Deficit Hawks love them some jingoism
Dean Baker writes a fabulous new post on the skanky tactics of the Deficit Hawks.
Jingoism and the Budget Deficit: Using Any Tactic to Advance the Budget Cutting Agenda
The deficit hawks apparently believe that their case is so weak that they must resort to crass jingoism to push their agenda. NBC apparently intends to run a piece on the evening news on Tuesday that talks about the portion of the government debt that is owned foreigners, highlighting the role of China.
This is incredibly dishonest. The extent to which foreigners hold U.S. assets is determined by the trade deficit, not the budget deficit. (Actually, the causation largely goes the other way. The decision of foreign governments and/or investors to buy dollar assets raises the value of the dollar, leading to a larger trade deficit.) Insofar as there is an issue of U.S. indebtedness, it is the holding of U.S. assets in general by foreigners. This represents claims against future U.S. output that will be paid out to foreigners rather than being available for domestic consumption. Whether foreigners hold shares of General Electric and Microsoft or U.S. government bonds makes no difference, especially since one can be readily sold to buy the other any day of the week.
A serious discussion of this issue would focus on the value of the dollar. That is the relevant factor in the story of foreign indebtedness. Given the current value of the dollar, at the same level of GDP, we would be building up just as much foreign debt if the government were running a budget surplus rather than a $1.3 trillion deficit. Economists all know this.
However, the deficit hawks are not interested in a serious discussion. They are pushing their agenda of cutting Social Security and Medicare. And they are apparently willing to appeal to crude jingoism to make their case.
Can we ever have an honest debate in this country over such a serious topic as this? The College Republicans headed by Norquist, Reed and Abramoff in the '80s, along with the rise of Newt Gingrich in 1994, rendered the political environment in America toxic, and it has never recovered.
Cut the trillion dollar per year perpetual war budget by 90%.
Dean Baker is one in the top of list of the sensible.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
But you CAN use them to dissuade the repo man.
you could save your car from the repo guys and still drive it!
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
you know that isn't going to happen. The military spending is just about the longest running and biggest entitlement and job program in the entire US budget. It is every bit a high voltage third rail as Medicare or social security. With two wars running who exactly is going to commit political suicide by proposing a military budget cut no matter how sensible.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
THIS.
First and foremost.
America accounts for nearly 50% of the entire world's military spending.
There is no need, it makes no sense, our closest rival, China, spends a tenth what the U.S. spends.
Cut the perpetual war budget by 100%.
Get out of Iraq.
Get out of Afghanistan.
Defund the NSA into non-existence. The CIA too.
End all black funding and black funded projects of the military and intelligence aaparratus. Compel disclosure of all black funded projects and obligations.
Abolish "Homeland" Security, whose only purpose is to make us afraid and compliant non-entities in the emerging police state.
Abolish the Federal Reserve amd return those functions it has usurped back to the Federal government.
Nationalize all banking.
Terminate Congress and the President's healthcare and make them get by on whatever they deemed fit for the rest of us.
Institutue non-profit, single-payer healthcare, the lowest cost solution that results in the best healthcare.
Regulate the drug companies like they do power companies...any profits above a modest amount are returned to the rate payers. compel the government to negotiate for bulk pricing. Better yet, nationalize them all.
Make companies who exported manufacturing overseas or who exported their headquaters over seas pay stiff import penalties. Treat any company who exported its headwquarters overseas as a hostile foreign entity, subject to stiff taxes and forfeiture of all government contracts. Assume that they are as crooked as the average organized crime money laundering operation, and treat them as such.
Make it impossible for private enterpise to claim intellectual property rights on anything developed with public funding or grants. If there are such rights and benefits, they belong solely to the People via their treasury.
Put the insurance companies out of business. They are parasites that serve no useful or honorable role in society.
Defund the pentagon down to a level that is necessary only for protection of our own borders and territories. The current model, instrument of policy - where the policy is "Rule through applied sociopathy", isn't cutting it.
Dismantle the police state. Every penny spend on "compliance" is theft some something that is worthwhile.
Rebuild the wall between church and state. Monies spent on "Faiths Initiatives" are unConstitutional and an act of theft.
Empty the prisons of people who were put there for non-violent and victimless crimes. We have more people in prison than the rest of the world combined, the only puprose of much of it being to disenfranchise entire classes of potential voters. If our prisons need refilling, let's fill them with banksters, insurance racketeers, sociopathic finaciers, dirty politicians and those who provided them the means to become dirty, war criminals and the like.
