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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Benny B on February 27, 2009, 01:54:59 AM
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February 27, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
Climate of Change
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Elections have consequences. President Obama’s new budget represents a huge break, not just with the policies of the past eight years, but with policy trends over the past 30 years. If he can get anything like the plan he announced on Thursday through Congress, he will set America on a fundamentally new course.
The budget will, among other things, come as a huge relief to Democrats who were starting to feel a bit of postpartisan depression. The stimulus bill that Congress passed may have been too weak and too focused on tax cuts. The administration’s refusal to get tough on the banks may be deeply disappointing. But fears that Mr. Obama would sacrifice progressive priorities in his budget plans, and satisfy himself with fiddling around the edges of the tax system, have now been banished.
For this budget allocates $634 billion over the next decade for health reform. That’s not enough to pay for universal coverage, but it’s an impressive start. And Mr. Obama plans to pay for health reform, not just with higher taxes on the affluent, but by putting a halt to the creeping privatization of Medicare, eliminating overpayments to insurance companies.
On another front, it’s also heartening to see that the budget projects $645 billion in revenues from the sale of emission allowances. After years of denial and delay by its predecessor, the Obama administration is signaling that it’s ready to take on climate change.
And these new priorities are laid out in a document whose clarity and plausibility seem almost incredible to those of us who grew accustomed to reading Bush-era budgets, which insulted our intelligence on every page. This is budgeting we can believe in.
Many will ask whether Mr. Obama can actually pull off the deficit reduction he promises. Can he actually reduce the red ink from $1.75 trillion this year to less than a third as much in 2013? Yes, he can.
Right now the deficit is huge thanks to temporary factors (at least we hope they’re temporary): a severe economic slump is depressing revenues and large sums have to be allocated both to fiscal stimulus and to financial rescues.
But if and when the crisis passes, the budget picture should improve dramatically. Bear in mind that from 2005 to 2007, that is, in the three years before the crisis, the federal deficit averaged only $243 billion a year. Now, during those years, revenues were inflated, to some degree, by the housing bubble. But it’s also true that we were spending more than $100 billion a year in Iraq.
So if Mr. Obama gets us out of Iraq (without bogging us down in an equally expensive Afghan quagmire) and manages to engineer a solid economic recovery — two big ifs, to be sure — getting the deficit down to around $500 billion by 2013 shouldn’t be at all difficult.
But won’t the deficit be swollen by interest on the debt run-up over the next few years? Not as much as you might think. Interest rates on long-term government debt are less than 4 percent, so even a trillion dollars of additional debt adds less than $40 billion a year to future deficits. And those interest costs are fully reflected in the budget documents.
So we have good priorities and plausible projections. What’s not to like about this budget? Basically, the long run outlook remains worrying.
According to the Obama administration’s budget projections, the ratio of federal debt to G.D.P., a widely used measure of the government’s financial position, will soar over the next few years, then more or less stabilize. But this stability will be achieved at a debt-to-G.D.P. ratio of around 60 percent. That wouldn’t be an extremely high debt level by international standards, but it would be the deepest in debt America has been since the years immediately following World War II. And it would leave us with considerably reduced room for maneuver if another crisis comes along.
Furthermore, the Obama budget only tells us about the next 10 years. That’s an improvement on Bush-era budgets, which looked only 5 years ahead. But America’s really big fiscal problems lurk over that budget horizon: sooner or later we’re going to have to come to grips with the forces driving up long-run spending — above all, the ever-rising cost of health care.
And even if fundamental health care reform brings costs under control, I at least find it hard to see how the federal government can meet its long-term obligations without some tax increases on the middle class. Whatever politicians may say now, there’s probably a value-added tax in our future.
But I don’t blame Mr. Obama for leaving some big questions unanswered in this budget. There’s only so much long-run thinking the political system can handle in the midst of a severe crisis; he has probably taken on all he can, for now. And this budget looks very, very good.
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Serious , ask for a refund. You are a complete moron.
How can taxing people more and giving them higher energy bills help anyone but the politicians and govt?
You are nothing more than a male lewinsky.
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How can taxing people more and giving them higher energy bills help anyone but the politicians and govt?
