“I think those lower CG rates stimulated the bubble and the shifting of effort into financial manipulation instead of real production.”

So you think its role of fiscal policy to control asset prices? Incorrect, monetary policy is (ie control of the money supply .. remember, inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon Lower CG rates are good, they promote investment into one of the key ways companies can finance themselves, issuing stock.

As for lowering the cost of employment to employers, how about lowering or even removing payroll taxes?

John Stewart should get a medal for having the balls to do stuff like this.

However, we need to stimulate employment directly instead of the phony propping up of financial manipulation. I have long argued, let’s try changing the tax code to apply a multiplier (e.g. 1.2X) to all or some of the cost of employment for deduction in corporate taxation. (Maybe not that simple, but along those lines.) Then raise the base corporate tax on the adjusted net profit to be roughly revenue-neutral on average, so: companies that hire workers and/or pay them more are rewarded versus those that try to save money.

Imagine for a moment if Rush Limbaugh moved his show to comedy central and just had some comedians make a periodic appearance to claim it’s just harmless satire. That is essentially what Jon Stewart has done…but fortunately I think he is the good guy in this case. Fox news has already tried a daily show format called “1/2 hour news show” so that they can spew their agenda and hide behind the “satire and comedy” defense…it got cancelled because of low ratings…but they plan to try again.

One can be a fan of Jon Stewart and still be able to criticize him when needed.

there is hypocrisy although perhaps you should qualify where it is. if you think what the daily show and jon stewart are doing gives them license to do whatever they want, it’s because they do have license. they’re doing satire. they’re not trying to sell news.

Second: yes, it’s true that Stewart does this all from a comedic perspective generally — and yet, has been for many years at times the *ONLY* voice of reason on the airwaves. it’s a very impressive track record, particularly the times he *is* serious, or semi-serious (cf. the clip of his takedown of Tucker Carlson on Hardball, which got Hardball cancelled soon after (paraphrase: “you’re just as much of a dick on your show as anywhere else”) as well as his the emotion he shows after Obama was actually elected, *and* his show just after 9/11).

He now finally has real competition with the impressive voice of Rachel Maddow out there — sharp, incisive, funny, witty, and very real, and also Olbermann to a degree (though he is not as universally liked).

Last — the most impressive and honestly to me memorable part of this clip with Cramer is something i think almost everyone passes over and barely notices, in all the brouhaha: when Stewart says how about we get back to make an honest living instead of just trying to get rich quick by gambling on Wall Street? it’s so *fundamental*, so much a part to me of what “American values” are supposed to be… and yet, just so very glossed over in our culture, so much, these a’ days.