• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Consumer Prices Jumped. Should You Worry? That's Sparking A Heated Debate

Who said anything about Panic, There is no panic... the point is still the same... "impose price freezes, when the economy is being stimulated by Federal Taxpayer Funds". It's nothing complicated nor panic prone about that.

As to gas, you should be asking yourself, why is gas going up? When we have been overfilling our reserves for years now, every since we became able to independently produce what we need during the Obama Administration Era!!


______________________
quote
“Thankfully, America has vast domestic energy resources – enough oil and natural gas on federal lands alone to power 65 million cars for 60 years and heat 60 million households for 160 years,” the report states.
end quote
Those funds only partially replace the lost income from covid. It will not cause inflation. Don't confuse the end of economically depressed prices with actual inflation. Gas is still cheaper than it was 10 years ago too. Oil prices going up are based on the confidence of the buyers that an economic upturn is in the works. That is a good thing. We all are sick of the pandemic aren't we?
 
There are some facts, IMO, (that's not an oxymoron) about the economic situation - one is that massive amounts of wealth were lost to the pandemic. We could get into some details where, but it was a lot. Another is that we are doing what economics seems to say is what helps protect the economy - government spending.

There's an old saying, I don't remember where it's from, that the economy has a three legged stool for support - consumers, businesses, and government. When there is an economic crash, consumers and businesses can't support it, and that leaves government to prevent a collapse.

This is basic Keynesian economics - except that they say to save during the good times to be able to spend during downturns. What we've done since Reagan is to spend like crazy and borrow during the good times, and borrow even more during the down times, leaving us with an incredible $25 trilion+ debt and no clear way out, as we face China surpassing us.

What we are doing now over Coronavirus will harm the economy for decades to come - but be much better than not doing it. The problem is we need to not borrow like crazy in the good times.

So, that means cuts. And that is perhaps the most important political choice of our time.

Republicans' plan for cuts is to cut the wealth of the American people. Transfer even more money from them to the rich. Slash healthcare, education, Social Security, infrastructure. Make our country even more plutocratic. The rich can live fine in protected enclaves while the rest of the country have dystopia. But they'll get some propaganda to keep them blaming Democrats for the problems.

Democrats' cuts should be first and foremost to the wealthy who are hugely overcompensated. They've taken $50 trillion more than they normally would. We can't afford a super-rich class like that. Secondarily, we'd cut the huge military budget and fossil fuel subsidies. And we'd create more wealth with investing in the people. Democrats create more economic growth.

We're doing neither of these things at this point. We are borrowing insanely in the good times, and it will be devastating for our economy. What will we do when interest rates go up and our money has to go to the interest on the debt?

This isn't entirely an accident - Reagan implemented "starve the beast" to leave no money to spend on the people - but instead, it resulted in the huge debt, which will eventually leave no money for the people on top of having huge debt.
 
There is a world wide shortage of shipping containers, shipping costs are rising drastically, the US trade deficit is larger than ever. All of the above are inflationary and non monetary in nature.

Yes, there may be temporary inflation as rising global demand hit bottlenecks in commodity production. That is, it won't represent a rise in underlying inflation, it will just be a blip.
The important thing to do is not to panic, as the European Central Bank did in 2008-2009, while our Fed did not. The Fed made the right call, the ECB did not.

The mass government debt, to be manageable will see higher inflation over the next 20 years to “ inflate “ the debt away. Government bonds will be a horrible investment over the next 20 years, with negative real returns

The way for the debt to "melt" away is for GDP to outperform debt as a percent of GDP. Which it has done almost every year since WWII. Which is where the WWII debt disappeared to, by the way.
 
quote
Consumer Prices Jumped. Should You Worry? That's Sparking A Heated Debate

Prices for some of your favorite things are going up. The big question is how long the price hikes will last.

Consumer prices rose 0.6% in March, according to the Labor Department — the sharpest increase in nearly nine years. Over the last 12 months, the department's consumer price index has risen 2.6%. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, inflation was 0.3% in March and 1.6% over the last year.
end quote

Nothing more than GREED, the minute the merchants saw that Stimulus Money go into people's hands.

I think Biden, should have called for a "Price Freeze' the minute those checks started going out. We know the history of "greed in society. The more people are helped, the greed monsters come in and truly and rob them by price hike fixing.

