Not a Good Sign

While it is not an infallible signal, the recent trend in federal tax receipts suggests the economy is not, as Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner claimed on Sunday, "getting stronger." If anything, it would seem to be the opposite.

(Hat tip to Global Economic Intersection.)

Comments

[roger]

Quantitative easing for the 1%
Quantitative squeezing for the 99%
an infallible signal.

Home builders outlook down 3 points
Canadian real estate on the brink of collapses
On the political scene,it's shades of 1933 Germany.

[Rocky]

Roger: In 1932, Germany had 2 national elections for their Reichstag (parliament). Thirteen parties won seats. The largest vote getters were the Nazis, but they did not have a majority. The old line parties were not able to put a coalition government together. In January 1933, Germany's president asked Hitler to form a government and as they say, the rest was history. We are not their yet, and thank goodness there are fewer political parties. But in a few years, who knows?

[Rocky]

In my prior post "their yet" should read "there yet".

[roger]

@Rocky.,, you seem well informed.
I'm vintage 1925. My Czech grandmother was shot by the Nazis.In 39 I was
living in north Africa,but I remember very vividly the events of that period, the similarities with that period of history are to say the least
very scary.The treaty of Versailles created Hitler and powerful German industrialist promoted him. Harsh economic conditions and greedy corporations, a power keg ready to explode.
The rise and fall of the third Reich by William Shire a good read with lots of concrete info.

[Tom]

Besides the Federal tax receipts, we're seeing the collapse of the tax base in many states and subsequent bankruptcies popping up in places like Harrisburg PA and various towns and counties in CA, NV and elsewhere. Here in PA, we COULD have made up the difference by taxing the gas companies drilling (and ruining the water) in the Marselles shale region - but with a Republican governor the best we could do is attach some feeble "fees" to their operation. Turns out we're the ONLY state NOT taxing them for laying waste to our land and sucking out the mineral rights (leaving us with a mess that can't be cleaned up). Crony capitalism at it's best.

[John G.]

roger: "...The treaty of Versailles created Hitler and powerful German industrialist promoted him..."

Yes, but who backed Hitler and those powerful German industrialists (and FDR and the Bolsheviks, too)?

Antony Sutton, fellow, Hoover Institute, wrote:
Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution
Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler
Wall Street and FDR

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Sutton

Great books, full of data and references, and absolutely convincing (that WWI and WWII were catalyzed and fought to benefit a small cabal of financiers and industrialists).

[Imagine what the rest of the population does?]

Waterbury Mayor Reverses Promise, Takes $91,000 Pension

WATERBURY—

Waterbury Mayor Neil M. O'Leary has reversed himself, restoring his $91,000 annual city police pension that he promised during his election campaign last year to halt.

The Republican American reports that O'Leary said Monday his $119,000 annual salary is not enough to support his family.

He said he believed he'd be able to afford to live on the salary alone, but has had unexpected financial responsibilities and family obligations.

O'Leary would not detail his family's family expenses, but said he would use his $7,500 a month pension check to pay tuition for his two children and support local charities.

O'Leary defeated then-Mayor Michael Jarjura, attacking his rival for breaking his promise to step aside in 2009. O'Leary told voters last year that when he makes a promise, he keeps it.

http://www.courant.com/community/waterbury/hc-ap-waterbury-mayor-pension-raise-0418-20120417,0,7269450.story

[This ain't so great, either]

Sen. Bernie Sanders blasts economic inequality: This is not what democracy looks like

Sanders said the United States was moving towards an “oligarchic form of government,” where the wealthy have a disproportionate amount of political power. He said a recent study found that in 2010, 93 percent of all new income went to the top 1 percent of income-earners.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/16/bernie-sanders-blasts-economic-inequality-this-is-not-what-democracy-looks-like/

[The politicians could care less]

Real Earnings Collapse, Nearly 50% Below 1973

Not only is SGS unemployment in the US above 22%, only comparable to the Great Depression, but for those who are working, their real earnings have been collapsing for more than a decade. Real earnings are nearly 50% below 1973.

That chart is critical for readers around the world to understand the systematic destruction of the middle class in the United States. This is what depressions look like. Do not believe lies from the mainstream media. There will be no recovery in the United States for the foreseeable future.

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/4/16_John_Williams_-_Real_Earnings_Collapse,_Nearly_50_Below_1973.html

[sharonsj]

I live in PA too. Thanks to the Republican governor, who won't raise taxes on the rich or tax the gas drillers, my property and school taxes are going up. When asked what homeowners could do to deal with paying the extra expenses, the governor said we should figure it out for ourselves. This is the typical Republican mindset: I've got mine so screw you.