Legalize all recreational drugs, give the government an ABC store-style monopoly on them, tax all sales and sell them to any person of the age of consent who wants them for prices that are so cheap that it knocks the bottom out of the illegal market. That would put all the drug cartels out of business, including the CIA, and would eliminate any further need to continue the so-called war on drugs. Shut down the DEA as a result.
End the "War on Terror", whose only purpose is to convert American citizens into Amerikan subjects, while providing immense profits to the ultimate dead end enterprises: the arms merchants. What legitimate work there is to be done is a matter for global law enforcement working within the confines of clearly defined national, and international laws and binding treaties.
I can do this all day....
I'm all for cutting spending. Let's balance the budget, pay off our creditors while simultaneously investing in our society.
our economy can can take a dump again. For example:
The Dumping Begins: Chinese Reserve Managers Notified That Any Non-USG Guaranteed Securities Must Be Divested
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
...rendered the political environment in America toxic, and it has never recovered.
...and likely will not in our lifetime, John.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
jin·go·ism
1. Extreme nationalism characterized especially by a belligerent foreign policy; chauvinistic patriotism
Had to look that one up... sounds fairly accurate to me. Thanks John
Study the symptoms not the virus...
American politics is simply another made for TV "reality show".
Government doesn't simply "not work", it no longer exists.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
Can I have the the Presidents Limo :)
Study the symptoms not the virus...
?? How the hell do you expect him to get to fund raisers? You wouldn't want him to spend his OWN money on limos now, would you?
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
They don't give a rat's butt about the deficit , they themselves spent like a drunken sailors purposefully running up the deficit , trying to break the bank in order get rid of so called entitlement programs ... which is their goal . You think the financial meltdown ( and the trillion dollar reimbursement for their crimes ) was unforeseen and unintended ? Right . If it's for the low or middle class these greedy psychos are against it especially if it might cost them or their wealthy friends even a penny , it is that simple .
Deficit hawks my left backside cheek!
If the deficit mattered one iota they'd be screaming to reduce our military spending.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
... and you know Palin and her fellowship just love destroying the other terrorists. ;)
Study the symptoms not the virus...
So if you made a Tea Bagger read this post and tell you what it means their head would absolutely explode. You would be able to see their eye doing circles in their sockets. The bile would rise in their throat and they would mumble something about no more taxes and death panels.
Is there any wonder why somebody like Sara Palin and George Bush can have so much power?
the Reichwing have never let something as pesky as the truth stand between their bumpersticker sound bites and their dimwitted audience.
I think it's in a coma, on life support, and might never wake up.
When you have such a large number of people that get put on TV as experts who go with their gut in spite of the facts, and then so many people who watch these "experts" believe the crap that they say (take torture for example), how are we ever going to cut through that? If you are a person who would rather just go with what sounds right rather than actually stop to think about issues and learn independent from the TV, radio, newspapers, blogs, etc., then I can't think of how to help you. Unfortunately, this is the main problem with MOST of the American electorate and, even though I voted for Obama, I think that there were a LOT of his supporters that did this as well. Even though it helped "my guy" win, I still don't think it's good for the country for either side to be like this.
I LOVE how when a Democrat is in office, we have to watch our spending, but not so much with a Republican. I LOVE how when a Democrat is in office, they better be bipartisan or else they aren't representing America, but when a Republican is in office, it's perfectly acceptable for them to shove their agenda down our throats. I LOVE how when a Democrat is in office, up or down votes aren't how we do things, but when a Republican is in office, EVERYTHING should be brought to an up or down vote.
I'm sure I could continue with that game, but I'm sure everyone gets the picture. It's quite tiring anymore, and I'm around people who think FOX "News" is an excellent news source a fair amount. This story here shows that, when being honest about things means you might have to expose Republicans/Conservatives in some way for being in the wrong, it's best just to skew the story so that the Democrats or anyone else BUT the Republicans look bad. The media knows they can attack Democrats and won't get punished for it, but they know they will be punished if they attack Republicans, so they don't.
You can't have honest communication, debate, as long as patterns prevail between groups and people that hold opposing views. It's become a national Psychosis. The State of the Union.
Left-wingers may think right-wingers are stupid or evil or both. If you're a right-winger, you probably hold the same attitudes about left-wingers. Etc., etc.
Bush screwed us, now Obama is screwing us . . Good Luck.
Amato: Can we ever have an honest debate in this country over such a serious topic as this? The College Republicans headed by Norquist, Reed and Abramoff in the '80s, along with the rise of Newt Gingrich in 1994, rendered the political environment in America toxic, and it has never recovered.
