To Lift or Not to Lift - That is the Question

There is one campaign issue that for me at least, is just not understood and that is the debate on whether or not to lift the payroll tax cap on FICA taxes above current Social Security Wage Base, $97,000.

John Miller is professor of economics at Wheaton College said in Dollars and Sense:

There is Such a Thing as a Free Lunch

For the super rich, corporate executives and others in power that is.

David Kay Johnston has written another book on taxes, FREE LUNCH - How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You With The Bill). He writes story after story how you're paying for your own economic destruction, often through the United States tax code.

Of each dollar people earned in 2005, the top 10 percent got 48.5 cents. That was the top tenths greatest share of the income pie since 1929, just before the Roaring Twenties collapsed into the Great Depression

A few truths Johnston expands upon:

Government can have a huge effect on the US economy
The US government has not created free markets but rigged ones
The U.S. is not a laissez-faire economy

Hillary and Obama on Trade

^{Originally posted on the NoSlaves.com blog. Today is the Pennsylvania Primary, so reviewing actual positions is relevant}

While the choices for President slim down to next to none, one might evaluate positions instead of joining the various cheer leading camps. Who, overall has the best trade, economic positions to stop this global train wreck?

Firstly any group name calling someone protectionist because they acknowledge the obviously massive ~5.6% GDP trade deficit, is obviously not basing their economics on anything remotely resembling reality. The reason I link to this Pro Obama group is because they want more bad trade agreements. They assessed Obama as more of a corporate free trader than Hillary. Below are some statements from the two for easy comparison contrast.

What's Wrong with Taxing Capital Gains?

Capital Gains taxes were asked about in the last Democratic Presidential Primary Debate.

Capital Gains are the profits someone makes from investments on Wall Street. Reporter Gibson asked both Obama and Hillary on raising these taxes.

Here is the exchange:

GIBSON: All right. You have, however, said you would favor an increase in the capital gains tax. As a matter of fact, you said on CNBC, and I quote, "I certainly would not go above what existed under Bill Clinton," which was 28 percent. It's now 15 percent. That's almost a doubling, if you went to 28 percent.

But actually, Bill Clinton, in 1997, signed legislation that dropped the capital gains tax to 20 percent.

OBAMA: Right.

GIBSON: And George Bush has taken it down to 15 percent.

OBAMA: Right.

Friday Movie Night - It's the Elizabeth Warren Show!

It's Friday, late and so time for some movies. Elizabeth Warren is a Harvard Professor and expert in Bankruptcy law and consumer rights.

Below is her talk from the UC Berkeley Lecture series, The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class:

Health Care Systems of other Nations

I want to bring your attention to a Frontline documentary called Sick Around the World. It is an interview, comparison/contrast of other health care systems in most assuredly capitalist nation-states.

Frontline allows all shows to be watched on line, in full. Journalist T.R. Reid documented an exceptional overview of other health care systems from capitalist economic nation-states. I hope others watch and we start analyzing health care policy proposals from an economics and populist viewpoint.

What astounded me is the lower costs that other nations have in comparison to the United States.

What is a Populist?

All of a sudden, Populism has become a popular term. But like so many political labels representing some sort of philosophy, the word is already being co-opted to mean something else.

From Progressives to Corporate representatives, everyone wants to be a Populist these days. Now John McCain is supposedly touting a Populist Message....in the form of corporate tax cuts.

Let's be clear here, more giveaways to the super rich and multinational corporations is Corporate Corrupt and most assuredly not addressing the needs of working America.

Then, we have those claiming Barack Obama is a Populist.

Manufacturing Forum - Obama and Clinton

Today a manufacturing forum was held with both Presidential candidates for the Democratic primary.

What is amazing is this seemingly was not broadcast on CNN, or on CSPAN. Trade and manufacturing policy area is critical to the US economy, so not covering such a forum is ....well, par for the course? Anything important is obscured, anything divisive is sure to be played over and over.

Guess who didn't even bother to show up? John McCain.

Of course the bitter tit for tat rhetoric is ongoing, with Obama in retaliation commenting others surrounding Hillary support bad trade deals which ignores Hillary's position statements or the lack of his own. Yet again, policy positions are obscured.

In my opinion, there are only two things that matter:

The actual policy proposals and positions

Obama Said What?

Normally I try to stay away from the daily tit for tat of the Democratic primary but this latest buffoonery needs a comment.

Two days ago Obama said:

You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama said. "And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations,

Green Collar Jobs

We've heard a few buzz words on the campaign trail about green collar jobs but what exactly is behind the rhetoric?

Green For All is a nonprofit looking to create a green economy not only as a way to stop global warming, but also as a path to economic justice for the economically disadvantaged.

FANTASTIC! A multi-dimensional solution that would:

Create New Industry
Generate American Jobs
Increase US exports
Reduce energy imports
Reduce Global Warming

US investment initiatives certainly could create a new industry to bring about economic fairness, especially for US domestic diversity.

Alas, there is a hitch.

While these think tanks claim green collar jobs cannot be outsourced, oh my, think again!

Robert Oak's blog