The budget has to be balanced.
In other words, you have to pay for the goodies.
If you want to go to war in Iraq, there's a bill to pay.
Very few things in life are free.
You rather want a president who keeps running a deficit?
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The budget has to be balanced.
In other words, you have to pay for the goodies.
If you want to go to war in Iraq, there's a bill to pay.
Very few things in life are free.
You rather want a president who keeps running a deficit?
No, I want a president who has a clue and knows that cutting spending on waste fraud and abuse and non-productive programs needs to be a priority.
I want a president who has actually worked a day in his life and has balanced even a checkbook once in his life.
Obama is a disaster. He tripled the deficit and then claims to want to half that????
WTF nonsense is that?
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No, I want a president who has a clue and knows that cutting spending on waste fraud and abuse and non-productive programs needs to be a priority.
I want a president who has actually worked a day in his life and has balanced even a checkbook once in his life.
Obama is a disaster. He tripled the deficit and then claims to want to half that????
WTF nonsense is that?
You, dogshit and a few others on this board will never make it through the next four years, let alone Obama's second term. You will either die of a stroke or kill yourself. :-\
You heard it here first!
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The budget has to be balanced.
In other words, you have to pay for the goodies.
If you want to go to war in Iraq, there's a bill to pay.
Very few things in life are free.
You rather want a president who keeps running a deficit?
There isnt ONE economist who thinks these numbers add up.The WALL STREET JOURNAL had an article yesterday which spelled it out.HE CANT BALANCE THE BUDGET with this plan.Its a farce.
THERE IS NO TAX CUT!!!!!You will be getting 13 bucks a week,that you will have to pay taxes on at the end of the year.THE TAX RATES DIDNT CHANGE!!!!
Everything this man says is a lie.
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You, dogshit and a few others on this board will never make it through the next four years, let alone Obama's second term. You will either die of a stroke or kill yourself. :-\
You heard it here first!
What happens when the Cons win in 2010...and Obama losses in 2012....liberal douchbagery.....Carter with a tan.....
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There isnt ONE economist who thinks these numbers add up.The WALL STREET JOURNAL had an article yesterday which spelled it out.HE CANT BALANCE THE BUDGET with this plan.Its a farce.
THERE IS NO TAX CUT!!!!!You will be getting 13 bucks a week,that you will have to pay taxes on at the end of the year.THE TAX RATES DIDNT CHANGE!!!!
Everything this man says is a lie.
The liberal messiah can do no wrong to these people.
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The only thing I agreed with the author on is:
"But America’s really big fiscal problems lurk over that budget horizon: sooner or later we’re going to have to come to grips with the forces driving up long-run spending — above all, the ever-rising cost of health care. And even if fundamental health care reform brings costs under control, I at least find it hard to see how the federal government can meet its long-term obligations without some tax increases on the middle class. Whatever politicians may say now, there’s probably a value-added tax in our future."
The rest of the article is looking through some very blurry glasses. No one can defend this massive spending. Obama is setting up the mark of success as having a 500-600 billion dollar budget deficit, that sucks and continues the mounting national deficit. The goal is a balanced budget, as we had under Clinton. Obama is very dissapointing and is very misleading with what he says. You have to look at objective #s, not just listen to the nice rhetoric.
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The only thing I agreed with the author on is:
"But America’s really big fiscal problems lurk over that budget horizon: sooner or later we’re going to have to come to grips with the forces driving up long-run spending — above all, the ever-rising cost of health care. And even if fundamental health care reform brings costs under control, I at least find it hard to see how the federal government can meet its long-term obligations without some tax increases on the middle class. Whatever politicians may say now, there’s probably a value-added tax in our future."
The rest of the article is looking through some very blurry glasses. No one can defend this massive spending. Obama is setting up the mark of success as having a 500-600 billion dollar budget deficit, that sucks and continues the mounting national deficit. The goal is a balanced budget, as we had under Clinton. Obama is very dissapointing and is very misleading with what he says. You have to look at objective #s, not just listen to the nice rhetoric.
