Record Profits

I see today that U.S. businesses had record profits last quarter.  Unadjusted for inflation, it appears to be the most profitable quarter since records have been kept (60 years).  Adjusting for inflation it is still from the second to the sixth most profitable quarter ever (I guess there are different ways of making that adjustment.)

Businesses have been moaning about how "anti-business" Obama is, but these results put a chink into that argument.  I think they are just a bunch of crybabies, and--as I've said before--it's about time for them to step up and start hiring some workers.  Consumers are spending. Investors are investing. It's about time for the Chamber of Commerce to stop whining and for businesses to start hiring.

Activist Judges

Judicial activism is clearly in the eye of the beholder.  The current Supreme Court is as activist as any liberal Court has been in the past.  Here are three examples (I won't even use Bush v. Gore although it could qualify as a fourth.)

Campaign Finance Reform.  When the Supreme Court threw out this law, I really think liberals missed the boat by emphasizing the wrong issue.  Instead of ranting on about how big money will flood the system (which is certainly true), we should have gone to first principles.  Specifically, we should have hammered on the notion that a corporation (or a union for that matter) is somehow a "person", which is at the heart of the decision  This is a clear example of judicial activism, especially for those who argue for some form of original intent.  Nothing like a modern corporation existed at the time the Constitution was written.  Corporations are fictional creations of statute, so any attempt to make them into people is a bald-faced creation of a right that does not exist in the Constitution.  We should have been saying it over and over.  (I believe that even William Rehnquist--no shriveling liberal he--did not ascribe to the current Court's activist interpretation.  See http://larssonfest.com/content/why-justice-rehnquist-thought-it-was-ok-regulate-political-speech-corporations)

Money Is Speech.  How can anyone take this seriously?  Money is money;  speech is speech.  If you want to make them the same, then you are adding words to the Constitution.

Liberal Interpretations of the Takings Clause.  Although this hasn't specifically happened yet, I predict that it will happen someday with this Court.  If you claim that putting restrictions on the use of property is tantamount to "taking", then you are adding words and meaning to the Constitution that are not there.  "Taking" and "restricting" are not the same.  Taking means taking--nothing more, nothing less.  If the framers wanted to say "take or restrict" then why didn't they?  If you say that restricting property use is "almost like" taking and unconstitutional, then you are practicing judicial activism.

It's about time that we stop the right-wing from appropriating the term "judicial activism".  So let's go to first principles and start using the term to describe their reckless rewriting of the Constitution.

Job Creators???

I see that Eric Cantor doesn't want taxes to go up for the rich because it would be bad to tax the "job creators" in our economy.  Is he referring to those "job creators" who got huge tax cuts and created virtually no jobs during Bush's eight years?

The Bush Era Tax Cuts

Reasonable people can always disagree on their opinions--the Tea Party purists notwithstanding--but only if we agree first on what the facts are.  One interesting example has to do with the Bush tax cuts that are scheduled to expire in January.

Both the cuts and the expiration date were put into the bill by an essentially Republican Congress and signed by a Republican president.  So if the Right wants to treat this as a de facto tax increase, then let's make sure we place the responsiblity where it belongs.  This so-called tax increase already exists in current law, enacted by Republicans, so it is a Republican tax increase.

Once we agree on that fact, then we can discuss the wisdom of whether some or all of them should be extended.  But I find it incredible that the Republicans lacked the guts and/or the votes to pass a bill that was permanent and now expect the Democrats to take the blame for it.  Have you heard this reported in the media?  Where is the liberal bias when we need it?

Meanderings

Many of us wish that Obama had been more progressive rather than trying to find common ground with those who weren't negotiating in good faith, but nevertheless it was remarkable at what has been accomplished even through these tough times.  The health care bill could have been better but it's pretty good.  The financial reform bill could have been better, too, but if the financial services industry is whining about it and giving their money to the Republicans, then we can figure that there must be a lot good in it.  The stimulus package also should have been more aggressive--maybe double what it was--but there's no question that things are better because of it.  There's a good chance that the coming recovery will be credited to the Republicans, but that's okay as long as it's happening.

I am 62 years old so I am well accustomed to Americans voting against their own self interest.  Unlike the Republicans, though, I will not question the legitimacy of this election.  The people are entitled to vote for whom they wish.  The near Depression that began in 2008 was a culmination of a policy of under-regulation and the intentional redistribution of wealth from the bottom up.  That policy began in the Reagan era and was pursued and advanced to some extent by both parties ever since.  The standard of living of the average American has declined throughout that period.

One last point.  As bad as things are today, here are some facts that are seldom mentioned.

• When Clinton came into office the Dow was around 3250;  when he left it was around 10,500
• For George W. Bush the number were 10,500 when he started office, and around 8200 when he left.
• Obama started at 8200 and the market closed yesterday at around 11,100 (yup...that's up about 35%).

So what is business whining about?  Maybe it's about time for them to stop whining and step up and start hiring some workers.