Sadly, This Sums Up the Situation
July 27, 2011 in Barack Obama, Corporatism, Crony Capitalism, Democrats, Economy & Business, John Boehner, Politics, Regressives, Republicans
by jhwygirl
First a brief recap: Boehner submitted a budget proposal after he walked away – very publicly – Monday night after President Obama’s speech. His said his bill would save $1.2 trillion, but yesterday, CBO came back with it scored as saving only about $850 billion. So Boehner – who had scheduled the thing for a floor vote Wednesday night – had to pull it due to the disappointing results.
Dems, for their part, had submitted a plan that they said would save “almost $3 trillion.” CBO scored it and – just like the Republican plan – it came back shy of its touted amount: only $2.2 trillion.
For all the tough-talking Boehner and Cantor and Paul have done on the budget, and for the dismissive review they’ve given of anything coming from the other side of the aisle, I’da thought those Einstein’s would have been a little closer. I mean – they didn’t even hit the the $1 trillion point.
Beyond that, Boehner’s bill relied largely on caps on discretionary spending and the interests savings that would have resulted. Boehner tells the nation Monday night that he’ll save the budget crisis – that government is too big – and by Wednesday he’s handed over some sophmoric bill that doesn’t (a) meet the numbers he put out and (b) – more importantly so given all his caucus’ tough talk – doesn’t do any shrinking of government. Doesn’t offer any real reform. Liar. Hypocrite.
But getting back to the topic at hand…
The GOP had a little coaching session last night due to the disappointing review the CBO gave to Boehner’s budget bill. The highlight of the session was a clip from the movie The Town when one thug (played by Ben Affleck) says to another “we’re gonna hurt some people,” and then they proceed to bludgeon two men and then shoot one. In hockey masks.
This link will take you to the full clip – it can not be embedded.
After viewing the clip, Florida Republican and outspoken freshman Rep. Allen West, R-Fla. stood up and said, “I’m ready to drive the car,” surprising even many Republicans.
Ben Affleck was asked what he though – here it is, directly from Huffington Post:
(I)n a statement his spokesperson provided to The Huffington Post, he suggested that Republicans use a different one of his movies next time they need to whip votes.
“I don’t know if this is a compliment or the ultimate repudiation,” said the actor, who is currently in Turkey directing and starring in “Argo,” an adaptation of the Tehran hostage crisis. “But if they’re going to be watching movies, I think “The Company Men” is more appropriate.”
That latter Affleck flick focuses on the plight of middle age men who have been laid off during the recession. (One of them, depressed about being unemployed, later kills himself.)
I wrote yesterday about corporate America thumbing their nose at us unwashed masses?
Last night, the GOP did the exact same thing. Then they beat the crap out of us with baseball bats.
And cheered.
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July 28, 2011 at 9:53 am
Total govt. outlays.
Fiscal year 2001: $1.86 trillion
Fiscal year 2002: $2.01 trillion
Fiscal year 2003: $2.16 trillion
Fiscal year 2004: $2.29 trillion
Fiscal year 2005: $2.47 trillion
Fiscal year 2006: $2.66 trillion
Fiscal year 2007: $2.73 trillion
Fiscal year 2008: $2.98 trillion
Fiscal year 2009: $3.52 trillion
Fiscal year 2010: $3.46 trillion
Fiscal year 2011 (estimate): $3.82 trillion
Yeah, and we can’t cut anything?
July 28, 2011 at 10:55 am
You’ve got a big problem, just looking a gross numbers:
1) The ARRA was one time spending, which resulted in spikes in 2009, 2010, 2011.
2) Defense spending is 450 billion more in 2011 than in 2001–cut there by ending wars
3) automatic stabilizers like unemployment insurance, Medicaid and foodstamps bump the budget while the economy is bad, and will go down as economy improves.
4) Bush/Obama tax cuts expire next year
So if you let the bush/Obama tax cuts expire next year, wind down the wars, and get people back to work, then there is no debt problem.
Where’s your jobs plan?
July 28, 2011 at 11:35 am
Put more money in small business owners hands (under 500 employees) kill the O care, inact legs. to bring down insurance costs, pass loser pay lawsuit laws, kill pending job killing regulations.
July 28, 2011 at 12:13 pm
How is any of that going to spur consumer demand? Lack of consumer demand is the number 1 contributor to a stagnant and deteriorating job market.
