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Obamas dangerous budget leaves GOP at loss for words
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
05/12/09 10:23 AM EDT
(AP)
Republican strategists have a problem. The scale of what President Barack Obama proposes to do to the American economy is so enormous, so far-reaching and so potentially disastrous that the opposition party is having a hard time describing it....
...Insensitivity to scope is a major obstacle to understanding the Obama administrations $3.6 trillion 2010 budget. People simply have trouble understanding a number so big. A recent poll asked Americans how many million are in a trillion. Twenty-one percent of respondents got the answer right its a million million. Most people thought it was a lot less.
Republicans are facing that obstacle as they try to explain the dimensions of Obamas spending plan. The GOP pollster told me he tries to explain it by asking people to think of a dollar as a second one dollar, one brief tick of your watch. A million seconds, the pollster explained, equals eleven days. A billion seconds equals 31 years. And a trillion seconds equals 310 centuries.
The task of educating voters got a little more urgent Monday, when the government announced the not-terribly-surprising news that federal tax revenues will be smaller this year than previously thought. After a review of the Obama budgets numbers before formal submission to Congress, Budget Director Peter Orszag said this years deficit will be $1.841 trillion $89 billion more than previously estimated. If youre listening to the ticks of your watch, thats about 570 centuries.
You may remember last week that Obama proposed, with much fanfare, $17 billion in budget cuts. Now, his budget director announces that the deficit will go up by $89 billion. A paperwork change increased the size of the deficit more than five times greater than the savings they proposed last week, one key Republican Senate aide told me. The deficit will likely grow again in a few months when the budget office does a routine midyear review.
And it will grow bigger still if Obamas remarkably optimistic predictions for the economy dont pan out. On Monday the White House forecast that the economy will be growing at a 3.5 percent annual rate by the end of this year. Thats a nice growth rate in a non-recession year. But now? After the economy shrank at an annual rate of 6.1 percent in the first quarter? They say were going to have almost a 10-point swing in the span of six months, the GOP aide told me. Thats a really rosy scenario....
Republican strategists have a problem. The scale of what President Barack Obama proposes to do to the American economy is so enormous, so far-reaching and so potentially disastrous that the opposition party is having a hard time describing it....
Fear not, Obama is the Messiah after all. The brain dead democrats like Jillian and her buddies here will likely IGNORE this thread or claim it is just wrong.
Obama has PROMISED a miracle, what is everyone worried about? The democratic supporters have insisted trillions in deficit spending by Obama is fine cause, well he is spending it in the US. He has TRIPLED the Deficit but has promised to cut it in half in 4 years, assuming he does not INCREASE the deficit even more during the next 4 years his promise means that he will still have increased the deficit by 50 percent.
Of course how he can NOT keep deficit spending when he is adding programs that cost billions and will grow each year not shrink, is an interesting question. One the Democrats just ignore, along with the Press. And of course how in 4 years after massive deficit spending he will be able to cut HALF the Federal Budget or more when the programs will NEED MORE not less money is an interesting question as well.
Anyone that thinks MASSIVE tax increases are not just around the corner are fools indeed.
Consider....
If, as most of us believe, the trillions we are borrowing are REAL DEBT based on EXISTING MONEY, that means that somebody had that money to begin with.
Ponder that fact for a moment.
Now...where did they get it, exactly?
Consider....
If, as most of us believe, the trillions we are borrowing are REAL DEBT based on EXISTING MONEY, that means that somebody had that money to begin with.
Ponder that fact for a moment.
Now...where did they get it, exactly?
...Until now, we have been inundated with an alphabet soup of programs to save the economy. But the purpose of each and their success rates have been murky. Even experts can't keep track of what's going on: In response to a query about a Treasury program, a spokesman told me that he couldn't recall what it was, yet alone its purpose. In recent testimony, the inspector general at the Federal Reserve couldn't explain the whereabouts of trillions of dollars in central-bank money used to alleviate stress at troubled banks; she certainly couldn't comment on the efficacy of the programs. In a hilarious interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, TARP oversight queen Elizabeth Warren momentarily forgot what the acronym PPIP stands for. No wonder taxpayers are upset and confused....
I've seen the graphic representations, heard about a million a day since Christ was born, but this one works for me:
www.washingtonexaminer.com >> Politics >> - Obama’s dangerous budget leaves GOP at loss for words
Obama’s dangerous budget leaves GOP at loss for words
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
05/12/09 10:23 AM EDT
(AP)
Republican strategists have a problem. The scale of what President Barack Obama proposes to do to the American economy is so enormous, so far-reaching and so potentially disastrous that the opposition party is having a hard time describing it....
...Insensitivity to scope is a major obstacle to understanding the Obama administration’s $3.6 trillion 2010 budget. People simply have trouble understanding a number so big. A recent poll asked Americans how many million are in a trillion. Twenty-one percent of respondents got the answer right — it’s a million million. Most people thought it was a lot less.
