Tag Archives: federal debt
Some Democrats — and even some conservatives — are rejecting the rhetoric about a “debt crisis”
Don’t look now, but there’s a growing group of voices on both the left and right of the political spectrum questioning the theory that America is facing a debt crisis and must fight it with economic austerity.
Consider THIS:
The two parties are miles apart on how to cut the deficit and national debt: Republicans want to slash spending even more. Democrats want to raise revenue.
And then there are the other Democrats — the ones who reject the entire premise of the current high-stakes fiscal fight. There’s no short-term deficit problem, they say, and there isn’t even an …
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Tagged federal debt
Debt crisis? What debt crisis?
Paul Krugman NAILS IT:
Pundits who spent years trying to foster a sense of panic over the deficit have begun writing pieces lamenting the likelihood that there won’t be a crisis, after all. Maybe it wasn’t that significant when President Obama declared that we don’t face any “immediate” debt crisis, but it did represent a change in tone from his previous deficit-hawk rhetoric. And it was startling, indeed, when John Boehner, the speaker of the House, said exactly the same thing a few days later.
What happened? Basically, the numbers refuse to cooperate: Interest rates remain stubbornly low, deficits …
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Tagged federal debt
Surprise! Three-fourths of recent reduction in the federal debt has been in spending cuts!
Don’t tell your Republican friends about THIS; it’ll only confuse them:
When it comes to most of the major political disputes in Washington, congressional Republicans insist Democrats focus on reducing the debt Republicans built up during the Bush/Cheney era. It underpins everything from the budget fight to the debt ceiling to efforts to expand public investments.
What the debate tends to ignore is the debt reduction that’s already happened. Michael Linden and Michael Ettlinger reportedyesterday that since the start of 2011 fiscal year, President Barack Obama “has signed into law approximately $2.4 trillion of deficit reduction” over the next …
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Tagged federal debt, federal spending
Debt crisis? What debt crisis?
Economist Paul Krugman ARGUES that most of the political rhetoric about the so-called fiscal cliff is wrong:
We are not having a debt crisis.
It’s important to make this point, because I keep seeing articles about the “fiscal cliff” that do, in fact, describe it — often in the headline — as a debt crisis. But it isn’t. The U.S. government is having no trouble borrowing to cover its deficit. In fact, its borrowing costs are near historic lows. And even the confrontation over the debt ceiling that looms a few months from now if we do somehow manage to …
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Tagged federal debt, fiscal cliff
Obama should confront Republicans with the $6 trillion in new federal debt they’ve voted for
In the coming tug-of-war over the debt ceiling, Congressional Republicans are counting on the likelihood that most Americans don’t realize that these same GOP lawmakers voted last year for $6 trillion in new federal debt.
But Matt Miller is PLEADING with President Obama to make the populace aware of this inconvenient truth:
To listen to the GOP…you’d think they support budgets that don’t add much to the debt at all. This is demonstrably, laughably, even shockingly false. But only a president can emblazon this fact on America’s consciousness and move it to the center of the conversation. Once you do, it will …
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Tagged Barack Obama, federal debt, Republicans
