Posted on 10/20/2004 2:40:59 PM PDT by Willie Green
Somebody would have to get a job. Imagine what THAT would do to the economy.
It's certainly helping home "ownership" that the welfare recipients, welfare-to-work recipients, etc can apply $700 a month government housing subsidies toward the mortgage payments. Remember Clinton changed the way Unemployment statistics were done -- counting any part time job at all as though it was full employment --- so you're right about "employment: at or below historical average". Otherwise we could end some of the many welfare programs -- including that new welfare program NAFTA-TAA.
It wasn't me --- it was Bush I who denigrated Reagan's good economic plans. I think trickle-down economics is a good idea --- if prosperity trickles down to Americans, it's very good.
It may have helped you, but it hasn't helped me.
I sure would like to know how. If you're talking about Bush I's tax hike you must consider the times: he was faced with a Democrat Congress and a Democrat Senate that was spending money for votes. Reagan had the same problem. We always talk about the deficit in terms of high or low tax rates and never consider how much we are spending. Isn't there something wrong with that?
I think he means when Bush 41 challenged Reagan for the nomination in 1980?
It's certainly helping home ownership here --- a 20 year old single mother of 2 can buy a home with her government money.
Who came up with the term "voodoo economics"?
Of course, the notion that federal subsidies are driving the housing market is utterly laughable. I'm surprised you persist.
I'd like to see what would happen if all the housing subsidies, food stamps, free government provided health care, WIC, NAFTA-TAA, SSDI, CHIP, Medicaid, TANF, and so on were immediately stopped. How prosperous would America look then? I have a feeling it would look far less prosperous than it did in 1960.
I think they are in some areas.
With regard to NAFTA, Michigan would be worse-off (the opposite of what an earlier post suggested). As for the rest of your shopping list, who knows?
So federal housing subsidies in "some areas" are driving the nation-wide market? LOL
I'd ask you to support your contention, but why bother?
What gets it for me is the fact that car prices have remained constant adjusted for inflation since the 60's. Multiply what a Volkswagen Beetle (2k) cost then by six and you get what an economy coupe costs now. But then a car loan was three years. Now it can be six. How many cars would be sold if we had four years as the maximum for a car loan ?
And then a home mortgage was common for 15 years --- and were amounts that car loans now are. Now most people take home loans for 30 years. The exact same house my father bought in the 50s for $15,000 now sells for over $100,000 --- same house, same wood, same yard --- only then it was a new house, now it's kind of old.
Then what is the point in having them if they aren't being given to prop up the housing market? Wouldn't that be a whole lot of money that could be slashed from government spending?
Yesterday, I responded to your comment that "the prosperity can't trickle down to Americans, it trickles over to China instead." And now you want to discuss public policy?
I don't think there is any evidence that if many of those NAFTA-gone jobs came back into Michigan that it would be worse off --- likely they could drop many people off the welfare rolls if there were some assembly line or factory jobs for them. Funny how when cars were made in the USA with $20 an hour labor, you could find them selling for $3000-$4000 but with $0.50 or less labor costs, they're selling for $30,000 to $40,000.
- The number of Michigan companies exporting increased 65 percent from 1992 to 1998
- More than 86 percent of Michigan 10,482 companies that export are small- and medium-sized businesses
- Total exports from Michigan to NAFTA countries (Mexico and Canada) in 1999 were 74 percent higher than 1993, before NAFTA
Source
And here's something for you and our friend Sam:
| Motor vehicle parts, not including engines | $6,813 |
| Automobiles | $2,999 |
| Motor vehicle engines | $1,773 |
| Trucks | $1,304 |
| Unshaped plastics | $436 |
| Motor vehicle engine parts | $403 |
| Plate, sheet & strip, steel | $300 |
| Air conditioning & refrigeration equipment | $287 |
| Bolts, nuts & screws | $188 |
| Furniture & fixtures | $176 |
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