The Nation's Financial Condition

[jhu72]

It sure looks like the republican party committed suicide today. Senate going on August vacation the day unemployment insurance assistance is ending. Dems have got the high ground on this one. They passed their bill 11 weeks ago.

[CU88]

r's hero od is their best candidate for POTUS!

GDP.jpg (90.43 KiB) Viewed 1239 times

[Peter Brown]

It sure looks like the republican party committed suicide today. Senate going on August vacation the day unemployment insurance assistance is ending. Dems have got the high ground on this one. They passed their bill 11 weeks ago.

If you enjoy the taste of dog meat, the Democratic Party is the party for you!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/wor ... /84547888/

[a fan]

It sure looks like the republican party committed suicide today. Senate going on August vacation the day unemployment insurance assistance is ending. Dems have got the high ground on this one. They passed their bill 11 weeks ago.

If you enjoy the taste of dog meat, the Democratic Party is the party for you!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/wor ... /84547888/

Socialism is bad. Especially when it comes to education, right Pete?

[Peter Brown]

It sure looks like the republican party committed suicide today. Senate going on August vacation the day unemployment insurance assistance is ending. Dems have got the high ground on this one. They passed their bill 11 weeks ago.

If you enjoy the taste of dog meat, the Democratic Party is the party for you!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/wor ... /84547888/

Socialism is bad. Especially when it comes to education, right Pete?

I hear A1 Sauce helps Fido go down better. Try it.

[a fan]

It sure looks like the republican party committed suicide today. Senate going on August vacation the day unemployment insurance assistance is ending. Dems have got the high ground on this one. They passed their bill 11 weeks ago.

If you enjoy the taste of dog meat, the Democratic Party is the party for you!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/wor ... /84547888/

Socialism is bad. Especially when it comes to education, right Pete?

I hear A1 Sauce helps Fido go down better. Try it.

Did you learn about that trick at the socialized, taxpayer funded, government owned and operated, U of Florida Cafeteria, Pete?

And tell me : does A1 taste better when taxpayers buy it for you, Pete? The forum wants to know. Pity I can't tell them, since I attended Private Trade Schools, and bought my own d*mn steaks, and didn't need the socialism like you did.

Ah Pete. Thanks for the entertainment, comrade.......

[Peter Brown]

It sure looks like the republican party committed suicide today. Senate going on August vacation the day unemployment insurance assistance is ending. Dems have got the high ground on this one. They passed their bill 11 weeks ago.

If you enjoy the taste of dog meat, the Democratic Party is the party for you!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/wor ... /84547888/

Socialism is bad. Especially when it comes to education, right Pete?

I hear A1 Sauce helps Fido go down better. Try it.

Did you learn about that trick at the socialized, taxpayer funded, government owned and operated, U of Florida Cafeteria, Pete?

And tell me : does A1 taste better when taxpayers buy it for you, Pete? The forum wants to know. Pity I can't tell them, since I attended Private Trade Schools, and bought my own d*mn steaks, and didn't need the socialism like you did.

Ah Pete. Thanks for the entertainment, comrade.......

You may not know this (though super easy to guess!) but White liberals are more likely to think it's appropriate to judge people's past actions and comments by today's moral standards.

FC81641F-DB07-4613-95F7-89C9734BEF19.png (239.55 KiB) Viewed 1210 times

[a fan]

Problem? What problem? Everything's great.

And this number is for the ability to pay July rent. Wanna take a wild guess as to how January rent will look?




The coronavirus pandemic continues to impose a severe economic toll on New York City’s eateries and pubs — with 83 percent of establishments saying they’re unable to make their full July rent and 37 percent unable to pay at all, a survey released Monday reveals.

https://nypost.com/2020/08/03/83-percen ... a53Wm0jwgY

[youthathletics]

You read the headline? Pay FULL RENT.

For example, 71 percent of survey respondents said landlords would not waive portions of rent due to COVID-19, 61 percent would not defer rent payments and 90 percent of landlords had not formally renegotiated leases. About one-quarter of respondents did say they were currently in talks to try to renegotiate their rent payments.

“While complying with the necessary pause, our industry has been uniquely and financially devastated. Small businesses urgently need solutions from government leaders at the city, state, and federal level, inclusive of extending the moratorium on evictions, extending the suspension of personal liability guarantees in leases, pausing commercial rent taxes, providing landlords with needed support, and infusing small businesses with enough cash to weather the storm,” he said.

Where is Gov. Cumho when you really need him?

[Peter Brown]

Problem? What problem? Everything's great.