None of your suggestions do anything to give consumers any further purchasing power. Your suggestions, while fulfilling right wing ideological agendas, will do nothing more than keep the economy stagnant.
FWIW, here is what your suggestions will do:
How will giving small businesses money spur consumer demand? And how do you propose doing this–govmint loans? Tax breaks that will exacerbate the deficit?
I’m all for helping small businesses, but you’re being really vague. I’m a small business. Will you see to it that I get some money too? I might spend it on retiring debt before I invest it in, say, a new computer. How’s that going to help the economy?
Medicare costs will rise. Fewer people will get health insurance and the care they need. O care, fwiw, was mandated to have a beneficial effect on the deficit. You get rid of it, the deficit continues to explode due to health care costs.
What kind of insurance? You repeal O care, and it doesn’t matter how cheap health insurance gets, those with preexisting conditions won’t be able to buy policies. This is the same old buy insurance across state line BS that has been debunked over and over again.
You going to repeal the Equal Access to Justice clause in the COnstitution with that bill, too?
Yeah, I guess we can have an employment boom in oil spill cleanup jobs. Not sure how the lack of regulations would work to keep tourism in a state like Montana vibrant, though. Smoggy air, dirty water, and denuded forests really attract tourists, don’t they?
Oh well, a return to third world colonialism and plantation economics will take care of the undeserving.
July 28, 2011 at 11:10 am
And I find tables like this very more telling. It’s total federal debt as a percent of GDP.
1997 63.2
1998 60.9
1999 57.3
2000 56.4
2001 58.8
2002 61.6
2003 62.9
2004 63.5
2005 63.9
2006 64.4
2007 69.2
2008 83.4
2009 94.3
Seems to have gone down during the last 4 years of Clinton’s term, and rose almost 27% of GDP under Bush.
That’s what his tax cuts, two unfunded wars and an an unpaid-for Medicare benefit plan gets you. Add in a housing bubble bursting, and that explains our economic mess.
And all you right wingers can do is talk about constraining spending when there’s a dem president. Where was all the talk during Bush’s tenancy?
July 28, 2011 at 11:29 am
Remained pretty steady until you guys (dems) took over the house and senate.
I’ve stated here before Reps lost the last election because of Bush’s signing dem spending bills.
July 28, 2011 at 11:55 am
If you think that the last election was swung by “dem spending bills” then you lose all credibility in my book.
The 2008 election was dominated by the housing bubble bursting, and its associated financial crisis.
Or have you forgotten John McCain’s proclamation that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong” six weeks before the election? That and a series of other bungles (Sarah Palin, suspending his campaign, etc.) tanked his campaign.
But you’re free to live in the illusion that Barack Obama was elected because Bush signed dem spending bills.
July 28, 2011 at 9:22 pm
You’re in good company.
Just 17% of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, July 24. That finding is the lowest measured since January 11, 2009.
July 28, 2011 at 9:43 pm
problem is- they don’t like either party now. this war of attrition between dems and the GOP has cost this country too much to trust either of them now.
with boehner blowing his big test tonight, neither party seems to have any leadership. that my friends is called a vacuum. and we all know nature abhors it.
July 29, 2011 at 10:05 am
No country has ever been able to “spend” its way into prosperity.
July 29, 2011 at 10:27 am
…Soundbites
But a country can tax cut and spend cut it’s way into a depression. Happening before our very eyes.
July 28, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Interesting movie The Town. We are expected to believe that the sympathetic character played by Affleck is both capble of brutal cold blooded murder, and is at the same time is soft and can give and receive love. That only happens in movies.
But that’s approperiate for this situation. Look at you, having bought into the debate frame, now siding with the Democrats and however much they want to cut. That is the whole objective of this little movie – to move the vital center to the right, to get everyone to agree that cuts are necessary. They already have you believing that the military budget is justified, and now you think that the safety net should be shredded.
Willing suspension of disbelief is essential to enjoyment of any work of fiction.
July 28, 2011 at 1:33 pm
Neoliberalism is not capitalism. Supply-side (trickle-down) economics does not work for anyone earning less than the top income bracket (1-2%). Here, both parties are stuck with failure until the great restructuring that inevitably will come. South America is emerging, Europe is beginning to find its way, we will be last to figure it out, but we eventually may too dump the global, neoliberal, corporate-welfare state nobody can affort to maintain.
July 28, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Neoliberalism breeds revolution.
