From the right, from the sophisticated right, there is an attempt to engage the Liberals. Budget Chairman Paul Ryan just did it by presenting a budget that cried out for intelligent response. President Barack Obama's response was to invite Chairman Ryan to sit in the front row for Obama's "fiscal policy" speech at George Washington University. There, Obama heaped scorn on an astonished Ryan and his work. He did not even mention Ryan's name. This is what Obama calls an "adult" debate?
I remember when Rich made the statement after the 2008 election that the adults were now in charge. So this is how adults present their budget response? When is the "I voted present President" going to actually become Presidential? The so called recovery is appearing to have already lost it's steam based on first quarter numbers. The Fed has now showed that it is nothing more than another policy arm of this administration. We are watching a Nero like President play golf and party while the nation continues to wallow. he has yet to present a realistic budget and when the so called adults had huge majorities they couldn't even pass a budget. The Democratic party has become the party of incompetence, plain and simple.
The proof is in the results and they are not even close to a passing grade.
4 comments:
Rarely a day goes by that I do not receive a forwarded racist or ignorant Tea Partyish email suggesting that our president is a Muslim, a Socialist or a foreigner. That's right, "We have an illegal alien in the Oval Office!" The Republican Party eats this stuff up rather than spitting it out. That is what passes for thoughtful commentary from the right these days.
I give kudos to Paul Ryan. He is a bright & serious guy. His party needs more like him and less like Michelle Bachmann. That said, his proposals are, in fact, radical and the American people don't like them. Ryan has introduced a modicum of honesty in a party that long ago eschewed candor. To that end, they should now dispense with the "We don't have a revenue problem," when we are at sixty year lows relative to GDP. Then, perhaps we can take our medicine as Congress did in 1993, and set the table for sustainable economic growth.
The adults are in charge in the White House and at Treasury. The GOP apparently suffers from collective amnesia when it comes to how we got here and just how bad it was two short years ago. It is going to be a long slog for all of us - for this president, the next and the next - as we reconcile spending, revenue and debt. Running up the credit card is the fun part. Paying it down is the bitch.
He is a Socialist/Marxist.
The debt is now a trillion a year, at least, as far as the eye can see. It was $160 B three short years ago. The adults, unable to legislate or agree to ANY spending cuts or entilement reform are busting the country.
Small increases in taxes will not address our budget, draconian ones will, unless spending control is started and Harry cannot live wthout Cowboy Poetry.
Methinks the Good Doc finds the Tea Party a very comfortable fit.
It was GWB/GOP policies that collapsed the economy and handed President Obama a $1.3T deficit. That number wasn't going to go down as we fought the recession. It never does, no matter which party is in power.
If the deficit had continued on the trajectory that Obama inherited it would be over $3T annually by now. Obama's budgetary performance has been far more responsible (and conservative) than Bush or Reagan's first two years, both of whom exploded the deficit. By comparison, Obama has held the line.
Facts is facts and they damn the arguments of the know-nothing Tea Partiers.
With respect to "Draconian" tax hikes - I simply propose Clinton-era bite of 21%/GDP. You remember - when we had a surplus. If that is truly Draconian, it speaks to the recklessness of our tax policy in the post-Clinton era.
Such tax hikes could fairly be called "significant". Spending cuts bringing overall spending to a sustainable 21%/GDP will also be significant, and will face a generation of headwinds thanks to the aging of America.
Such a proposal could actually balance the budget in six years or so, with a lot of pain in the short term and very little in the long run. Further, we'll find ourselves in a virtuous cycle once markets recognize a return to the fiscal rectitude of the Clinton years.
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