CNN’s odious Glenn Beck has his own take on the economy and how to fix it.
In a finding that should surprise exactly zero people in the known universe, Glenn’s response is Reaganomics 101. It’s pretty disgusting stuff, but if you look carefully you can actually learn something from Beck: the new post-admission-of-recession GOP talking points on Big Shitpile(tm, copyright Atrios) in a convenient little package.
Longtime viewers of my television program know that I’ve been banging the recession drum for a while now, but the truth is that an economy as large and complex as ours doesn’t just collapse overnight. It happens slowly and methodically, with plenty of warning signs along the way.
Which actually is what most of us have been saying for quite a while now, but that whole broken mess had signs from the beginning, starting with the pointlessly expensive war in Iraq.
Beck misses that particular sign. But do note the signs he does point out:
Think about it as a series of waves heading toward the beach, with each one representing a different area of trouble. There’s one for slowing consumer spending (American Express said that spending among its affluent clients slowed for the first time since 2001); one for inflation (wholesale and consumer prices recently posted their largest increases in 26 and 17 years, respectively); and one for the continuing credit crunch (Citigroup recently announced its fourth-quarter loss was the largest in its 196-year history).
But while those waves are the latest to form, we need to pay more attention to the wave that started it all: housing. In theory, looking closely at the housing market in some parts of the country could help predict what’s in store for the rest of us. And if that’s true, then buckle up.
It’s subtle, but it’s there. Glenn points out how “affluent” spending is down, and then points out the major warning sign is the housing market. That’s also technically true…but whose fault is the housing market disaster, the people who borrowed or the people who loaned the cash to make money off the people who borrowed?
Guess who Glenn Beck blames.
If you look beyond the headlines, you’ll find a couple of unnerving trends. The first began back in the housing collapse that followed the savings and loan crisis of the late ’80s and early ’90s. People with homes worth less than their mortgages simply stopped paying, put their keys into an envelope, mailed them back to the bank and just walked away. It’s called “jingle mail,” because when the banks receive the envelopes, all they hear are the jingling keys.
But trust me, lenders would much rather have an empty house than a trashed one. Unfortunately, they’re starting to get both. Some homeowners, distraught over an imminent foreclosure, are destroying their homes before abandoning them. One Oregon man went so far as to lock three live pigs inside his house last year, making it unlivable, let alone sellable. You can think of it as a “reverse housewarming gift” to his bank. Unfortunately, such behavior is leaving banks across the country stuck with empty, trashed homes, along with mortgages that will never be repaid.
And here we go. The problem is the homeowners. They’re horrible people for doing this to those noble banks who were only trying to help them, and now the rest of us have to pay for it.
You’d better believe that the GOP is going to be trying to pin Big Shitpile(tm) on the little people. This is the new, official tactic of the wingnuts and their ilk. All this needs to be blamed on those people who couldn’t afford subprime loans rather than the bankers who tried to prey on them for billions.
In other words, subprime homeowners are the new Great Beturbaned Horde of 2008. The GOP is going to try to dump as much blame for this on these folks — largely minorities and younger Americans — as possible. It’s only a short step from here to the whole Reaganomics “Best Of” CD…filthy immigrants, welfare queens, and those damn Asians messing up our economy.
But Beck rolls on, and here we see the coded messages fired out from the cereal box rings.
The result of it all — the next wave to crash, if you will — is that many lenders and banks will not be able to survive. We’re already seeing the start of that with the fire-sale acquisition of Countrywide, the nation’s largest lender, along with the historic loss just posted by the nation’s largest bank, Citigroup.
So, the question that most people are now asking is: How do we stop things from getting worse? It’s obvious: We should just listen to the politicians! After all, combining an impending recession with an impending election means that every candidate is also suddenly an award-winning economist.
Unfortunately, these “economists” all seem to believe that government intervention is the answer. From tax rebates to rescue funds to extra state aid, it seems that every politician believes that handouts will trigger prosperity.
The irony of Beck deriding candidates as not being award winning economists is lost on Beck, who isn’t an award winning ANYTHING. (Neither am I, but then again, I at least understand that the blame of Big Shitpile(tm) must be shared with the financial industry.)
While there are plenty of ludicrous ideas to highlight, one of my favorites was pitched by Hillary Clinton during the recent Democratic debate in Nevada:
“I want to see money in the pockets of people who are having trouble paying their energy bills. That stimulates the economy. … And then, if we need additional stimulation, we should look at tax rebates for middle-class and working families, not for the wealthy who have already done very well under George Bush.”
Now, I’m not a former first lady, but I am a thinker, so let me ask the obvious question: Exactly how does helping a low-income family stay warm stimulate the economy? Are they going to suddenly run out and buy an exotic vacation where they’ll spend their days brainstorming ways to employ hundreds of people? Of course not. But whenever politicians see an opportunity to promote government handouts, they jump at it.
Which is funny, because 1) It’s Bush who wants to give out these handouts, and 2) here we can plainly see the visible waves of the wingnut dog whistle arcing through the sky like a 1930’s cartoon radio tower.
It’s the same APB that went out on immigration reform and on SCHIP. Beck’s putting out the call that Bush must be stopped cold before he benefits those awful poor brown people gaming the system.
Let’s be honest here. Bush wants his tax cuts made permanent. Despite strong evidence that his tax cuts and massive war spending only made this economy worse, make no mistake that Bush’s boys view MORE and BIGGER tax cuts as the way out of this…for the guys in the top 1%.
Bush is putting out this refund plan so it can be shot down by the wingnuts, just like his immigration plan was ruined. And then they can blame inaction on the plan on the Democrats. Bush can shrug his shoulders, the masses get brainwashed, and the “experts”…the same ones that got us INTO this mess…will be able to do exactly more of the same: enrich the top 1% of America at the expense of the bottom 80%.
And the sins over the last 7 years of Big Shitpile(tm) get blamed on the victims of it. It’s a brilliant plan. Absolutely brilliant. It’s been field tested and wingnut approved.
Glenn Beck finishes off the coup:
If you want to talk about heating assistance for low-income families, fine. I’m actually not a black-hearted monster, I want everyone to have heat. But that’s an energy issue, not an economic stimulus one.
And instead of tax rebates, which are like economic crack because they result in a temporary high followed by an even lower low, how about we put some lasting trust back into the system by slashing government spending and finally sending the signal to businesses that taxes won’t be going through the roof next year?
After all, no business owner — including small-business owners like me — are going to start expanding if they believe that our tax rates are about to skyrocket. That’s why we’ve got to take away that uncertainty, cut corporate tax rates — which are the second-highest in the developed world — and watch as American businesses once again bail us out by creating thousands of jobs that pump billions of tax dollars back into Washington.
Or, of course, we could just give heating oil subsidies to the poor. That would probably work just as well.
If only we could package the white-hot loathing Glenn Beck has for poor folks, maybe they could burn THAT for fuel in winter.
Also, note that the meme that America’s “corporate taxes are the second highest in the world” when the loopholes and deferment games for those taxes mean they quite often don’t get paid.
You see, the real victims in Beck’s world are the poor banks! They’re getting screwed over by all those evil poor people who are trashing their million dollar homes who can’t afford them. Welfare queens in action, 2008 style.
So really Beck’s idea, as somebody who derides the “unserious” as foolish, wannabe economists is to continue the same policies that created this mess in the first place.
Up is down, black is white, and the poor are screwing the rich.
Expect the GOP to sell, sell, sell this idea in 2008.
