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radarman · 2009-10-19 11:06 am

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/20 … situation/

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A leading fiscal mind on Capitol Hill and a one-time Obama Cabinet pick sounded the alarm Sunday over the projected long-term financial challenges the country faces.

“This deficit is driven by us,” New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg candidly said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union when asked about the federal government’s projected $1.42 trillion operating deficit for the 2009 fiscal year.

“You talk about systemic risk. The systemic risk today is the Congress of the United States,“ the Ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, “that we’re creating these massive debts which we’re passing on to our children. We’re going to undermine fundamentally the quality of life for our children by doing this.”

“Now you can’t blame that on [former President] George [W.] Bush,” Greg said, noting that using the Obama administration’s projections the budget deficit for the next ten years is $1 trillion per year. And Gregg said that during the same ten-year period, public debt as a percentage of gross domestic product would increase from 40 percent - which Gregg called “tolerable but still too high” - up to 80 percent.

The figures, Gregg told King, “mean we’re basically on the path to a banana-republic-type of financial situation in this country. And you just can’t do that. You can’t keep running these [federal] programs out [into the future] and not paying for them. And you can’t keep throwing debt on top of debt.”

“Standards of living will drop if we keep this up,” Gregg also said.

Well, at least one clown in DC gets it. The question is, will enough of the circus join in to make a difference?

robco · 2009-10-19 11:14 am

At this point just to break even, we'd have to raise taxes by a significant amount and cut spending by a significant amount. The GOP still has only tax cuts in their arsenal, it's their mantra. Sen Gregg fails to mention we're fighting two wars that have lasted longer than our involvement in WWII - the last time our deficits were this high. Nobody is talking about raising the caps on SS or Medicare, or raising the age they can be collected - or any other meaningful entitlement reform. Nobody is mentioning that perhaps we should consider the fact that the country was more prosperous when we were taxing the rich. Keeping money concentrated in the upper class doesn't work, they don't spend it in ways that stimulate the economy. Having a strong middle class does.

We're going to be undone by our very own political system and by an education system where people can't even do the basic math (or make out a balance sheet) to see how much trouble we're in, can barely read what we're writing here and are taught to be wary of science and hence unprepared for the careers of the future.

So in answer to the thread title, yes we are. We're going to definitely become a more divided nation economically.

Tallgeese · 2009-10-19 11:25 am

radarman wrote:
Well, at least one clown in DC gets it. The question is, will enough of the circus join in to make a difference?

Yeah, he sure gets it as soon as his party isn't in power.

No, he's just another clown who creates problems in the majority and cries about them in the minority.

bedstuy · 2009-10-19 11:43 am

Judd sounds more like a concern troll.

Last edited by bedstuy (2009-10-19 11:44 am)

Ribtorus · 2009-10-19 11:44 am

Deficitry is one of those sought after "bi-partisan" issues.

Really, politicos should be happy.

Tallgeese · 2009-10-19 11:48 am

Ribtorus wrote:
Deficitry is one of those sought after "bi-partisan" issues.

Really, politicos should be happy.

It is a bipartisan issue - Everyone contributes and everyone complains, and everyone blames everyone else.

Tallgeese · 2009-10-19 11:50 am

bedstuy wrote:
Judd sounds more like a concern troll.

Had President Bush not cut taxes while simultaneously prosecuting two foreign wars and adopting other programs without paying for them, the current deficit would be only 4.7 percent of gross domestic product this year, instead of the eye-catching 11.2 percent—despite the weak economy and the costly efforts taken to restore it. In 2010, the deficit would be 3.2 percent instead of 9.6 percent.

ShnickyShnack · 2009-10-19 12:00 pm

Exactly. This isn't the result of Obama's policies, it's the result of a quarter century of fiscal mismanagement.

Tallgeese is right, neither of the parties are particularly interested in fixing the situation. I suppose if I had to play the odds, I'd wager the Dems are more likely to make it happen, but I'm increasingly of the opinion that the point of no return is in sight. Unfortunately a long, painful post-imperial hangover is highly likely.

Let's not forget the voters, by the way. It's not as though they're demanding fiscal responsibility (sure, the teabaggers are now, but they weren't when a Repubbie was in charge, and would immediately stop if Obama were to be replaced by one).

bedstuy · 2009-10-19 12:17 pm

ShnickyShnack wrote:
Let's not forget the voters, by the way. It's not as though they're demanding fiscal responsibility (sure, the teabaggers are now, but they weren't when a Repubbie was in charge, and would immediately stop if Obama were to be replaced by one).

I'd be more likely to blame voters if the media reported things like what is in the link I just put up, but instead the MSM insist on reporting a back and forth he said/she said story line.

Ribtorus · 2009-10-19 12:30 pm

Media companies are amongst the largest lobbiers in Washington. I can't see them shooting their own goose.

dv · 2009-10-19 1:12 pm

Except Banana Republics have exports.

radarman · 2009-10-19 1:28 pm

dv wrote:
Except Banana Republics have exports.

