Economics 101, Republicans do you not know that prosperity is

[Prosper]

the result of people buying consumables creating demand and jobs. What I see is people with too much money looking for amusement by torturing poor people.

[ProfessorGAC]

1. Their Problem Is...

...they did take Econ 101. And their depth of understanding stopped there.
At that level, the entire economy looks 2 dimensional. X therefore Y.
But, the macroeconomy has 20+ high impact variables with a couple hundred interactions.
That level of interdependent complexity is way beyond their comprehension.
Somehow, universities are still giving degrees, including PhD, in econ, while these grads have only an understanding of how their degree can help THEM, AND ONLY THEM!

[unblock]

4. Don't get me started on republicans and microeconomics.

Oh damn, too late:

Republicans heard that the standard supply and demand model suggests that given a ton of assumptions, free markets tends to find an equilibrium price that efficiently allocates resources.

From this they jump to the conclusion that the free market can do no wrong and shouldn't be taxed or regulated or restricted in any way.

Blatantly wrong! The free market doesn't work well if the there is incomplete information, leading to inefficient decisions and outcomes.

Same with externalities. Market participants might profit from buying and selling in and industry, but that can impact third parties, sometimes causing even more damage overall than profit. It's not a good outcome if that happens.

And monopolies! Generally, the standard model requires vigorous competition to produce the desired results. But monopolies mess with that, and republicans love it when companies have pricing power -- monopolistic or near monopolistic power. And they love anti-competition. Except in the labor market, where they do everything they can to keep workers weak and divided and competing against each other.

But they don't care. They pretend like all it is is whatever happens in the absence of government is automatically the best. Well as long as the big businesses contribute to their campaigns, of course....

[ProfessorGAC]

5. Back To X Therefore Y

Except there's 15 X's. And, some interact with another, or another 2 or 3. And that doesn't make for a simple to understand graph.
They have to retreat to that simple two dimensional picture because those other dimensions are either beyond them, or their too intellectually lazy to pursue.

[unblock]

6. yeah, multivariate analysis is hard

but of course, they're not even interested in actual analysis. they just want the simple answer that serves their purposes.

like with "incentives". they just loooove talking about incentives. then they propose the most idiotic incentives, like cutting the corporate tax rate.

as if this was an "incentive" to earn profit. c'mon, to whatever extent the free market works, it's because *profit* is an incentive to earn profit. you don't need an incentive to do something the market already gives you an incentive to do.

cutting the corporate tax rate, for the most part*, doesn't give anyone an incentive to do anything they weren't already going to do. if a business endeavor is profitable, they should already be doing it. cutting taxes then merely is a gift for doing something they were already going to do anyway and already going to profit off of. if something wasn't profitable, cutting taxes on profit doesn't make it profitable, so it doesn't change their decision there either.

now, giving someone a tax break to hire more people, or to use renewable energy, *that* might give someone an incentive to do something that has a public benefit that they might not otherwise do, because that actually might make an unprofitable decision profitable. but of course, republicans hate that sort of thing and bash it as the government "interfering" in the free market and "calling winners and losers".


*i'm simplifying. once you take risk-adjustments and alternatives into account, it's possible for a tax cut to encourage some economic activity. but a *huge* portion of such tax cuts are simply a gift for people doing what they were always going to do anyway.

[rickford66]

2. Supply follows demand.

Democrats have trouble explaining this. A few ads simplifying this would go a long way.

[Under The Radar]

3. Correct, but the life blood of the 1% is the Stock Market

...and it is more obvious now than ever that the economy and the Market are completely different.
Example; there is 11% unemployment, 35 million out of work, default rates increasing to 2008 levels, but yet the Dow is at 26,000, higher than all of Clinton, Bush, And Obama economies, and the largest banks are having the best year in their history.
Cash in the hands of working families does fuel the economy. But the government needs that money so that the government can cut taxes on the rich further and provide them bailout funds when the market takes a small short dip.

[Yavin4]

7. They only know what their donors and Fox News tells them.

Their donors want their wage slaves to return to work, virus or no virus.