Cable News Ratings for Tuesday, December 11, 2012

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(147) Comments - Add Yours!

1. TZCA

   Posted December 13, 2012 at 10:19 AM

   @Matthew

   For the people in my world of influence, paper securities are only serving a small percentage of their total portfolio (30% max). The rest is futures and physical assets. There isn’t much confidence in 401K/IRAs right now. At least not among those I interact with.

2. TZCA

   Posted December 13, 2012 at 10:23 AM

   @Matthew

   I hope the AMT is addressed as well. And you and I will have to agree to disagree about the impact of people with earnings marginal to $250K/$200K level. I can see your point for drastic increases of income over these marginal earnings. If I don’t respond before you leave, take care.

3. Matthew

   Posted December 13, 2012 at 10:33 AM

   Okay, okay, okay, okay, just one more, I promise

   “Well, since I see it regularly, people regulating their hours to keep below threshold levels, and I know these same people are now discussing what they need to do to keep their joint filing below $200K per person, I know it will happen, and the government will not see all of that glorious revenue. I know people are currently cashing dividends to avoid a hike from 15% to 20% (or as high as ordinary income under Simpson-Bowles) and moving funds to Cayman or Swiss holdings.”
   _____________

   The problem with this as an argument is that anecdotes are not a substitute for macroeconomic trends. Sure, people will do things like that to avoid taxes, but many who are so inclined ALREADY engage in such activity to avoid taxation, and to argue that this will happen on a significant scale requires a lot of presumption.

   By that same token, any spending with a fiscal multiplier thats >1 that we cut is going to, in a roundabout way, reduce result in fewer taxable dollars. This why austerity has largely been unsuccessful in Europe – depending on how you engage in said austerity, if your cuts slow growth significantly enough, there’s less revenue, and a greater proportion of people falling below the poverty level, which can increase spending in some programs, even as you cut others.

   Does that mean it isn’t worth cutting spending? Of course not, just like it’s worth raising taxes. All of Washington is guilty of some degree of BSing on this issue, and I’m just really tired of excuses for why we can’t do certain things.

   IF we conclude that the debt is pressing issue, then we must practice austerity, which means EVERYTHING should be on the table. If we preface everything with “But that’ll just hurt growth,” or “they’ll just hide their money,” or “this group is really gonna suffer,” then it begs the question, do we really want austerity at this point in time?

   For the record, I’m fine with either scenario: either continue stimulus, or go off the fiscal cliff completely. I’m tired of this middle-ground bulls***, because all it’s resulting in is a bunch of ‘worst of both worlds’ proposals.

4. dannynathan10

   Posted December 13, 2012 at 11:36 AM

   MSNBC not propaganda???…OMG…they blackout whole news stories…they don’t report the news!!…RED CHINA ring a bell!

5. usa8888

   Posted December 13, 2012 at 11:56 AM

   Fox “News” is leading with a story that says cuts must be part of the fiscal cliff solution. Everone agrees with that. What the right doesn’t want to do is cave on taxes because that would get Norquist and the Koch bros after them. The right refuses to listen to the American people (democrats, Repubs, and indeps) who say that tax rates should be raised for the rich. The rich’s rates are at 60 year lows and they have not created jobs in a decade. Further, economists conlcude that raising taxes on the rich would have no effect on job creation. It is the middle class, especially in a recession, that immediately get all their money into the economy and thus spur job creation. Further, the tax increase on the rich is not meant to solve our debt problem–other things need to be done, too, like cutting the defense budget, etc.

6. Ralph Hahn

   Posted December 13, 2012 at 12:35 PM

   @Ratboy: Congrats my friend. I really wasn’t going to post again on this Tuesday board, but I read of your success with Toys For Tots and I just want to say. “Thank you, sir. God bless you, sir.”

   Now…on with the countdown.

7. Sicilian Papa

   Posted December 13, 2012 at 1:46 PM

   Hey you guys Mike got a girlfriend and she is a handful.

   Glad to see Tingles, Sharpe, Rachel, Larry O. take a nose dive. Everything is right in the world.

   I will be back in force after the new year to attack to attack the corrupt, left wing, so-called, objective media. You can bank on it.

   You know my girlfriend is a much younger woman, much younger. The other day she says, “you know if we ever have kids.”

   I looked at her, “kids…us…by the time we get them out of diapers you’ll be puttin me in’em.

   I think I used that one before but for all the new people I hope you got a good laugh.