Wild Card/Tuesday — 5.24.11

17 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

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  Neptune on May 24 at 10:55 a.m.

  Red must have been out of his mind than when he developed the Softball program.

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  hhuseland on May 24 at 1:52 p.m.

  Where across the street would you put it? It sounds good, but I think all of that is already developed.

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  hmoffsuite on May 24 at 4:27 p.m.

  This is not surprising. If we raise the national debt limit, he wants to raise taxes at the same time. In other words, he is already spending the new debt limit.

  By ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday that new tax revenues need to be part of any agreement with Republicans on legislation to raise the limit on how much money the government can borrow to continue to meet its obligations. “I’ve made it clear today … revenues have to be in the deal,” Biden told reporters after meeting with GOP negotiators.

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  Neptune on May 24 at 5:28 p.m.

  Good luck! Will you please post comments from Ron Edinger?

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  greenlibertarian on May 24 at 5:40 p.m.

  Any serious economist knows that tax increases, of some sort, have to be a part of getting towards fiscal sanity once again. As well as major spending cuts, and if anyone says cutting military spending is off the table, they’re insane.

  SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — “My G.O.P. destroyed the U.S. economy.” Yes, that is exactly what David Stockman, President Ronald Reagan’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece. Not “is destroying,” the GOP has “destroyed” the U.S. economy, setting up an “American Apocalypse.” And it’s getting worse. (continues)

  http://www.marketwatch.com/story/reagan-insider-gop-destroyed-us-economy-part-2-2011-05-24?link=home_carousel

  The writer suggests Stockman get into the GOP presidential race, which think wouldn’t be a bad idea, but I’m sure he won’t do it, no patience for the gutless pols and spinmeisters.

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  hmoffsuite on May 24 at 5:47 p.m.

  greenlib >>> “Any serious economist knows that tax increases, of some sort, have to be a part of getting towards fiscal sanity once again”

  Fiscal sanity can be achieved without going further into debt. As a matter of fact, that is the only way fiscal sanity can be obtained. I think many tax loopholes should be eliminated but taxing simply to have more money to spend, in this economy, is dangerous.

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  greenlibertarian on May 24 at 6:49 p.m.

  but taxing simply to have more money to spend, in this economy, is dangerous.
  -HMO

  Are you have trouble understanding basic English, like where I said “as well as major spending cuts”?

• 

  hmoffsuite on May 24 at 7:02 p.m.

  Lib. We need to get by with the same amount of revenue and less spending, its that simple. Ours isn’t a revenue problem, its a spending problem. If the economy improves then revenues will increase accordingly. That is how to increase revenue.

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  greenlibertarian on May 24 at 7:19 p.m.

  Why should taxes as a percentage of GDP be kept at the lowest level in 50 years?

• 

  jt on May 24 at 7:20 p.m.

  I call BS again hmoffsuite. Your beloved Rs spent us into this mess after gutting revenues. Time to put on the big boy pants and suck it up. Eliminate all deductions. Leave rates where they are. Eliminate special treatment by income type. Pass legislation preventing the use of tax credits or tax breaks to lend advantage to one over another.

  For your convenience, yet again…
  How did the US National Debt accumulate? Source treasurydirect.gov

  Carter – 9/30/1977 $699B adds $299B
  Reagan – 9/30/1981 $998B adds $1.859T
  Bush I – 9/30/1989 $2857B adds $1.554T
  Clinton – 9/30/1993 $4411B adds $1.396T
  Bush II – 9/30/2001 $5807B adds $6.103T
  Obama – 9/30/2009 $11910B
  Current $14332B adds $2.422T

  Now take a good look at those numbers and realize who borrowed and spent what. Note the three Democratic administrations accumulated ~$4.1T of today’s $14.3T; the three Republican administrations added ~$9.5T.

  Mike Crapo went to Washington, DC at the same time as Bill Clinton. He has been present for the growth of the US national debt from $4.4T to today’s $14.3T.

