The salary difference between US auto manufacturers and foreign auto workers (here in the US) is nominal.
Workers at US Honda and Toyota have socialized healthcare provided by the Japanese Gov't.
The union bashing is ridiculous and I am sick of the goddamn Reaganites pulling this bullshit out of their ass.
Instead of building SUV's and muscle cars when gas is surging over $4 gal. try building cars that people want. Poor management with zero foresight caused this. When GM announced they were making more $$$ with GMAC than building cars should have been a fuckin clue.
what i found MORE interesting about last years gas/oil prices was how fast they dropped. Sure, maybe there was a piling on of short positions that drove prices sky high ... at the same time prices dropped from $147 to $38 barrel (-350%) and no new supply came on line ... none, zero.
so maybe there was paper manipulation not only to the up side by the downside as well.
but unfortunately a lot of costs, in spite of the aggregate deflation are not moving and as New Deal Democrat has noted, oil and their pumping up on the price of oil is at it again.
We had so many posts on speculation, manipulation of oil/gas markets when it was at an all time high and then it crashed and hence all of the congressional hearings,discussion, analysis, investigations stopped.
Mainly because we had a new crisis with the financial implosion.
I think it's a good idea to revisit gas/oil again.
As terrible as it is, this is long overdue based on what I have been reading http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/30/gm-tailgating-chrysler-bankruptcy/ GM has been getting too big for their own good and promising too much to the unions. Hate to see it happen, but inevitable...
While this is beyond horrific news and it looks like commercial real estate is quickly imploding like someone put a neutron bomb in the middle of it, is a downgrade of CMBS and I'll assume these are some sort of CDO package like the MBS type of CDOs....is a downgrade equal to a write down?
I've got quotes on commercial real estate defaults from 1.67% up to 6% by the end of the year (which is a disaster).
Suspensions on foreclosures imposed by lenders and underwriters have mostly ended, and banks are moving quickly against homeowners who fall behind.
Housing specialists said the number of foreclosures would probably keep rising as more people lose jobs or are forced to trade full-time work for part time.
...
“We’re still caught in this vicious cycle,” said Patrick Newport, an economist at IHS Global Insight. “These numbers were horrible, and they’re going to get worse. This problem’s going to be with us for a while.”
A group of economists at the Boston Federal Reserve said in a recent paper that foreclosure prevention programs could be more effective if they gave direct aid to struggling homeowners, rather than modified loans to reduce monthly payments.
The figures released Thursday suggested that prime fixed-rate loans were supplanting risky subprime loans and rising adjustable-rate mortgages as the force behind the foreclosure crisis.
The foreclosure rate on prime fixed-rate mortgages doubled in the last year, the Mortgage Bankers Association said, and, for the first time, those loans made up the largest share of new foreclosures. In the first quarter, a seasonally adjusted 6.06 percent of all prime loans were delinquent, up from 5.06 percent in the last quarter of 2008.
So how much have we had to pay to keep this horror-show afloat since the taxpayer shaft began on this one last year, how many billions is it? I've never been one to have had very much sympathy for any of the major players here, company, UAW, investors, you name it. Every bit as much as Lehmann, they and all of the bailed-out banks should have been allowed to have gone under with the tide when it began to swell. The bulldickey proferred concerning the alleged essentially of these organizations to the economy was always quite that: Bulldickey. All we managed to achieve in the process of making these give-aways was to convert our economy into a replica of Schacht's National Socialism, a corporative state. But who's surprised at that? We launch unprovoked wars, tap phone lines and torture suspected "enemies" routinely, why not turn GM and Chrysler into something resembling an IG Farben or a Krupps?
Every time I think of the abuse to justice involved when the utilitarian morality of the political system is trotted-out to justify or to lend a certain patina to these outrages, my stomach turns. What effort has been made by these paramecia in the direction of the truly little guy, the unemployed, outsourced worker, the underwater homeowner? Absolutely none! Please spare me the neurotic self-preservation of a Barney Frank, the vacuous narsicism of a Nancy Pelosi or the disingenuous promise making of a liar like Barak Obama. The citizens of this nation shouldn't rest until each and every one of these reptiles is behind barbed wire in a concentration camp awaiting public trial.
and still be poor and in a bad situation where you aren't buying anything. Many folks felt positive when Barack Obama was elected, that still didn't change the dire financial situation many where in.
would still smell as sweet. Again, and at this point I am repeating myself so I am about to lock out this thread, this is just one aspect of OVERALL taxes! One needs to take adjustments in other taxes, such as FICA, SS, which are also regressive to balance out the negative aspects.
