Daily Digest 10/9 - The Case Against The Baby Boomers, Falling Off The Economic Cliff

Economy

Who Destroyed The Economy? The Case Against The Baby Boomers (jdargis)

Ultimately, members of my father's generation--generally defined as those born between 1946 and 1964--are reaping more than they sowed. They graduated smack into one of the strongest economic expansions in American history. They needed less education to snag a decent-salaried job than their children do, and a college education cost them a small fraction of what it did for their children or will for their grandkids. One income was sufficient to get a family ahead economically. Marginal federal income-tax rates have fallen steadily, with rare exception, since boomers entered the labor force; government retirement benefits have proliferated. At nearly every point in their lives, these Americans chose to slough the costs of those tax cuts and spending hikes onto future generations.

Cliffhangers (jdargis)

If the reality of these spending cuts is so awful, why didn’t pre-commitment work for Congress? For a start, there is no such thing as a single, unified “Congress” that can truly make a resolution—a fact that’s easily overlooked. Instead, there are lots of congressmen, all with slightly different incentives, and there are two political parties, with profoundly different views on the best way to cut the deficit. Then, too, the hopes for an agreement were built on Democrats’ expectation that, when push came to shove, Republicans would vote to raise taxes. This was never going to happen; in fact, most congressional Republicans have signed a no-taxes pledge, which is a kind of pre-commitment device in its own right.

IMF Sees ‘Alarmingly High’ Risk of Deeper Global Slump (Dana T.)

The IMF’s 188 member countries convene in Tokyo this week as low growth damped by fiscal consolidation in the richest economies hurts developing counterparts from China to Brazil. As the IMF urged measures to boost confidence, uncertainties out of Europe show no sign of abating, with leaders still divided over a banking union and Spain resisting a bailout.

Nine in ten Scots 'living off state's patronage' (adam)

Her strongly worded attack on state patronage follows David Cameron’s warning to the Scottish Tories last autumn that they had no excuse for their dismal election performances.

But Miss Davidson will tell the conference that Scotland’s “staggering” and “frightening” reliance on the public sector must be taken into account.

The World's Largest Money-Laundering Machine: The Federal Reserve (Thomas C.)

Let's next ask why the Central State and Central Bank should subsidize and bail out the mortgage industry, a major component of private banking. Once again we find losses are neatly distributed to the citizenry while the profits all flow to private hands. Given that 98% of all mortgages are backed or guaranteed by Federal agencies (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, FHA, VA, FmHA, etc.), the mortgage market is already completely socialized: the taxpayers are on the hook for any and all losses, but the profits from originating and servicing the loans are all private.

What Is The Real Inflation Rate? (David B.)

So you might want to start clipping more coupons, because a trip to the supermarket is about to become even more painful on the wallet.

Water bills have also been steadily rising all over the country. According to a study conducted by USA Today, some Americans have seen their water bills triple over the past 12 years….

Strict New Procedures for Iran Currency Trading After Protest (jdargis)

The politician, Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moghaddam, also said that Parliament has been preparing to discuss the suspension of the second phase of President Mahmoud Ahmadinjead’s subsidy reform plan, Iran’s English-language state television channel Press TV reported. The lawmaker stressed that people would continue to receive a monthly cash payment, which the government is due to deliver in a week’s time.

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