And this number is for the ability to pay July rent. Wanna take a wild guess as to how January rent will look?




The coronavirus pandemic continues to impose a severe economic toll on New York City’s eateries and pubs — with 83 percent of establishments saying they’re unable to make their full July rent and 37 percent unable to pay at all, a survey released Monday reveals.

https://nypost.com/2020/08/03/83-percen ... a53Wm0jwgY

Maybe we should open up then?

(before you get all ‘he’s so mean’ on me, please note I don’t but into the Covid hysteria that most do...thank you, next)

[foreverlax]

It sure looks like the republican party committed suicide today. Senate going on August vacation the day unemployment insurance assistance is ending. Dems have got the high ground on this one. They passed their bill 11 weeks ago.

If you enjoy the taste of dog meat, the Democratic Party is the party for you!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/wor ... /84547888/

Is this the second time you posted this? World hunger is going to get way worse...blame Obama.

[wgdsr]

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/06/sanders ... rberg.html

what did we start out at? a bidding war between warren and bernie @ 2 or 3%?
well, that escalated quickly.

taking if not the low for the market, maybe the low by calculations of billionaires as the vix hit 80+ on march 18... hand it over. no word on whether we might also kill the tax breaks for corps or simplify the corporate tax structure and actually get taxes from businesses.

also no word yet on what bernie will be pledging from his fortune for the cause. just to be safe, might be advisable to get a read on his net worth, keep yours under, and place some excess assets in some form of opaque mark to market accounting scheme for a bit.

[CU88]

The next couple of years are going to be brutal on state and local governments.

https://citiesspeak.org/2020/08/03/care ... -recovery/

Despite recent assertions to the contrary, information provided by the Treasury Department coupled with the latest data from national organizations representing state and local governments show that an overwhelming majority of CARES Act funds allocated for state and local governments (70%) have already been obligated and are not available for municipalities struggling to address unprecedented budgetary challenges. Most concerning, small cities and rural areas have been left out of the process entirely and, without an additional influx of direct aid from the federal government, are at serious risk of having their local economies wiped out. Overall, the funding provided thus far is not nearly sufficient to meet the critical needs of cities, which are facing a projected $360 billion revenue shortfall over the next three years as a result of the pandemic.

[Peter Brown]

The next couple of years are going to be brutal on state and local governments.

https://citiesspeak.org/2020/08/03/care ... -recovery/

Despite recent assertions to the contrary, information provided by the Treasury Department coupled with the latest data from national organizations representing state and local governments show that an overwhelming majority of CARES Act funds allocated for state and local governments (70%) have already been obligated and are not available for municipalities struggling to address unprecedented budgetary challenges. Most concerning, small cities and rural areas have been left out of the process entirely and, without an additional influx of direct aid from the federal government, are at serious risk of having their local economies wiped out. Overall, the funding provided thus far is not nearly sufficient to meet the critical needs of cities, which are facing a projected $360 billion revenue shortfall over the next three years as a result of the pandemic.

It won't help places like NYC as liberal bozos like de Blasio chase out job creators.

[a fan]

The next couple of years are going to be brutal on state and local governments.

https://citiesspeak.org/2020/08/03/care ... -recovery/

Despite recent assertions to the contrary, information provided by the Treasury Department coupled with the latest data from national organizations representing state and local governments show that an overwhelming majority of CARES Act funds allocated for state and local governments (70%) have already been obligated and are not available for municipalities struggling to address unprecedented budgetary challenges. Most concerning, small cities and rural areas have been left out of the process entirely and, without an additional influx of direct aid from the federal government, are at serious risk of having their local economies wiped out. Overall, the funding provided thus far is not nearly sufficient to meet the critical needs of cities, which are facing a projected $360 billion revenue shortfall over the next three years as a result of the pandemic.

It won't help places like NYC as liberal bozos like de Blasio chase out job creators.

Right.

Meanwhile, College Football is rolling out their cancellations. But you go right ahead and keep your head in the sand, and pretend there's no virus, Pete.

[dislaxxic]

Ersatz Payday Loan

The kind of "policy" (con) our Ersatz President has been known for all his life...

I’m giving you money to help out. But actually you have to pay me back after you reelect me. And if Trump isn’t reelected, what does he care? It becomes a landmine for Joe Biden who has to oversee collecting the money that workers effectively borrowed without knowing it

Remind me, wasn't "governing by Executive Order" one of the (many) things that got conservatives in the Obama Era twisted into a deranged rage?

..

[cradleandshoot]

Ersatz Payday Loan

The kind of "policy" (con) our Ersatz President has been known for all his life...

