Deal to Cut $38 Billion Averts a Government Shutdown [New]
This about says it all, don’t you think, from the NY Times:
Speaking from the White House after the Republican meeting ended, Mr. Obama said that both sides gave ground in reaching the bargain and that some of the cuts accepted by Democrats “will be painful.”
“Programs people rely on will be cut back,” said Mr. Obama, who said Americans had to begin to live within their means. “Needed infrastructure projects will be delayed.”
John Maynard Keynes 0
Herbert Hoover 1
Yet Keynes’ ideas are what helped end the Great Depression and absolutely reduced the misery suffered by the majority of Americans in that era. Today, however, we have an American President, a Democrat no less, who says Americans must live within their means. Well, except rich people who got their tax cut in December. They’re riding high. And, no, the article makes zero mention of that tax cut, despite having a basic primer on the Bush tax cuts on the Times site. And no mention that infrastructure spend creates desperately needed jobs for the working class and middle class.
If you want, consider this an open thread on the topic.
What Do You Think?
2 Responses to 'Deal to Cut $38 Billion Averts a Government Shutdown'
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William Timberman [New]
Saturday, 9 Apr, 2011 at 9:34 am
It all reminds me of the Spring of 1941 — the Brits on the run everywhere, the roof about to fall in on the Russkis, and no good news in sight. You never know, but I have the feeling that we’re nowhere near done with this war. Once more people reap what the lunatics and miscreants in Washington are now sowing — and I think there’s little doubt that they will — all sorts of things that we haven’t seen since before WWII are very likely to erupt, and I don’t think that the national media propaganda mills will be able to move fast enough either to recognize them for what they are, or to tuck them all back inside the corporate narrative.
Then we’ll see what’s what. I doubt that we can expect the glorious revolution foreseen by either the left or the right, but we will be given an opportunuity to come to grips with the real issues, and with each other. Something more substantial than the present shadow play of the two parties is unavoidable at this point, but so also is the risk of increasing chaos in our daily lives. For all sorts of reasons, I wish it could be otherwise, but I honestly don’t see how.
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Saturday, 9 Apr, 2011 at 2:14 pm
From your lips to God’s ears, as they say. But it does appear we’re at a tipping point where the political and economic situation is so out of whack that it cannot be sustained for more than another 5-10 years tops.
To give one small example, Ryan’s Medicare proposal. As Krugman and others have pointed out, the plan is so out of touch with reality (e.g. pretending to cut health care costs by reducing people’s ability to pay) that it makes me wonder if Ryan has elderly parents and/or relatives? Anyone who has an older parent, or is elderly, or within 20 years of retiring, upon reading the details of Ryan’s plan realizes it would cause massive poverty and homelessness if passed. Eighty percent (?) of the elderly rely on Social Security alone for their living expenses. Ryan’s plan requires about 2/3rds of that money be spent on Medicare, out of pocket. Yet Ryan and a few media sycophants act as if the proposal is a serious plan.
I’m most intrigued at the media blackout of the revenue side of the budget debate in general and describing the spending debate in context of the tax cuts last December, never mind describing the amazingly low tax rates paid by billionaires and the extremely wealthy. It’s as if budgets are all spending, no revenue.