Lies of the Tea Party
Urban legends and anger cloud rational thinking on the economy
Indeed, the entire tea party movement was founded on false assumptions about the economic program that probably saved the country from a second Great Depression.
The nascent protests that came to be known as the tea party began as angry populist rants against the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), that notorious "bailout" of drowning banks and insurance companies, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the "stimulus program."
Red-faced traders and furious housewives joined forces against what they wrongly called "socialism," warning that our freedom was endangered and that the nation might soon perish under burgeoning inflation and draconian regulation. They grew even more frantic when the Obama administration directed hundreds of billions of dollars in TARP funds toward the auto industry in loans and shares—more socialism!
The real reason behind the irritation of the traders and their spokesmen on cable television was simple enough. The government had restricted their usual obscene bonuses in recognition of the fact that they had been saved by taxpayer funds from their own gross misconduct—and should be not be rewarded for surviving on the teat.
TARP,
Stimulus Package Both Worked
As for the
tea party housewives and their cohorts, the motives ranged from xenophobia to
paranoia. But as the recovery lagged—and the Obama White House failed to
communicate its aims and achievements—those typical symptoms of right-wing
delusion showed up in a broader segment of the voting public.
In the
meantime, the Republicans and their allies in the media managed to
mischaracterize the president's health care reform bill as both a
"government takeover" and a gift to the health insurance industry,
although in reality it was neither. Most Americans who say that they dislike
the bill have very little knowledge of its actual provisions—which are quite
popular when polled individually.
The average
voter is equally unlikely to know the essential facts about the preservation of
auto companies, the stimulus package or TARP—which was approved with the votes
of the same Republican leaders they may soon promote into the majority.
Nonpartisan
experts both within and outside government have said for months that TARP not
only saved the country from untold economic disaster, but that its repayments
and warrants will end up as highly profitable investments. The auto industry
isn't quite as sure to prosper as the banks, of course, but there is a
reasonable likelihood that the government will make money on those investments,
too—while preserving a vital industry and millions of jobs.
As for the
stimulus, economists across the ideological spectrum have contradicted the
popular perception—promoted by tea party publicists—that the program didn't
work and may even have done harm. The Republicans insist that government cannot
create jobs and that public expenditure only "crowds out"
private-sector investment.
But contrary
to that Chamber of Commerce mythology, the private sector is currently sitting
on more than $3 trillion in banks and corporate accounts that is not being
invested because of insufficient demand. Rather than the rampant inflation
predicted by the tea party ideologues, we have seen no real inflation—because
demand is still insufficient to reinflate the economy. The Barack Obama stimulus
program was enough to prevent the complete deflation that might have led to a
depression, but not enough to begin a full recovery in employment.
The same
conservatives who now claim that Obama's program didn't work are those who once
warned that President Clinton's program would lead to ruin—just before the
greatest peacetime expansion in history. Believe them at your peril.
2010 Creators.com
i know this ..... the stimulus created only temporary jobs / how many times can you resurface the highways? and i didn't see any new equipment purchases to pour asphalt. the auto companies are a long ways from being out of the woods / Ford is in the process of closing down more Lincoln dealers ... that's probably just the beginning... everywhere i look i see more and more storefronts / stripmalls closed down ... home foreclosures / yacht foreclosures ... continuing closing of manufacturing or downsizing and sending jobs to mexico or overseas....etc. / etc. our economy was built by manufacturing jobs...why can't our leadership get it in thier heads?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The new economy may not be so much manufacturing as the last wave. But the point is that WE will figure it out. Not one penny should have been spent that didn't create a new small business. Big business has a hard time figuring out where to go or what to spend on. It should all be left up to new small businesses to try out new markets where ever a need is clear. This would also get people employed, by the way. I talked to a tow truck driver after the cash-for-clunkers stupidity. He said the ripple effect was the parts and repair guys tossed out of work at small businesses everywhere. Just so a well paid factory worker could get back to work for a few months.