There should be some policy put in place when the Infrastructure Plan goes into effect, of a "Price Freeze on Building Materials" !!! Or the same set of character will do nothing but invoke price hikes to fleece all they can.
Every material items bought, rented and leased with Stimulus money should have to be managed by "Government Contract Pricing Controls", because history has shown us, that the same set of character will fleece the system of those "everyday peoples' tax money to enrich themselves, by price hikes. Clauses should be written in every contract that hold those who get the Contracts to strict limits on Change Orders Pricing Hikes, and any other kind of Price Hikes.. that these criminal types have always engaged.
Everything that is needed to be bought, leased and rented should be entered into a Government Data Portal, and the payment issued through a Government Data Payment System.... so we can top the Criminals in their tracks... and any who submit padded data can be tracked down, and make them pay back 10 times the amount they try to rip off and they get 10 yrs jail time for each count.

Do the exact same thing HUD did, when it saw the people ripping off programs by claiming excess Administrative Cost, and put a CAP on how much goes to Administration.

Have the Army Corp of Engineers, to scrutinize the materials necessary to build a project, so there is no more of these contractors and supplies "over exaggerating the amount of materials', and filling each others pockets with through that game, and then the Contractor or the greed chasers comes in and buys the excess and the project contractors profits from selling off the excess.

It's everyone's tax money that pays for this, and people need to "wise up" and stop acting as if they are unaware of this historical game of rip, strip and fleece.

We have enough computer systems, CAD systems and Material Tracking systems to put a stop to the old historical game of rip off that happens any time there is a public construction project.

We need to employ "On Time Delivery" the same as many warehouse have used for decades to ensure there is no "overstocking", which results to be sold off at a discount into a secondary market.

People sit mindless as if they don't think about this stuff, and then complain when projects go over budget and become inferior in quality and durability, while the contractors walk away with a kings ransom.
Wake Up Time People.

If you want to cry my tax dollars, then pay attention and learn how to demand systems use the technology to manages accountability!!! Or shut up about "my tax dollars'. These types love to complain about any money that goes to help general citizens, but they have been trained through history to hold a blind eye to the contractor rip off game, because its basically been dominated by wealthy white men. It's time to change that dynamic, and only deal with "honest contractors" and don't just trust them, use the data system that 'manage the process', because blindly trusting them has never worked.


All I know is, a sheet of plywood shouldn't cost fifty bucks.
That's pure Crazy Town.
 
btw, oil prices were low for Trump's entire term as a result of his oil policies and actions.
Every time I read something like this I almost die laughing. Trumpers. They never let data interfere with their version of reality:

1618350813165.png
The huge drop in oil prices occurred months before Trump entered the White House in January 2017.

The initial drop in oil prices from mid-2014 to early 2015 was primarily driven by supply factors, including booming U.S. oil production, receding geopolitical concerns, and shifting OPEC policies. However, deteriorating demand prospects played a role as well, particularly from mid-2015 to early 2016. This partly explains why the oil price plunge failed to provide a subsequent boost to global activity.
 
There are some facts, IMO, (that's not an oxymoron) about the economic situation - one is that massive amounts of wealth were lost to the pandemic. We could get into some details where, but it was a lot. Another is that we are doing what economics seems to say is what helps protect the economy - government spending.

There's an old saying, I don't remember where it's from, that the economy has a three legged stool for support - consumers, businesses, and government. When there is an economic crash, consumers and businesses can't support it, and that leaves government to prevent a collapse.

This is basic Keynesian economics - except that they say to save during the good times to be able to spend during downturns. What we've done since Reagan is to spend like crazy and borrow during the good times, and borrow even more during the down times, leaving us with an incredible $25 trilion+ debt and no clear way out, as we face China surpassing us.

What we are doing now over Coronavirus will harm the economy for decades to come - but be much better than not doing it. The problem is we need to not borrow like crazy in the good times.

So, that means cuts. And that is perhaps the most important political choice of our time.

Republicans' plan for cuts is to cut the wealth of the American people. Transfer even more money from them to the rich. Slash healthcare, education, Social Security, infrastructure. Make our country even more plutocratic. The rich can live fine in protected enclaves while the rest of the country have dystopia. But they'll get some propaganda to keep them blaming Democrats for the problems.

Democrats' cuts should be first and foremost to the wealthy who are hugely overcompensated. They've taken $50 trillion more than they normally would. We can't afford a super-rich class like that. Secondarily, we'd cut the huge military budget and fossil fuel subsidies. And we'd create more wealth with investing in the people. Democrats create more economic growth.

We're doing neither of these things at this point. We are borrowing insanely in the good times, and it will be devastating for our economy. What will we do when interest rates go up and our money has to go to the interest on the debt?