  Orrin Hatch went to Washington, DC with Jimmy Carter in 1977. Max Baucus arrived the next year. They both witnessed the national debt grow from $700B to today’s $14.3T.

  John Boehner arrived in Washington, DC 03 Jan 1990, when debt was $3T. Paul Ryan went to Washington, DC 03 Jan 1999, debt at $5.8T. Eric Cantor and Mike Pence arrived on 03 Jan 2001, debt at $5.8T, along with George W Bush. There were surpluses at the end of Clinton’s term. Those surpluses disappeared shortly after GWB’s arrival with support of all those representatives in the House. How? US revenues were gutted.

  Simple question, what did Crapo et al do to prevent the huge growth in the US National Debt? It is obvious, nothing. In fact they voted for even more spending after having reduced revenues.

• 

  hmoffsuite on May 24 at 7:34 p.m.

  jt >> “I call BS again hmoffsuite. Your beloved Rs spent us into this mess after gutting revenues. Time to put on the big boy pants and suck it up.”

  We are past assigning blame and causes for the recession we are dealing with. Now, the subject at hand is how to get out of it. Sure, republicans overspent. So did democrats. That’s all history now and the present should be our concern. So, no need to call BS on my prior statements.

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  greenlibertarian on May 24 at 7:46 p.m.

  Are those in constant dollars, JT? Without that, it’s apples and oranges.

  For example, $300B in 1980 is almost $800B in todays dollars.

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  brentandrews on May 24 at 8:03 p.m.

  Settling in to watch The Amityville Horror, some kind of new house hunting show I think.

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  jt on May 24 at 8:48 p.m.

  @hmoffsuite, I disagree. Accountability and personal responsibility are not just “feel good” words. I disagreed with the “there’s plenty of blame to go around” with regard to the 2008 financial meltdown as well. The perpetrators don’t get to fix it. The thought processes used to create the problem aren’t the ones which will fix it. Throw them out. Lock them up. I really don’t care but get them out of the picture.

  Why is it “everything is on the table” but not a word about canceling federal pensions for all elected or appointed officials who have served over the last 40 years? They were the ones who passed the legislation and signed off on the bills. They were the ones who authorized the creation of all this debt. Hold them accountable. Those elected representative pensions certainly seem like low-hanging fruit. Let Orrin Hatch and the rest of the senior citizen legislators try buying health insurance on the open market. Let Paul Ryan buy his own family policy. That would help to ground them.

  @GL, these are the numbers as reported when pulling “Debt to the Penny” figures. The issue is the scale and how the debt accumulated. And if you want to use “apples to apples” then Jimmy carter’s $300B ($800B today) still looks interesting next to Ronald Reagan’s $1859B ($4957B today).

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  hhuseland on May 24 at 9:27 p.m.

  A serious tornado hit Oklahoma City late today. A real disaster. I’ve often wondered when a twister would strike a large city, and it has happened twice recently.

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  Phaedrus on May 24 at 9:39 p.m.

  We are past assigning blame and causes for the recession we are dealing with.—suite

  Always the argument of the guilty party. It examplifies a pathetic lack of personal responsibility.

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  Phaedrus on May 24 at 9:48 p.m.

  We need to get by with the same amount of revenue and less spending, its that simple—suite

  Wrong. Rarely are there simple solutions to complex problems and the current economic problems are no exception, spending could be cut to the bone and it would still not suffice to balance the budget. I talked with a former COngressman who was a mewmber of the House Finance Committee and he was very blunt in his assessment that spending cuts were vital, not the nickle and dime socially engineered attacks on NPR and Planned Parenthood, but big dollar reductions in Defense and Health Care spending, AND revenue would need to be increased either through raising taxes, or allowing tax cuts to expire (remember the Bush tax cuts were made temporary in case the deficit woes grew worse and revenue streams had to be increased—Boehner, Cantor and the rest of the GOP members voted for this).

  Suite, BTW, the GOP took control of the House in 2010 based upon a “job, jobs, jobs” agenda? What legislation have they passed, or even written, to address their #1 priority?

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