You have so many tax categories in the U.S., you need to look at the aggregate, not just one type of tax or one policy change.
This is all about trade and getting around the WTO, which if one wants to argue to plain withdraw from the WTO, this is just one of many reasons why so many advocate doing just that.
If I see one more comment in this thread that is basically a repeat where information is in another comment or in the post itself, I'm locking it. It's useless to have the same comments over and over again, it's like spam and a disservice to those trying to read this post.
"By creating a tax at the port, based on mileage, I would imagine that would be immediately challenged at the WTO based on unfair taxes against trading partners and seen as a subsidy."
I hope so, at which point we attack VAT rebates as a subsidy.
"I mean you can try it but another reason the VAT is being looked at is because since the WTO has already ruled in favor of the EU and yes, it is VAT taxes specifically, the U.S. could do the same thing and if the WTO ruled against the U.S. this time, they would have to invalidate the entire ruling for every other country at the same time."
Same with an ITYT- because if they call that a subsidy, then certainly a VAT rebate is.
"I think the key here is to get around the WTO....and then work backwards to make the tax actually progressive and not regressive or an actual additional tax burden."
A VAT can't be a VAT if it isn't regressive, because then it wouldn't be a value added tax.
-------------------------------------
Executive compensation is inversely proportional to morality and ethics.
I offer an alternative explanation.
Consumer confidence may be increasing - but perhaps purchasing power is declining - due to either lost jobs or credit roll backs.
I offer Federal Reserve: Consumer Credit Stats. Consumer revolving credit fell a record $11.1B in March.
This could either be due to consumer activity (closing high interest accounts) or bank activity (rescinding credit lines). Either way,the result is less purchasing power.
These stats are prior to banks being forced to re-capitalize and prior to the Credit Card Reform passing - both of which would have worsened the conditions in March.
Not only do I understand your energy money, of which I was poking fun of, I have repeatedly said this is in the land of economic fiction and not appropriate for this site. You are not going to change the international monetary system for energy as a solution, nor does it make a lot of sense from a monetary view point, which I have explained ad nausuem to you and so have others.
If you do another insult like that or personal attack you're out of here.
Then, they ruled against FSC clause in the (joke title) American jobs act of 2004 too.
By creating a tax at the port, based on mileage, I would imagine that would be immediately challenged at the WTO based on unfair taxes against trading partners and seen as a subsidy.
I mean you can try it but another reason the VAT is being looked at is because since the WTO has already ruled in favor of the EU and yes, it is VAT taxes specifically, the U.S. could do the same thing and if the WTO ruled against the U.S. this time, they would have to invalidate the entire ruling for every other country at the same time.
I think the key here is to get around the WTO....and then work backwards to make the tax actually progressive and not regressive or an actual additional tax burden.
I'm saying that if we're not on a level playing field, then we should not be trading with that country *at all*- we should neither accept their imports nor export to them, and develop domestic markets instead.
THAT is the ultimate answer to this VAT nonsense that they're pulling. And if the WTO doesn't like it, we shouldn't be trading with them either.
-------------------------------------
Executive compensation is inversely proportional to morality and ethics.
"So, you want to deny all U.S. manufacturers the ability to export."
Every export is somebody else's import problem.
"Exports mean out of the country."
Yes. So if we stop exporting *and* importing, we suddenly free up a market of 300 million people to sell to.
"So, what do you think will happen to the United States economy and businesses if they are 100% denied to export their goods and services?"
They'll have to turn to local manufacturing for local retail. Businesses that are small enough to succeed, rather than too big to succeed.
"China is an import."
Yep. And I'd like to see them cut off entirely as well.
"That is the reason for the VAT. The WTO has ruled that what the EU, China, India do with their rebates to their manufacturers on VAT is legal. So, one cannot deny the Chinese their VAT practices."
One can deny to do business with them at all- tax their imports $12000/container, and stop exporting to them, completely. And if the WTO doesn't like it- then raise tariffs against countries that do business with the WTO.
"I'm not endorsing the WTO, I'm describing why various economists would be looking at a VAT as a method to level the trade deficit and how the VAT is simply not just a "consumption" tax for these reasons."
What I don't understand is why those economists aren't looking at the progressive distributionist option.
-------------------------------------
Executive compensation is inversely proportional to morality and ethics.
Secondly, you failed to understand I want *expiring money* based on energy, not a battery. The battery would just be a wallet.