This isn't entirely an accident - Reagan implemented "starve the beast" to leave no money to spend on the people - but instead, it resulted in the huge debt, which will eventually leave no money for the people on top of having huge debt.
I say make the rich and corporation pay, they profit from what the government has invested in!!! and then they fleece the same taxpaying people who's money built what they use to extract their profits.
It's happen to cities across the nation, who invested to help companies thrive, they take all the money, send it to their headquarters and they then move the money offshore to avoid paying taxes or they invest it to build in foreign countries.
America needs a building boom... Across this nation we have many communities with homes that are 80+ yrs old that are crumbling, and roads everywhere that need to be completely rebuilt, we have industrial blight that needs to be cleaned up and the land re-allocated to make it function, and we need to stop allowing the wealthy to use delipidated properties as tax write off while it sits there further deteriorating. We have building in our city, that some rich person owns and use at a tax write off and he has no thought to fix or repair it, or sell it and has no interest to lease it.

I think cities should do what Mississippi did in some areas where people played that game, they did an "economic imminent domain of some type" and reclaimed the property and said, it had been a hindrance to their economic growth and development.

It takes strong people in government who don't cave and submit themselves to doing nothing, by submitting to the "community name game' of who's got money and name recognition, more cities have been screwed over by that process than one can count.
To force the issue is to have MPC and Property Standards write citations for every violation that empty delipidated facilities have.... and mandate they fix it!!! These people will sell it in a flash, because they don't want to spend the money to fix it, and when they can no longer profit with a tax write off, it represents no value to them.
We've all see the weaklings in Cities across the nation, who submitted to "Walmart" , and I've heard the story, "oh' they come to town with a army of lawyers"... They did not do that where cities had strong governments that said "Nope' you will not surround our city"
 
Last edited:
I never argued that any given stimulus package has caused inflation, or that this one would. I argued that the fundamentals of economics are such that high inflation can return if the conditions are right, and an excess money supply is classically one of those conditions.
Yes, and this classical response continues not to happen. Why?

There's been a lot of discussion within the field of economics exactly why this is.

Here's a short and easy to understand discussion (the kind I like best) by the St. Louis Fed in 2014: The Liquidity Trap: A Reason for Today's Low Inflation | St. Louis Fed
Key graph:
The irony is that expansionary monetary policy is often called for only when the economy is in a recession. This policy dilemma makes economics a dismal science. One way to escape from it is to use expansionary fiscal policy (as suggested by the economist John Maynard Keynes). However, with the already high level of government debt across industrial countries, it takes courage and vision to implement bold expansionary fiscal policies. (my emphasis)​

Here's another:
Relationship Between Money Supply and Inflation Collapses | American Express
This article contains a good explanation of what the economist John Maynard Keynes called a “liquidity trap.”
It ends with this caution:
But there are growing concerns that inflation remains low because of structural changes in the economy. Reasons advanced include: technological changes reducing the prices of some goods; changes in the labor market that reduce workers’ bargaining power; ageing populations that prefer to save rather than spend; globalization; and entrenched expectations of low inflation. If this is right, then inflation may remain low for the foreseeable future, regardless of what happens to the supply of money. However, as these are factors across the entire developed world, they may not have much effect on exchange rates.​

Bottom line: we're in a new world in which the simple linkage between inflation and the monetary supply is in question. Back in 2010-11, conservatives were sure of two things: the Fed's efforts to boost the economy would lead to runaway inflation, and Obamacare would lead to massive job destruction. Keynesians declared that neither would happen. The Keynesians were right. There was a brief blip in headline inflation, but core inflation stayed low — and the Fed's view that core is a much better guide was vindicated.

Here's something to keep in mind: As I posted earlier, the risks of undershooting economic support far outweigh the risks of overshooting support because the Fed has proved far more capable of responding to increasing inflation than it has to Japan-style stagnation.
 
People, the subject matter is about "getting ahead of the curve to deter and stop the rip offs of "inflationary increase" the minute "stimulus money is put into the system".

What is it about that simple premise that is escaping some? If it takes increasing tax on "inflation promoting greed mongers" then... tax their asses for every % of price increase that come into play the minute stimulus and government projects are put in place. It's the best way, to take back, what they try and rip off!!!

Greed mongers don't understand anything until penalty is assessed upon and against them!!!! It's no different than whipping their ass, every time they gouge with intent to fleece the stimulus or government projects.

Furthermore, Any Politician who has investment in any category of that provide anything to the Infrastructure Production, Development and Supply chain, should be made to "divest their holdings"... Period!!!!

I agree with the last statement. Also with expanding that statement to include anyone who has any money at all in any investment that they control needs to divest immediately to a "blind" sort of investment.

