On Jan 6, 2009, at 11:27 AM, Louis Proyect wrote:
It only makes sense in class terms. The Democratic Party is the soft
cop and the Republicans are the hard cop. We don't need no stinkin'
badges...
I'm not sure I agree. Wall Street has no problem with a giant stimulus
program. Here's Goldman Sachs just a few days ago:
Moreover, on the
fiscal side, the incoming Obama administration seems to be pushing
for a
stimulus of around $850 billion spread over 2009 and 2010. This is
highly
welcome in our view, and it is much more than we were expecting just
a few
weeks ago.
And Goldman from early December:
Some may be tempted to read into the preceding paragraph a
preference for
tax cuts over increased government spending because tax cuts provide a
more direct and potentially widespread boost to household income.
However,
this is true only from the narrow perspective of bolstering household
spending. From the broader perspective of economy-wide activity,
increases
in government outlays can fill the void now being created by a sharp
drop
in household spending. In fact, from a longer-term point of view, a
policy
that puts the government in the position of spending while households
rebuild their saving rates is to be preferred over policies whose
primary
objective is to bolster household spending. At the end of this
rebuilding
process, the US economy would be much better balanced than it has been
during the past couple of decades.
Right now, the Reps represent a provincial petty bourgeoisie, largely
confined to the South. Obama comes into office with high approval
ratings, a big Congressional majority, and high expectations. If he
played it right - and he could, given his political skills - he could
roll over the Reps. He could portray them as the obstructionist great-
grandchildren of Herbert Hoover. But unlike the Reps, he wants to be
post-partisan and doesn't really believe in much of anything.
Doug
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