Call it the liberal answer to the Laffer Curve:

But can the government afford this additional spending? The answer is yes. Despite the large federal deficit, global savers, including savings-hungry American households, are snapping up United States government securities at very low interest rates. And they will continue to do so as long as there is ample slack in the economy and inflation remains subdued. Over the next few years, there is little risk that federal deficits will crowd out private investment or precipitate a crisis of confidence in the American government, a spike in American interest rates or a sudden drop in the dollar.

On the other hand, as long as private demand remains weak, the risk is uncomfortably high that trying to reduce the deficit — by cutting spending or increasing taxes — will tip the economy back into recession or condemn it to years of faltering growth and debilitating unemployment. In fact, either outcome would depress tax revenue and could mean larger deficits.

UPDATE: Actually, we can take it even further. According to Laffer's logic, there is an optimal rate of taxation on the rich which will actually make them richer. This is the essential insight of Keynsianism: if the economy goes into protracted stagnation and retrenchment, corporate revenues cannot rise, or cannot rise as quickly as they might otherwise. Therefore, in order to continue to raise the after-tax income of the wealthy, it is imperative that we raise taxes on them now.

How's them apples?

Wednesday Afternoon Orgdown: Aug 25, 2010

Los Angeles County Federation of Labor @ http://www.launionaflcio.org/

The LA County Federation of Labor, or LA Fed, is highlighted as a union success story by Bill Fletcher and Fernando Gapasin, Kim Voss and Rick Fantasia, and many others on the left. Following the success of SEIU's Justice for Janitors campaign in L.A., the new influx of members played a significant role in rejuvenating the Federation, signaled in part by the election of its first Latino president.

"It's Time To Party" Tea Party Song

This is pretty great, really:

Are the Rich going to "take their toys and go home"?

In response to Public to Lawmakers: End Tax Cuts for the Rich, sweartogod replies:

Who creates jobs? The poor do not. I am poor and cannot create any jobs. It seems to me that the people who have money create jobs. By taxing them is there no incentive to create jobs. Like Donald Trump says if they punish me I will sit and do nothing.

This is a common form of blackmail threat leveled by the rich- do what I say or I'll withdraw my investment from society. I need more "incentives" to invest.

I answered:

Those who possess money do not need "incentives" to create jobs- hiring workers and selling the products they produce is the only way that they can "make" money. This may be done by loaning their money to a bank, by loaning it to a corporation through the stock market, by loaning it to the government through buying bonds, or by direct investment.

In periods of crisis, they tend to become very conservative- settling for living off their riches and not making any money for a while. This is where the role of government as a "job creator" comes in. By spreading out the risk of the needed reinvestment (and by freeing up more money to those who must spend it on the things they need to live)- the government is able to soften the impact of the kind of devastating crises that existed before WWII.

Unfortunately, we live in a time when the sheer greed of the rich has blinded them to the entire progress of US governmental policy over the past 80 years. They have spent exorbitant amounts of money to fund thinly-veiled propaganda efforts around why they should not have to give even a small proportion of their money to the government- for their own good as much as anyone else's.

While these anti-tax policies might be good for the rich on an individual level, they spell disaster for society when implemented broadly, and the Trump quote is nothing more than an attempt at blackmail.

Please, Brother, study this issue carefully and with all the attention it deserves. You will find out that these lies are a dangerous poison.

Regards,
Sam

Are the Rich the best custodians of society?

In response to:
"Tax the Rich, Corporations, and..." You people always fall for that one. @ How Your Government Sees it... blog

While [what you say] sounds quite good- indeed, downright humanitarian- I'm afraid that you are being taken in by a well-funded group of hucksters. These are the very arguments by which the "super rich" wish to further reduce their tax burdens.

The single grain of truth to what you say lies in the downward definition of the "wealthy" that is pushed by Clinton-style democrats. In fact, the most lasting tax adjustment Clinton made was the expansion of the payroll tax, which increased the burden on hard-working people a great deal during his tenure (and has been retained since).

However, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." This fact, which might be used to reduce the redistribution of wealth from the poor to the wealthy (yes- did you know that this is the main "redistribution" which now occurs?), is used to give cover to shabby half-truths by bought-and-paid-for snake-oil salesman like Dr. Jorgan.

For instance, the argument against the alternative minimum tax- which provided "the people" a defense against the "loopholes" used by the rich- was defeated by the clever sophistry of such "thinkers."

In essence, the argument of Jorgan and his ilk boils down to this: being rich is evidence that you are better than everyone else, therefore the rich should be given as much money as possible. That this notion can still be believed after the massive scams that have been revealed over the last 10 years, from Enron and Worldcom to Madoff and Goldman, is evidence of just how powerful the hold of greed and deceit is over the minds of American.

I once was blind, but now I see. I hope the same may hold true for you.

Regards,
Sam

Wednesday Afternoon Orgdown: Aug 18, 2010

Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York (ROC-NY) @ http://www.rocny.org/

Initially created as a support organization for the surviving workers from Windows on the World, a large restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center, following 9/11, the ROC has become a sort of laboratory of approaches to restaurant worker justice. It has spun off a cooperative restaurant, Colors, as well as other initiatives to bring forward the struggles of workers in the large, mostly non-union food sector of NYC. There are approximately 300,000 foodservice workers in the "Greater New York" megacity, with perhaps 10-20 thousand of them unionized. ROC-NY has also generated interest in foodservice worker justice in other cities, spawning CHI-ROC (Chicago) and others.

Domestic Workers United (DWU) @ http://www.domesticworkersunited.org/

DWU describes itself this way: "Founded in 2000, Domestic Workers United [DWU] is an organization of Caribbean, Latina and African nannies, housekeepers, and elderly caregivers in New York, organizing for power, respect, fair labor standards and to help build a movement to end exploitation and oppression for all."

As such, it represents another form of worker center, for another largely-unorganized sector of the economy, one with problems perhaps more severe than foodservice workers. Given the isolation of domestic workers, abuse (physical and sexual) and virtual slavery are not uncommon conditions. DWU is thus important as both advocate and support group.

Recently, DWU was able to pass through the NY legislature the first US law protecting domestic workers- who are excluded from the important labor-rights laws of the 1930s, the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Tea Party roundup

A roundup of takes on the Tea Parties:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/oct/22/something-new-on-the-mall/

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/05/03/100503fa_fact_lepore

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/us/politics/15poll.html

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/may/27/tea-party-jacobins/ and

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/aug/19/tea-party-jacobins-exchange/

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175247/tomgram:_greg_grandin,_does_the_tea_party_run_on_race/

http://www.playboy.com/articles/rogues-of-k-street/index.html?page=1

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34751.html

http://www.samadamsalliance.org/media/7936/early_adopters_report.pdf

http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/08/bob-inglis-tea-party-casualty