Fund Your Utopia Without Me.™

15 August 2012

Troll Kill: You Can't Fix Stupid, But You Can "Accidentally" Back Over It With Your Car!



M2RB:  Pink Floyd, awesome performance of Shine On You Crazy Diamond at Earl's Court, 1994








Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun?
Shine on, you crazy diamond.
Now, there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on, you crazy diamond.
Come on, you target for faraway laughter...










"So, the worst recession since heh (sic) Great Depression (thanks Republicans) led to the worst recovery since the Depression.  Who would have thought?"

- Troll
theerighthstuff, AP: US Economic 'Recovery' Weakest Since Great Depression, Townhall.com, 15 August 2012
 
 
It wasn't the worst recession since the Great Depression. The 1981-82 recession was far worse.  Further, the "Great Recession" ended in June, 2009.  If it seems like it has lasted forever, you can thank Obama's "Recovery."

Ask any economist, even The Ferret, and they will tell you that the history of recessions in the US shows that the deeper the recession the stronger and more rapid the recovery.
 
According to that lunatic-right-wing-fringe organisation, PBS, "the United States was experiencing its worst recession since the Depression, with conditions frighteningly reminiscent of those 50 years earlier. By November 1982, unemployment reached, nine million, the highest rate since the Depression; 17,000 businesses failed, the second highest number since 1933; farmers lost their land; and many sick, elderly, and poor became homeless;" yet, the GDP under Reagan went from .3% in Q4 of 1982 to 9.3% in Q2 of 1983.  By contrast, Obama's GDP in Q4 of 2010 (equivalent of Q4/82) was 3.1%, but fell to 1.3% in Q2 of 2011.   What was the difference?  Reagan cut taxes and didn't engage in Keynesianism...despite what The Ferret says to the contrary, as I have proven on more than one occasion.

And, Democrats really need to cut it out with the "Worst Recession Since The Great Depression" wolf crying.  There hasn't been a recession that Democrats have ever met that hasn't been the "Worst Recession Since The Great Depression," including the relatively mild recession - a contraction in GDP of 1.9% from peak to trough -  that lasted 8 months from July 1990 to March 1991.





Let me show you what I mean:
 
 
"The average American expressed more pessimism about the future than at any time since the Great Depression."

"There is no question but this is the worst economic time since the Great Depression."

"Sluggish economic growth this year will cap the worst three-year period centered on a recession since the Great Depression."

"Forecasts for a weak recovery...suggest the period...will be the worst for the economy since the Great Depression."

"....the worst plunge since the Great Depression."

"The average American expressed more pessimism about the future than at any time since the Great Depression."

"There is no question but this is the worst economic time since the Great Depression."

"Sluggish economic growth this year will cap the worst three-year period centered on a recession since the Great Depression."

"Forecasts for a weak recovery...suggest the period...will be the worst for the economy since the Great Depression."

"....the worst plunge since the Great Depression."

"It's not a recession, it's a depression."

"….with the US economy locked in a recession and more people out of work since the Great Depression."

"....the worst (retail) sales period on record since the Great Depression."

"This recession is hitting white-collar workers more heavily than any since the Great Depression of the 1930s."


Do you know what is amazing about the quotes above?

They were made not between 2008-2012, but in 1991 and 1992.

 


"Tax rates were much higher in the 50's and GDP growth rates were higher. Under the years of massive Bush tax cuts, the GDP growth rate was lower, and this doesn't account for the massive housing bubble fraud which pumped trillions into the economy(consumer spending accounts for about 2/3rds of economy."