As far as attacking individuals over inflation, I'm not at all sure how you might determine who is subject to this.
 
Yes, we need prices freezes, and you can call it what ever you want...

Right Wing, Republican and Conservatives would be an advocate of putting government funds into the system and supporting private business to "increase prices to suck it all up". Then Right Wing, Republican and Conservatives be the first on whining and crying about "my tax dollars", and claiming that the tax dollars did not produce the result it could have.

I'm so sick of Right Wing, Republican and Conservatives slinging out the stupidity of ignorance in their usage of the word Socialism. America has been a system with Socialistic Processes since its inception. Why do you think the first white men who claimed themselves as the "only one" to be considered as "person" and only those considered as person, could vote ? It was so they could divert all social gains to themselves. Why do you think wealthy men pursue the power of political office? to make damn sure the general public gets as little as possible of anything, and the lion's share goes to the wealthy, the industrialist and the money manipulators within and of the stock markets.


Geez.... Right Wing, Republicans and Conservatives, never seem to learn, they have been so deeply groomed into worship the Serf Master, until they can't even see beyond that consumption that has overtaken them for centuries and decades, which is why many are dire poor and working poor struggling and whining everyday, and still ignorant enough to back giving the wealthy another tax break, and another and another.

You seem to be ignoring my post and responding to voices in your head.

Why did you quote me?
 
I agree with the last statement. Also with expanding that statement to include anyone who has any money at all in any investment that they control needs to divest immediately to a "blind" sort of investment.

As far as attacking individuals over inflation, I'm not at all sure how you might determine who is subject to this.
I don't advocate any blind attacks on anyone. I do say, that pricing has a history, when there is a situation suspected of price gouging, use the technology to review the historical record. If there is reason to challenge it, then do so, if it shows not reason. then there is no need to go any further.

Cost and Expense can be verified very easy, by and through these methods to determine if acts of gouging has or is taking place.
 
I don't advocate any blind attacks on anyone. I do say, that pricing has a history, when there is a situation suspected of price gouging, use the technology to review the historical record. If there is reason to challenge it, then do so, if it shows not reason. then there is no need to go any further.

Cost and Expense can be verified very easy, by and through these methods to determine if acts of gouging has or is taking place.

Sounds like economic control by the government.

Right now prices of existing homes are WAY up. Should everyone selling their home in the "Sellers' Market" be jailed?
 
Sounds like economic control by the government.

Right now prices of existing homes are WAY up. Should everyone selling their home in the "Sellers' Market" be jailed?
Absolutely not... but what should happen is, there should be a "Property Tax Adjustment" to reflect the upward value when properties increase by xx% (10%-20%) Why? Because when home prices increase, people request more and improved city services and they demand such improvement to the infrastructure and the cycle of servicing to the community those home exist.
There is other factors involved with home prices escalate rapidly, and that is a tool that has long been used for "gentrification". Gentrification always affects the moderate to lower income in the spectrum of income levels suitable for home ownership.

The average homeowner has no concept in reality terms of what it cost to run a city or the relationship between property taxes and the cost of upkeep that is expected.
These are some of the reasons why many cities no longer have "street sweepers", "get their curb painted", "the line striping on the streets", "sidewalk repair" and other elements that keep cities with the aesthetics of being well maintained.
Millage rates must improve, because all these things play a part in managing the process to avoid the mess we had in 2005-2008 with run away house pricing, that fueled the craziness of variable rate game of selling and packaging these mortgages that time proved to be over-valued and cities could not keep up with the demand for services these new high value owners demanded.
"everything matters"... the general public delusion that things are "isolated" from other things, is a fallacy that it time for people to recognize.

These things will be simpler to understand when people, step away from having been groomed to "protect the well to do and wealthy" while they watch deterioration to the community and living standards of the working class.

That system was created during the Jim Crow Era, where funds were diverted away from creating and supporting a quality standard in working poor white areas and certainly in dire poor white areas, and it was not even a concern to invest in bringing even the lowest of poor white standards to the black and brown communities.

It's time for Property Tax Assessors to get busy and re-assess these fast escalating market values of these homes. They need to work with insurance companies, because they know exactly what "replacement cost valuation is". So, that 150k house that pays tax based on a 30k valuation, should be increased to reflect what replacement cost and land value is, in current day. THEN, cities can have the revenue to elevate the standards in communities and continue to maintain the quality standard that was designed for community services.

