I actually agree with Tom Coburn

[Perky]

I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with extending Unemployment Compensation. But I think there needs to be an offset. Cut the defense budget?

If I am reading the political tealeaves, fiscal responsibility in the long run, will likely be the winning argument, so there is an upside to coming up with an offset

I don't like the blackmail, and the appearance that we would be caving, but we could turn this around if we could figure out what to cut,

[Ozymanithrax]

1. I don't think Coburn would ever cut the defense budget.

In bad economic times it is necessary and good that the government run a deficit.

[Perky]

3. It is never good to run a deficit, but it may be necessary.

[Ozymanithrax]

5. In good, I meant "greater good" n/t

[h9socialist]

12. Have you ever read Keynes's General Theory?

[Hawkeye-X]

2. 55% of the entire 2010 budget

is defense.

Cut it to 10% and it'll survive.

Hawkeye-X

[4lbs]

16. That is incorrect.

The FY 2010 federal budget is $3.6 trillion dollars. That includes both mandatory and discretionary spending.

The amount allocated to the DoD is $663 billion.

Even if you add in the $42 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, and another $200 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan (which is really on the high side), you get just $900 billion on defense-related activites.

That's around 25% at best.

[Me.]

4. It's Very Easy To Be Pragmatic When You Have A Home Or Jib, Or Both

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8090397

[Perky]

6. No doubt

But while Coburn's grandstanding make him look like scrooge, The argument for an offset is a political no-brainer.

[Deep13]

7. Also, tax the rich. nt

[Born_A_Truman]

8. When Coburn is out of a job and has to live on unemployment, then we'll talk

Until then, he hasn't a clue what it's like to try and feed a family without a job.

[h9socialist]

13. Bravo!

I couldn't have said it better myself!

[Mass]

9. Right now, the issue is not that. It is that people got their compensation cut.

How are they supposed to live.

Coburn is totally out of touch with real people and this is what should be stressed.

[lumpy]

19. Coburn is out of touch, yes, but, he will say or do anything to

throw monkey wrenches that will affect the administration. The uninformed will believe Obama is resposible for not extending unemployment comp.

[county worker]

10. End our two wars and we could balance the budget soon.

We spend more per Afghan than we do per American on a lot of things. Hell let the unemployed raise poppies like the Afghans do. Small business is what it would be!.

[h9socialist]

11. Bull!

There are a lot of people really hurting, and you want hold them hostage to Tom Coburn's new found disdain for deficit spending? How much does the working class have to suffer for the great God of "fiscal responsibility"??? Why haven't we cut funds for these boondoggle miltary adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, if you're so all damn fireds upn about "fiscal responsibility"? The Republicans ran up a helluva lot bigger bill for the military than the unemployed ever have! The kind of thinking your thread starts with sounds like a love in at the Chamber of Commerce.

[Perky]

14. Did you even read what I wrote?

[h9socialist]

15. Yes, about 3 or 4 times . . .

Your values may differ dramatically from Tom Coburn . . . but the impact of what you're saying is to support good old-fashioned thrift, as opposed to a more pressing moral crisis. I would love to go back and take every increase in humanitarian programs out of the hide of the Defense Department. Unfortunately, that's not likely. I wish it were. The people on unemployment can't wait for the politicians to decide what to cut from other parts of the budget. Even if the left wing of American politics put together a detailed plan to cut the budget enough to pay for this-or-that modicum of welfare, the Republicans would fight it tooth and nail. People would starve long before anything positive happened. Besides, in this economy, there is absolutely no particular virtue in balancing the budget. Go read your history, World War II ended the Great Depression once and for all because the federal government borrowed 80% of its budget and ran the national debt to 130% of GNP.

[Igel]

18. Here's my problem.

Congress passed an extension, knowning that it was just an extension, would soon expire, and that a couple million jobs wouldn't be created in a month or two.

That was an emergency extension. But it extended a previous unemployment compensation period that was also passed as an emergency. Because, well, apparently Congress assumed that a couple million jobs would spring into existence? Nope. They knew that the previous extension would need to be extended.

So why was it an emergency? Are the Congressfolk simply stupid?

No. They are cunning. They made political hay out of a budget resolution that stipulated certain things. One of them was pay-go. The deficit it approved as a limit was already outrageous--but that was okay, because it was a firm limit.

But emergency spending isn't covered by the budget resolution. As long as they do *nothing* to extend unemployment benefits until just about the last minute it's not covered by the political promises they made. They can *know* that they'll need to do something. They just don't.

These are planned emergencies. If you ask the leaders in Congress know if they'll need to pass emergency legislation in a few months because they're doing quick, short fixes, they'll nod and look serious. "It's a horrible thing." If you ask the leaders in Congress why they don't start planning now, they'll look horrified. "Because then it wouldn't be an emergency and that would tie our hands! No, no. We know what we'll do, but we mustn't not have an emergency."

And, no, it's not a partisan thing. Slugs on both side of the partisan ditch play this game. What's sad is that people say, "Oh, no! It's an emergency! Do *something*, anything." And thereby show that they're not players in the game, not even pawns, but the chips.

[h9socialist]

21. OK, Fair enough . . .

But, you're quoting me a bunch of institutional rules and pieties. Has it ever occurred to you that these are the trappings that give politicians "cover" to ignore human need? For a poor person who can't get a job in this economy, all that Congressional rules and the like amount to six tons of horseshit.

Moreover, this country has rarely balanced its budget -- and the Republicans are as bad or worse than the Democrats. In fact, in the last Century there have only been three times in which the government balanced its books or ran a surplus. One year under FDR, one under LBJ, and about 3 under Clinton -- all Democrats.

I must tell you that I agree with John Kenneth Galbraith who once said something to the effect of "show me a government that is simply balanced its income and expenditures, and I'll show you a government setting records for accomplishing nothing."

[lumpy]

20. You said it quote , " Tom Coburn's new found disdain for

deficit spending." It's just another sneaky political move on Coburn's part in an attempt to discredit the administration.

[h9socialist]

22. Hypocrisy is an established discipline in politics . . .

. . . but go back and read your history. The Presidents who have succeeded politically have tended to run the largest deficits -- best examples I can think of are FDR and Reagan. The key to this whole problem is NOT the size of the deficit. It's what the borrowed money is used for. That's why Obama has it right -- we can run some big deficits IF the public investment is building a viable economic paradigm for the future.

Historically, complaints about deficit spending are reserved for losers . . . those who have run out of ideas and issues, and need something to cry about. I agree with John Kenneth Galbraith, a government that simply balances inflow and outflow is accomplishing absolutely nothing.

[flpoljunkie]

17. Did we pay for TARP? Hell, no, we did not. It's Wall Street that matters.

[Perky]

23. Hold on a sec....???

Most of the TARP Money has been paid back ans last I checked the Fed had actually turned a profit... It was unfunded to be sure. but that certainly would have qualified as an emergency. I hope you are not suggesting however that the people who draw UC should pay it back with interest....LOL