July 28, 2011 at 3:22 pm
only way a revolution is happening in this country is if the government outlawed the NFL and or Bachelorette.
it is somewhat disturbing to remember that 90% of the people in this country pay absolutely no attention to politics at all. and unless something effects them directly, they are happy to stay uninformed.
i don’t fret over it or make judgements. it is just human nature.
that being said: a well timed campaign by a third party candidate can catch fire if it happens when most of the people are really fed up. like around nov 2012 if the economy doesn’t improve.
apathy and negative polls re: politicians of both parties are at an all time low.
July 28, 2011 at 4:16 pm
I will guarentee you that if inflation goes up even half of what the national economists are predicting (if we default), people will suddenly become VERY interested in politics. If there is a run on banks or a series stock market crash, people will get really interested in politics. If people’s welfare checks, social security checks, veteran’s benefit checks, federal paychecks, military paychecks or federal payments stop coming, there will be people REALLY interested in politics.
Actually, I kind of doubt that “90%” of people don’t care about politics. Hell, just the spike in gun sales since May (when we actually stopped being able to make our payments) would indicate that at least some people are paying attention.
July 28, 2011 at 4:33 pm
I agree with you Moorcat. many more people that 10% care about politics.
i know this because I’m circulating the medical cannabis referendum from Patients For Reform Not Repeal, and far more than 10% of the people I ask to sign do sign.
July 28, 2011 at 5:16 pm
90% of the people PAY NO ATTENTION to politics. i didn’t say they don’t react to the innuendo and rumors their friends, coworkers, relatives, rush limbaugh, fox news etc. tell them. they just don’t bother to look into any of the facts for themselves.
this is what the republicans understand far better than democrats. republicans understand that mainstream news is a wasteland when it comes to spreading lies to fit their political agenda. they use what people actually pay attention to to spread their message.
democrats are primitive when it comes to understanding mass communication.
July 28, 2011 at 5:25 pm
Again, I don’t buy that only 10% of the citizens (read voters) pay attention. They may not pay attention to the same things I do or you do, but I think you would be surprised at how many pay attention to some extent.
July 28, 2011 at 5:38 pm
maybe i should revise that statement to: pay attention to politics to the extent that many of us do here.
and to be honest i think i personally do the bare minimum of paying attention to politics. maybe just barely enough to make what i would consider an intelligent informed decision on voting. my wife pays far more attention than i do.
most people just follow the lead of their friends, relatives, etc.
without making much effort.
July 28, 2011 at 5:30 pm
the democratic party is viewed as arrogant to most people. and their communications only sustain that image.
republicans use what any good fiction author does to draw in readers: they invite them into their world and let them in on secrets. this is INCLUSIVE interaction.
saying that republicans are stupid only feeds the EXCLUSIVITY syndrome that democrats convey.this is why republicans almost invite the Pavlovian response from democrats to insult them. (Big Swede is the best example we have of this type of communication) he does insult us but only in a sneaky sideways feinting action. he is doing this to make democrats, progressive independents look arrogant.
acting a foolish oafish clown looks far more inviting to people than someone who acts like a scolding school teacher.
July 28, 2011 at 6:13 pm
I agree with you Pbear that people (me included) vote on personal identification at least 90% and facts less than 10%. OK you didn’t exactly say that, but i did use your same percentages and I do agree that facts aren’t primarily important, impressions are important.
Although i always like some good facts to bolster my personal identification, and at that, Democrats far excel over Republicans.
but people don’t vote facts. They vote how they feel. And they also don’t vote how they feel. Which drives the logical up a wall.
July 28, 2011 at 6:29 pm
I was fortunate to be alive in the early sixties, when Democrats organized blacks who then got together and demonstrated. At the same time, Democrats formed the feminist and environmental movements and got those movements going. Democrats also started the Vietnam War, but then realized it was a mistake and then organized anti-war activities.
It’s a blog, so I must note here: Sarcasm
Face it – movement politics is the only thing that has ever changed things, and movements are marginalized now by The Party. Americans know how to shop, eat, go to movies, and about half bother to register to vote, and even fewer cast votes. Not that it matters much. All this talk about party preference is window shopping, and in terms of making our lives better, means nothing. Even if Republicans see the light and become Democrats, what changes?
July 28, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Do you know who is circulating in the Dillon area? I want to sign that petition as well as the one repealing eminent domain for private companies.
July 28, 2011 at 6:41 pm
http://www.patientsforreform.org/
Don’t know but you can try here. I imagine there must be quite a few folks putting in time on this.