The very wealthy have know this for a long time, but they don't care, because if they can keep their property tax low, they can demand services because of their community status, and the result has always been to cut back on services to some less fortunate areas, and divert those services and the funds to provide those services to the high status well to do and wealthy communities.

Result: the working class see their communities continue to decline and they continue to hear, there is not enough money to go around to provide the standards to the level, the working class should expect and receive.

Property Taxes by State – A Complete Rundown

This is all an "intricate process" because, it also means that wages must increase, to ensure people can maintain the affordability to rent, lease or buy, when there is a property assessor tax rate increase.

(Is it likely to happen any time soon. NO!!!)
If we want to elevate the American working class, this is a process that must be included in the 50 yrs Master Plan to the Centennial Master Plans for cities across this nation.
That means the $2.3 Trillion Infrastructure Plan is only a drop in the buck of society for what it will take to engage the work to meet with the 50 yrs Master Plan to the Centennial Master Plans . It should be passed without a second guessing!
We have to rebuild "everything", from water, sewer, drainage, electrical grid and other power source grids, streets, roads, bridges, internet and we have massive homes that will need to be torn down and 21st century homes and apt's. built... and so much more.
 
Last edited:
quote
What Do My City Taxes Pay For?

The infrastructure of a city is primarily paid for with city tax dollars. Infrastructure includes the road system, electricity, gas and water lines, sewers, public parks, libraries and any buildings or other properties that are owned by the city. Cities often gain income by renting out city-owned properties that aren't being used by the city, but these amounts are generally quite small in comparison to the portion of the budget that comes from taxes.
Police and Fire
Police protection and firefighters are two of the more conspicuous of the many municipal departments that are paid for with tax dollars. Although people often grumble when the time of year to pay their taxes arrives, most people don't have a problem with the fire department showing up if their house is on fire, or with a police officer coming by to take their report if their house has been burglarized. Police and fire are supported by the city because a majority of the public recognizes that it is in everyone's best interest to have fire and crime controlled in a fair and publicly funded manner.
Administration
Town offices and the bureaucrats who run a town are all supported by public tax dollars. This situation sometimes causes public outcry in cities where property taxes go up and it is then discovered that the very administrators who raised the taxes are making huge salaries. Striking a balance between paying high enough salaries to attract competent people, and low enough salaries to placate the public, is one of the many balancing acts that are necessary when dealing with municipal finances.


City and State Taxes
Some of your city taxes may go to the state in which your city is located, as a part of funding transfers that occur between municipalities and state governments. Conversely, some of your state income taxes may end up coming back to your city, for example, as matching funds in the event of state-supported infrastructure development. This often happens when a city is building roads or highways in its territory.

end quote


People want better cities, but DO NOT want to pay for it... !!! Today, people want better automobiles and they don't complain about paying what it cost to have it.
So, why are they so unwilling to pay what it cost to have a better city? That's what "each person" should ask themselves when they fight against an increase in the property tax millage rate.

Time are not like the old days of the 1940's and 1950's when cost and wage was low and labor was cheap, and cities had higher volumes of business, and industry that contributed to the cities tax base. Everyone in America knows, since the 1970's business has been moving to foreign lands, companies close and leave blight, and they walk away, some walk away before the decades it takes cities to recover the investment they made to accommodate creating the infrastructure to support those companies. These things cause a dramatic reduction in city resources. The first thing that's cut in manpower, which results into diminished capacity to provide the higher quality of frequency cycles to service the communities of the city, and that cycle of results impact all departments of a city.
Yet, citizens complain. But, they don't want a tax millage increase, but they ask for improvements. it simply does not work unless there is resources earned by cities to fund the capabilities, in manpower, equipment and other attributes of which it takes to provide quality standards of a higher level of service.
 
Nixon tried price controls. Y'all might wanna see how that worked out. It wasn't a stunning success, to put it mildly.
 
Yes, and this classical response continues not to happen. Why?

There's been a lot of discussion within the field of economics exactly why this is.

Here's a short and easy to understand discussion (the kind I like best) by the St. Louis Fed in 2014: The Liquidity Trap: A Reason for Today's Low Inflation | St. Louis Fed
Key graph:
The irony is that expansionary monetary policy is often called for only when the economy is in a recession. This policy dilemma makes economics a dismal science. One way to escape from it is to use expansionary fiscal policy (as suggested by the economist John Maynard Keynes). However, with the already high level of government debt across industrial countries, it takes courage and vision to implement bold expansionary fiscal policies. (my emphasis)​