I’m giving you money to help out. But actually you have to pay me back after you reelect me. And if Trump isn’t reelected, what does he care? It becomes a landmine for Joe Biden who has to oversee collecting the money that workers effectively borrowed without knowing it

Remind me, wasn't "governing by Executive Order" one of the (many) things that got conservatives in the Obama Era twisted into a deranged rage?

..

Easy solution Dis. There should be a new law for every POTUS from this day forward... no phone and no pen.

[CU88]

Trump Sends In the Economic Quacks
Now he’s prescribing hydroxychloroquine to fight recession.

By Paul Krugman Opinion Columnist

Aug. 10, 2020

As the U.S. economy careens toward disaster, congressional talks about what to do appear to have ground to a halt. So on Saturday President Trump — speaking at one of his golf courses, of course — announced four executive measures that, he claimed, would rescue the recovery.

Unfortunately, one of the measures was vacuous, one trivial and one unworkable. And the fourth may do substantial harm.

The vacuous measure simply calls on government agencies to “consider” helping renters facing eviction. The trivial measure waives interest and defers principal repayment on student loans.

The unworkable measure supposedly provides new aid to the unemployed, who have lost pandemic benefits because Senate Republicans don’t want to provide them; but the announced program would be an administrative nightmare that might take a long time to put into effect and would require partial matching funds that strapped states don’t have. Remember, states had a very hard time implementing the first round of aid to the unemployed, leaving millions in the cold for many weeks. This would be worse.

But the really substantive measure would direct employers to stop collecting payroll taxes on behalf of their workers.

This is pretty wild stuff from a legal and constitutional point of view. Can presidents just stop collecting duly legislated taxes whenever they feel like it? But put the law to one side and ask, what’s this all about? Who thinks a payroll tax cut, even if enacted through due process, would solve any of the problems we face?

No reputable economist I know considers a payroll tax cut a good idea. Even if the money went to workers, which it almost certainly wouldn’t, it would go to precisely the wrong ones — workers who haven’t lost their jobs in the pandemic, not those who have. It wouldn’t encourage hiring, because what’s holding employers back isn’t cost, it’s the shutdown of activities with a high risk of infection (like indoor dining).

Now, lots of bad economic ideas — like giant tax cuts for the rich — nonetheless have strong political support. But a payroll tax cut isn’t one of them. In fact, Senate Republicans have been dismissive, dropping the idea from their proposals.

Yet there it is, the apparent centerpiece of Trump’s new plan. What’s going on?

The answer is that a payroll tax cut is the hydroxychloroquine of economic policy. It’s a quack remedy that somehow caught Trump’s eye, which he won’t give up because sycophants keep telling him he’s infallible. There may be some ulterior motives — this move might end up undermining the finances of Social Security and Medicare — but that’s all secondary. Basically this is a tantrum from a president temperamentally incapable of owning up to his own mistakes.

I’m not sure who first sold Trump on this bad idea. Its most tireless advocate has been Stephen Moore, who has a history of predicting tax-cut miracles — remember how Kansas was going to be the wonder of the world? — that never pan out. Just a few days ago Moore argued publicly that Trump could slash taxes without congressional authorization; and here we are.

Just to be clear, Trump isn’t actually cutting the payroll tax, which would require legislation. Instead, he’s just deferring its collection; workers will still owe the money a few months later. And knowing this, many if not most employers won’t increase paychecks, they’ll just put the money in escrow on workers’ behalf. As far as most workers are concerned, this whole thing may be a nonevent.

But maybe, just maybe, Trump will both win in November and find a way to retroactively cancel those tax obligations. If so, he’ll tear a big hole in the finances of Social Security and Medicare, programs that, whatever he may say, he has always wanted to kill.

The main point, however, is that we’re facing a moment of crisis. The emergency relief that sustained the U.S. economy through the coronavirus has expired, even though the pandemic is still very much with us. Unless very quick action is taken, consumer spending is about to collapse, bringing the whole economy down with it.

This wasn’t hard to see coming. Indeed, Democrats passed legislation to deal with this situation almost three months ago. But Senate Republicans did nothing, and still haven’t gotten serious about proposing remedies.

This would be a really good time for presidential leadership. But what we have instead is a pitchman hawking miracle cures at his country club. In the process he may well have undermined whatever slim chance there was of reaching an even halfway decent deal to avert disaster.

[SCLaxAttack]

Trump Sends In the Economic Quacks
Now he’s prescribing hydroxychloroquine to fight recession.

