Baker: Republicans are delusional about US spending and deficits

[xocet]

Republicans are delusional about US spending and deficits
The story of out-of-control debts and deficits is just plain wrong. US deficits have fallen in the past four years

Dean Baker
theguardian.com, Monday 14 October 2013 08.30 EDT

It is understandable that the public is disgusted with Washington; they have every right to be. At a time when the country continues to suffer from the worst patch of unemployment since the Great Depression, the government is shut down over concerns about the budget deficit.

There is no doubt that the Republicans deserve the blame for the shutdown and the risk of debt default. They decided that it was worth shutting down the government and risking default in order stop Obamacare. That is what they said as loudly and as clearly as possible in the days and weeks leading up to the shutdown. In fact, this is what Senator Ted Cruz said for 21 straight hours on the floor of the US Senate.

Going to the wall for something that is incredibly important is a reasonable tactic. However, the public apparently did not agree with the Republicans. Polls show that they overwhelmingly oppose their tactic of shutting down the government and risking default over Obamacare. As a result, the Republicans are now claiming that the dispute is actually over spending.

Anywhere outside of Washington DC and totalitarian states, you don't get to rewrite history. However, given the national media's concept of impartiality, they now feel an obligation to accept that the Republicans' claim that this is a dispute over spending levels.

...

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/14/shutdown-republicans-government-spending-delusions

This is an interesting read, but nothing new.

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended, edit to add, it's well worth reading even if it isn't something new.

Thanks for the thread, xocet.

[mark eagledove]

2. great article! must read

Thank you. he nails it

[scott4402]

3. Proper democratic responses needed!

Why haven't the democrats confronted the republicans on the fact that the nations top earners received a 70% tax cut several administrations ago. So the 30% increase that they've endured since then, is still 40% less than where it had been. The Bush repeal was over a mere 2%, yet republicans acted like it was huge. Truth is, if that increase had been just another 3%. Our nation wouldn't be going through this shut down and democrats would have been more than willing to consider more reforms and reductions in spending, as a good faith effort. I know that I don't have dates and exact figures, but I think I've made my point. Democrats should also be mentioning the billionaires that have publicly admitted that they feel that the tax on them should be higher. Trickle down economics simply doesn't work.

[busterbrown]

4. You know that if one of our Countries dumb reporters actually points this out to one of them...

Their response will certainly be...”Well Obamacare is a huge part of the spending problem”...Then all you can do is play the idiot a hundred recently held press conferences where the repubs.. never brought up “spending is the problem”....etc. etc..They always lie when their in a corner and the press never knows how to counter punch back at them... Never!!1

[gopiscrap]

5. welcome to DU

[flpoljunkie]

6. The last four paragraphs are a must read. They explain our deficit problem.

The real question is why the primary (ie non-interest) deficit rises and this is the story of the broken US healthcare system. We pay twice as much per person for our health care as the average for other rich countries, with nothing to show for this money in terms of outcomes. We pay 2.5 times as much as the UK. If our costs were at all in line with those in other wealthy countries, we would be looking at explosive budget surpluses running into the trillions of dollars annually.

This fact raises the obvious question, why are projections of deficits based on unaffordable healthcare costs always treated in the media as a basis for cutting benefits to seniors rather than a reason for cutting payments to providers like doctors, drug companies, and medical device companies?

There is no explanation except the bias of the media. Obviously they identify much more with rich doctors and the people who profit from the bloated prices charged in the United States by drug companies and medical equipment providers than with the seniors who are dependent on Social Security and Medicare.

Yes, the public has every right to be disgusted.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/14/shutdown-republicans-government-spending-delusions

[PETRUS]

7. K&R

[flpoljunkie]

8. Most are unaware if our healthcare costs were in line with other rich countries, we'd be in surplus

not deficit. An important truth.