Here's another:
Relationship Between Money Supply and Inflation Collapses | American Express
This article contains a good explanation of what the economist John Maynard Keynes called a “liquidity trap.”
It ends with this caution:
But there are growing concerns that inflation remains low because of structural changes in the economy. Reasons advanced include: technological changes reducing the prices of some goods; changes in the labor market that reduce workers’ bargaining power; ageing populations that prefer to save rather than spend; globalization; and entrenched expectations of low inflation. If this is right, then inflation may remain low for the foreseeable future, regardless of what happens to the supply of money. However, as these are factors across the entire developed world, they may not have much effect on exchange rates.​

Bottom line: we're in a new world in which the simple linkage between inflation and the monetary supply is in question. Back in 2010-11, conservatives were sure of two things: the Fed's efforts to boost the economy would lead to runaway inflation, and Obamacare would lead to massive job destruction. Keynesians declared that neither would happen. The Keynesians were right. There was a brief blip in headline inflation, but core inflation stayed low — and the Fed's view that core is a much better guide was vindicated.

Here's something to keep in mind: As I posted earlier, the risks of undershooting economic support far outweigh the risks of overshooting support because the Fed has proved far more capable of responding to increasing inflation than it has to Japan-style stagnation.

Thanks for that, it's interesting.

Whenever someone says that we're "in a new world" where the old rules don't apply, my skepticism lights up. I was in business management during the dawn of the "new" business age before the tech crash. I had been assured that old rules didn't apply any more, by numerous business school professors.

Of course, it may well be true. But the deflationary factors cited in the article, while real, won't necessarily be around forever. I still think it's dangerous to say it'll never happen.

I add as a disclaimer that I'm in broad agreement with the stimulus package that's coming through. I hope the funds earmarked for infrastructure really get spent on infrastructure.
 
quote
Consumer Prices Jumped. Should You Worry? That's Sparking A Heated Debate

Prices for some of your favorite things are going up. The big question is how long the price hikes will last.

Consumer prices rose 0.6% in March, according to the Labor Department — the sharpest increase in nearly nine years. Over the last 12 months, the department's consumer price index has risen 2.6%. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, inflation was 0.3% in March and 1.6% over the last year.
end quote

Nothing more than GREED, the minute the merchants saw that Stimulus Money go into people's hands.

I think Biden, should have called for a "Price Freeze' the minute those checks started going out. We know the history of "greed in society. The more people are helped, the greed monsters come in and truly and rob them by price hike fixing.

There should be some policy put in place when the Infrastructure Plan goes into effect, of a "Price Freeze on Building Materials" !!! Or the same set of character will do nothing but invoke price hikes to fleece all they can.
Every material items bought, rented and leased with Stimulus money should have to be managed by "Government Contract Pricing Controls", because history has shown us, that the same set of character will fleece the system of those "everyday peoples' tax money to enrich themselves, by price hikes. Clauses should be written in every contract that hold those who get the Contracts to strict limits on Change Orders Pricing Hikes, and any other kind of Price Hikes.. that these criminal types have always engaged.
Everything that is needed to be bought, leased and rented should be entered into a Government Data Portal, and the payment issued through a Government Data Payment System.... so we can top the Criminals in their tracks... and any who submit padded data can be tracked down, and make them pay back 10 times the amount they try to rip off and they get 10 yrs jail time for each count.

Do the exact same thing HUD did, when it saw the people ripping off programs by claiming excess Administrative Cost, and put a CAP on how much goes to Administration.

Have the Army Corp of Engineers, to scrutinize the materials necessary to build a project, so there is no more of these contractors and supplies "over exaggerating the amount of materials', and filling each others pockets with through that game, and then the Contractor or the greed chasers comes in and buys the excess and the project contractors profits from selling off the excess.

It's everyone's tax money that pays for this, and people need to "wise up" and stop acting as if they are unaware of this historical game of rip, strip and fleece.

We have enough computer systems, CAD systems and Material Tracking systems to put a stop to the old historical game of rip off that happens any time there is a public construction project.

We need to employ "On Time Delivery" the same as many warehouse have used for decades to ensure there is no "overstocking", which results to be sold off at a discount into a secondary market.

People sit mindless as if they don't think about this stuff, and then complain when projects go over budget and become inferior in quality and durability, while the contractors walk away with a kings ransom.
Wake Up Time People.