Third, you have a tendency to label as economic fiction anything you don't understand.
Fourth- there are other indirect taxes than the VAT.
-------------------------------------
Executive compensation is inversely proportional to morality and ethics.
The salary difference between US auto manufacturers and foreign auto workers (here in the US) is nominal.
Workers at US Honda and Toyota have socialized healthcare provided by the Japanese Gov't.
The union bashing is ridiculous and I am sick of the goddamn Reaganites pulling this bullshit out of their ass.
Instead of building SUV's and muscle cars when gas is surging over $4 gal. try building cars that people want. Poor management with zero foresight caused this. When GM announced they were making more $$$ with GMAC than building cars should have been a fuckin clue.
what i found MORE interesting about last years gas/oil prices was how fast they dropped. Sure, maybe there was a piling on of short positions that drove prices sky high ... at the same time prices dropped from $147 to $38 barrel (-350%) and no new supply came on line ... none, zero.
so maybe there was paper manipulation not only to the up side by the downside as well.
but unfortunately a lot of costs, in spite of the aggregate deflation are not moving and as New Deal Democrat has noted, oil and their pumping up on the price of oil is at it again.
We had so many posts on speculation, manipulation of oil/gas markets when it was at an all time high and then it crashed and hence all of the congressional hearings,discussion, analysis, investigations stopped.
Mainly because we had a new crisis with the financial implosion.
I think it's a good idea to revisit gas/oil again.
It is GM, their mismanagement and their insanity with globalization that done them in.
This union bashing is just getting absurd, not everything is about labor costs.
As terrible as it is, this is long overdue based on what I have been reading http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/30/gm-tailgating-chrysler-bankruptcy/ GM has been getting too big for their own good and promising too much to the unions. Hate to see it happen, but inevitable...
Not only are stores and businesses closing , but the ones that remain are negotiating rent reductions creating more revenue loss.
While this is beyond horrific news and it looks like commercial real estate is quickly imploding like someone put a neutron bomb in the middle of it, is a downgrade of CMBS and I'll assume these are some sort of CDO package like the MBS type of CDOs....is a downgrade equal to a write down?
I've got quotes on commercial real estate defaults from 1.67% up to 6% by the end of the year (which is a disaster).
The NY Times article has a little more information.
So how much have we had to pay to keep this horror-show afloat since the taxpayer shaft began on this one last year, how many billions is it? I've never been one to have had very much sympathy for any of the major players here, company, UAW, investors, you name it. Every bit as much as Lehmann, they and all of the bailed-out banks should have been allowed to have gone under with the tide when it began to swell. The bulldickey proferred concerning the alleged essentially of these organizations to the economy was always quite that: Bulldickey. All we managed to achieve in the process of making these give-aways was to convert our economy into a replica of Schacht's National Socialism, a corporative state. But who's surprised at that? We launch unprovoked wars, tap phone lines and torture suspected "enemies" routinely, why not turn GM and Chrysler into something resembling an IG Farben or a Krupps?
Every time I think of the abuse to justice involved when the utilitarian morality of the political system is trotted-out to justify or to lend a certain patina to these outrages, my stomach turns. What effort has been made by these paramecia in the direction of the truly little guy, the unemployed, outsourced worker, the underwater homeowner? Absolutely none! Please spare me the neurotic self-preservation of a Barney Frank, the vacuous narsicism of a Nancy Pelosi or the disingenuous promise making of a liar like Barak Obama. The citizens of this nation shouldn't rest until each and every one of these reptiles is behind barbed wire in a concentration camp awaiting public trial.
The message to the bondholders and creditors may be fuzzy - but the message to the labor union is loud and clear, unfortunately.
and still be poor and in a bad situation where you aren't buying anything. Many folks felt positive when Barack Obama was elected, that still didn't change the dire financial situation many where in.
--------------------------------------------
www.venomopolis.com
would still smell as sweet. Again, and at this point I am repeating myself so I am about to lock out this thread, this is just one aspect of OVERALL taxes! One needs to take adjustments in other taxes, such as FICA, SS, which are also regressive to balance out the negative aspects.
You have so many tax categories in the U.S., you need to look at the aggregate, not just one type of tax or one policy change.
This is all about trade and getting around the WTO, which if one wants to argue to plain withdraw from the WTO, this is just one of many reasons why so many advocate doing just that.
If I see one more comment in this thread that is basically a repeat where information is in another comment or in the post itself, I'm locking it. It's useless to have the same comments over and over again, it's like spam and a disservice to those trying to read this post.