In order to pay my bills, I'm selling my belongings at flea markets. I also have a choice of paying the electric bill or giving up the phone and TV. And I just got turned down by the drug insurance company for a new doctor's prescription. They refuse to pay for it and don't give any reasons. The cost is $275--unless I get it from Canada, where it's at least a $100 less. Of course if I order it from Canada, I'm breaking the law.

One last thing about the effing Pennsylvania legislature. Instead of focusing on jobs and the economy, they're busy passing laws restricting women's health and requiring voter ID. Maybe the next thing they'll try is reinstating child labor. The Republican agenda is to send us back to the 19th century.

[Bad joke played on all of us]

There's No "BS" Like Government "BS"

The Government reports garbage and the morons in the financial media reports that garbage as hard facts - Charles Biderman, Trim Tabs Independent Research

Mr. Biderman didn't exactly discover plutonium here with this revelation, but he provides excellent analyis of why the Government-released retail sales report this week is a complete farce. Yesterday's retail sales report for March was reported to up strongly led by auto sales. However, as Biderman details in the brief video presentation linked below, the Government numbers on auto sales for March are at an extreme divergence from the numbers reported by the auto manufacturers themselves, which showed an unexpected and precipitous drop for March. Biderman's 4 1/2 minute rant is well worth watching, and he offers realistic replacements to track retail sales data and employment simply by tracking credit card sales and tax revenues. Not only would that be more accurate, but it would enable to the Government to get rid of part of its Census Bureau and BLS bureaucracy, cut expenses and take a step toward reducing wasteful, useless Government spending:
http://truthingold.blogspot.com/2012/04/theres-no-bs-like-government-bs.html

[The sacrifices we make]

@sharon..you're no the only one that had to sell things...:)

Ann Romney's tale of 'struggling': We 'learned hard lessons' living off our stock portfolio

You're going to need a hanky for this sob story, as told by Ann Romney back in 1994, of just how hard young Mitt and Ann struggled when they were just starting out:
They were not easy years. [...]

By Ann’s own account, the stock amounted to “a few thousand” dollars when bought, but it had gone up by a factor of sixteen. So let’s conservatively say that they got through five years as students—neither one of them working—only by “chipping away at” assets of $60,000 in 1969 dollars (about $377,000 today).
Amazing they didn't starve to death, isn't it? How ever did they survive?

There's nothing inherently wrong with coming from families of extraordinary wealth and privilege. There's nothing wrong with letting your family put you through school, buy you a house and set you up with a nice stock portfolio so you don't have to get a job.

But the Romneys want to pretend that they're just regular folks who know first-hand what it means to struggle.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/16/1083802/-Ann-Romney-s-tale-of-struggling-We-learned-hard-lessons-living-off-our-stock-portfolio-

[Sign of no faith]

Fed Doc’s and The Revolving Door
April 16, 2012

Months after requesting the transcripts detailing what happened inside the Fed during the financial crisis, the Dylan Ratigan Show reveals the information they received, and discuss their findings with the Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim and Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden. Check out Ryan Grim’s article on The Huffington Post: Fed Officials With Privileged Info Head to Wall Street.

http://www.dylanratigan.com/2012/04/16/fed-docs-and-the-revolving-door/

[David Brown]

Roger

I noted your reference to the rise of Hitler being promoted by large industrialists. That claim is endlessly repeated but in 1985 Henry Ashby Turner, a professor of German history at Yale, apparently upset that claim was being repeatedly made without any studies verifying it, decided to investigate the claim. His book German Big Business and The Rise of Hitler strongly refutes the suggestion of involvement by large industry. Industry was essentially absent from the pre-Hitler power structure in Germany; the military, civil service and landed aristocracy all out ranked them. Industrialists had to align themselves with socialist labor unions to avoid annilation in the Weimer Republic (source of the co-determination structure that survives today in German industry). The National Socialists rank and file were socialists; in parlament the voting on economic and labor policies matched the communists (hardly likely to attract business interest). Some mid-level party officals did seek industry support but couldn't overcome the far left economic policies; the industrialists continued to support traditional center right parties. Hitler detested business, only small minds thought about profits rather than the greater good of Germany, but had some respect for big business from a Social Darwinism perspective, intending to co-op them once in power (as well as the unions for that matter). I'm not doing the book justice, who knew the Nazis charged the public to attend their rallys, but I can recommend it (although the writing is a tad dense and academic).

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