The Troofernomic Recovery Program

Conspiracy theorist and former Lyndon Larouche followed Webster Tarpley posts his economic recovery plan on Rense.com. There is so much wrong with this that one could write a PhD dissertation on it, but I will just touch on some lowlights. Even more incredible is the fact that the truthers consider this nutjob some sort of intellectual.

1. Stop all foreclosures immediately for at least five years and for the duration of the depression by means of a compulsory federal law carrying criminal penalties. No foreclosures on homes, family farms, factories, public utilities, hospitals, transportation and other infrastructure. Outlaw adjustable rate mortgages.

Woot! Five years of free rent. I am buying a BMW tomorrow!

2. Raise the federal minimum wage immediately to a living wage of at least $15 per hour, with the short-term goal of attaining a federal minimum wage of at least $20 per hour.

Why stop at $20, let's just raise it to $100 while we are at it. Everyone can afford to retire at 40 and live on their yacht!

3. Immediate enactment of a securities transfer tax (STT) or Tobin tax of 1% to be imposed on all financial turnover in all financial markets to include the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ, the Amex, the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the market in federal securities, the foreign exchange market, the New York Mercantile Exchange, and all other financial markets. This tax will be paid by the seller. This tax will be extended to the notional value of all derivatives, including over-the-counter derivatives, exchange traded derivatives, structured notes, designer derivatives and all other financial paper. Derivatives will become reportable under penalty of law. It is conservatively estimated that the securities transfer tax will yield approximately $5 trillion of new revenue in its first year of application.

Conservatively estimated? Considering that would be around 40% of GDP, and about twice what the federal government gets from every other tax combined, I am dying to hear what their more wild estimates are. Of course what anyone with more than a 10th grade education realizes, is this would lead to an immediately seize-up of the markets, and zero liquidity. Yeah, that is a great recipe for a recovery.

Sorry, I can't go on, I can feel brain cells dying by the word...