"By creating a tax at the port, based on mileage, I would imagine that would be immediately challenged at the WTO based on unfair taxes against trading partners and seen as a subsidy."
I hope so, at which point we attack VAT rebates as a subsidy.
"I mean you can try it but another reason the VAT is being looked at is because since the WTO has already ruled in favor of the EU and yes, it is VAT taxes specifically, the U.S. could do the same thing and if the WTO ruled against the U.S. this time, they would have to invalidate the entire ruling for every other country at the same time."
Same with an ITYT- because if they call that a subsidy, then certainly a VAT rebate is.
"I think the key here is to get around the WTO....and then work backwards to make the tax actually progressive and not regressive or an actual additional tax burden."
A VAT can't be a VAT if it isn't regressive, because then it wouldn't be a value added tax.
-------------------------------------
Executive compensation is inversely proportional to morality and ethics.
I offer an alternative explanation.
Consumer confidence may be increasing - but perhaps purchasing power is declining - due to either lost jobs or credit roll backs.
I offer Federal Reserve: Consumer Credit Stats. Consumer revolving credit fell a record $11.1B in March.
This could either be due to consumer activity (closing high interest accounts) or bank activity (rescinding credit lines). Either way,the result is less purchasing power.
These stats are prior to banks being forced to re-capitalize and prior to the Credit Card Reform passing - both of which would have worsened the conditions in March.
Not only do I understand your energy money, of which I was poking fun of, I have repeatedly said this is in the land of economic fiction and not appropriate for this site. You are not going to change the international monetary system for energy as a solution, nor does it make a lot of sense from a monetary view point, which I have explained ad nausuem to you and so have others.
If you do another insult like that or personal attack you're out of here.
I just found a nice history of the VAT w.r.t. the WTO on the national textile organization site.
It's clear, concise and gives the dates of each ruling.
The WTO already ruled against the ETI in 2002.
Then, they ruled against FSC clause in the (joke title) American jobs act of 2004 too.
By creating a tax at the port, based on mileage, I would imagine that would be immediately challenged at the WTO based on unfair taxes against trading partners and seen as a subsidy.
I mean you can try it but another reason the VAT is being looked at is because since the WTO has already ruled in favor of the EU and yes, it is VAT taxes specifically, the U.S. could do the same thing and if the WTO ruled against the U.S. this time, they would have to invalidate the entire ruling for every other country at the same time.
I think the key here is to get around the WTO....and then work backwards to make the tax actually progressive and not regressive or an actual additional tax burden.
I am actually suggesting we not trade.
I'm saying that if we're not on a level playing field, then we should not be trading with that country *at all*- we should neither accept their imports nor export to them, and develop domestic markets instead.
THAT is the ultimate answer to this VAT nonsense that they're pulling. And if the WTO doesn't like it, we shouldn't be trading with them either.
-------------------------------------
Executive compensation is inversely proportional to morality and ethics.
"So, you want to deny all U.S. manufacturers the ability to export."
Every export is somebody else's import problem.
"Exports mean out of the country."
Yes. So if we stop exporting *and* importing, we suddenly free up a market of 300 million people to sell to.
"So, what do you think will happen to the United States economy and businesses if they are 100% denied to export their goods and services?"
They'll have to turn to local manufacturing for local retail. Businesses that are small enough to succeed, rather than too big to succeed.
"China is an import."
Yep. And I'd like to see them cut off entirely as well.
"That is the reason for the VAT. The WTO has ruled that what the EU, China, India do with their rebates to their manufacturers on VAT is legal. So, one cannot deny the Chinese their VAT practices."
One can deny to do business with them at all- tax their imports $12000/container, and stop exporting to them, completely. And if the WTO doesn't like it- then raise tariffs against countries that do business with the WTO.
"I'm not endorsing the WTO, I'm describing why various economists would be looking at a VAT as a method to level the trade deficit and how the VAT is simply not just a "consumption" tax for these reasons."
What I don't understand is why those economists aren't looking at the progressive distributionist option.
-------------------------------------
Executive compensation is inversely proportional to morality and ethics.
It's an indirect sales tax on shipping.
Secondly, you failed to understand I want *expiring money* based on energy, not a battery. The battery would just be a wallet.
Third, you have a tendency to label as economic fiction anything you don't understand.
Fourth- there are other indirect taxes than the VAT.
-------------------------------------
Executive compensation is inversely proportional to morality and ethics.
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