Posted on 08/30/2011 4:42:20 AM PDT by Kaslin
Today Barack Obama nominated Alan Krueger to be the next chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers; staying inside the circle of his very small, tight economic team. Krueger previously served as the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy, which means he was the economic adviser to Secretary Tim Geithner - who advised Barack Obama.
Somebody at the White House must actually think all of that economic advice over the last 31 months has actually worked.
It hasn't. Even the excessively reliable defender of the Administration, the Washington Post, admits that Obama's economic policies have led to a "crisis of confidence" among American consumers and businesses alike.
Like the President, Krueger is a fan of schemes to increase "revenue" to the federal government, particularly a European style VAT, or Value Added Tax.
The week before Obama was inaugurated, Krueger published an op-ed in The New York Times promoting a VAT - "a 5 percent consumption tax" as he called it - as a way to lead America out of the recession that was already well underway.
Providing an open window to the perverted logic of liberal, Keynesian economists, Krueger wrote that "greater revenue flowing into federal coffers would probably help lower long-term interest rates because the government would need to borrow less down the road, and further bolster the economy." Really? By that logic, why just a 5 percent tax? Wouldn't a 10 or 20 percent VAT really, really "bolster the economy?"
Krueger suggested implementation of his new tax be delayed two years serving as a kind of hammer over the consumer's head. The threat of the pending tax, he argued, would "encourage households to spend money now, rather than after the tax is in place," according to his reasoning. Krueger went on to explain how raising taxes would also create jobs and grow the economy. "Along with the rest of the recovery package (Obama's $800 billion Stimulus was already on the Congressional table by that time), this would help jump start spending in the economy and thereby increase production and employment." So, scare people into spending what little money they might have left in the middle of a deep recession, and then whack them with a new tax just about the time you think they might be getting up off the mat?
Obama must have been sufficiently impressed by Krueger's op-ed because shortly after it published he tapped the Princeton professor to be Geithner's right-hand man. Now, Krueger is moving into the big chair as the third chairman of the CEA. He'll succeed Austan Goolsbee, an original member of the three person CEA, who succeeded Christina Romer. The same week as Krueger's op-ed was published, Romer released the now infamous report on Obama's economic stimulus plan in which she said the unemployment rate would be kept under 8 percent and up to 4.1 million new jobs would be created by Q4 of 2010.
The unemployment rate jumped above 8 percent the very next month, peaked at 10.1 percent in October, 2009, and is still frozen above 9 percent which is 2.5 percent greater than she predicted it would be at this time. As for jobs created - she missed that by 7 million.
The nomination of Krueger is a clear signal to the markets and to the voters to expect more of the same from the Administration. More government programs, more tax increase proposals, and more of a direct assault on jobs and our economy. Instead of a change of direction and seeking new advice, Barack Obama is doubling down on economic policy that has already proven to be disastrous.
"Read my lips. No new axes".
VAT on top of Income taxes, great idea. At least with income taxes we are told what we must pay. A VAT is a hidden tax.
His plans are working very well if you know the motivations of his policies.
with media blessing
If you read this guy's bio you realize he is another never done anything but go to school academic with nothing but a theoretic understanding of the Economy. Despite the complete failure of their theories, the 0 regime is instant on clinging to their failed dogmas.
Will he pass senate confirmation after proposing a VAT ?
it simply fits his life style ...
OBAMAS HYPOCRISY KNOWS NO BOUNDS !!!
“Greyhound 1”.... Secret Service Buys Two New $1.1 Million Buses For Three-Day Trip
President Barack Obama (C) walks to his bus as he arrives in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Minnesota, August 15, 2011, where he is to begin his three-day bus tour in the Midwest centering on ways to grow the economy.
He FLYS into an airport somewhere in the midwest, hops into a brand new 1.1 Million $ bus, paid for by you and me, for a bus tour around the midwest, and after an hour or so, gets driven back to the airport for ANOTHER FLIGHT, lands at another airport where another 1.1 Million $ brand new black bus is waiting for him
and repeats all that until his midwest bustour is done?? Oh yes......and THEN he leaves on a 12 day vacation to Martha’s Vineyard.......to REST UP from this campaign bus tour!