If you want to cry my tax dollars, then pay attention and learn how to demand systems use the technology to manages accountability!!! Or shut up about "my tax dollars'. These types love to complain about any money that goes to help general citizens, but they have been trained through history to hold a blind eye to the contractor rip off game, because its basically been dominated by wealthy white men. It's time to change that dynamic, and only deal with "honest contractors" and don't just trust them, use the data system that 'manage the process', because blindly trusting them has never worked.

gasoline prices have been soaring .......... fossil fuel always getting into our pockets in so many ways
 
or when corporate executives believe consumers are ready to spend so up go prices inflation or not
 
We don't help the situation any, when we allow crime to escalate, litter to pile up, industrial blight to be left by companies, and people holding title to property for the sole sake of using it as a tax write off, rather than utilize it to support business occupancy.
We have cities with many abandoned homes and other facilities, which cost money to tear down and some take long processes to clear the title even on tax lean sale of such properties, and that too cost money.

We cry and scream when Mayors and Council want to hold the people to be responsible and support legislation and ordinance modification and improve the standards in the ordinance to address these matters. The more people fight the process, the worst things get and the more decline of the cityscape of communities become.

It cost to fix and repair and make better. That includes wages, taxes and how we step up to support our governments investing in our nation, its states, its cities and its rural communities; it takes everything that functions to make America function.

We need to buckle down and commit to supporting what supports our lives, our future and the nation. If you can't or don't support it, then don't complain about "anything" or any of our systems or organizations within and of society.
 
Nixon tried price controls. Y'all might wanna see how that worked out. It wasn't a stunning success, to put it mildly.
Nixon's agenda premise was totally different. Vietnam War Cost and the increased of need to transfer gold to cover debt, but more importantly, his "conversion to the Federal Reserved Note" not being redeem for "Gold".
He moved us off the Gold Standards.
  • His price controls were to stop crazy inflation when people were in fear of what it would cause when the Gold Standard was Transition to The Federal Reserve Note, which was not based on any material substance, but supported by the usage of the U.S. Dollars as the dominant reserve currency, which Oil and Goods were exchanged.

So, using Nixon's example does not fit with our current need to address pricing controls.
 
There are some facts, IMO, (that's not an oxymoron) about the economic situation - one is that massive amounts of wealth were lost to the pandemic. We could get into some details where, but it was a lot. Another is that we are doing what economics seems to say is what helps protect the economy - government spending.

There's an old saying, I don't remember where it's from, that the economy has a three legged stool for support - consumers, businesses, and government. When there is an economic crash, consumers and businesses can't support it, and that leaves government to prevent a collapse.

This is basic Keynesian economics - except that they say to save during the good times to be able to spend during downturns. What we've done since Reagan is to spend like crazy and borrow during the good times, and borrow even more during the down times, leaving us with an incredible $25 trilion+ debt and no clear way out, as we face China surpassing us.

What we are doing now over Coronavirus will harm the economy for decades to come - but be much better than not doing it. The problem is we need to not borrow like crazy in the good times.

So, that means cuts. And that is perhaps the most important political choice of our time.

Republicans' plan for cuts is to cut the wealth of the American people. Transfer even more money from them to the rich. Slash healthcare, education, Social Security, infrastructure. Make our country even more plutocratic. The rich can live fine in protected enclaves while the rest of the country have dystopia. But they'll get some propaganda to keep them blaming Democrats for the problems.

Democrats' cuts should be first and foremost to the wealthy who are hugely overcompensated. They've taken $50 trillion more than they normally would. We can't afford a super-rich class like that. Secondarily, we'd cut the huge military budget and fossil fuel subsidies. And we'd create more wealth with investing in the people. Democrats create more economic growth.

We're doing neither of these things at this point. We are borrowing insanely in the good times, and it will be devastating for our economy. What will we do when interest rates go up and our money has to go to the interest on the debt?

This isn't entirely an accident - Reagan implemented "starve the beast" to leave no money to spend on the people - but instead, it resulted in the huge debt, which will eventually leave no money for the people on top of having huge debt.

Can we say WRECKANOMICS aka Reaganomics aka New World Order Supply Side Economics
 
 

Economist Arthur Laffer, patron saint of tax cuts, is back, with an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that he hopes will put the kibosh on future plans for government stimulus. Laffer, who had his heyday back in the Reagan years, is best known as the popularizer of the notion that raising tax rates beyond a certain level can actually reduce tax revenues by, among other things, discouraging entrepreneurship. The graphic representation of this idea, though not original to Laffer, came to be known as the Laffer Curve.

While he’s always had detractors, Laffer also had a lot of fervent fans back in the day. But his latest excursion into the public debate has drawn harsh criticism not only from liberal economists like Berkeley’s Brad DeLong but also from stimulus-hating, anti-Keynesian economists you might expect to agree with the Laffer line. The consensus? Laffer seems to have forgotten, or ignored, some pretty basic concepts in economics. In other words, Laffer is getting laughed off the economic stage.