As a business person myself, I see through bs every day since I deal with con artists, scammers, liars, schemers all day trying to cheat my clients out of money. I have to track down liars for a living on a daily basis. I will tell you that my professional opinion is that Obama is perhaps the best liar of our generation. He is way better than Clinton at lying. That is because Obama does not even realize he is lying when he does it. He actually believes his lies.
This issue with the spending and the stimulus has presented a case book example of lies, deceit, distortions, obfuscation, and manipulation.
The bottom line is that he did not inherit a trillion dollar deficit. He inhereited a 500 billion dollar deficit or so before TARP. He has been lying about the situation he inherited solely to pass his spending insanity along.
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What happens when the Cons win in 2010...and Obama losses in 2012....liberal douchbagery.....Carter with a tan.....
So true.
Jimmy (with no experience): "I'm Jimmy Carter and I want to be President."
Barry (with no experience): "I'm Barack Obama and I want to be President."
Barry needs to pull his head out of his ass and realize that this country will not do well if he puts his plans into action. Lucky for us he is already reneging on most of his promises. In fact, he started doing it immediately after he was elected.
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You guys are racist. Obama knows what he's doing. He fixed Chicago's inner city, and he's going to fix this country.
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Yep....fix us right into 3rd world shithole status
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You guys are racist. Obama knows what he's doing. He fixed Chicago's inner city, and he's going to fix this country.
Chicago still has a high crime rate and has the highest sales tax in the nation. Yeah, he's spreading the wealth to people who are not deserving. Not surprised he came from the corrupt area of Chicago and never held a real job. It explains why he can so easily give a way hard working people's money to others. It doesn't surprise me that idiots support this clown.
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The budget has to be balanced.
In other words, you have to pay for the goodies.
If you want to go to war in Iraq, there's a bill to pay.[...]
Precisely what Ron Paul likes to call "blowback".
Many in the "yeah, let's bomb these fuckers!" contingency do not realise that someone has to pay for all that bombing... and it sure ain't the politicians!
Funny how as soon as gringo finds out he's gotta fork over 3Gs for the shit we're dropping in Basra or Baghdad he's not as trigger-happy (which he confuses with patriotism) as he was before the war.
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Paul Krugman?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA A
wait......
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA.
How many video's do I have to post that display his mental retardation before you get it?
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Look at his face when he realizes Canadians arent happy with their health system after he bragged about what a great model it was. I should post some more on the economy. The man is an idiot.
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Paul Krugman?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA A
wait......
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA.
How many video's do I have to post that display his mental retardation before you get it?
::)
Paul Krugman ...2008 Nobel Prize in Economics
You... internet nobody
Next!
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Didn't Jimmy Carter get a Nobel prize? Yeah, Nobel prize................... means nothing.
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::)
Paul Krugman ...2008 Nobel Prize in Economics
You... internet nobody
Next!
Look at Pauls face in that video when he finds out he's wrong, I bet you makes that face daily.
He can take that Swedish bank funded prize and shove it up his ass.
Tookie'' Williams: Crips Gang Co-founder was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, Arafat, winner. Does that mean anything?
The man has shit for brains.
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Does it matter that recent polls show that a majority (about 63-67%) of Canadians gave their health care system either an A or a B grade?
No, what matters is what shows up in some youtube video about an economist "getting owned".
Can we get any dumber?
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::)
Paul Krugman ...2008 Nobel Prize in Economics
You... internet nobody
Next!
Yasser Arafat also got a nobel prize.
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Can we get any dumber?
Yeah we can, you just arrived.
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Yeah we can, you just arrived.
Somehow I knew you were going to be the first one to respond.
Not every conversation is about you... You know that right?
;D ;D ;D
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Somehow I knew you were going to be the first one to respond.
Not every conversation is about you... You know that right?
;D ;D ;D
Doh. ;D
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Precisely what Ron Paul likes to call "blowback".
Many in the "yeah, let's bomb these fuckers!" contingency do not realise that someone has to pay for all that bombing... and it sure ain't the politicians!
Funny how as soon as gringo finds out he's gotta fork over 3Gs for the shit we're dropping in Basra or Baghdad he's not as trigger-happy (which he confuses with patriotism) as he was before the war.