And don’t forget........those brand new shiny black buses arent DRIVEN to the location where they meet Obama. Those buses are loaded up on one or more C-17s. Then, they are flown to the destination ahead of AirForce- AND!.......this is REPEATED FOR EVERY CAMPAIGN STOP. On this ‘bus tour’, the Prez will lecture the ‘little people’ on how they need to live within their means and cut-back! Remember when very recently Obama told that family man to GO BUY A HYBRID VAN when he said he couldnt afford to fill up his truck???? Obama’s ‘carbon footprint’ must be as large as most cities by now.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cb1_1314314885
It’s all part of the plan to destroy America’s economy.
It’s working
Here is the “thought” process inside the liberal brain:
“OK. THAT liberal Democrat made things worse with his/her policies. What OTHER liberal Democrat should we vote for to fix the situation?”
They then run a liberal candidate and tout him/her as the savior while painting all conservatives as too stupid or greedy to be any good in office.
Their candidate wins and when (not if) that candidate’s policies fail, the “thought” process inside the liberal brain is:
“OK. THAT liberal Democrat made things worse with his/her policies. What OTHER liberal Democrat should we vote for to fix the situation?”
It is almost sad that they are so consumed by hatred for anything to their right, that they cannot open their minds to the possibility that the ideology they are slaves to is critically flawed.
Almost sad, I said. But it’s way beyond sad, and patriots have a duty to be enraged.
Everything he does, and will do, is politically driven...he will propose stuff that he knows the GOP will oppose, then hope he can get the voters to blame them next year.
A cutting and ironic choice of words considering this recent article.
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Obama's Pick Billed as 'Jobs Expert'Time to rotate the titanic's deck chairs again with the Princeton labor economist Alan Krueger taking over for Goolsbee, as we head straight into a Double Dip iceberg.He'll keep promising us, ad nauseam, that he 'gets' what's happening with the middle class as he redistributes the wealth of America. The 2.5 million jobs 'created or saved' comes from a formula. The formula comes from a theory. It says that for every dollar the government spends, 1.5 dollars' worth of economic activity is generated, and presto, jobs come out. The economic geniuses working for Obama want us to believe that by definition, since they spent almost a trillion dollars in 'stimulus', they automatically created jobs. Once you know about this magic formula in which any government spending creates jobs, much becomes clear. That's why Pelosi claimed that unemployment insurance creates jobs faster than almost any other initiative. The Secretary of Agriculture told us August 16, 2011 that Food Stamps are an economic stimulus, explaining that every dollar of food stamp benefits generates $1.84 in the economy in terms of economic activity. The Congressional Budget Office reported that through the first quarter of 2011 the stimulus created between 1.6 million and 4.6 million jobs, increased real GDP by 1-3 percent, and reduced unemployment by up to 1.8 percentage points. Where did the CBO get these figures? It made them up using formulas. Payments to state and local governments for infrastructure were estimated to have a multiplier of between 1 and 2.5, whereas the multiplier for unemployment benefits, food stamps to individuals was between 0.8 and 2.1. That's it. That's the only reality to 2.5 million jobs created or saved. We are still in a Depression folks. The GDP grew 1% for the fist 6 months of 2011. This growth rate is actually a 1.5% decline. It takes a 2.5% growth rate for us to stay even, when factoring in the nation's population growth. Historic. So now we know... 'CHANGE' = MORE Spending MORE Debt MORE Golf MORE Taxes MORE Welfare MORE Regulation MORE Government MORE Money Printing MORE Vacations MORE Porkulus MORE Formulas MORE Failure Thanks Mr. President. The media is going to go full Orwell to try to get Obama re-elected. That hated Tea Party is wrecking the plan to give everyone a slice of socialist pie -- free healthcare and a Lexus -- for doing absolutely nothing.
It's all a crock... of BarackRemember Porkulus... 'shovel ready jobs' weren't shovel ready!Countdown until Obama leaves Office: 508 days as of August 30, 2011. |
Another Socialist bird floats down from his gilded cage at a university to tell BO how to create jobs. Unbelievable.
This administration has the lowest number of members with business experience, only 9%, at a time when we needed the most such experience. BO’s failure was assured by his disastrous team of “experts” who have never run anything but their mouths, impressing the gullible students they were teaching.
shovelready 3.0
The first question for Egghead Krueger:
Have you paid your taxes ?
and a sickle around their neck. Hammer & sickle, why hasn't anyone thought of this clever economic stimulus idea before?
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