CNN Host Schools Bobby Jindal For Spouting ‘Misleading’ Economic ‘Nonsense’

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/02/25/1636621/cnn-host-schools-bobby-jindal-for-spouting-misleading-economic-nonsense/


CNN Host Schools Bobby Jindal For Spouting ‘Misleading’ Economic ‘Nonsense’

By Igor Volsky posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Feb 25, 2013 at 3:30 pm


CNN business correspondent Ali Velshi slammed Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) for likening the federal budget to family spending and suggesting that the Obama administration should not spend more than the government takes in.

“Every family has to balance their budget, isn’t allowed to spend more than they need, every business is more efficient, tighten their belt. The reality is it can be done,” Jindal said in remarks outside of the White House on Monday, following a meeting between the National Governor’s Association and President Obama. He added that the administration can implement the automatic across-the-borad sequestration cuts that are likely to go into effect on March 1 “without jeopardizing the economy” or “critical services” by focusing on “wasteful spending.”

Velshi rejected Jindal’s comparison as “misleading” “nonsense” and pointed out that businesses and families routinely borrow money to invest in their futures, reasoning that an investment made today in college education or a new equipment can lead to greater returns down the road:

VELSHI: It’s 3% of a small part of the federal budget which makes it a very big part of some major agencies. It’s misleading stuff Bobby Jindal is saying, number one. Number two when he says families understand they have to live within their budget. I don’t know a lot of families who buy a house with cash. Buying a house on a mortgage, is that living within your budget or not living within your budget? You would have to be 80 years old to be able to buy a house with cash. We have an understanding in our society, it may be flawed, that we borrow money based on our future earnings potential. All people do that, companies do that and governments do that. There’s a point at which you can say, we’ve gone too far with that or we’re too much of a risk of not paying back so we’ll end up paying a higher interest rate. When you borrow too much money, your personal interest rate goes up, credit cards go up. But to suggest within your means and balanced budget nonsense is just misleading. That is not how families live. It’s not how businesses conduct themselves. It is certainly not since the history of time the way governments run themselves. Bobby Jindal is a smart guy. He runs a state. He needs to not talk like this and it’s become common to hear this stuff coming out in these press conferences.

Watch it @ link~

The federal economy is fundamentally different from household budgets and economic data and history suggest that the government should be spending more, not less given the current economic circumstances. After all, overall government spending has plateaued under Obama after rising sharply under George W. Bush and the resulting fiscal contraction has resulted in a lower recovery.

[JaneyVee]

1. This is why conservative economics FAILS, because it would rather spend

$100Billion on repairing a bridge only after it has collapsed into the river with hundreds of cars on it than spend $20Billion repairing it before hand.

[Major Nikon]

5. It fails because the only thing it conserves is a hugely inflated military

...and tax cuts for those who need it the least at the expense of everyone else.

[BlueStreak]

2. What nobody mentioned is that OBAMA has done EXACTLY what Jindal asked for

Obama has put forward a plan that makes serious cuts and does prioritize the cuts in ways that will be least harmful to the economy and the American people. And it also closes just a few of the many loopholes that Ryan and Romney were so vocal about jest 4 months ago. Don't forget that Romney was planning to balance the whole budget by eliminating loopholes that mostly favor the rich. He said that over and over.

Election is over. The people decided. Let's get on with it.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

3. Ali will be quietly "reassigned" to an "off camera" role soon

Book it.

[freshwest]

4. Yup!

[southern_belle]

6. Thank you for posting this

babylonsister!

[DeSwiss]

7. You can't ''unrotten'' an apple. n/t

[Lex]

8. Right. People buy houses and cars and start small businesses by borrowing

money on some level. If it were otherwise, the entire economy would grind to a halt.

[Ikonoklast]

24. The financial sector and most banking would fail inside of a year.

Our entire economy would crash if credit was no longer used.

[red dog 1]

9. Piyush Jindal is an idiot!

[MrScorpio]

10. Perhaps lenders should cut off credit to the State of Louisiana…

Because Jindal thinks that government should live within its means.

[SunSeeker]

12. LOL. Excellent. nt

[Lex]

13. So you don't see buying a house as any sort of investment in the future?

"Acquiring new debt makes lots of sense when it's an investment in the future . . . "

[babylonsister]

14. What if it's your first house? That's an investment in the future. nt

[Lex]

15. Right. My parents are retired & have no monthly house payments or rent

because they've paid off the house they bought. You won't be able to convince them that their decision to borrow money to buy a house wasn't an investment in their future.

[Cheviteau]

17. Buying A House

is an ongoing expense. That monthly expense is called "housing". Otherwise we'd all be renting and that is a monthly expense also. So we buy a home as an investment. Therefore, we add long term debt to cover ongoing expenses. See? It's simple. The comparison is appropriate and informative.

[TheKentuckian]

25. We don't have a multi-trillion dollar infrastructure deficit because we are "buying houses"

No new warehouses. Nary a tractor or drill press.

It isn't investing in our people either, unemployment insurance, food stamps, WIC, and all of that is fairly minor. NASA gets about a half a fucking peanut. Non-military/security research gets the other half. We spend a fair little chunk on education but it seems largely to be spent to destroy rather than invest. The Arts? You jest! Masterpiece Theater best eat their peas!

Meanwhile, revenue really more or less only covers the on the budget and on the books military spending which means even if the military spending was zero we'd still have deficits and much of it would seem to be crap as well.

You are likely to spin in circles with a lot of folks. Democrats are shifting taxaphobic as well unless it is some bullshit "sin" tax, restrained nibbles at the wealthiest, and apparently weird tithes to predatory corporations supposedly to "keep them in check" and "curb their worst excesses".

[Yavin4]

16. And If the Republicans re-gain complete control of our govt., Jindal will be on CNN arguing

that we must cut taxes on the rich in order to grow the economy and ignore the deficit and debt.

[VA_Jill]

22. Booby Jindal

has screwed up Louisiana's economy even worse than it already was and now spends his time running around the country pontificating and trying to avoid his constituents.

[HiPointDem]

23. not to mention that wall street funds most of its speculation on leverage.

[DallasNE]

26. "Bobby" Jindal Needs To Educate Himself On The Language

Of the bill because the President does not have the authority to pick and choose what spending he will cut because it was designed as across the board in nature to make it unpalatable and thus would never go into effect. Now if Jindal supports a new bill to give the President that authority that would be something else but I don't see where he is calling for that. Instead, he is just saying stupid stuff.

[merrily]

27. Yes, the idea that all families due is cut spending is obvious bullshit.

Generating more income and borrowing are certainly known to every family.

But, it's good that the TV idiots do, on occasion, point out the obvious, rather than sit silently between one Republican telling his or her version and one Democrat telling his or her version.

It's not all about competing idea (read competing propaganda)

Facts do still matter, regardless of the formats the television idiots choose to adopt.

[ThomThom]

28. maybe Mr Gindull we should bring in some more money form the people that got it

mainly you and your rich republican't friends and craperations
someone should tell him to shut the fuck up

[Democrats_win]

29. omg! Such an old fallacy!

Last edited Wed Feb 27, 2013, 01:39 PM - Edit history (1)

I thought only old backward conservatives repeated that bromide. I first heard it when Reagan was running and it was totally false. First, as noted above, household do have debt and second, it's a straw-man argument because households are not the federal government. Today, most young conservatives understand the difference and don't repeat such nonsense.

The ironic and tragic twist is that BECAUSE of Reagan, household debt increased dramatically. Reagan always lied to us.

[Uncle Joe]

30. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, babylonsister.