In his WSJ piece, Laffer sets out a simple enough argument: In the current troubled world economy, he claims, the countries that have relied the most on fiscal stimulus — Estonia, Ireland, the Slovak Republic, and Finland — have done the worst. Why? Because, Laffer argues, the money for the stimulus has to come from somewhere, and therefore “every dollar of public-sector spending on stimulus simply wiped out a dollar of private investment and output, resulting in an overall decline in GDP.”

A rather elementary fact about fiscal stimulus, however, is that it doesn’t “wipe out” private spending in the present. Rather, it borrows money from the future. By relying on deficit spending, stimulus programs are designed to pump more money into the economy during downturns, when private spending and tax revenues are soft. The temporary deficits can be reduced, at least in theory, once the economy is back on its feet and tax revenues perk up.

But you don’t have to be a raging Keynesian to have trouble with Laffer’s argument.........

business.time.com

Arthur Laffer’s Anti-Stimulus Curve Ball is a Foul | TIME.com
Economist Arthur Laffer, patron saint of tax cuts, is back, with an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that he hopes will put the kibosh on future plans for government stimulus. But his latest excursion into the public debate has drawn harsh criticism not only from liberal economists, but also...
business.time.com
 
What Biden is doing without a doubt is smart use of tax dollars so long as Biden and his cabinet remain focused. What Biden is doing will create new
employment plus maintain current employment in addition to stimulating economic growth.

Trumps economic rhetoric had plenty of BS but no foundation. Reagan/Bush crew were all about outsourcing USA jobs and corporations which was more
like a fiasco. There are not enough rich people in the USA to support the USA thus the middle class needs to be very busy working and investing through
spending. No one ever got rich on their own....... workers are worth every cent and dollar they earn.
 

He's unrealistic to how modern economics function. As are the anti-government types and those who attack American Democracy. They blind themselves to the fact that the U.S. dollar remains the 1st in Reserve Currency because it is backed and supported by the Stability THE WORLD see's in our Justice System, and Our Governance Structure and Our position of Gold Reserves in relation to the level of the world's Gold Supply.
We know we are no longer the Number One "Industrial Producer of Goods", but we are still the #1 Reserve Currency.
The crazies who backed the "America First of Trumpism" have no concept of idea of what they tried to damage, the system of Republicanism of Today that fights everything, damage "everything they prize most" which is "money". Trump damaged us greatly, but because of our vote to remove him, helped save the value of not only our position as the #1 Reserve Currency, but The Respect The World has for our system of Justice and our structure of governance.
without these in tact and respected, our borrowing would be astronomically high, making the dollar shrink, and that shrinkage will diminish astronomically the buying power of those who lust and worship their wealth.

The working poor whom Trump lured in to his ignorance and bullshit, have no awareness of these dynamics, they were ecstatic over a $2-$3 a day tax benefit, that was set to go away in year 5... while the cut for the wealthy is permanent. It was an example of the greatest "screwing over the working class" in modern history!!!

The Stimulus today, promoted by Biden goes to the core of America which is the American people, The American Infrastructure, and there has to be a tremendous amount more that is invested in stimulus that must span to benefit us past the next decade.
The world changed and it will not go backwards, Obama told people that truth more than a decade ago and people attacked him, because they did not want to hear or face the truth.
We have to REBUILD and we have to do it from the bottom up and that means Government Investment!!! that spur the private investment and it means 'fair payment of taxes by the wealthy and the industrial networks in America.

Those who don't know should invest to learn the extent of how government expenditure has always promoted and advanced America, and without it, America would have suffer greatly over the past centuries.

The ignorance of Anti-Government People and those who promote incessant Tax Cuts... have no concept of the damages they promote and cause, and the people of intellect must never fall into that spin trap which can do nothing but further damages America, American People, American Business and American Systems of Governance.
These things are crucial to why the world has the respect to look to America as a leader!!!
 
Thanks for that, it's interesting.

Whenever someone says that we're "in a new world" where the old rules don't apply, my skepticism lights up. I was in business management during the dawn of the "new" business age before the tech crash. I had been assured that old rules didn't apply any more, by numerous business school professors.
I agree it's wise to be cautious, especially in a field like economics where so much remains uncertain. However, economists like Paul Krugman contend that identifying the liquidity trap in 2010-11 was not "a new world," but rather returning to first (Keynesian) principles. It was the Keynesians who predicted that there would be no runaway inflation despite the hysterics from the "Chicago School" of economics.
 
Back
Top Bottom