Just as it happened in 1992 after Billy Clinton won the presidency. 'Member before the election he was all for a tax cut but somehow along in December '92 he said "I have never workd so hard in my life but I can't cut taxes now".
Bwaahahhahaaaa A good laugh from a voting republican to those who voted for the dims... They are liars and ALWAYS RAISE TAXATION!!!!
So they trot our Rubin to break the news to us all.. Lawd how I loathe the dims and their unending LYING! LYING!!!!! LYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://today.reuters.com/news/artic...240Z_01_N09228185_RTRIDST_0_ECONOMY-RUBIN.XML
By Glenn Somerville
WASHINGTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Higher U.S. taxes are inevitable in order to reduce soaring budget deficits because foreigners will not finance U.S. shortfalls forever, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said on Thursday.
"You cannot solve the nation's fiscal problems without increased revenues," Rubin told the Economic Club of Washington, adding that he did not believe U.S. economic activity would suffer if such action was taken.
"I think if you were to increase taxes right now, you would have probably about zero negative effect on the economy," Rubin told a questioner after a dinner address to about 200 people.
Rubin served as Treasury Secretary from 1995-99 during the Clinton administration, a period during which the government budget was brought into brief surplus before slipping back into deficits after President George W. Bush took office in 2001.
Rubin now chairs the executive committee of Citigroup Inc. in New York and left no doubt that he felt current fiscal direction in Washington was way off course, partly because of the Bush administrations's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.
The federal budget deficit was close to $250 billion in the fiscal year to the end of September.
"We have large projected fiscal deficits from the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts instead of the surplus that we should have had during this period of growth," he said, especially with the United States soon facing higher social security spending for a wave of retiring "baby boomers" born after World War Two.
"Entitlements begin to increase rapidly as a percentage of GDP (gross domestic product) early in the next decade and our current account deficit is an almost unimaginable 7 percent of GDP with heavy over-weighting of dollar-denominated assets in many foreign portfolios and key central banks," he added. Continued..
THREAT LOOMING
Rubin said the combination of large U.S. indebtedness and swiftly approaching spending needs pose "a deep threat to our economy and to the entire global economy" and must be addressed by U.S. policy-makers.
"So far, vast flows of capital from abroad, largely motivated by a desire to support the dollar and thereby to support exports... have kept all this going," Rubin said.
"But these vast flows, built on top of imbalances I have already described, seems to me to be exceedingly unlikely to be indefinitely sustained," Rubin said, either because foreigners become worried or because the countries themselves hit an economic rough patch and are unable to invest as much abroad.
Earlier on Thursday, the dollar hit a two-month low against the euro after China's central bank chief, Zhou Xiaochuan, said the country had a clear plan to diversify its reserves, the highest in the world at $1 trillion.
China is the second-biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries with $339.0 billion as of August, according to U.S. Treasury Department data. Zhou did not specify that China had a plan to reduce dollar assets but the possibility sent shivers through U.S. and global markets.
Rubin, who now heads a research group called the Hamilton Project that generates policy ideas for Democratic leaders, was coy when asked what actions he recommended now that Democrats have taken control of both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate after Tuesday's congressional elections.
"This cannot go on fiscally. I'm not saying it can't go on for another five years but it cannot go on forever," Rubin said, adding that "a critical juncture" has been reached where long-term remedial policy must be brought into focus.
"What we need is for the leadership of both houses and the President of the United States... to get together and join hands and put everything on the table and agree to take the political risk jointly," Rubin said.
Bwaahahhahaaaa A good laugh from a voting republican to those who voted for the dims... They are liars and ALWAYS RAISE TAXATION!!!!
So they trot our Rubin to break the news to us all.. Lawd how I loathe the dims and their unending LYING! LYING!!!!! LYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://today.reuters.com/news/artic...240Z_01_N09228185_RTRIDST_0_ECONOMY-RUBIN.XML
By Glenn Somerville
WASHINGTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Higher U.S. taxes are inevitable in order to reduce soaring budget deficits because foreigners will not finance U.S. shortfalls forever, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said on Thursday.
"You cannot solve the nation's fiscal problems without increased revenues," Rubin told the Economic Club of Washington, adding that he did not believe U.S. economic activity would suffer if such action was taken.
"I think if you were to increase taxes right now, you would have probably about zero negative effect on the economy," Rubin told a questioner after a dinner address to about 200 people.
Rubin served as Treasury Secretary from 1995-99 during the Clinton administration, a period during which the government budget was brought into brief surplus before slipping back into deficits after President George W. Bush took office in 2001.
Rubin now chairs the executive committee of Citigroup Inc. in New York and left no doubt that he felt current fiscal direction in Washington was way off course, partly because of the Bush administrations's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.
The federal budget deficit was close to $250 billion in the fiscal year to the end of September.
"We have large projected fiscal deficits from the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts instead of the surplus that we should have had during this period of growth," he said, especially with the United States soon facing higher social security spending for a wave of retiring "baby boomers" born after World War Two.
"Entitlements begin to increase rapidly as a percentage of GDP (gross domestic product) early in the next decade and our current account deficit is an almost unimaginable 7 percent of GDP with heavy over-weighting of dollar-denominated assets in many foreign portfolios and key central banks," he added. Continued..
THREAT LOOMING
Rubin said the combination of large U.S. indebtedness and swiftly approaching spending needs pose "a deep threat to our economy and to the entire global economy" and must be addressed by U.S. policy-makers.
"So far, vast flows of capital from abroad, largely motivated by a desire to support the dollar and thereby to support exports... have kept all this going," Rubin said.
"But these vast flows, built on top of imbalances I have already described, seems to me to be exceedingly unlikely to be indefinitely sustained," Rubin said, either because foreigners become worried or because the countries themselves hit an economic rough patch and are unable to invest as much abroad.
Earlier on Thursday, the dollar hit a two-month low against the euro after China's central bank chief, Zhou Xiaochuan, said the country had a clear plan to diversify its reserves, the highest in the world at $1 trillion.
China is the second-biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries with $339.0 billion as of August, according to U.S. Treasury Department data. Zhou did not specify that China had a plan to reduce dollar assets but the possibility sent shivers through U.S. and global markets.
Rubin, who now heads a research group called the Hamilton Project that generates policy ideas for Democratic leaders, was coy when asked what actions he recommended now that Democrats have taken control of both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate after Tuesday's congressional elections.
"This cannot go on fiscally. I'm not saying it can't go on for another five years but it cannot go on forever," Rubin said, adding that "a critical juncture" has been reached where long-term remedial policy must be brought into focus.
"What we need is for the leadership of both houses and the President of the United States... to get together and join hands and put everything on the table and agree to take the political risk jointly," Rubin said.
