Friday, 10/7/16, Public Square

Saturday, 7/19/14, Public Square

Friday, 3/22/13, Public Square

Wednesday, 8/24/11, Public Square

Thursday, 8/11/11, Public Square

Have you ever wondered under which President the debt increased the most? (R) Regan 189%, (R) G.HW Bush 55%, (D) Clinton 37%, (R) G.W. Bush 115%, (D) Obama 16%. Under Republican Presidencies the debt has increased 359%, compared to 53% under Democratic Presidencies. Facts are facts.

Wednesday, 6/15/11, Public Square

GOP answer to budget shortfall — “Who knows?”

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) took to CNN Sunday to bash Democrats’ “gargantuan spending spree,” the latest in a long line of Republican attacks over the deficit that began almost immediately after President Obama’s inauguration. But what, exactly, would the GOP do to reduce the substantial budget shortfall–a much of it coming from the sea of red ink President Bush bequeathed to President Obama?

The answer: Who knows?

That, of course is nothing new — talking about belt-tightening in the broad sense is always easier than throwing out specifics.  Since Sen. Jon Kyl’s clarification on Fox News earlier this month that extending unemployment benefits is fiscally dangerous but deficit-financed tax cuts to the tune of $678 billion are just gravy, Republicans have been under new pressure to clarify how exactly they intend to reduce the national debt.  Sen. Pete Sessions’ (R-TX) appeared Sunday on Meet The Press and under persistent questioning from David Gregory, he failed to offer any specific examples of what spending programs the GOP would cut.

This evasion probably won’t keep them from being elected or reelected, it hasn’t in the past.  And if they should regain the majority and are asked to present a budget they’ve painted themselves into a corner.  They’ve signed pledges to not increase taxes, they’ve endorsed an array of new tax cuts that blow a further hole in the budget.

The GOP recently rebranded itself as the holy defender of Medicare during the health care debate, putting another huge chunk of the budget out of play. Let’s assume that Defense Spending is an unlikely target as well. That pretty much leaves Social Security and a handful of popular spending programs like SCHIP on the block, which are as politically disastrous targets as they come.

Pinned down by a conservative base demanding drastic spending reductions AND tax cuts, it seems extremely unlikely a Republican House would be able to produce a workable budget that would get past the president’s desk, leading some observers — most notably Paul Krugman — to predict a government shutdown.

fnord

The Elephant in the Room



There is no doubt in my mind that both as Senator and as President, Barack Obama did the right this regarding TARP and the Stimulus Bill. These measures were required, in my view, to keep our economy, and conversely the global economy, from sliding in another Great Depression.

Understanding the complexities of the world’s economies is far from being my strong suit. Quite frankly, I am just too intellectually lazy to pursue a complete knowledge of Wall Street v. Main Street and all that lies in between.

I am capable, in my defense, to place my trust in those that know far more about the subject than I do. And, I trust Barack Obama. Republicans, not so much. They drove the bus into the ditch in the first place.

Regardless of the need for spending bills to prevent the crash of the economy, the National Debt is rising to levels heretofore unimaginable. Of course, much of that debt was incurred under Republican administrations, but you’ll never get a Tea Bagger to admit that.

It’s easy to say “cut spending!” Okay, where? Now the equation becomes a bit more tricky. It’s kind of like earmarks – everyone hates them, everyone wants to see money going to their home district.

Here’s a few ideas of mine to cut spending:

Eliminate  two third’s of our 700 foreign military bases.

Enact Secretary Robert Gates’ proposed cuts to the military.

Eliminate the Depart of Redundancy Department.

Freeze all new Federal hiring without specific Congressional approval.

End off-shore tax havens for American corporations.

Repeal and replace the Bush prescription drug bill.

Simplify the tax code to reduce loopholes.

Reduce salaries of all elected and appointed Federal employees by 10%.

Review and cut where necessary all tax subsidies and credits for business.

Those are my ideas, Pop Bloggers. What are yours?

William Stephenson Clark

Bipartisan Deficit Commission

Republicans who attack President Obama over the national debt were unwilling to create a bipartisan deficit commission with him. So the president has decided to go around  them: He will issue an executive order on Thursday creating an 18-member deficit commission. The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform will be chaired by Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, and Erksine Bowles, the former chief of staff to President Clinton who brokered a 1997 balanced-budget agreement with Congress. “There isn’t a single sitting member of Congress—not one—that doesn’t know exactly where we’re headed,” Simpson tells The New York Times. “And to use the politics of fear and division and hate on each other—we are at a point right now where it doesn’t make a damn whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican if you’ve forgotten you’re an American.”