This is true. We are probably going to end up more like Zimbabwe. Better buy those backpacks and wheelbarrows now, before you actually need one to carry the money you need to buy it.

daemon · 2009-10-19 1:30 pm

Through me you pass into the city of woe:
Through me you pass into eternal pain:
Through me among the people lost for aye.

Justice the founder of my fabric mov'd:
To rear me was the task of power divine,
Supremest wisdom, and primeval love.

Before me things create were none, save things
Eternal, and eternal I endure.
All hope abandon ye who enter here.

Such characters in colour dim I mark'd
Over a portal's lofty arch inscrib'd:
Whereat I thus: Master, these words import.

JakeTheTall · 2009-10-19 1:47 pm

radarman wrote:
dv wrote:
Except Banana Republics have exports.
This is true. We are probably going to end up more like Zimbabwe. Better buy those backpacks and wheelbarrows now, before you actually need one to carry the money you need to buy it.

roll

mackerm · 2009-10-19 2:04 pm

radarman wrote:
“Now you can’t blame that on [former President] George [W.] Bush,” Greg said, noting that using the Obama administration’s projections
Well, at least one clown in DC gets it. The question is, will enough of the circus join in to make a difference?

Really, Radarman? Of all the congressmen who've complained about fiscal irresponsibility, this is the one you choose to single out? Does "getting it" require absolving GWB of blame?

Last edited by mackerm (2009-10-19 2:04 pm)

radarman · 2009-10-19 2:05 pm

mackerm wrote:
radarman wrote:
“Now you can’t blame that on [former President] George [W.] Bush,” Greg said, noting that using the Obama administration’s projections
Well, at least one clown in DC gets it. The question is, will enough of the circus join in to make a difference?
Really, Radarman? Of all the congressmen who've complained about fiscal irresponsibility, this is the one you choose to single out? Does "getting it" require absolving GWB of blame?

He's still a clown...

Tallgeese · 2009-10-19 2:24 pm

Want to single out a Senator who just might "get it"?
How about Byron Dorgan?

From 1999, when Glass-Steagall was repealed

'I think we will look back in 10 years' time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930's is true in 2010,'' said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota. ''I wasn't around during the 1930's or the debate over Glass-Steagall. But I was here in the early 1980's when it was decided to allow the expansion of savings and loans. We have now decided in the name of modernization to forget the lessons of the past, of safety and of soundness.'

From a recent interview:

Well, I mean, it does precious little to say I told you so, but this was 10 years ago on the floor of the U.S. Senate. At the time, I said I thought it was a huge mistake and, you know, I was critical of the Clinton administration and critical of the Republicans in Congress who were pushing it.

But what I said is I think within a decade we're going to see massive taxpayer bailouts. I didn't necessarily know that for sure but it turns out my prognostication was a pretty expensive lesson. Because it made no sense that we should repeal Glass-Steagall and the protections that were put in place after the Great Depression.

And the result of that, in my judgment, was to steer this economy into the ditch and cause a significant economic wreck that's going to take us some time to get out of.

ShnickyShnack · 2009-10-19 3:06 pm

bedstuy wrote:
ShnickyShnack wrote:
Let's not forget the voters, by the way. It's not as though they're demanding fiscal responsibility (sure, the teabaggers are now, but they weren't when a Repubbie was in charge, and would immediately stop if Obama were to be replaced by one).
I'd be more likely to blame voters if the media reported things like what is in the link I just put up, but instead the MSM insist on reporting a back and forth he said/she said story line.

Which they do because that's where the ratings are.

Forums | MacLife

#1 2009-10-19 11:06 am

Is the US the next banana republic?

#2 2009-10-19 11:14 am

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

#3 2009-10-19 11:25 am

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

radarman wrote:

#4 2009-10-19 11:43 am

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

#5 2009-10-19 11:44 am

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

#6 2009-10-19 11:48 am

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

Ribtorus wrote:

#7 2009-10-19 11:50 am

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

bedstuy wrote:

#8 2009-10-19 12:00 pm

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

#9 2009-10-19 12:17 pm

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

ShnickyShnack wrote:

#10 2009-10-19 12:30 pm

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

#11 2009-10-19 1:12 pm

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

#12 2009-10-19 1:28 pm

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

dv wrote:

#13 2009-10-19 1:30 pm

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

#14 2009-10-19 1:47 pm

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

radarman wrote:

dv wrote:

#15 2009-10-19 2:04 pm

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

radarman wrote:

#16 2009-10-19 2:05 pm

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

mackerm wrote:

radarman wrote:

#17 2009-10-19 2:24 pm

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

#18 2009-10-19 3:06 pm

Re: Is the US the next banana republic?

bedstuy wrote:

ShnickyShnack wrote:

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