Many Republican Leaders Still Believe in the Tax Cut Fairy
During the 1980 campaign for the Republican nomination, George H.W. Bush called Reagan’s supply-side theories “voodoo economics.” These supply-side theories included the wishful notion that tax cuts are so potently stimulative that they are self-financing. Although the resulting gargantuan deficits of the Reagan and the George W. Bush years have amply demonstrated the calamitous falsity of that notion, the notion itself lives on in the brains of present-day Republicans. All of which goes to show you that — although Cheney famously said that Reagan proved that “deficits don’t matter” — what Reagan actually proved is that facts don’t matter. Facts don’t matter at all.
Carly Fiorina recently showed her belief in the Tax Cut Fairy:
“Let me propose something that may seem crazy to you: you don’t need to pay for tax cuts. They pay for themselves, if they are targeted, because they create jobs.”[ 1 ]
Here Arizona Senator Jon Kyl distinguishes between “spending” (such as extending jobless benefits for the unemployed) and “tax cuts” (such as keeping the Bush tax cuts in place for the wealthy):
“You do need to offset the cost of increased spending. And that’s what republicans object to. But you should never have to offset cost of a deliberate decision to reduce tax rates on Americans.” [ 2 ]
Contrary to the analysis of the CBO and most budget experts, Mitch McConnell recently repeated the “potent stimulus meme” to Talking Points Memo:
“ … there’s no evidence whatsoever that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue, because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy. So I think what Senator Kyl was expressing was the view of virtually every Republican on that subject.” [ 3 ]
OK, so ideologues are unmoved by facts.
GOP Ethics
But what explains Republican opposition to stimulus measures for small businesses, such as Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley’s Rebuilding Local Business Act?
On the face of it, this bill would seem to be entirely in keeping with the GOP’s professed principles. Could it be that Dean Baker was right when he said that Republicans are trying to make the economy worse in time for the midterm election in November?
Here Rachel Maddow discusses these issues with Senator Jeff Merkley:
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- Political Animal, by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly, July 19, 2010. [↩]
- “Deficit Fraud Jon Kyl: ‘You should never have to offset tax cuts.’” [↩]
- “Tax Cuts and Mitch McConnell’s ‘Puzzling Evidence’“ [↩]
Nevada City Farmer’s Market Bustling Despite Heat
I expected the turnout to be low at the Nevada City Farmer’s Market this morning because of the excessive heat, but I was wrong. It was bustling as usual.
Some good folks from a local Baptist Church set up a booth for the sole purpose — or perhaps the “soul purpose” — of handing out cups of cold water to passersby, and they had lots of takers.
We brought along our portable cooler on wheels, a trick we hit on recently after the weather turned hot. We purchased the cooler for temporary use the day our refrigerator crapped out back in 2007, and it has been sitting in the garage every since. With the cooler, we are able to get home with all our market produce still crisp and fresh.
Chris Crockett, known to us from a number of Off Broadstreet productions, was in fine mettle this morning in the Market Plaza, singing everything from Rocket Man to Puff the Magic Dragon (by request of a toddler). You can catch him currently in Off Broadstreet’s Summer of Love. By the way, we hear that Sue LeGate does a spectacular send-up of Janis Joplin in that production.
Chris Crockett, Nevada City Farmer's Market, July 17, 2010
Here’s Chris singing the title song from Off Broadstreet’s “Recession,The Musical.”
Carl Safina: The Oil Spill’s Unseen Culprits, Victims
Carl Safina’s voice breaks as he recounts the story of a bottlenose dolphin in the Gulf that tried to get rescued by a passing fishing boat. The dolphin was splattering oil out its blowhole. The fisherman at first moved his boat away from the dolphin, because they scare off fish. Within a minute the dolphin had returned to the side of his boat. The fisherman said he’d never seen anything like that in 30 years of fishing. He believed the dolphin was asking for help.
In the TED Talk below, Safina — “president and co-founder of the Blue Ocean Institute, and author of several writings on marine ecology and the ocean, including the award winnings Song for the Blue Ocean (1998) and Eye of the Albatross (2002)”[ 1 ] – reports on the holocaust in the Gulf in words that become angrier and angrier. Referring to the efforts to cover-up the extent of the disaster, he says “it’s like putting the murderer in charge of the body.”
