Where is the US economy headed?

Still, corporations have boomed during Obama's presidency, even as unemployment has remained high. Corporate profits hit an all-time high of $1.93 trillion in the second quarter of 2011, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, up from an earlier all-time high in the fourth quarter of 2010. Corporate profits accounted for 88 percent of all economic growth during the first 18 months after the end of the recession, compared to just 53 percent of economic growth after the 2001 recession under Bush

The catalyst was the situation in Italy, the EU's 3rd largest economy, where government bond interest rates rose above 7%

The catalyst was the situation in Italy, the EU's 3rd largest economy, where government bond interest rates rose above 7%.

President Obama’s Agriculture Department today announced that it will impose a new 15-cent charge on all fresh Christmas trees—the Christmas Tree Tax—to support a new Federal program to improve the image and marketing of Christmas trees.

In the Federal Register of November 8, 2011, Acting Administrator of Agricultural Marketing David R. Shipman announced that the Secretary of Agriculture will appoint a Christmas Tree Promotion Board. The purpose of the Board is to run a “program of promotion, research, evaluation, and information designed to strengthen the Christmas tree industry’s position in the marketplace; maintain and expend existing markets for Christmas trees; and to carry out programs, plans, and projects designed to provide maximum benefits to the Christmas tree industry” (7 CFR 1214.46(n)). And the program of “information” is to include efforts to “enhance the image of Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry in the United States” (7 CFR 1214.10).

To pay for the new Federal Christmas tree image improvement and marketing program, the Department of Agriculture imposed a 15-cent fee on all sales of fresh Christmas trees by sellers of more than 500 trees per year (7 CFR 1214.52). And, of course, the Christmas tree sellers are free to pass along the 15-cent Federal fee to consumers who buy their Christmas trees

and the dollar rose sharply.

Maybe we will need the US to rescue us again. We could sell them The Queen.

November 09, 2011 2:35 PM
When nonsense gets in the way

It seemed like a simple little idea. The Christmas tree industry, which has been struggling in recent years, wanted to fund a promotional program, encouraging consumers to buy real, rather than artificial, trees over the holiday season. The idea was for Christmas trees to follow in the footsteps of milk, beef, and cotton, all of which benefited from successful promotional campaigns.

To pay for the effort, the industry launched the Christmas Tree Promotion, Research and Information Order, asking the Agriculture Department to approve a 15-cent fee, per tree, on domestic producers and importers. It was requested by the industry, to benefit the industry, and to be paid for by the industry.

The Agriculture Department solicited public feedback, and most supported the proposal. This week, officials gave the industry the green light to proceed.

And that’s when Republican hacks decided to intervene.

Some loons decided the Obama administration wants to impose a new “tax” on Christmas trees because the president “hates Christians.” National Christmas Tree Association spokesman Rick Dungey tried to explain this “has absolutely nothing to do with Obama,” and “it’s not a tax,” but it was too late — the right-wing message machine had already kicked into gear.

Quote:

The well-trafficked Drudge Report is leading with the story, linking to a blog by David Addington, a former top aide to then-Vice President Cheney. David Addington, at the conservative Heritage Foundation assailing the president thus: “The economy is barely growing and nine percent of the American people have no jobs. Is a new tax on Christmas trees the best President Obama can do? And, by the way, the American Christmas tree has a great image that doesn’t need any help from the government.”

Addington is many things, but he’s not an idiot. Addington surely knows what he published is pure garbage, but he did it anyway — the right has a political war to win and when truth gets in the way, it needs soldiers willing to push honesty aside.

And because the White House doesn’t want to spend the next two months arguing about a “Christmas Tree tax” that doesn’t exist, the administration decided to delay implementation of the industry fee, which, again, was requested by the industry for the industry.

This is why we can’t have nice things — our political discourse is dominated by fools and charlatans.