Debt discussions
2011-07-25 22:40:15.123776+00 by Dan Lyke 5 comments
2011-07-25 22:40:15.123776+00 by Dan Lyke 5 comments
[ related topics: Politics ]
comments in descending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2011-07-27 23:43:19.23006+00 by: meuon [edit history]
It's holding a large collection of weapons to our collective head and demanding to be fed.
#Comment Re: made: 2011-07-27 22:46:58.01062+00 by: Dan Lyke
Yeah, the political viability of rolling back military spending to 2002-2003 levels is kinda close to zero.
A damned shame, because it'd be nice if we could get the military-industrial complex in check.
#Comment Re: made: 2011-07-27 18:29:43.6719+00 by: crasch
"...either Bush nor Obama is credited with the entire cost of Pentagon spending or entitlements, but only the changes his Administration made, up or down. By this logic the long-run effect of tax cuts initiated by Bush is assigned to him, as any long-run effect of savings he initiated would be too."
So, assuming Obama is elected for a second term, and assuming that he continues the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as he has done during his first term, all that spending through the 8 years of his presidency would still be attributed to Bush?
By that logic, shouldn't that chart have two huge bars to the left, for Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security, with LBJ and FDR above the names?
And it's not at all clear that the deficit would be less had the Bush tax cuts not happened. As we've seen, the government has exhibited a rapacious appetite for spending. What would've stopped them from spending the tax money and then some?
The solution to avoid hitting the debt ceiling is simple:
http://blog.independent.org/20...government-debt-ceiling-impasse/
"According to the government’s own budget documents, the government expects to take in about $2.26 trillion (in dollars of 2005 purchasing power) in fiscal year 2012. So, to avoid the necessity of raising the debt limit–and hence the necessity of quarreling about the matter–the government need only reduce its expenditure to that amount. Such a reduction can scarcely be described as draconian, because an expenditure of this inflation-adjusted amount would bring the government back, not to the level of 1981, and certainly not to that of 1929, but only to that of the government’s average spending in fiscal years 2002 and 2003."
#Comment Re: made: 2011-07-27 14:30:38.043126+00 by: TheSHAD0W
http://churchof.poisonedminds.com/comics/pm20110727.png
#Comment Re: made: 2011-07-26 21:17:54.891785+00 by: TheSHAD0W
Actually... The Chart That Should Accompany All Discussions of the Debt Ceiling.
Or, in other words, it's already too late.