1) Cut defense 90%
1a) Can't eat bombs
2) Won't happen in our lifetime
3) Run to dictionary, restate definition, express agreement
3b) Governemnt as TV show, but one which does not work
3b1) Limo joke (funny)
3b1a) Comeback (not as funny)
4) Rats butt, drunken sailors (from professional psychologist)
5) Body part reference
5a) Random Palin slam
6) Exploding heads, circling eyeballs, rising bile
6a) Nazi invocation
7) Random ramble
8) We are all screwed
9) ricky: Guess not, John.
"I mean Romney is the most conservative on illegal immigration and I don't think Ronald Reagan could get elected in California today."
Ann "Clipped" Coulter
Honestly, I don't think we can as long as we allow multi-national conglomerates to keep their stranglehold on the media, and as long as we require no accountability from that same media. As long as the "msm" is in place, we're stuck with what we've got now.
Just like campaign finance reform is needed to "get our country back," breaking up the media conglomerates and bringing back locally produced news will be the second thing to do.
It took 30 years to get to this point.
The elites rule by having a long term view. That is why they have always planned out their marriages, use other people's money to maintain their own wealth, and buy their way into politics in order to control events as best they can.
If you don't see how the elimination of regulation, privatization of public enterprises, destruction of organized labor, consolidation of media, etc etc..over the last 30 years has brought us here, then you've simply not been paying attention.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
and or are flat out dumb .
Great! I can run for President as the Tea Party candidate.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
I like his analysis. The idea that the Chinese represent a threat because of their large holdings of US financial instruments is nonsense. I have seen a lot of posters repeat this idea here and elsewhere and it simply isn't true. The refusal of the Chinese to play ball on fair exchange rates is another matter but you can't really blame them for trying to keep the Yuan to dollar ratio as low as possible. Aside from preserving a trade imbalance that is favorable to them it preserves the value of their dollar denominated holdings.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
"ScrewedSA, SrcewedSA, ScrewedSA" is a meanignful, mature response?
How Canadian of you.
"I mean Romney is the most conservative on illegal immigration and I don't think Ronald Reagan could get elected in California today."
Ann "Clipped" Coulter
If you owe the bank a little you're a debtor but if you owe the bank a lot you're a partner.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Just ask Donald Trump.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
...would involve considering the children that will have to pay back the debt...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4zBkGVrb0w&fe...
my guess is if you took a poll..."deficit hawks" have more children
than do the endless spenders. ...got any kids Amato?
(didn't we get to "where we are" ...by Neo-cons spending too much?)
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
If you understand economics...it's about WHAT you spend the money on, and WHAT you raise the deficit for.
Raising deficits for pet projects or for nuclear defense systems, like Star Wars, are unproductive. Why do you think we have forever war now. You can't justify building new systems or buying MORE ammunition if you're not fighting anyone.
Deficit spending for job creation and infrastructure improvements puts people to work and improves and modernizes the nation. There is a multiplying effect in proper deficit spending. There is no multiplier effect in supply side tax cuts. That has been proven...multiple times.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
The biggest lie perpetuated by both parties is still that tax cuts increase revenue. Never have never will. If you ask all the Republicans and some of the Democrats they will tell that they are sure of the they do.
This statement is flat wrong
Foreign countries are funding both! When China buys our treasuries it taking on our national debt with interest. The deficit is added to the national debt each year. For god sakes people the deficit spending IS the act of spending borrowed money. It's fricken credit card and our cards are maxed out.
It amazes me so few people get how dangerous deficit spending is. When we lose our AAA rating maybe some will start to understand.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
I'll just post this again: http://www.visualeconomics.com/gdp-vs-nationa... The US is in the middle of the pack as far gdp vs national debt goes. That is the most important measure. Your card is carrying a significant balance but is hardly maxed. For the short term there are more pressing concerns. This issue will become a more pressing one but not until after this recession is well and truly ended. You don't worry about a leaky roof until the fire in the kitchen is put out.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
to VegasRage.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Every country has it's formula for measuring their GDP, here in the US it's a laughable measure. Peter Schiff talks about this in his book Crash Proof:
GDP is a bad measuring stick, currently over 30% of our income goes to just servicing the national debt. Since 2001 the wars have cost us to date nearly $1 Trillion, the interest on our national debt is nearly $4 trillion. We have yet to even pay off what is owed on the Vietnam War, we will default on our debt. It is drowning us.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
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