Yeah, well adding nearly a trillion dollars in wasteful spending in his first MONTH in office is not a good idea for Barry. Cutting spending is a better way to balance a budget, not adding to it. Somehow Hussein wants to increase spending a lot, but cut taxes, and balance the budget? How does that work? He knows he has a small window to push the BS health care plan and all his other ideas and if he doesn't do it now, they'll never get passed. Maybe he should tell his constituents who have never held a job (like him) to go to work at McD's instead of sucking the gov't tit for ANOTHER 15-20 years.
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Zero wants everyone dependent on govt for everything.
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Yeah, well adding nearly a trillion dollars in wasteful spending in his first MONTH in office is not a good idea for Barry. Cutting spending is a better way to balance a budget, not adding to it. Somehow Hussein wants to increase spending a lot, but cut taxes, and balance the budget? How does that work? He knows he has a small window to push the BS health care plan and all his other ideas and if he doesn't do it now, they'll never get passed. Maybe he should tell his constituents who have never held a job (like him) to go to work at McD's instead of sucking the gov't tit for ANOTHER 15-20 years.
I do not like Obama either, but you do have to admit Obama inherited one SHITHOLE of a job from Bush, and it will condition his own agenda for a couple of years. What Obama wants to do makes sense, as he is making social moves that help a MAJORITY of Americans. As far as where he is going to get the money... I suspect the Iraq money pit was larger than anyone though, and by him setting a date for the withdrawal of troops it is going to free up some needed cash to pursue his own goals.
I do not fear Obama. I fear a time when another one of this "fiscally responsible" candidates puts another dent in the country's balance sheet. And we've seen this fixer-fúcker pattern repeat itself in the past 6 administrations.
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I do not like Obama either, but you do have to admit Obama inherited one SHITHOLE of a job from Bush, and it will condition his own agenda for a couple of years. What Obama wants to do makes sense, as he is making social moves that help a MAJORITY of Americans. As far as where he is going to get the money... I suspect the Iraq money pit was larger than anyone though, and by him setting a date for the withdrawal of troops it is going to free up some needed cash to pursue his own goals.
I do not fear Obama. I fear a time when another one of this "fiscally responsible" candidates puts another dent in the country's balance sheet. And we've seen this fixer-fúcker pattern repeat itself in the past 6 administrations.
He's shifting troops from one part of the world and placing them in another for the same type of war. How does this save money?
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I do not like Obama either, but you do have to admit Obama inherited one SHITHOLE of a job from Bush, and it will condition his own agenda for a couple of years. What Obama wants to do makes sense, as he is making social moves that help a MAJORITY of Americans. As far as where he is going to get the money... I suspect the Iraq money pit was larger than anyone though, and by him setting a date for the withdrawal of troops it is going to free up some needed cash to pursue his own goals.
I do not fear Obama. I fear a time when another one of this "fiscally responsible" candidates puts another dent in the country's balance sheet. And we've seen this fixer-fúcker pattern repeat itself in the past 6 administrations.
The cap and trade scheme, the card check scheme, and the other schemes Obama is planning will lead to a major revolt like you have no idea.
Wait and see.
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He's shifting troops from one part of the world and placing them in another for the same type of war. How does this save money?
Well, for one Blackwater has been told to go fuck themselves. For two, the contractors have been told to go fuck themselves. For three we wouldn't have to spend rather vast sums of money on making sure the oil rigs do not produce any oil or are not bombed. Et cetera.
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The cap and trade scheme, the card check scheme, and the other schemes Obama is planning will lead to a major revolt like you have no idea.
Wait and see.
Well, he's been in office less than a year and many people have developed this apocalyptic view of what his presidency is to become. Can we be ANY worst that when Bush was in power? I mean, let's see what Obama does. Let's worry not about crossing bridges until we get there.
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Well, he's been in office less than a year and many people have developed this apocalyptic view of what his presidency is to become. Can we be ANY worst that when Bush was in power? I mean, let's see what Obama does. Let's worry not about crossing bridges until we get there.
I would agree with you if he were taking things at a normal pace. However, the speed and tenacity at which he is going about spending a Trilllion on the stimilus, 410 billion in present spending, the budget, a trillion in new taxes, etc, makes it such that people are not going to just sit back and wait and see what happens.
