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Well, hang on, you're saying that rather than a temporary tax cut, you'd have preferred the more substantive policy changes? Let's say Obama said "Hey, I thoug

by jbooth 17y ago

Well, hang on, you're saying that rather than a temporary tax cut, you'd have preferred the more substantive policy changes? Let's say Obama said "Hey, I thought about doing a temporary tax cut, but I'd rather concentrate on policy changes to help our bottom line" -- how do you think that would have gone over with the right side of the aisle? PS Regarding policy changes to help the bottom line... you've seen those projected deficit numbers right? Two questions: 1) Do you think those projected deficits are the result of Obama administration policy (about 3 months old at the time I first saw the chart), or because of underlying fundamentals? 2) If you had to guess at the fastest rising cost in government spending, would you guess healthcare? 3) Ok fine, one more but I can't resist, if Obama said "I'm not pursuing a tax cut, I'm prioritizing healthcare reform because it will save the government a ton of money", how do you think the conservative reaction would go? :)

hga 17y ago
Yes, but not any substantive policy changes that Obama wants. 1. Obama administration policy. There's no limit to how fast a politician can spend money ^_^. (Well, to authorize the spending of money; as we've seen with the stimulus bill there's no limit to the amount of red tape a bureaucrat can then use to tie up a process.) 2. Yes. 3. Unfavorable, since we don't believe that the ends justify the means and we don't believe him on costs. The CBO doesn't believe him, and that's not counting the "savings" achieved by gutting Medicare, which will of course be repealed in due course or "adjusted" every year as is already done for Medicare payments to doctors.
- jbooth 17y ago
  Well, sounds like the dude can't win with you -- I mean why waste the time with justifications and arguments if it's just a big fat "NO!", even when he's co-opting formerly republican ideas? There's exactly one time when the government should make a point of counter-cyclical deficit spending -- when in a recession. This is in pretty much every economics textbook, including the one by Greg Mankiw (Bush's chief economics adviser) that I read in college. What we saw however, was that according to Dick Cheney, "Deficits don't matter [as long as a republican is in office]", then as soon as a democrat is in office, deficit spending during the worst financial meltdown in recent history is against economic fundamentals all of a sudden. On healthcare.. I don't even know where to start, whether it's with your total refusal to acknowledge that we should focus on dollar-driven solutions ("I don't believe the ends justify the means"), or your incoherent philosophy "I don't believe in government financed healthcare in general EXCEPT for medicare, in which case I'll accuse you of 'gutting' it." At the end of the day, we have a huge budget hole as a result of skyrocketing medical costs. I spent 3 years in local government laying off teachers and feeling like shit about it because of those costs. Forgive me if I value those teachers' paychecks and the kids' education over abstract ideals about what is socialism, what isn't, and how something can only be a good idea if a republican proposes it.

by jbooth 17y ago

hga 17y ago

Yes, but not any substantive policy changes that Obama wants. 1. Obama administration policy. There's no limit to how fast a politician can spend money ^_^. (Well, to authorize the spending of money; as we've seen with the stimulus bill there's no limit to the amount of red tape a bureaucrat can then use to tie up a process.) 2. Yes. 3. Unfavorable, since we don't believe that the ends justify the means and we don't believe him on costs. The CBO doesn't believe him, and that's not counting the "savings" achieved by gutting Medicare, which will of course be repealed in due course or "adjusted" every year as is already done for Medicare payments to doctors.

jbooth 17y ago
Well, sounds like the dude can't win with you -- I mean why waste the time with justifications and arguments if it's just a big fat "NO!", even when he's co-opting formerly republican ideas? There's exactly one time when the government should make a point of counter-cyclical deficit spending -- when in a recession. This is in pretty much every economics textbook, including the one by Greg Mankiw (Bush's chief economics adviser) that I read in college. What we saw however, was that according to Dick Cheney, "Deficits don't matter [as long as a republican is in office]", then as soon as a democrat is in office, deficit spending during the worst financial meltdown in recent history is against economic fundamentals all of a sudden. On healthcare.. I don't even know where to start, whether it's with your total refusal to acknowledge that we should focus on dollar-driven solutions ("I don't believe the ends justify the means"), or your incoherent philosophy "I don't believe in government financed healthcare in general EXCEPT for medicare, in which case I'll accuse you of 'gutting' it." At the end of the day, we have a huge budget hole as a result of skyrocketing medical costs. I spent 3 years in local government laying off teachers and feeling like shit about it because of those costs. Forgive me if I value those teachers' paychecks and the kids' education over abstract ideals about what is socialism, what isn't, and how something can only be a good idea if a republican proposes it.