Brent Budowsky: The economic crisis

A graduate of the London School of Economics, Brent Budowsky has been quoted by name recently on CNBC. The following is an excerpt of his regular Tuesday column in The Hill.

The economic crisis

By Brent Budowsky

President Bush, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) should be applauded for bipartisanship, but the pending stimulus falls short, with a gathering storm of economic danger upon us…

The possibility of a cascading recession that spreads to global markets is real. The need for an anti-recession “insurance policy” is urgent. Chairman Greenspan, Chairman Bernanke, President Bush, Secretary Paulson, Congress and Wall Street leaders have all been wrong about this crisis. They must restore their credibility with policies equal to the task.

First, there must be a six-month freeze on foreclosures. If another million homes are foreclosed upon, the stimulus will be swept aside under a tidal wave of trouble.

Shame on the political media, with pundits interminably blathering about campaign tactics and bad predictions, without any substantial discussion of the economic dangers and solutions.

Second, the Fed must restore its credibility with decisive action, immediately, to cut interest rates by at least 100 basis points.

Third, I propose a one-time, $1.5 billion profits tax on oil companies. $1 billion would fund an employment tax rebate for small businesses hiring new workers. $500 million would fund aid to homeless vets, bonuses for troops returning from combat and public service grants to fixed-income grandparents and retirees who help poor, ill and orphaned kids.

Interest rate cuts are mandatory but hurt fixed-income Americans, and this must be redressed.

The president should consider this modest call on oil companies to help America. It would be an insignificant monetary sacrifice by a sector that has profited handsomely throughout the crisis and should be asked, like others, what it will do for our country.

This would increase the stimulus dramatically. It would inject capital into small business to fuel jobs and growth, without measurable impact on deficits or inflation.

Fourth, if Saudi Arabia does not use its influence to try to lower oil prices, new arms sales should be terminated.

Our crisis today is real. The common sense of the matter is clear. The gathering storm is upon us. The sooner we act, the stronger the program, the greater the good and the lesser the pain. We should escalate the bipartisanship and increase the power of the program.

Budowsky serves on the Advisory Council of the Intelligence Summit and is a contributing editor to Fighting Dems News Service. He handled intelligence issues for Sen. Lloyd Bentsen when the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was originally passed, and was legislative director to Bill Alexander, then the chief deputy whip of the House. He can be read on The Hill’s Pundits Blog and reached at brentbbi@webtv.net.

Click the title, above, to read more. Send a message about this column to letters@thehill.com. If your letter is good enough to be published, it may be read by your senators and congressman!

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

The excerpt above is posted with the full knowledge and permission, even encouragement, of the author, who wants his essays to be read by as many people as possible.

going to those who make under 60,000 a year as a one time tax rebate that would be used to fuel spending. Those who make under that amount are more likly i believe to spend that "windfall"

They went to a "Charity of his choice" to keep him out of jail.

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Cheneys_stock_options_rose_3281_last_1011.html

Somebody's making some money out there -- and it isn't just the oil companies...