By Paul Krugman Opinion Columnist

Aug. 10, 2020

As the U.S. economy careens toward disaster, congressional talks about what to do appear to have ground to a halt. So on Saturday President Trump — speaking at one of his golf courses, of course — announced four executive measures that, he claimed, would rescue the recovery.

Unfortunately, one of the measures was vacuous, one trivial and one unworkable. And the fourth may do substantial harm.

The vacuous measure simply calls on government agencies to “consider” helping renters facing eviction. The trivial measure waives interest and defers principal repayment on student loans.

The unworkable measure supposedly provides new aid to the unemployed, who have lost pandemic benefits because Senate Republicans don’t want to provide them; but the announced program would be an administrative nightmare that might take a long time to put into effect and would require partial matching funds that strapped states don’t have. Remember, states had a very hard time implementing the first round of aid to the unemployed, leaving millions in the cold for many weeks. This would be worse.

But the really substantive measure would direct employers to stop collecting payroll taxes on behalf of their workers.

This is pretty wild stuff from a legal and constitutional point of view. Can presidents just stop collecting duly legislated taxes whenever they feel like it? But put the law to one side and ask, what’s this all about? Who thinks a payroll tax cut, even if enacted through due process, would solve any of the problems we face?

No reputable economist I know considers a payroll tax cut a good idea. Even if the money went to workers, which it almost certainly wouldn’t, it would go to precisely the wrong ones — workers who haven’t lost their jobs in the pandemic, not those who have. It wouldn’t encourage hiring, because what’s holding employers back isn’t cost, it’s the shutdown of activities with a high risk of infection (like indoor dining).

Now, lots of bad economic ideas — like giant tax cuts for the rich — nonetheless have strong political support. But a payroll tax cut isn’t one of them. In fact, Senate Republicans have been dismissive, dropping the idea from their proposals.

Yet there it is, the apparent centerpiece of Trump’s new plan. What’s going on?

The answer is that a payroll tax cut is the hydroxychloroquine of economic policy. It’s a quack remedy that somehow caught Trump’s eye, which he won’t give up because sycophants keep telling him he’s infallible. There may be some ulterior motives — this move might end up undermining the finances of Social Security and Medicare — but that’s all secondary. Basically this is a tantrum from a president temperamentally incapable of owning up to his own mistakes.

I’m not sure who first sold Trump on this bad idea. Its most tireless advocate has been Stephen Moore, who has a history of predicting tax-cut miracles — remember how Kansas was going to be the wonder of the world? — that never pan out. Just a few days ago Moore argued publicly that Trump could slash taxes without congressional authorization; and here we are.

Just to be clear, Trump isn’t actually cutting the payroll tax, which would require legislation. Instead, he’s just deferring its collection; workers will still owe the money a few months later. And knowing this, many if not most employers won’t increase paychecks, they’ll just put the money in escrow on workers’ behalf. As far as most workers are concerned, this whole thing may be a nonevent.

But maybe, just maybe, Trump will both win in November and find a way to retroactively cancel those tax obligations. If so, he’ll tear a big hole in the finances of Social Security and Medicare, programs that, whatever he may say, he has always wanted to kill.

The main point, however, is that we’re facing a moment of crisis. The emergency relief that sustained the U.S. economy through the coronavirus has expired, even though the pandemic is still very much with us. Unless very quick action is taken, consumer spending is about to collapse, bringing the whole economy down with it.

This wasn’t hard to see coming. Indeed, Democrats passed legislation to deal with this situation almost three months ago. But Senate Republicans did nothing, and still haven’t gotten serious about proposing remedies.

This would be a really good time for presidential leadership. But what we have instead is a pitchman hawking miracle cures at his country club. In the process he may well have undermined whatever slim chance there was of reaching an even halfway decent deal to avert disaster.

Speaking of tax breaks, right on cue - https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.co ... -cut%3famp

But Peanut Butter’s favorite statistic, “the Dow”, is currently up
270 points today based on Russian Covid vaccine news. Ironic since 1. Do people really believe Russia’s that far ahead of everyone else and 2. Those pushing the importance of “the Dow” as an economic indicator are probably anti-vaxers.

[Peter Brown]

I can feel the lib tears from Florida.

Dow above 28,000...how sad are some of you, be honest.

The DJIA continues to serve its original purpose as a market and economic indicator and will likely remain the gold standard of financial indicators.

Between Democratic riots/chaos/violence/lootings/shootings and the Republican DJIA, it's hard to not smile at the disparity of choices you'll have soon. For some of you in Democratic cities, you can also vote multiple times, so think hard before casting your multiple ballots!