any month since 2000. And in 2009 that was followed by an extended DE-flationary period.

https://www.epi.org/publication/swa-wages-2019/