Avg income tax revenue to GDP 1950-59:  18.118%

1950: 14.82
1951: 16.72
1952: 20.04
1953: 19.57
1954: 19.94
1955: 17.34
1956: 18.59
1957: 18.88
1958: 18.41
1959: 16.87

Avg revenue to GDP 1981-89:   20.0875%

1981: 19.17
1982: 18.99
1983: 16.99
1984: 16.95
1985: 17.40
1986: 17.25
1987: 18.04
1988: 17.83
1989: 18.08

Avg revenue to GDP 2001-08:   17.695%

2001: 19.36
2002: 17.41
2003: 18.04
2004: 15.86
2005: 17.06
2006: 17.99
2007: 18.31
2008: 17.57



Average GDP under Eisenhower was 2.4%.
Average GDP under JFK/LBJ was 5.7%.
Average GDP under LBJ was 2.8%.
Average GDP under Nixon was 3.2%.
Average GDP under Nixon/Ford was 4.2%.
Average GDP under Carter was 2.39%.
Average GDP under Reagan was 3.54%.
Average GDP under Bush I was 2.2%.
Average GDP under Clinton was 3.42%.
Average GDP under Bush II was 2.6%.
Average GDP under Obama through Q1-2012 has been 1.66%.

 
There were two recessions in the 1950s and Eisenhower left office in the midst of another. The explosion in growth during the Kennedy administration came as a result of the tax cuts, as did the explosion in revenues during the Clinton administration following his his CGR cuts.

According to that lunatic-right-wing-fringe organisation, PBS, "the United States was experiencing its worst recession since the Depression, with conditions frighteningly reminiscent of those 50 years earlier. By November 1982, unemployment reached, nine million, the highest rate since the Depression; 17,000 businesses failed, the second highest number since 1933; farmers lost their land; and many sick, elderly, and poor became homeless;" yet, the GDP under Reagan went from .3% in Q4 of 1982 to 9.3% in Q2 of 1983. By contrast, Obama's GDP in Q4 of 2010 (equivalent of Q4/82) was 3.1%, but fell to 1.3% in Q2 of 2011. What was the difference? Reagan cut taxes and didn't engage in Keynesianism...despite what The Ferret says to the contrary, as I have proven on more than one occasion.
 
Now, run along and put some ice on that. It's gonna leave a mark.   




"In fiscal 2010 — the first budget under Obama — spending fell 1.8% to $3.46 trillion."




You are an idiot.  There was NO FY2009 budget signed into law by Bush. He signed a CR into law on 30 September 2008. It expired on 6 March 2009.

Further, the Democratic Congress only passed THREE of FY2009's 12 appropriations bills for Bush to sign before 1 October 2008, the beginning of FY2009: Defence, Homeland Security, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs.

The Democrat-controlled Congress passed the rest of them in 2009 and...

On 11 March 2009, President Barack H. Obama signed the FY2009 budget into law. Furthermore, Bush is not responsible for the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Stimulus Act of 2009, the Defence Supplemental of 06.09 loaded with pork, Cash-for-Clunkers, Cash-for-Caulkers, Unemployment Insurance extensions, Making Home Affordable, a massive $680 billion defence bill in September - once again laden with pork, etc.

Uh-oh! There goes that "Blame Bush meme!"

President Bush's proposed FY2009 budget called for spending of only $3.11 trillion, which was just a 3% increase. President Obama and his Democrat Congress ended up spending $3.52 trillion in 2009, which represented a 17.9% increase in spending -- the highest single-year percentage spending increase since the Korean War.

By January 2010, spending as a percentage of GDP was 25.2% -- the highest it has been in the United States since World War II. 

Yes, Obama's spending as a percentage of GDP has gone down, but only ever so slightly. During George W Bush's 8 years as president, spending averaged 19.6% of GDP. Under President Clinton, spending as a percentage of GDP was 19.8%. In the decades following World War II, the average has been 19.7%. The average for Obama's first term is projected to be 24.3%.

Anyhoo, the truth is the truth. Period. Story. End of. If you can't handle it, that's your problem.


 
Math is hard.

It is even harder when you're stupid.

It is downright impossible when you're a bloody Prog like theerightstuff and nodeamass. 
 
 
 
 
Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd
 
Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.

You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom,
blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter,
come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.

Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,
rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions,
come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!