Bush spent like a maniac, and that does not mean that gives Obama carte blanche to be even worse.
Other than Iraq and Abortion, where is Ovbama different than Bush, if not way worse?
He supported Tarp.
He is running up huge deficits already with money we dont have
New programs and spending
No cuts in wasteful spending
Etc etc.
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I would agree with you if he were taking things at a normal pace. However, the speed and tenacity at which he is going about spending a Trilllion on the stimilus, 410 billion in present spending, the budget, a trillion in new taxes, etc, makes it such that people are not going to just sit back and wait and see what happens.
Bush spent like a maniac, and that does not mean that gives Obama carte blanche to be even worse.
Other than Iraq and Abortion, where is Ovbama different than Bush, if not way worse?
He supported Tarp.
He is running up huge deficits already with money we dont have
New programs and spending
No cuts in wasteful spending
Etc etc.
Honestly? I think that apart from one or two policy decisions he has very little to do with policy making right now. The Paulson/Bernanke team are making all decisions that matter as far as the economy goes. The Clintons are making all foreign policy decisions. I mean... I'm not trying to take any blame away from any wrongdoing, but let's be serious and admit that his is largely a ceremonial role, with he is relegated to playing a mere puppet.
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Honestly? I think that apart from one or two policy decisions he has very little to do with policy making right now. The Paulson/Bernanke team are making all decisions that matter as far as the economy goes. The Clintons are making all foreign policy decisions. I mean... I'm not trying to take any blame away from any wrongdoing, but let's be serious and admit that his is largely a ceremonial role, with he is relegated to playing a mere puppet.
I dont disagree and that is why he has me very suspicious. Obama has no economic background whatsoever and seems to be very much out of his element dealing with financial and economic issues. From what I can tell, he approaches these things from a political viewpoint, not a practical viewpoint.
As far as your statement about Paulsobn/Bernake - you are 10000000% correctamundo
Geithner??????
He was Robert Rubin's self named "protege"
He was also Paulson's right hand man during TARP 1.
Where is the change? Who is really running the show?
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I dont disagree and that is why he has me very suspicious. Obama has no economic background whatsoever and seems to be very much out of his element dealing with financial and economic issues. From what I can tell, he approaches these things from a political viewpoint, not a practical viewpoint.
As far as your statement about Paulsobn/Bernake - you are 10000000% correctamundo
Geithner??????
He was Robert Rubin's self named "protege"
He was also Paulson's right hand man during TARP 1.
Where is the change? Who is really running the show?
No one. And I've been saying this all along. It's called the Democracy show.
It still beats some African dictatorships though...
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No one. And I've been saying this all along. It's called the Democracy show.
It still beats some African dictatorships though...
I hear you, but it makes it hard for a business person to assess what is going on and where we are going with this craziness.
I would be the first to join you to string these people up.
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Well, for one Blackwater has been told to go fuck themselves. For two, the contractors have been told to go fuck themselves. For three we wouldn't have to spend rather vast sums of money on making sure the oil rigs do not produce any oil or are not bombed. Et cetera.
Have they made a decision about BlackwaterAfghanistan yet, this was the latest I heard?
The State Department's inspector general will review services provided by Blackwater Worldwide in Afghanistan, only weeks after the Baghdad government canceled the embattled security company's contract in Iraq.
Inspector General Harold W. Geisel told the Commission on Wartime Contracting on Monday that his department will begin the performance review in March.
"We are reviewing Blackwater," Mr. Geisel said.
The commission was established in 2008 with a mandate to provide two annual reports to Congress about corruption and other irregularities involving wartime contractors and related issues. An interim report is due to Congress by May 1.
The seven-member commission is bipartisan and independent. It hopes to prevent the sorts of problems that have plagued U.S. contracting in Iraq from occurring in Afghanistan, according to its Web site. The panel can refer any violation or potential violation of law to the attorney general.
"The fact that adverse action is taken against Blackwater in one country does not mean adverse action will be taken against them in another country," a State Department official told The Washington Times. He asked not to be named, citing the sensitivity of the subject.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/03/blackwater-under-review-in-afghanistan/