Discussion for article #228617
Well, considering that there never has been a sound argument for increasing the number of starving homeless people without medical care, and considering the effective corporate tax contribution is the lowest in decades and likewise for the uber-wealthy, and considering that hasn’t inhibited the bullshit tsunami yet because in point of fact far too many think Obama is spending what Bush spent, sadly this reality with respect to the deficit will make not one bit of difference.
Cutting the safety nets is based on envy of those lazy hammock-laying crab-claw sucking black people taking from the hard working white man who just can’t get ahead – never mind that he can’t get ahead because of the people he elects to office on a platform of resistance to the lazy black man who, once in office, confer all the benefits to their true constituents: the ones benefiting from the tax breaks and deregulation.
It’s like one of those Chinese finger puzzles: the harder they pull, the tighter it grips. And far too many are far too stupid to understand how to break free.
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“This will be useful to remember when a potential Republican Congress pushes through a Paul Ryan-esque budget that cuts into the programs that help keep people afloat and out of poverty.”
Another useful thing to remember would be Obama’s repeated attempts to shove CPI down America’s throat - he was right in there doing the Austerity Twist with the best of them.
Obama puts entire future of welfare at risk in budget proposal, critics warn
Barack Obama will propose cuts to social security benefits on Wednesday that risk fatally undermining the safety net Democrats once fought so hard to protect, according to campaigners who have delivered a two-million name petition to the White House.
As officials confirmed that Obama’s budget will include $1.2tn worth of spending cuts and limits on welfare, a small but noisy group of protesters gathered outside the White House to register their horror.
The president has offered up the cuts as a compromise to try to bring Republicans back to negotiations on a universal tax-and-spending agreement and break a fiscal deadlock that has paralysed Washington. So far the idea has been met with derision on Capitol Hill, making it highly unlikely that the White House budget proposal will be enacted.
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One of the best articles I’ve read on TPM in a while.
I would love for TPM to highlight analyses such as this one
to the extent sometimes given of erroneous headline click-bait articles.
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The deficits were created by Reagan and the Bush crime family in order to cut social programs.
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Articles like this are the reason I started reading TPM.
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Few and far between at times.
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Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, eh comrade? (and comradette…lol)
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“Unfortunately for them, all of the arguments they like to deploy in favor of safety-net cuts are collapsing.”
This would only be a problem for them if their position on safety net cuts was a matter of honest policy disagreement, instead of a point of ideological dogma.
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Nah - just being truthful about the past.
Remember the Catfood Commission?
President Obama’s Deficit Commission is all smoke and mirrors. Its members are making a big show of laboring over “painful” choices and considering all options in their quest to bring down the deficit. But inside the Beltway everyone knows what’s going to happen: The commission will reduce the deficit on the backs of the old and the poor, through cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Some opponents have taken to calling it the Cat Food Commission, since that’s what its victims will be forced to eat once the commission gets done slashing away at their modest entitlements.
In fact, the true intent of the Deficit Commission was evident before it was even formed. That intent was only driven home when Obama appointed as its co-chair Alan Simpson, who is well known for voicing, in the most colorful terms, what Paul Krugman calls the “zombie lie” that old-age entitlements will soon bankrupt the country.
Good times, good times.
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He has tried to do some things, but I think he was doing it because he wanted to be a unifier (the GOP ensured that would never be), and he was never going to get the alternatives to shoring up social security and such through. That was his attempt at compromise. Not saying it is good or bad, but it is better than some of the conservative options.
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Don’t worry comrade, your anti-Democratic defamations are also tolerated welcomed here.
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ProTip: Telling the truth isn’t “anti-democratic”.
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Yes, I’m sure you heard Alex Jones say that once. Or twice.
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Very refreshing to read the article. Along with the dearth of quality job growth is the missed opportunity to rebuild the country at a time when the cost of funds is about zero. Big giant projects, led by big giant firms with Republicans at the helm were avoided because True Believers were given the power to say no and Democrats were not bold enough to step up and fight for what is right.
Gone are the days of earmarks and the nation suffers. Crazy bat shit tea bag know nothings hijacked the federal government at the moment the economy experienced its second worst period in history. Earmarks could have put money into the economy where and when it is needed most. Large and small engineering firms and manufacturers and construction contractors would still be hiring to meet the demands that actually exist. These companies would keep the grocery stores and restaurants and hardware stores vital. Home sales would have rebounded and the lawyers and lenders would have benefited from that, too. Instead, we are led by dopes who think that the president is a communist. 40 something votes on Benghazi and not one to get to the fundamentals of our troubles.
If it were up to these dopes, we would build the Great Wall of Texas and Arizona while the stone walls and roadways in most cities and towns are crumbling. If it were up to them, we would spend “whatever it takes” to get the boots back on the ground to wipe out what can’t be wiped out with boots on the ground in the Middle East.
As the writer said, under Obama the debt to GDP ratio has never been better in the modern era. We’ve reduced our debt load and increased our level of misery. I blame the Dems for not standing up and pushing back. The president has been pummeled by the opposition and has been left largely on his own. Dems who are upset that the president hasn’t invited them in for lunch are being juvenile. The whole House of Representatives was hijacked by crazy people and Mitch McConnell pledged to oppose the president from day one- which he did and is proud of it- and the Democrats sat back and took it. In the next election, let’s throw out the insane people and put creative thinkers in their place.
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I guess they just don’t enjoy Catfood as much as Obama does. (For the 99%, of course.)
Another way the extremely rich are benefiting from the austerity policies that hurt the working class, besides depressing the demand for jobs which depresses wages: high unemployment is causing the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low, which enables them to buy stocks and other investments on cheap credit.
Ever since Ben Bernanke, late in his term as Fed chair, made the minutes of the weekly meetings more transparent, the stock markets have undergone weekly convulsions either in response to or in anticipation of the reports-- do these minutes mean interest rates are going up, does this good jobs report mean rates are going up, etc.
The ultra-rich have the best of both worlds: they’re benefiting disproportionately from the weak recovery – soaring corporate earnings and stock prices and low labor costs for “job creators” – while also benefiting from low interest rates which, in the absence of stimulative fiscal policies, are the only tool available to promote economic recovery. It’s a case of “stimulus for me, but not for thee.”
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“All The Arguments For Cutting the Safety Net Have Fallen Apart”
I disagree. Since so many of the conservative/GOP/Teatroll arguments on the subject are nothing more than Atwaterian code-speak for “we need to do this to fuck minorities and maintain our advantages/privileges as the whiteful rightful rulers of this country,” the argument hasn’t really fallen apart. They will still argue that. Rather, they will simply change veils.
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Yawn.
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Double-Yawn.