12/19/2008 11:08:02 AM EST

Hartmann In Mid 2007: Economy Is About To Collapse

posted by Tom Hanc

Someone posted this at DU and I wanted to share it here.

Thom Hartmann was (unfortunately) right back in June of '07 when he explained why he thought the economy was about to collapse. And his point about India WRT free trade is very interesting. The 97% figure is astounding.

BTW, it's a youtube clip with audio (no video, just a still).

Email Print
Google Technorati del.icio.us digg reddit Facebook
< Why are you not all over this?? | Weak Bitter Movie Critic >
 Display:
Hartmann In Mid 2007: Economy Is About To Collapse | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden)
Surprise! (none / 0)

Thom Hartmann was absolutely right.  See how he gets facts, and processes them to form a conclusion?  It's amazing isn't it?  The point he makes after he comes back from the break is great as well.

Now get him on the show already.  ;)

by Spencer on 12/19/2008 04:22:16 PM EST

Check out the question in my response to Dave (none / 0)
At the bottom.

by Tom Hanc on 12/19/2008 05:48:07 PM EST

[ Parent ]
friday's hartmann (none / 0)
I listened to about an hour of Hartmann today with Bernie Sanders and Ravi Batra. Good stuff.

Of the many comments they made and I could make in return, there is one I wanted to chat about.  Batra and Hartmann were extolling about the value to the overall economy of high wages. In general, I think they make sense, but what do they want?  Who is to determine if the wages of auto workers are "high enough"?  Do they want the government to look over companies and industries and tell employers here and there, "Raise the salaries you pay your employees."?

David

by yturks on 12/19/2008 04:50:16 PM EST

2 Things (none / 0)
1. I asked Ana to book Batra a while ago and she did but everyone hated the segment (at least everyone in the chat room at the time, although that IS a tough crowd ;). It just didn't go well for some reason, but he always works on Hartmann, or at least he seems to.

2. I know Thom thinks the minimum wage should automatically go up with inflation (I can't remember the amount it would currently be...$15 or so?) but that there shouldn't be one national minimum wage because it doesn't account for cost of living differences based on city/state.

He also makes an excellent point when he says that if you can't afford to pay your workers a living wage you can't afford to be in business. That's simple, but it makes a whole hell of a lot of sense. Also, people are incredibly short sighted.

They don't seem to grasp the fact that if EVERYONE pays their minimum wage workers an extra $2 an hour that means all of those people will turn around and spend that money in local businesses. People at lower/moderate levels of income generally don't' save and invest, they SPEND which keeps the gears of the economy turning.
At any rate, we can have some interesting debate/disagreement on discussion about the specifics, but the general point is that Hartmann is having the right conversation (as is Cenk increasingly which I'm very happy to see) on economics, wages, taxes, etc.

PS---I wonder if Spencer remembers what Hartmann said the other day about what percentage of the media (Internet not included) we consume is owned by just 7 giant corporations. It was astounding, I want to say it was over 90%.

by Tom Hanc on 12/19/2008 05:47:34 PM EST

[ Parent ]
I don't remember. (none / 0)

I don't think I heard that segment.

by Spencer on 12/19/2008 05:52:31 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Thanks for trying (none / 0)
No, actually I take that back. No thanks for not pointing out to me that I had written "Indiana" rather than "India" in my post.

Then again maybe I would like Indiana food, who knows.

by Tom Hanc on 12/19/2008 05:55:16 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Batra (none / 0)
I remember the segment, he did go off the deep end in trying to explain that our deficit was a function of wages not keeping pace with productivity or.... It was very abstract.  Probably the worst interview I have heard him do. But he has been way ahead with his predictions on the economy for some time now. Well before 2007.  

The truth of the matter is that Cenk and large part of the country still fall for the supply side propaganda and when someone trys to explain the demand side they cannot process it. Lets call it the Charlie Brown Syndrome. He downplayed someone ealier this week that had laid out the picture pretty clearly on what happens with supply side tax cuts and deregulation. Until more people can come to terms with the facts on the ground we are going to continue to make the same mistakes over and over.

by sisco66 on 12/19/2008 10:05:57 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Earlier this week (none / 0)
Are you talking about when Larry from Alternet was on discussing how higher taxes (at the top) actually fuel economic growth?

His Alternet articles on the topic are a must read. I heard part of the segment live in the chat room (rare for me) but since I'm behind on my TYT podcasts this week I haven't heard most of of it.

As usual when there is any economic based guests that gets into it, some in the chatroom were bored. Apparently they want more T & A, fart jokes and explosions.

;)

by Tom Hanc on 12/19/2008 11:49:48 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Larry Allen (none / 0)
I pod cast as well and was working so I am not sure about his name. I will check out his work. And yes, his point being that cutting short term capitol gains taxes and lower corporate taxes promote taking profits over the type of reinvestment in R&D, equipment & staff......that make the business and the economey grow.  The same point Thom makes on regular basis.

Not to mention the boom bust cycle lower taxes and deregulation create. That is why we had a 70% tax bracket and higher marginal rates espcially on coporations, to prevent the looting that leads to the mess we are currently in. And not for the purposes of wealth redistribution, which is what we have had for the last 30 years. Enough cannot be said about it.

The Cato Institute has finaly recogonized that if we borrow money to give tax cuts, it is spending. However that is only because the Pres Elect wants to give tax cuts to working people. The not so new talking point is we need even lower Corporate Tax Rates like Europe. To which the reply from the nit wits on the progressive side should be, "in the form of single payer health care" if you want to really level the playing field. What greater tax cut could you give a corporation or a "small business owner" than to remove or significantly reduce the burdern of healthcare?

Clinton ran on making us more competive by reducing healthcare costs, then the idiot pushed through NAFTA before addressing healthcare. He threw away his only carrot. Granted, healthcare cost came down temporarly due to the fear of Hillarycare, as well as the growth caused by lower interest rates and investment in technology leading up to Y2K, intenrnet boom, fuel injectors.....real "innovation" that creates jobs. Now everytime we invent something we ship it overseas for mass production. There is a huge story no one wants to talk about, technology innovations in a global corpoarte society. Who owns da chiefs?

I usally listen to Stephanie Miller for T&A and fart jokes, but I digress...

by sisco66 on 12/20/2008 09:39:28 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Larry Allen (none / 0)
I need glasses and have football on the brain, AlterNet..

by sisco66 on 12/20/2008 09:57:13 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Eric Williams (none / 0)
Even I could have been a hall of famer running through those holes. I met Eric Williams in Newark, De of all places, right after some incident. He was actually very nice even if his mere presence scared the crap out of me.
I am afraid your boys are going to be Raven food tonight, if not we got a little something planned for them next week in Phili.

by sisco66 on 12/20/2008 10:49:33 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Hartmann In Mid 2007: Economy Is About To Collapse | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden)
 Display: