Marc of PunkAssBlog on the Fed’s interest rate cut:
Actually, .25% is something to behold. Does that even cover the paperwork? Soon I hope to see the Fed giving away money to institutions so they’ll take more money and do… whatever it is that they’re supposed to do with this money that will immediately return us to a state of eternal economic growth. Sports eyewear stores and pet psychiatrists everywhere anxiously await the return of our all-consuming consumerism.
The prickly pear that sticks me about the state of the US economy is that America doesn’t really do anything. Sure, we’ve got the movie industry, a lot of IT companies, and a whole buttload of lawyers to export, but these are not the underpinnings of a sound economy. Americans with capital have been trying to flip stocks and real estate monthly, weekly, daily or hourly to turn profit into more profit via financial shell games instead of trying to build or invest in the building of something useful. Even the ping-pong state of the stock market over the last few months has partly resulted from traders trying to get in and out of stocks at just the right moment to squeeze a few extra pennies out of every one of their remaining dollars. I fail to see how rate cuts will do anything about our compulsive need to avoid doing anything useful.
Business to business, we need to stop chasing quarterly earnings. The need to show massive improvements to the bottom line 4 times a year has led directly to nearly all of our devastating economic embarrassments, from Enron to Worldcom to the financial meltdown. We need to stop trying to figure out how to trick people into buying more shit they don’t need and instead offer products that are as useful as they are responsible. And if a critical industry can’t sustain itself profitably, like airlines, health care, and so forth, then let’s all share in the ownership by nationalizing them. Because, in the end, nearly everyone (I said *nearly*) associated with a gigantic clusterfuck regrets it for the rest of his/her life.
Alternatively, we can continue trampling each other in Wal-Marts to help a broken system destroy lives at home and abroad until it finally dies an exceptionally violent death. Sup to you.
What he said?
This is about the most retarded thing I’ve read about the economy since that other Slog writer advised WaMu customers to “print their statements.”
You guys should stick to what you know, really.
We don’t need you passing along economic analysis from something called “Punk Ass Blog.”
People are hurting and this post does nothing but trivialize it.
If you lost your job I’m not sure ranting about Walmart is going to give your kids Christmas presents this year.
It must be nice to rich and clueless ECB. But your libtard education should have included some actual economics.
To the people reading this – read some REAL news on the economy and the country’s path forward. Not this garbage.
“The center cannot hold…”
“The prickly pear that sticks me about the state of the US economy is that America doesn’t really do anything.”
WHAT HE SAID, ECB?
Thanks for insulting my last 22 years sweating my ass off at the plant. Yeah, we don’t really do anything.
Yeah, my 401k is down 40% because of pet psychologists.
What he said my ass.
And nationalize everything? That is a joke right? Or are you advocating socialism now.
“I fail to see how rate cuts will do anything about our compulsive need to avoid doing anything useful.”
Rate cuts are widely accepted by economists across the entire spectrum as the necessary thing to do.
Who gets to decide what’s “useful” Is SLOG useful? Isn’t SLOG just as pointless as a pet psychologist?
“Sure, we’ve got the movie industry, a lot of IT companies, and a whole buttload of lawyers to export, but these are not the underpinnings of a sound economy.”
ECB nice to see you take your economic lessons from a guy who thinks the movie industry, IT, and lawyers represent the bulk of the American economy.
You buying into that notion explains EVERYTHING.
The comment threat for that post is also pretty interesting, and although I don’t completely believe or accept his idea that America doesn’t really “do anything,” I liked the post.
I checked out the Punk Ass Blog and discovered it was started by someone who works at a big pharmaceutical company.
Perfect. You can’t make stuff like that up.
Maybe someone truly concerned about putting pet psychologists out of business and nationalizing airlines should find a more progressively-minded career for themselves, first?
The idea that America doesn’t really do anything is beyond laughable, and really quite insulting. Americans work harder than almost any other western nation, and are responsible for more innovation in more industries than any country in history, bar none. Movies, IT, and lawyers? Really? What a load of crap.
Utter nonsense. Grow up.
The “What He Said” headline perfectly exposes ECB as someone who does not let facts or education get in the way of her strongly-held opinions.
This is pretty heartless and demeaning sentiment for anyone who has labored – labored – in the American economy (outside, of course, the movie, IT, and legal sectors).
This is the kind of economic insight that ECB actually USES to form her opinions on transit, the bag tax, etc.
It’s funny, except when you think of the kids who might be reading this and taking their cues from ECB on topics she simply does not understand.
Yeah, What He Said.
Rate cuts are a waste of time, since banks aren’t lending and credit cards are dropping their limits and still have triple fees on average.
Until it gets down to the middle class consumer and we can get cheap loans and credit, it means absolutely … NOTHING.
air travel isn’t neccesary. its a luxury with a lot of players in it. perhaps too many.
the middle class doesn’t need credit, it needs real wage increases or a shift in standard of living to less consumerist b.s.
The premise of this piece is utter bullshit. America produces quite a few tangible goods, things that have real value and are not lawyers or pet psychologists.
Maybe you’ve heard of this crop called corn? Or how about those big machines, the ones that are sorta long and cigar-shaped, with wings – what are those called? Oh, right: AIRPLANES. Or how about that software that runs 95% of the world’s computers? We produce tons of new drugs, and even with the pharmaceutical companies’ inflated prices those are still real, tangible goods that have a value based on reality and not on some financial shell game.
So, Mr. Article Writer: get a real job, you might learn something.
To All My Democrat Friends:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.
To My Republican Friends:
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Shorter ECB:
I don’t know anything about the economy, and neither does this guy! But look at his PASSION!
@14 – 90 percent, actually. You need to keep up.
Oh, I’m sorry, Will, I didn’t realize that Cupertino, California WAS IN A DIFFERENT FUCKING COUNTRY.
Accordiing to Softpedia, the Windows and Mac operating systems have a combined market share of 98.5%. So thanks for backing up my point. The US makes the software that powers nearly all of the world’s personal computers. That is a good with real value.
Oh Reality Check, you are SO WITTY.