Joe Conason, thank you for not being an uninformed idiot! Â
Next I think you need to do an article about Glenn Beck and how he needs to be taken off of the air before he influences any other ignorant, impressionable Americans:
"Barack Obama is setting up universal healthcare, universal college, green jobs as stealth reparations. That way the victim status is maintained. And he also brings back back%u2011door reparations." -Glenn Beck
Maybe you could address that little gem that so many uneducated Americans thought was pure brilliance. Â I love the healthcare bill and I'm a white, middle class woman. Â I have a new baby, so I'm substitute teaching right now so I can be home with her more often. Â Because I'm only subbing, I'm not eligible for benefits. Â Because I'm also under 26, even though I'm out of college, I'm eligible to stay on my mom's health insurance plan. Â Thank God because I recently found a lump in my breast and have already had 2 doctors appointments for it and have an ultrasound and a consultation with a surgeon scheduled on Monday. Â None of which I'd be able to afford without that big, bad healthcare bill...
No government program is ever perfect, but something needed to be done!  Everyone in power (Dems AND Reps) agreed that the bailout and stiumulus plans were the best options.  I'm so happy you pointed out that it really wasn't a failure.  This idea that these are failed programs is only so prominent because people are afraid.  I'm afraid too.  I was told that teaching was the "Depression-Proof" job, and look at the job market for teachers now.  I have to consider that I could be living in a third world country instead - living in a hut, starving, drinking filthy water, and having no healthcare or schooling available.  I think individuals need to start appreciating how amazing our government really is. Â
I wish you'd also provide, in a future article, a more detailed description of the healthcare bill so readers who are unfamiliar with the actual content of the bill can get educated.
This "Tea Party" ridiculousness terrifies me so much more than any government bill.  The rest of the world is laughing at our collective craziness.  Americans, in general, appear to be so overcome by fear that we are turning into xenophobic, hateful, narrow-minded lunatics! Â
Lighten up people. Â Talk to my Great Aunt Margret or Great Grandma Jeanie who lived through the Great Depression and World War II in America. Â We think we have it bad now. Â Sheesh.
Thanks for the article Joe!
@Danielle- perhaps you should have waited to have a child until you could afford to do so without a heathcare handout. When you denigrate the Tea Parties, remember that many very well-educated people attend these rallies. Take a look at any rally held by a left leaning organization, especially a union. Are you telling me that there is a higher level of educated attendees at those rallies? Look at the mess left behind by last weekend's union rallies on the National Mall. Compare that to the Beck rally, which left not a scrap of litter anywhere. I know three people who attend Tea Party rallies when they occur in town. One has an MBA from an Ivy League school. One has a Masters (in education), and the third has a BS in mathematics. Was there anyone with a comparable education level at the last union rally outside of the Mil courthouse? Judging from the language I heard used there- not likely. Have fun spending more time with your child- I'll be working full time to help you pay for your special moments. I'd love to have kids, but right now we just can't afford it- and we're not looking for handouts.
Pyg -
Somewhere, the world's smalles violinist is playing the saddest tune on the world's smallest violin just for you and your whiny Conservative friends.
Don't get made at Liberals because you feel left behind by a party that doesn't care about you. You're "not looking for handouts?" Good for you, you elitist tool bag. You support a party and a political movement that gives handouts to the wealthy, the white, and the priveleged. But as soon as Liberals and Democrats want to level the field by supporting the middle class, you go ape-poo on everyone.
The trouble with talking to a nimrod like you is that you don't know a thing about what your fool mouth is spewing. Know your history. Do your homework. Then post something.
Meepos, can you make one single post without calling names? As for information, you regurgitated two sentences of Democratic talking points with no support for "your" statements whatsoever. You did make time to rip me four times- which doesn't help your case at all. Your level of debate is right on par with Corrina, and together you're driving intelligent people away from this website. I don't generally agree with the points made on this site, but I do enjoy the debate- until you and Corrina show up. Nothing I said in my post was untrue or even debateable. I didn't even talk policy, just shared some of my personal experiences. Get it together or find Corrina and go somewhere and shout nasty names at each other.
