One of Ned's acquaintances observed, with a grimace, that jobs in the "new" America will be mainly found in "security" industries, in which persons of limited education and skills are hired to patrol abandoned buildings to keep homeless people and other undesirables off the property. Of course, he observed, most of these jobs will be offered to "veterans" since they have few if any skills other than pointing weapons at civilians in countries populated by persons of color.
We admonished him for his pessimism and offered that there were at least two other "growth" industries that would fuel the economy, and fill the McMansions, of tomorrow: dogs and "landscaping." That there is an immense industry catering to dogs can hardly be disputed, as most of us know at least one member of family or friends who is a dog walker, a dog "groomer" or who works in a pet store, etc. We also expect that thousands will be hired to patrol streets and parks to pick up dog shit, a leading cause now of water pollution, and a cause that can only grow in the future. And of course, there is "landscaping" which means of course immigrants and persons of little education making minimum wage mowing lawns and blowing leaves, cuttings etc around with gas-powered "leaf blowers."
What was it The Immortal Bard had one of his characters say in, was it, The Tempest?
"O Brave New World!"
UPDATE: Thursday
It is worse than we thought. Today's NYT has a piece on how much people, er-'pet parents,' spend on their mangy dogs. Those whose incomes exceed $70 grand spend most of the money on such things as gourmet meals. And, worse, half the households in this benighted country have a dog, and 4 of ten have a cat. No wonder they don't want to pay more in taxes--those gourmet meals for Fido are taking up much of that disposable income. We hold cats to be less of an issue if owners keep them indoors where they cannot kill birds, etc.
Ned Pepper's Outrages
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Friday, November 4, 2011
Print Money And Give It Away
In an earlier series of posts, Ned suggested that the Fed simply create money and send debit cards to every one who filed a tax return last year. The debit card, for, say $500 would go to anyone with an AGI of less than $200K but that's flexible. The money would not be depositable, and would have to be spent in the month it came. Then, next month another card would come, and so on until the economy got 'back on track.' Now, this money would be income so it would be taxed by the state and the feds, swelling the coffers of government so they could hire more people or lower property taxes or something. At the same time, the Fed should announce that these measures would succeed and the country was growing again. That would make the stock market go up, people could then sell some shares and make a little money, taxable, which would help still more. Others would buy shares with their new money. If it caused a little inflation, that would help pay off the mortgages that have left some people underwater and unable to move to take advantage of some new job they may know about.
It seems that others are getting on Ned's bandwagon, but Ned asks his friends to remember that YOU HEARD IT FIRST HERE.
It seems that others are getting on Ned's bandwagon, but Ned asks his friends to remember that YOU HEARD IT FIRST HERE.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Ned's Fix For The Economy
Because none of the so-called experts have come up with a solution to our anemic economic recovery, Ned will leap into the breech, summon up the blood, stiffen the sinews and etc. Here is Ned's plan to rescue the economy.
Each month, the Treasury will send a debit card to every individual who filed a tax return last year with an adjusted gross income of under $250k. The first debit will contain $1000, and it will be augmented every month with an additional $1000. Here's the catch: the money will have to be spent in the month that it is allocated. Note that it is not a check, which could simply be deposited into a checking account. It must be spent. If there are a hundred million filers who each get $1000 a month, that would be $100 billion a month pumped into the U.S. economy, and it would go to anyone who takes debit cards. Now, Ned can hear some of his followers groan and jeer with claims of "impossible!" and "foolhardy!" and worse. But it will work. Here's why.
In a time of slack demand, issuing money to people who have to spend it will not be inflationary, and, even if it was, a little inflation is the cure for many things, as long as it doesn't get out of hand, like the situation that brought Ronald Reagan to power in 1980, and began the US's slide into mediocrity.
And where would the money come from? Ned can hear his skeptical friends ask. It would come from the Federal Reserve, which can print money whenever it likes, especially since it is not tied to anything like gold or silver. And, Ned hears, won't it simply drive people to buy gold? Ned replies that if people are so foolish to buy gold then let them buy gold and go to the Devil.
In short, Ned's plan will not be inflationary, and it will, believe it or not, not add to the deficit or the national debt, because the money is coming from the Fed not the Treasury. And, since the money will be income, it will be taxed by those states that have income taxes, and will be taxed indirectly by those which only have sales taxes, issuing in a Golden Age of balanced budgets for those states wise enough to have income taxes in the first place, at least.
Ned will wait patiently for his Nobel in Economics, which he expects before the end of the year.