Republicans are facing that obstacle as they try to explain the dimensions of Obama’s spending plan. The GOP pollster told me he tries to explain it by asking people to think of a dollar as a second — one dollar, one brief tick of your watch. A million seconds, the pollster explained, equals eleven days. A billion seconds equals 31 years. And a trillion seconds equals 310 centuries.
The task of educating voters got a little more urgent Monday, when the government announced the not-terribly-surprising news that federal tax revenues will be smaller this year than previously thought. After a review of the Obama budget’s numbers before formal submission to Congress, Budget Director Peter Orszag said this year’s deficit will be $1.841 trillion — $89 billion more than previously estimated. If you’re listening to the ticks of your watch, that’s about 570 centuries.
You may remember last week that Obama proposed, with much fanfare, $17 billion in budget cuts. Now, his budget director announces that the deficit will go up by $89 billion. “A paperwork change increased the size of the deficit more than five times greater than the savings they proposed last week,” one key Republican Senate aide told me. The deficit will likely grow again in a few months when the budget office does a routine midyear review.
And it will grow bigger still if Obama’s remarkably optimistic predictions for the economy don’t pan out. On Monday the White House forecast that the economy will be growing at a 3.5 percent annual rate by the end of this year. That’s a nice growth rate in a non-recession year. But now? After the economy shrank at an annual rate of 6.1 percent in the first quarter? “They say we’re going to have almost a 10-point swing in the span of six months,” the GOP aide told me. “That’s a really rosy scenario.”...
Fear not, Obama is the Messiah after all. The brain dead democrats like Jillian and her buddies here will likely IGNORE this thread or claim it is just wrong.
Obama has PROMISED a miracle, what is everyone worried about? The democratic supporters have insisted trillions in deficit spending by Obama is fine cause, well he is spending it in the US. He has TRIPLED the Deficit but has promised to cut it in half in 4 years, assuming he does not INCREASE the deficit even more during the next 4 years his promise means that he will still have increased the deficit by 50 percent.
Of course how he can NOT keep deficit spending when he is adding programs that cost billions and will grow each year not shrink, is an interesting question. One the Democrats just ignore, along with the Press. And of course how in 4 years after massive deficit spending he will be able to cut HALF the Federal Budget or more when the programs will NEED MORE not less money is an interesting question as well.
Anyone that thinks MASSIVE tax increases are not just around the corner are fools indeed.
Bush started with a 'budget surplus' but with a total spending deficit... please don't forget intergovernmental spending/borrowing DOES count
We'll see if Obama can deliver?? Are you serious??? Would you advise your kids or your business to spend it's way out of deficit/debt? Hey son, you owe $10000 and you were $2000 in the red last year. Let's increase spending even more, hand out money to bums on the street at will, and go $5000 in the red on your spending this year. THAT should help you out of this financial mess!!
Bush started with a 'budget surplus' but with a total spending deficit... please don't forget intergovernmental spending/borrowing DOES count
We'll see if Obama can deliver?? Are you serious??? Would you advise your kids or your business to spend it's way out of deficit/debt? Hey son, you owe $10000 and you were $2000 in the red last year. Let's increase spending even more, hand out money to bums on the street at will, and go $5000 in the red on your spending this year. THAT should help you out of this financial mess!!
That is not what Obama is trying to do. He is trying to save the economy. If you are in debt, and your car breaks down, you might have to spend money to have it repaired so you can continue to drive to your work. If you do not spend this money, in light of your debt, you could lose your job and any ability to pay off the debt in the future.
I've seen the graphic representations, heard about a million a day since Christ was born, but this one works for me:
www.washingtonexaminer.com >> Politics >> - Obamaâs dangerous budget leaves GOP at loss for words
Obamas dangerous budget leaves GOP at loss for words
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
05/12/09 10:23 AM EDT
(AP)
Republican strategists have a problem. The scale of what President Barack Obama proposes to do to the American economy is so enormous, so far-reaching and so potentially disastrous that the opposition party is having a hard time describing it....
...Insensitivity to scope is a major obstacle to understanding the Obama administrations $3.6 trillion 2010 budget. People simply have trouble understanding a number so big. A recent poll asked Americans how many million are in a trillion. Twenty-one percent of respondents got the answer right its a million million. Most people thought it was a lot less.
Republicans are facing that obstacle as they try to explain the dimensions of Obamas spending plan. The GOP pollster told me he tries to explain it by asking people to think of a dollar as a second one dollar, one brief tick of your watch. A million seconds, the pollster explained, equals eleven days. A billion seconds equals 31 years. And a trillion seconds equals 310 centuries.
The task of educating voters got a little more urgent Monday, when the government announced the not-terribly-surprising news that federal tax revenues will be smaller this year than previously thought. After a review of the Obama budgets numbers before formal submission to Congress, Budget Director Peter Orszag said this years deficit will be $1.841 trillion $89 billion more than previously estimated. If youre listening to the ticks of your watch, thats about 570 centuries.
