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economic stimulus

The Collapsed Middle Class by: jimstaro Sat Mar 06, 2010 at 07:54:21 PST ( - promoted by buhdydharma ) When Talking About The Economy Now And The So Called 'Capitalism Practiced' Start Calling It Exactly What It Is, "Reaganomics", i.e. 'trickle down' 'free market'............, there's a hole host of meme's used that sold this Con of what must be in order to advance? which when implemented was forecast by many then and over the years, last couple of decades, to do Exactly What It Did, Collapse The Once Growing and Proud Economic Reality That Was!! Have no idea why those who are supposed to represent the working people don't use the reality and voice it over and over, do know why th media don't, they profit from not reporting the reality! There's More... :: (7 Comments, 713 words in story)

Sunday Train: Going to Disneyland, Disneyworld, and Other Adventures by: BruceMcF Sun Jan 31, 2010 at 16:03:15 PST (noon. - promoted by ek hornbeck) Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence Huh, seems me that whatever the state of my various concerns, the agenda of the Sunday Train has been taken over by the White House ... funny how announcing the recipients of a total of $8b will do that. The Transport Politic (aka Yonah Freeman and the TTP commentariat) has a very complete rundown. The allotments over $200m are: California, $2,344m Florida: $1,250m Illinois: $1,236m Wisconsin: $822m Washington: $590m North Carolina: $545m   Ohio: $400m So, what's the money for? Join me below the fold. There's More... :: (13 Comments, 1641 words in story)

Sunday Train: A Train Running A Profit is Charging Too Much by: BruceMcF Sun Jan 24, 2010 at 16:10:42 PST (noon. - promoted by ek hornbeck) Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence Note that the statement is abbreviated for the title. The full statement is, a common carrier like a train, bus, or plane that running a profit based on passenger revenue while paying its full operating and capital cost is charging too much for its tickets. The radical abbreviation of the title is in part because of the radical abbreviation of the lie that is commonly used as a frame. The lie is that a common carrier like a train, bus or plane that is paying for its full operating and capital costs out of passenger revenue ought to run a profit, commonly expressed as a charge of, "SERVICE_XYZ is losing money, it needs to be reformed!", which assumes that Service_XYZ is supposed to be making a profit. And, of course, in the sense described above, if its a common carrier transport service, of course it shouldn't be making a profit. And further, if under the above conditions, if its making a profit, you're doing it wrong. In the sense given above, PROFIT=FAIL. There's More... :: (7 Comments, 1175 words in story)

Sunday Train: Freight and Passenger Trains Should Be Friends by: BruceMcF Sun Jan 10, 2010 at 15:08:36 PST ( - promoted by buhdydharma ) Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence Flying home from the Economist's national conference Atlanta (see note1) my brilliant entertainment plan to pass the day lost flying home from Atlanta fell apart. I could not attend even the 8am session on Tuesday, because the flight left at 11:15, and I was warned about TSA security theater delays. So I got on the MARTA train around 8:30, to stand in line to check-in, to stand in line to get through screening, to get to the gate and wait, to get on the plane which waited in line for a runway. It was, however, only half an hour in the air, so that fact that with a 125mph train to Charlotte I could have gone to the morning conference session and arrived in Charlotte sooner is neither here nor there. Then I had a 3hr+ layover in Charlotte until the plane back home to NE Ohio. But I had my Netflix and some FullMetal Alchemist DVD's, so no problem. Except my portable DVD player decided to stop working (see note2), so there were no DVD's. Which meant I was forced to fall back on a "pbook" (paper book) I had brought with me - Waiting on a Train, which meant that I finally finished it (and still had several hours to wait after I had done so). And in particular read the fascinating discussion of the touchy relationship between freight and passenger trains. Regular readers will know that this is a critical point: indeed, the entire Steel-Interstate strategy to getting Higher Speed Rail for Appalachia rests on passenger trains running on infrastructure provided in support of 100mph electric freight trains. There's More... :: (14 Comments, 1505 words in story)