I am happy that you published this article! When you use phrases like "red faced housewifes" and "tea party housewifes", it displays what a sexist, elitiest, bigoted snob you actually are.
I am sick of hearing how Obama "pulled us back from the brink of destruction" and "Saved millions of jobs"Â (or was it billions, or trillions, or gazillions?)Â
If you can't prove what you're stating, it really doesn't matter, dopes it?
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Obama, has sadden many he isn't following thru on any of his many promises.
Quit sending jobs out of the country. Â It's takes a man to keep a business in the U.S. Â Or better yet a good women.
Jobs, money, security and a better America!
These days, it seems one needs to say something extreme to keep a readers interest. Could be inflammatory comments in the article, or in the replies posted. With that in mind, one shouldn't complain too much about the writer using a few strong words. Goes right along with the attitude of the average voter, where "fightin' words" cannot go unanswered. One can also see that attitude in nagative campaigning.
Taken from the main article above, the average voter doesn't want to hear from "nonpartison experts", they would rather hear their info from someone just like themselves, often on the barstool next to them. Part of that xenophobia they got from their ancestors, those immigrants of the 1800's that were seeking wide-open spaces in a land with a hands-off government. These ancestors did not come here to be part of the "melting pot", they came here to get away from those who had different values from themselves. They came here to get away from oppressive rules and regulations forced on them by the old world ruling classes. They did not change, their world changed right out from under them.
If the Obama administration wants to fight back against the talk of "failed stimulus", why can't they bring up the "failed trickle-down"? How many of the "Angry Tea Party" feel like they got a piece of the action when taxes for the top 3% got cut in half by the 20 years of Reagan/Bush/Bush?
It's my contention that when money is handed out at the working class level, all of it gets spent into the economy via Main Street on it's way up to Wall Street. Really doesn't matter if it was an unsubsidized private sector paycheck or a public sector hand-out. How many "cash only" people invest in third world emerging economies? Can you say that the top 3% spend it all here in America?
The $3 Trillion being sat on is waiting for that investment that will equal the 40% annual gain that was promised by Bernie Madoff, and got to get it short-term, before the top-dollar tax bracket goes back up.
Note that the last time we had times harder than this it was called the Great Depression, it lasted about 10 years, might have been longer if it were not for WWII and it's massive deficit spending. Following that spending was an 80-90% top dollar tax rate for about 20 years. You can bet the top 3% will lobby very hard to keep that from coming back again.
Do not be surprised if the $250K and up "(segre)gated community" folks will succeed in splitting this country into two tax pools... their group which can pay their own way (no gov't services used, so no taxes needed), and the "socialist" group, which simply "redistributes" middle-class wealth to take care of the rest of the have-nots. After all, the rich "earned" the right to "better rates", just like investment returns and loan rates. "Ability to pay" is just not in their vocabulary.
The problem with the middle class is that we are trying so hard to protect ourselves from the ones below us that we forgot to protect ourselves from the ones above.
Lost....Why would I be sitting in a bar? Â Information on the news I read, watch TV, check with Mac or read an a newspaper.
 I have heard of the.. The Great Depression!!!!!!! It wasn't in a bar tho. That is an insult.  It was thru family that survived it. I'm 61 kid, I have history and have lived thru many historical events.
Off to work I go. I take care of the sick and poor.
Â
It seems that I have hit a nerve. Â Thought freedom of speech was for all the super intelligent (you know who you all are) and the rest of us.
Sorry for bothering you all.
Louie, I always thought was a a true old friend, with a zest for opinions. Â When I knew him he was.
 Good luck everyone with your lives, news, and debates.  Keep our world safe and prosperous.
The intellects shall rule and I don't suppose I should vote any longer. Â
Sad world some have created...... Bye.Â
Old Friend (Dress Shop Girl)