You may remember last week that Obama proposed, with much fanfare, $17 billion in budget cuts. Now, his budget director announces that the deficit will go up by $89 billion. A paperwork change increased the size of the deficit more than five times greater than the savings they proposed last week, one key Republican Senate aide told me. The deficit will likely grow again in a few months when the budget office does a routine midyear review.
And it will grow bigger still if Obamas remarkably optimistic predictions for the economy dont pan out. On Monday the White House forecast that the economy will be growing at a 3.5 percent annual rate by the end of this year. Thats a nice growth rate in a non-recession year. But now? After the economy shrank at an annual rate of 6.1 percent in the first quarter? They say were going to have almost a 10-point swing in the span of six months, the GOP aide told me. Thats a really rosy scenario....
Good post.
Too bad folks from the conservative side weren't posting these kinds of articles in 2001, when Bush and the Republicans passed tax cuts and wiped out the small surplus he had intereted.
We wouldn't have the same concern today during a recessionif Bush had used that surplus and paid down the debt instead of growing it by $5 trillion.
I've seen the graphic representations, heard about a million a day since Christ was born, but this one works for me:
www.washingtonexaminer.com >> Politics >> - Obamaâs dangerous budget leaves GOP at loss for words
Good post.
Too bad folks from the conservative side weren't posting these kinds of articles in 2001, when Bush and the Republicans passed tax cuts and wiped out the small surplus he had intereted.
We wouldn't have the same concern today during a recessionif Bush had used that surplus and paid down the debt instead of growing it by $5 trillion.
That's not a true statement Immie. Plenty of us conservatives were calling out the government for it's over spending. It was bad then, and it's worse now, so we are shouting louder now, that's all.
No it is not...
It is more like (in the car situation) realizing you are in debt, and you car is broke, and thinking that spending on the car, a new pool, new paint for the car, a vacation, a new laptop, season tickets to the Orioles, and entry fee into the World Series of Poker, is the answer
The thing is ridiculous, pet projects, pork, additional unnecessary spending, etc.. it's a farce
Good post.
Too bad folks from the conservative side weren't posting these kinds of articles in 2001, when Bush and the Republicans passed tax cuts and wiped out the small surplus he had intereted.
We wouldn't have the same concern today during a recessionif Bush had used that surplus and paid down the debt instead of growing it by $5 trillion.
That's not a true statement Immie. Plenty of us conservatives were calling out the government for it's over spending. It was bad then, and it's worse now, so we are shouting louder now, that's all.
I think you confused me with Immie.
I agree my statement was a generalization. But I don't recall many on the conservative side complaining about the Bush tax cuts because they weren't being matched with spending cuts. Ironically McCain was one of the few I recall objective. There were some, but a pretty small minority.
That's not a true statement Immie. Plenty of us conservatives were calling out the government for it's over spending. It was bad then, and it's worse now, so we are shouting louder now, that's all.
I think you confused me with Immie.
I agree my statement was a generalization. But I don't recall many on the conservative side complaining about the Bush tax cuts because they weren't being matched with spending cuts. Ironically McCain was one of the few I recall objective. There were some, but a pretty small minority.
Sorry, didn't mean to mix up your name.
I've only been on this board since December, so you won't find posts from me talking about it here, but I damn sure was talking about it at other places.
I think you confused me with Immie.
I agree my statement was a generalization. But I don't recall many on the conservative side complaining about the Bush tax cuts because they weren't being matched with spending cuts. Ironically McCain was one of the few I recall objective. There were some, but a pretty small minority.
Sorry, didn't mean to mix up your name.
I've only been on this board since December, so you won't find posts from me talking about it here, but I damn sure was talking about it at other places.
Yes some were, I don't doubt you.
But the thing for Bush was not that he was going to need to cut spending, because he was selling the old "supply side" scheme. Cut taxes and revenues somehow grow faster. So he didn't need to talk about cutting spending, because the Govt was going to have so much more revenues. In fact I hardly recall Bush talking about cutting anything at all ever. And a lot of conservatives where pitching that idea too. It didn't work out as sold, though. Revenues tanked after the tax cuts.
Sorry, didn't mean to mix up your name.
I've only been on this board since December, so you won't find posts from me talking about it here, but I damn sure was talking about it at other places.
Yes some were, I don't doubt you.
But the thing for Bush was not that he was going to need to cut spending, because he was selling the old "supply side" scheme. Cut taxes and revenues somehow grow faster. So he didn't need to talk about cutting spending, because the Govt was going to have so much more revenues. In fact I hardly recall Bush talking about cutting anything at all ever. And a lot of conservatives where pitching that idea too. It didn't work out as sold, though. Revenues tanked after the tax cuts.
Good thing. Bush was gone last Nov. Really out in Jan, after giving the balance of a trillion to Obama, at Obama's request. How quaint. Now it's Obama's to deal with, rather ours, regardless of party. Have you read Moody's today? Seems our creditors are going to downgrade our credit rating. Why? Hmmm?
