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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsKrugman: Three-Card Budget Monte
Three-Card Budget Monte
It goes without saying that the Republican counteroffer is basically fake. It calls for $800 billion in revenue from closing loopholes, but doesnt specify a single loophole to be closed; it calls for huge spending cuts, but aside from raising the Medicare age and cutting the Social Security inflation adjustment moves worth only around $300 billion it doesnt specify how these cuts are to be achieved. So its basically the Paul Ryan method: scribble down some numbers and pretend that youre a budget wonk with a Serious plan.
What I havent seen pointed out here is the longer arc of GOP strategy. Does anyone recall how the Bush tax cuts were passed? The 2001 cut was passed based on the claim that the government was running an excessive surplus; the 2003 cut on the claim that it would provide an economic boost. Then the surplus went away, and the economy did not, to say the least, perform very well.
So now we face a substantial long-run deficit largely created by those tax cuts:
<...>
And the GOP says that because of that deficit we must raise the Medicare age and cut Social Security!
Oh, and for all the seniors or near-seniors who voted Republican because you thought they would protect Medicare from that bad guy Obama: youve been had.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/three-card-budget-monte/
It goes without saying that the Republican counteroffer is basically fake. It calls for $800 billion in revenue from closing loopholes, but doesnt specify a single loophole to be closed; it calls for huge spending cuts, but aside from raising the Medicare age and cutting the Social Security inflation adjustment moves worth only around $300 billion it doesnt specify how these cuts are to be achieved. So its basically the Paul Ryan method: scribble down some numbers and pretend that youre a budget wonk with a Serious plan.
What I havent seen pointed out here is the longer arc of GOP strategy. Does anyone recall how the Bush tax cuts were passed? The 2001 cut was passed based on the claim that the government was running an excessive surplus; the 2003 cut on the claim that it would provide an economic boost. Then the surplus went away, and the economy did not, to say the least, perform very well.
So now we face a substantial long-run deficit largely created by those tax cuts:
<...>
And the GOP says that because of that deficit we must raise the Medicare age and cut Social Security!
Oh, and for all the seniors or near-seniors who voted Republican because you thought they would protect Medicare from that bad guy Obama: youve been had.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/three-card-budget-monte/
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Krugman: Three-Card Budget Monte (Original Post)
ProSense
Dec 2012
OP
LisaLynne
(14,554 posts)1. Kick. nt
madokie
(51,076 posts)2. Speaking of paul lyan where is boy munster?
is he still alive or has he bit the bullet?
Don't seem to be seeing much of his sorry ass lately
Maybe wifey has shut him off from the money pot, who knows
actually besides me who even gives a flying fuck?
Oh I actually don't give a damn where he is (-:
ProSense
(116,464 posts)4. He's a fraud
After Promising To Preserve Medicare For Current Retirees, GOP Demands Immediate Cuts...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021922307
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021922307
ladjf
(17,320 posts)5. Bidden showed Americans how dumb Ryan was. nt
He crushed the pukes boy wonder like you or I would a stink bug.
ladjf
(17,320 posts)8. Did you notice that after that debate, Ryan almost dissappeared from the public scene?
good riddance to bad rubbish
bullwinkle428
(20,629 posts)3. Fifty years ago, Ryan would have been run out of D.C. on a rail.
K&R.
kentuck
(111,101 posts)6. I cannot understand why???
They have to have a quid pro quo to close loopholes? If they were doing their jobs...