we suffer from an economic malaise that's now one-third of the way into its second decade.

So, they admit Bush economic policies caused it? Well, I guess there's that.

Note that GDP is essentially a good measure of what the collective income of the country is.

ie

Townhall is Bullshiat.

if raising taxes is good, let all taxcuts expire and tax increases take place. Democrats should unite about this.

for those that happen to not read the article, the writer advocates raising the GDP. when you have anemic growth, then you will have economic woes. These started with the dotcom bust under Clinton.

EnviroDude: if raising taxes is good, let all taxcuts expire and tax increases take place. Democrats should unite about this.

That sounds more like a teabagger idea, since they're always whining about how half the country "doesn't pay taxes"

EnviroDude: if raising taxes is good, let all taxcuts expire and tax increases take place. Democrats should unite about this.

for those that happen to not read the article, the writer advocates raising the GDP. when you have anemic growth, then you will have economic woes. These started with the dotcom bust under Clinton.

The dotcom bust was actually part of the 1997 Asian crash Link

zedster: EnviroDude: if raising taxes is good, let all taxcuts expire and tax increases take place. Democrats should unite about this.

for those that happen to not read the article, the writer advocates raising the GDP. when you have anemic growth, then you will have economic woes. These started with the dotcom bust under Clinton.

The dotcom bust was actually part of the 1997 Asian crash Link

Maybe, but anyone with two neurons to rub together saw that the dotcom boom had over-inflated into a bubble. The question isn't whether it would happen, but when.

zedster: The dotcom bust was actually part of the 1997 Asian crash

Well, technically. I'd still contend that the massive overvaluation caused by the rapid switch to 401(k)s in that time-frame also helped pump money into stocks (companies) that were pipe dreams at best. When things started to grow more slowly after that infusion of capital into the market started to level off, people were looking for the exits and caused a massive sell-off. Asia played a big part because of the impact on the economy as a whole which contributed to the staunching of capital flow to the market and people looking to grab their gains.

I remember news stories the press did with middle-income workers talking about putting everything they had into pets.com and all that other crap. Mututal funds just flow with where the popular stocks are and they got caught up in it, so everyone suffered in the collapse. Look at today when we have stories about fund managers buying Apple at any price just to get it in their portfolio.

We've become a nation of very stupid investors. People have been burned so often, recently, by the market that they are keeping their money in bond funds, dividend funds or anything with similar guarantees. Sure, more money has flown back into equities since the crash, but it's not enough to push the prices above a certain level we keep hitting. If we get consumer confidence and actual spending up at any point, people will switch their asset allocations and prices will soar again. It's amazing how much money we have tied up just by ourselves and we're holding it back until people see real hiring, real wage growth, or they start feeling frisky and want to gamble on pets.com again...

I just find it hysterical that they actually admit this began in the last decade when they were the economic stewards cutting regulation and encouraging a massive bubble, blame Obama for not cleaning up that problem, then campaign on going back to what caused it. These people are really strange. It's like they want to get a do-over on their economic policies, that fail, and promise it will REALLY work this time. Seriously, trust us, we won't let it collapse this time.

Way to concede the point, Townhall. You guys rock!

Tax RATES or tax REVENUES?

I know the revenues are low low low. But there are plenty of links all over the place showing that RATES are also the lowest they've ever been.

I'm pretty sure low revenues are not the CAUSE of low rates.

EnviroDude: if raising taxes is good, let all taxcuts expire and tax increases take place. Democrats should unite about this.

for those that happen to not read the article, the writer advocates raising the GDP. when you have anemic growth, then you will have economic woes. These started with the dotcom bust under Clinton.

Ah, that's simple then, just raise the GDP. Presumably with tax cuts that pay for themselves. It never worked before, but hey, if you really want to believe something you can make it come true right?

PanicMan: It's just like how high ice cream sales CAUSE it to be summer.

Do you have a graph that proves to me this is not the case? Without a graph I'm going to have to assume correlation=causation.

I rest my case, Sir!

unlikely: Tax RATES or tax REVENUES?

I know the revenues are low low low. But there are plenty of links all over the place showing that RATES are also the lowest they've ever been.

I'm pretty sure low revenues are not the CAUSE of low rates.

I don't think they understand the difference between rates and revenues.

palelizard: EnviroDude: if raising taxes is good, let all taxcuts expire and tax increases take place. Democrats should unite about this.

for those that happen to not read the article, the writer advocates raising the GDP. when you have anemic growth, then you will have economic woes. These started with the dotcom bust under Clinton.

And how does one go about raising the GDP directly?

Something something something Job Creators

EnviroDude: the writer advocates raising the GDP

Why didn't I think of that?!

pacified: did i just see a "but but clinton?"

He did sign the Gramm-Leach-Bliley legislation which repealed big chunks of Glass-Steagall and exposed American taxpayers to banking gambling losses. Also, there was the Commodities Futures Modernization Act, which was probably to single greatest amplifier of the housing bubble bursting, allowing mortgage losses to spread very quickly across the globe through a completely unmonitored and unsupervised international derivatives market.

So, yeah...Clinton...and Bush two too

Just stop GOP. Please. Your ignorant narratives are so desperate. At least be honest, or just disagree. Stop the blatant lying.

EnviroDude: if raising taxes is good, let all taxcuts expire and tax increases take place. Democrats should unite about this.

for those that happen to not read the article, the writer advocates raising the GDP. when you have anemic growth, then you will have economic woes. These started with the dotcom bust under Clinton.

You sound pretty tired E. Dude.

Three days ago Townhall was citing FactCheck.

palelizard: Is there a particular reason the author keeps calling Obama "the Scarecrow"?

It's a strawman argument.

PanicMan: It's just like how high ice cream sales CAUSE it to be summer.

Paraphrasing something I read on Fark a while back: Extreme poverty has a strong positive correlation to malnourishment. Therefore, poor people need to eat more so they will get rich.