Each month, the Treasury will send a debit card to every individual who filed a tax return last year with an adjusted gross income of under $250k. The first debit will contain $1000, and it will be augmented every month with an additional $1000. Here's the catch: the money will have to be spent in the month that it is allocated. Note that it is not a check, which could simply be deposited into a checking account. It must be spent. If there are a hundred million filers who each get $1000 a month, that would be $100 billion a month pumped into the U.S. economy, and it would go to anyone who takes debit cards. Now, Ned can hear some of his followers groan and jeer with claims of "impossible!" and "foolhardy!" and worse. But it will work. Here's why.
In a time of slack demand, issuing money to people who have to spend it will not be inflationary, and, even if it was, a little inflation is the cure for many things, as long as it doesn't get out of hand, like the situation that brought Ronald Reagan to power in 1980, and began the US's slide into mediocrity.
And where would the money come from? Ned can hear his skeptical friends ask. It would come from the Federal Reserve, which can print money whenever it likes, especially since it is not tied to anything like gold or silver. And, Ned hears, won't it simply drive people to buy gold? Ned replies that if people are so foolish to buy gold then let them buy gold and go to the Devil.
In short, Ned's plan will not be inflationary, and it will, believe it or not, not add to the deficit or the national debt, because the money is coming from the Fed not the Treasury. And, since the money will be income, it will be taxed by those states that have income taxes, and will be taxed indirectly by those which only have sales taxes, issuing in a Golden Age of balanced budgets for those states wise enough to have income taxes in the first place, at least.
Ned will wait patiently for his Nobel in Economics, which he expects before the end of the year.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The New American Economy, Ned's Analysis
With all the blather about the nature of our economy, Ned thought he would set the record straight, because, as poll after poll shows, nobody trusts economists.
Ned describes our economy as a turf-based service economy, since (1) much of the motorized activity seems to consist of trucks towing trailers filled with "lawn-care" devices in open mesh trailers; (2) at least 10 percent of some states are now turf; (3) half of the acreage in the Willamette Valley is devoted to grass seed and sod; (4) much of the country's employment seems to be lowly paid men and women cutting grass, edging lawns and other turf areas, and, best of all, blowing the debris around with gas-powered "leaf blowers," or selling such devices to others at Wal-Mart, Home Depot and other loci of poorly paid workers with few benefits, and (5) universities like Oregon State already offer majors in "turf management." Ned's favorite sight is watching some moron blowing dust and grass along a sidewalk, then into the street, where is is promptly returned to the sidewalk by traffic. And with more and more illegal immigrants working for these lawn mowing--er, 'landscaping' companies, Ned expects it will become even harder for poorly-educated American kids to find jobs. And this should provide some food for those more philosophical of us, since the present generation of kids is, while largely poorly-educated, about as self-centered and arrogant a bunch of narcissists as any Ned has ever seen.
Finally, with the number of geezers growing fast, and most of them in poor health because of bad diet and no exercise, the demand for these services can only increase, as the last thing a geezer will tolerate is an un-manicured lawn. The only fly in Ned's analysis could be that cities come to their senses and start to ban or tax turf.
Ned hopes these semi-coherent musings are of value to his many friends.
Ned describes our economy as a turf-based service economy, since (1) much of the motorized activity seems to consist of trucks towing trailers filled with "lawn-care" devices in open mesh trailers; (2) at least 10 percent of some states are now turf; (3) half of the acreage in the Willamette Valley is devoted to grass seed and sod; (4) much of the country's employment seems to be lowly paid men and women cutting grass, edging lawns and other turf areas, and, best of all, blowing the debris around with gas-powered "leaf blowers," or selling such devices to others at Wal-Mart, Home Depot and other loci of poorly paid workers with few benefits, and (5) universities like Oregon State already offer majors in "turf management." Ned's favorite sight is watching some moron blowing dust and grass along a sidewalk, then into the street, where is is promptly returned to the sidewalk by traffic. And with more and more illegal immigrants working for these lawn mowing--er, 'landscaping' companies, Ned expects it will become even harder for poorly-educated American kids to find jobs. And this should provide some food for those more philosophical of us, since the present generation of kids is, while largely poorly-educated, about as self-centered and arrogant a bunch of narcissists as any Ned has ever seen.
Finally, with the number of geezers growing fast, and most of them in poor health because of bad diet and no exercise, the demand for these services can only increase, as the last thing a geezer will tolerate is an un-manicured lawn. The only fly in Ned's analysis could be that cities come to their senses and start to ban or tax turf.
Ned hopes these semi-coherent musings are of value to his many friends.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
An all-volunteer economy?
