July 14, 2011
Debt Ceiling Stand-Off: So President Obama Wants Republicans to Undertake What Democrats Refused to Do (Raise Taxes)
I'm not a big fan of Karl Rove. But he's got a point here.
Mr. Obama has offered no evidence since becoming president that he wants to restrain the upward trajectory of government spending. He does want higher taxes to pay for significantly higher federal spending. But he wants Republicans to deliver the tax increases, since Democrats couldn't pass them last year despite controlling both chambers of Congress.
The President's lack of specificity as to spending cuts also does not do much to enhance his credibility in this matter. The headline on Tarpon's Swamp describes the President's approach perfectly.
I’ll Gladly Cut Spending On Tuesday For a Tax Increase Today
No interest in restraining government spending? You mean pay freezes for federal employees doesn't restrain spending? 500k fewer federal employees isn't restraining spending? Really. Wow.
Posted by: sick and tired at July 14, 2011 1:57 PMDo you get your information from any other place than Fox News and the Drudge Report?
Posted by: Kerry at July 14, 2011 2:25 PMIf spending is being meaningfully restrained, then why do we have to raise the debt limit by such a huge amount?
Posted by: Andrew at July 14, 2011 3:05 PMSick and tired - the federal pay freeze is a joke. It only applies to COLA, which would have been basically nothing anyway. You should be ashamed of yourself for falling for such an elementary political maneuver.
Who were these "500k fewer federal employees"? Are you talking about the census worker temporary hires?
Posted by: Dan at July 14, 2011 6:25 PMLest we forget Lord Hussein submitted a budget of his own. The senate vote? 99-0 against. He's a superb orator in the mold of a traveling snake oil salesman that wants you to swallow his expensive magic elixir. You get sick and the charlatan tells you that you drank too much. Crunch time folks. Pretender Hussein hates the USA and it's founders. It is the Tea Party who won the battle against tyrannical England in 1776 and it
will be the Tea Party again who wins this battle. The Republicans may not have the stomach.
Actually the vote was 97-0.
The game's over folks. This year we will hit 100% GDP-Debt ratio, a figure no country can maintain economic growth with. Ask Greece or Japan.
www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/jul/11/paul-krugman/paul-krugman-says-government-jobs-have-fallen-half/
I was mistaken, not 500k fewer Federal employees, but total government employees.
Andrew, I'm not smart enough to understand all the complex economics that have gotten us to this situation. But I disagree that there is "no evidence...that he wants to restrain the upward trajectory of government spending."
The deal that Obama is proposing has $1.2 trillion in spending cuts, including raising the medicare age requirement.
But I don't even know why I bother commenting here every once in a while. It's like talking to the glass of a store window that has a TV with Fox News on behind it. Depressing that there is no middle ground EVER from Republicans.
"Depressing that there is no middle ground EVER from Republicans."
Right. The Democrats are the moderates and so far removed from the left.
When do those $1.2T in cuts kick in? 2015?
Posted by: Patrick at July 14, 2011 11:39 PM"Sick and Tired"....that's the feeling all the producers in this country have. We are sick and tired of funding the welfare state (see Dallas housing voucher gone amok video from today) and the massive entitlements that go with it.
Fox News? You do not need Fox News to see the declining standards in this country. Just open your eyes and ears. Oh I forgot we conservatives have Fox News and the only outlets the liberals have are:NBC,CBS,ABC,MSNBC, CNBC,BET,PBS.....yup we got FOX News.
Sick and tired - As much as I detest Krugman and Politifact for the way they twist words and warp reality to fit their biases - from the article you posted:
First, let’s look at federal government employment, which accounts for just 13 percent of all government employment. The number of federal workers has increased by 38,000 over the same period -- an increase of 1.4 percent.And if you separate out the U.S. Postal Service, the growth was even bigger. Non-postal federal employment -- about 10 percent of all government employment -- increased over the same period by 139,000 workers, or 6.7 percent.
The decline in government employment clearly wasn’t driven by job losses at the federal level. It came from state and local government.
You understand that Obama only has influence over federal hiring, not state hiring, correct?
As a sidenote, why the hell is the Postal Service growing? It should be phased out over the next 10 years.
Posted by: Dan at July 15, 2011 7:47 AM