Build Steel Interstates with $1/barrel and 1% of the Carbon Fee by: BruceMcF Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 09:54:11 PST (11 am. - promoted by ek hornbeck) crossposted from Agent Orange The Steel Interstate concept (tagpage) is one that I have been discussing, off and on, in my Sunday Train series. The basic idea is to electrify the Department of Defense STrategic RAil Corridor NETwork, STRACNET (right), and establish 100mph Rapid Freight Rail paths, to allow an estimated (Millenium Institute pdf) half of long haul trucking to shift to electric freight rail at a saving of about 10% of our current oil imports. This diary is about how to overcome the only thing standing in its way: Public Finance. And that is to impose a $1/barrel tax on imported petroleum and petroleum products, and allocate 1% of any Carbon Fee to financing construction. There's More... :: (6 Comments, 2066 words in story)

Building a smarter planet -- really... by: cassiodorus Tue Jan 13, 2009 at 15:37:44 PST (noon. - promoted by ek hornbeck) This diary starts with the IBM slogan, as viewers were exposed to it in the telecasts of the NFL playoffs this weekend, and speculates on what it would really take to "build a smarter planet."  Thus I will embark upon a critique of the notion that being "smarter" is the same as being more informed, or cleverer, and suggest a version of "building a smarter planet" that has some planetary wisdom built into it. (Crossposted at Big Orange) There's More... :: (6 Comments, 1668 words in story)

Obama stimulus plan to include major corporate tax cuts by: rjones2818 Tue Jan 06, 2009 at 00:05:00 PST Original article, by Jerry White, via World Socialist Web Site: For weeks, spokesmen for the incoming Barack Obama administration have suggested that they would respond to the economic crisis by launching a massive program of public spending, with some supporters comparing the scope of the planned economic stimulus package to Roosevelt's New Deal measures during the Great Depression. There's More... :: (3 Comments, 240 words in story)

Salesman of the month for Wall Street by: rjones2818 Tue Oct 07, 2008 at 10:32:01 PDT Original article, an editorial subtitled The Democratic nominee was personally responsible for delivering the votes on the bailout bill, via socialistworker.org: THE BANKERS will soon begin collecting their $700 billion ransom from taxpayers. And they can thank Barack Obama for helping them get away with it. There's More... :: (1 Comments, 492 words in story)

Happen 2 U? A friend? by: Frosted Flake Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 12:02:45 PDT I find it real hard to believe I am the only one this happened to. So please read. if it does not apply to you, and you have no comment, then please go ahead and enjoy the novelty of the problem. It's long, but it's fun, unless it's you, To preface, because it is now apparent that I owe these guys no Courtesy, the following has been sent for review to : a/ My family and friends. b/ The local paper. c/ The local grapevine. d/ Representative Defazio. e/ Representative Conyers, via his blog. f/ Senator Wyden g/ You. But it has not yet been sent to the Department of Education, because they won't give me their email, and my printer is kaput. Tuesday the Library is open. Then I will burn two copies, one for the bad guys, the other for the local Senior and Disabled Services Office. This gives some time to change the letter, make it better. And that is why I am asking for input. Thanks all, and with no further ado, on with the show ! =======================================================   There's More... :: (11 Comments, 1264 words in story)

An economic stimulus for the antiwar movement? by: xofferson Tue May 06, 2008 at 17:45:42 PDT Is the U.S. Treasury, which can't print money fast enough to pay for the trillion-dollar tragedy in Iraq, about to give an economic stimulus to peace organizations working to stop the war? It seems highly unlikely, but if it doesn't happen it won't be because the antiwar folks haven't tried.  Many seem to be on the same wave length as an email I received yesterday from United for Peace and Justice: Spend your stimulus check on peace! The sooner the war ends, the more money the nation saves. Not to mention the lives and futures of millions of people. So let's use the stimulus money to stop the war, bring all of the troops home and get the nation's budget back on track. We invite you to spend your stimulus check, or some portion of it, on the one thing the Bush administration doesn't want you to invest in: Help strengthen the peace and justice movement! Steve Burns, a staffer for the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, like UFPJ a coalition of many groups, didn't even wait to get his check.  He wrote to President Bush in March to tell him how he was spending his stimulus check: There's More... :: (4 Comments, 660 words in story)