Ned has noticed something that has been creeping up on him like the proverbial thief in the night. It seems that more and more jobs in this country are being 'manned' by 'volunteers.' Ned has been long aware that there is a large contingent of geezers in his adopted home town that spend many hours a week 'volunteering' at one 'nonprofit' or another. Now comes word that more and more municipalities are trying to rely on volunteers to do the day to day tasks of running the cities that used to be done by professionals, like fire-fighting, or staffing the libraries, for example.
Mrs Ned has had many experiences of late where potential employers have told her flat out that she needs to 'volunteer' to be considered, eventually, for gainful employment, and Ned has long ruminated on the ethics, indeed, the legality of this practice, smacking as it does of involuntary servitude, which he seems to recall was frowned upon in some amendment to a major government document. But we digress.
Ned's point is this: if we try to fill more and more positions with 'volunteers', mainly retirees on 'fixed incomes' and wealthy dilettante housewives who are bored and looking for something to take them away from the Oprah Channel for a few hours a day, then who will pay the taxes to support the government services we all take for granted? Indeed, if these volunteers are taking jobs away from those who need them at one end, and many of the other jobs are being filled by desperate illegal immigrants who will work for peanuts at the other end, Ned doesn't see how this economy is going to survive. But then he is an awful cynic.
Mrs Ned has had many experiences of late where potential employers have told her flat out that she needs to 'volunteer' to be considered, eventually, for gainful employment, and Ned has long ruminated on the ethics, indeed, the legality of this practice, smacking as it does of involuntary servitude, which he seems to recall was frowned upon in some amendment to a major government document. But we digress.
Ned's point is this: if we try to fill more and more positions with 'volunteers', mainly retirees on 'fixed incomes' and wealthy dilettante housewives who are bored and looking for something to take them away from the Oprah Channel for a few hours a day, then who will pay the taxes to support the government services we all take for granted? Indeed, if these volunteers are taking jobs away from those who need them at one end, and many of the other jobs are being filled by desperate illegal immigrants who will work for peanuts at the other end, Ned doesn't see how this economy is going to survive. But then he is an awful cynic.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Jobs and the deficit
The Washington Monthly has a great web site. Today they report on a Gallup poll that asks Americans what the main problems are today. Here's what they found.
When asked, 'What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?' "JOBS was the top issue, mentioned by 33%, followed by 'the economy in general,' at 31%. In other words, using the CBS poll's phrasing, a combined 64% of the country cited "economy/jobs" as the top issue.
The deficit came in fifth in Gallup's poll at 9%."
Nobody but Republican hysterics really gives a damn about the deficit.
Now, what does Ned take from this? Assuming polls mean anything at all, it is obvious that people think if we have more jobs the economy will fix itself, as probably will most of the deficit. Why? As people get work, they drop off unemployment, cancel their food stamps, and start paying taxes, their rent or mortgage on time, and their credit card bills. They also start spending money, thus allowing business to hire still more people. Ned figures that if ten million people suddenly got jobs, it would unleash such a mass of joy and optimism that the stock market would go up a thousand points, and the stores would be filled with people, Delta would fill all its flights, and the Club Rooms would fill with happy drinking travelers.
This happy and OBVIOUS thought apparently never occurs to those grinches who always rabbit on about balanced budgets. So, the next time you hear someone say the most important thing in the whole world is balancing the federal budget, refrain from the impulse to slap their foolish face and patiently explain that when people have jobs, they pay taxes, spend money and get health care.
When asked, 'What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?' "JOBS was the top issue, mentioned by 33%, followed by 'the economy in general,' at 31%. In other words, using the CBS poll's phrasing, a combined 64% of the country cited "economy/jobs" as the top issue.
The deficit came in fifth in Gallup's poll at 9%."
Nobody but Republican hysterics really gives a damn about the deficit.
Now, what does Ned take from this? Assuming polls mean anything at all, it is obvious that people think if we have more jobs the economy will fix itself, as probably will most of the deficit. Why? As people get work, they drop off unemployment, cancel their food stamps, and start paying taxes, their rent or mortgage on time, and their credit card bills. They also start spending money, thus allowing business to hire still more people. Ned figures that if ten million people suddenly got jobs, it would unleash such a mass of joy and optimism that the stock market would go up a thousand points, and the stores would be filled with people, Delta would fill all its flights, and the Club Rooms would fill with happy drinking travelers.
This happy and OBVIOUS thought apparently never occurs to those grinches who always rabbit on about balanced budgets. So, the next time you hear someone say the most important thing in the whole world is balancing the federal budget, refrain from the impulse to slap their foolish face and patiently explain that when people have jobs, they pay taxes, spend money and get health care.
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