More Signs That Peak Oil Thinking Has Become Mainstream
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A new report, produced jointly by Lloyd’s of London and the Royal Institute of International Affairs (aka Chatham House), concludes that “we are heading towards a global oil supply crunch and price spike … companies which are able to plan for and take advantage of this new energy reality will increase both their resilience and competitiveness. Failure to do so could lead to expensive and potentially catastrophic consequences.”
The report focuses on business risk perspectives, and doesn’t elaborate at length on the dire social and civilizational consequences of Peak Oil. It does note, however, the increasing difficulty of oil extraction, a fact much on everyone’s mind in the wake of BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil-spill disaster:
“Much of the world’s energy infrastructure lies in areas that will be increasingly subject to severe weather events caused by climate change. On top of this, extraction is increasingly taking place in more severe environments such as the Arctic and ultra-deep water. For energy investors this means long-term planning based on a changing – rather than a stable climate. For energy users, it means greater likelihood of loss of power for industry and fuel supply disruptions.”
Most writings on Peak Oil emphasize the looming catastrophe of massive price increases in ubiquitous oil-based products as well as untenable shipping cost increases in a global economy dependent on cheap transport.
The ultimate result of Peak Oil, then, would be an unwinding of globalism and a return to primary dependence on local economies.
When I first understood the significance of Peak Oil, I was frightened, and began to think about stocking up on food and other emergency supplies.
In time, though, I came to realize that the only real security is working in community. At the neighborhood level, it does make sense to stock up on food and other emergency supplies (for instance, see the Food Readiness Project). It also makes sense to share other tools.
Our focus must be on re-building our local communities to be more resilient, self-sufficient and sustainable.
Nevada County is fortunate to have among its citizens a group of people who have been thinking about the Peak Oil problem for years, and are working to prepare for and mitigate its most dire consequences. I speak, of course, about the Alliance for a Post-Petroleum Local Economy (A.P.P.L.E.) and its Sustainability Center.
Spend a few minutes perusing the websites for those two organizations and you will notice a wonderful thing: both are primarily focused on positive local solutions and much less on the looming disasters in the global economy.
In the years ahead, we will have more and more reason to be grateful for the work of this small but rapidly growing local cadre of concerned citizens.
The following is a 2-minute 49-second video summary of the Lloyd’s-Chatham House report by one of the authors, Antony Froggatt, Senior Research Fellow, Energy, Environment and Development Programme for Chatham House.
More Peak Oil Resources
Peak Moment TV
Produced by Nevada County videographers and A.P.P.L.E founders Janaia Donaldson and Robyn Mallgren, Peak Moment shines a bright light on local sustainability projects in North America. After several years, this series now represents an amazing body of work and is increasingly recognized nationwide as an important contribution to the Peak Oil literature.
Energy Bulletin
A reader’s digest of the best writing on Peak Oil: Writers such as Richard Heinberg, James Howard Kunstler, Sharon Astyk, Bill McKibben and many others.
Post Carbon Institute
Peak Oil Think Tank and activist organization. Conferences. Papers. Books. Community organizing.
ASPO (Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas).
Think Tank and research institute. Conferences. Papers. Charts.
The Oil Drum
Online journal. “Discussions about energy and our future.”
Life After the Oil Crash
Online journal and discussion group.
The Oil Age Poster
“A Brilliant Tool for Examining the Geologic Realities and Social Ramifications of the Modern World’s Most Prized Resource.”
“Which Infant Formulas Contain Secret Toxic Chemicals?”
” … even though artificial human milk is regulated by the FDA, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found last year that a thyroid-affecting chemical used in rocket fuel contaminates 15 brands of powdered infant formula, including two that accounted for 87 percent of market share in 2000. The CDC study omits the names of the top offenders, but a little sleuthing reveals (PDF) that they are referring to Similac and Enfamil, produced by Ross (now Abbott Nutrition) and Mead Johnson Nutrition respectively. (The Environmental Working Group handily includes phone numbers here for those and other infant formula companies if you’re interested in questioning the makers of your child’s brand.)”
Read complete Mother Jones article here:
