Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for July 06, 2012

“Congress” & “do” in the same sentence goes beyond complicated …

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.Albert Einstein

There is no Occam’s razor for this economy, only Hobson’s choice…

What exactly would be the opposite of what made the economy bad? Is Wiley suggesting severe restrictions on CDOs? Tighter regulations on the finance industry? On mortgage sales? Cuts in CEO pay? Stronger unions? I want specifics!

In some things, we DON"T want to do the opposite, because now we’re in a depression. Low interest rates and gov’t deficits were very bad during the R.E. bubble, but they are wanted now.

Reminds me of yesterday ‘Frazz’ :)

Greed didn’t bring this about; it was the sense of entitlement from the lazy sectors. The same sense of entitlement that believes that certain businesses are “too big” to fail, that the homeless have the right to demand that taxpayers “owe” them a piece of land to live on, or that anyone who earns more than “xx” amount of money owes the rest of the country a portion of their income.

No, it’s not complicated, it’s just impossible……there, feel better now?

BTW……….. Stop. Think. Vote.

Yep, its about the same down here too.

We need a Danae arc…

And by the same token: all animals are equal but some are more equal than others.

Same as Europe – spend more than you produce. Congress will ride it down like an airliner on fire and after the crash say – who could have known?

PreBama there was a Bush or two………….

You got that right! Congress makes everything complicated, especially if it could be simple!!!

Why do you have to bring ‘race’ into this?

@Dogsniff – do you mean how some people feel they are entitled to keep their own money while other people feel they are entitled to someone else’s money?

the difference should be fairly obvious.

The problem isn’t plain greed; it’s SHORT-SIGHTED greed. Long-term greed, real empire building, has been tossed in favor of this-quarter’s (or this-week’s) profits at the expense of the future. The make-or-buy decision is reasonable; and outsourcing is reasonable; but when companies outsourced in ways that support governments that are opposed to us, in ways that hollowed out our own industrial base, for a benefit of fractions of a penny, they made short-term profit at the expense of the future.

And it’s reasonable for each company to do this, but when lots of companies are reasonable and do it in parallel – partly because other people are making short-term profit setting up the structures to make it easier to outsource – the entire country wakes up at some point realizing that imported tube socks may be cheap but nobody has a job that pays enough to buy them. (Another variant of the “tragedy of the commons”)

DeTocqueville praised Americans for their “enlightened self-interest” and their belief that supporting communal interests would benefit their own and their children’s interests. We have been living for 100 years on insane-at-the-time investments that people made in infrastructure – New York City’s water supply and buried train system, for example.

The future is here. It’s not even that the bills are due, it’s just that it’s time to do maintenance, and we aren’t even prepared to do that much.

We (you and me and the rest of the middle class) are not having to support the rich, white, elite sectors!

Congressional Republicans continue to clamor for more financial deregulation and tax giveaways to coddle Wall Street … the same disastrous approach that caused this mess we’re in … while voting to slash funding for programs that more and more of America’s work-a-day majority must have to survive.

People love to talk about how great America is and so it is. But much of our greatness was built in the 1950s and 1960s when the top marginal tax rate was 91% to no less than 75%. I wonder if there may be a correlation to the current top marginal tax rate of only 35% and our slow slide into second class country status?

What is the opposite of declaring two unfunded wars on soverign nations because of poor intelligence.

“You got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.” Yogi Berra-;-)

Problem is, too many people can’t shake the thought of Congress having to “do something”. If Congress needs to do anything it’s either get out of the way or take steps to get their past regulations out of the way. But so many people feel insecure if Congress isn’t doing something – and often specifically doing something to make it harder for businesses to hire – that the media man can exploit the working man (selling his alleged journalism) to scare working man into thinking Congress has to – do something.And we continue to fall for this, thinking business needs more restrictions.

At least they are aptly named . . . CON-gress!

Congress won’t do anything about the economy.The corporations and banks won’t do anything about the economy.That leaves… us.

….and so Wiley aptly named his strip?

Never got a JOB from a poor man. Calling out just WHITES very racists Shame on you. By the way what entitlements are you talking about. The ones that will let the doors stay open, so people can have a JOB.

Man, you are not funny today.

This is getting scary, folks.

That is so true.

@DrFroggIf it is not the middle class who is supporting the rich, then who is. The poor on government entitlements are not. I don’t usually get this irate but you, sir, need a serious reality check.

I’ll rant on about over-regulation another time. Right now I will address the results of outsourcing.

At one time America had the largest and most productive textile industry in the world. Then someone had the idea that we could get our clothing and bedding and linens from asia at a greatly reduced price. What happened then was the frog in heating water thing. They slowly raised the prices to where they would be if produced here.

Next came the durable goods.Casegood furniture is what I worked in so I’ll use that as a reference. Right now the only case goods being built in America are the heirloom quality pieces. If you and I can afford it at all itis probably made in China or Vietnam. Some is being made in Central America. After shipping, these pieces cost 40 to 60% less to purchase than to produce. The quality is often less than adequate. Yet, go to any retail outlet and you will pay the same as if it were produced here in th USA.

How about autos, there a large number of “American” autos on the road with Chinese components. Yet the union folks are shouting “Buy American”.

I did not mention the electronics industry. We lost it many, many years ago.

You want out of the mess we are in? Bring the jobs home. Put people to work. Then, and only then, will we climb out of recession. I would wager to say that we wouldn’t be as worried about immigration.

Congress can do nothing except distort the market which causes booms and busts. Separate the state from economics just as we separate church from state and the issues of disruption and distortion will go away.

Definition of insanity: making the same mistake over and over again. Our country is insane.

Congress is a waste of time, money, and breath..Instead of spend yourself into deep debt, pay outrageous interest, and buy made in China; save, gather interest or dividends, and buy American. Stop supporting a growing Communist Empire.

“So is the sense of entitlement from the lazy sectors much different from the sense of entitlement from the rich, white, elite sectors?”.Well said. We all feel entitled to what we want, whether or not we ever did anything to earn it — including the simple fact of having been born and staying alive. Every one of us has “always depended on the kindness of strangers”, whether or not we’ve ever admitted it.

The sense of entitlement comes from those who don’t earn it. The rich who honestly earn their money aren’t looking for such entitlements.

My “type”? What do you know of my “type”? Never mind. This is my “type”: Business is only as good as the person building it. A good business person knows his customers and his bottom line and what works to please both.

Please notice I didn’t say it was the businesses who have unions to hobble them. Notice, too, I didn’t say it was the businesses who don’t believe in making a profit and yet expect everyone else to keep them afloat when they make poor business decisions. These are not businesses; these are people who want the entitlements that come from welfare and nanny outlooks.

If anyone is looking to replace their job, then the best place to begin is in creating it themselves. If they have the brain capacity to do the kind of job they want, then they have the same capacity to create it. Yes, it means hard work, and not everyone wants to work for themselves. But, in the end, if they want it badly enough, then they can quit griping about where the jobs went and create one for themselves here and now.

I’ve wondered how the hard-working man who tends our cemetery supports his four children on the $11 an hour he earns. I found out his week he lives in the garage with them at his mother’s house. No A/C, no bathroom, etc. And yes, the amount of his check held for income tax is very little, and he gets it back at the end of the year. This is the way many of our citizens are living and yet some complain that he can get help like food and still not pay taxes.

Someone once said, “To every complex question there is a simple solution—which is wrong.”

I think so, because the so-called lazy sectors know you have to put something in in order to get anything out (social security/medicare you don’t get unless you have paid in, unempoyment insurance is esactly that: premiums have been paid, etc.) The rich, white, elite want the services without paying any taxes. Who is the biggest freeloader?

I love the ravers complaining about the poor not paying their fair share. Yeah, tax cuts for the rich, tax increases for the poor. That’ll balance the budget real fast. To those who want to keep all of their money, move to Iraq or some other dictatorship. Democracy obviously isn’t for you.

If only…

I say hang all the lawyers – apologies to the ones that actually have a heart and morals. If we hang the lawyers, commonsense will eventually begin to take over the world again. Then we wouldn’t have those annoying laws that say someone can’t do this to that person unless that happens, but when those do this.(If you can understand that you may be a lawyer)

It’s simple: There’s no right wing or left wing, there’s only good government policies and bad government policies.We need the best of both political spectrums.

Dogsniff, your view of the political parties and who they support is antiquated and in need of updating. The Democrats haven’t been for the working class for over 30yrs now!

Also, the Republicans aren’t solely for “the rich” either. Have you listened recently to what Obama and the Democrats consider “rich”? You may be surprised to find out they likely consider “you” rich, and expect you to “pay your fair share” (even though, if you’re like most of us working stiffs you’re already paying more than “your share”).Obama and the Democrats are DESTROYING America!That’s why there was a historic “landslide” change of power in 2010, and that’s why it’s going to happen on an even larger scale this November. Put the Kool-aid down and open your eyes please!

No, but you don’t get anywhere trying to demonize the lazy sectors. There is far more money to be made attacking the successful and telling others that they deserve access to their money, or as the current occupant of the WH said, “returning the money to the proper owners”. Believe it or not, most rich people really earned their money.

Actually – the lazy sector is the rich, white, elite crowd. If you think they’re working hard, yo’re at the Kool-Aid again. That’s what vassals are for.

Yes,there are NO multi-maire Democrats…well except for all those in Federal Office.

Would you care to cite examples of that? Othewise I’ll dismiss it as liberal hogwash.

Well since most of the rich are muslim now or black gangsters and drug dealers, figure it out.

No, no it is not. The problem is this overwhelming sense of entitlement that seems to permeate all segments of our society from the poorest of the poor to the disgustingly rich and everyone in between. Gone are the days of hard work ethic and help your neighbor. Gone is the do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Now its do unto others BEFORE they do you. (Thanks Benny Hill for that last one.) Unless our attitude as a whole gets turned around, this country is doomed.