The Obama pitch: Don’t ask us for a plan, just reject the GOP’s plan
With Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate, the entire presidential campaign will — or should — boil down to this exchange between Ryan and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner during a House hearing on President Obama’s fiscal 2013 budget back in February (text of transcript courtesy of Real Clear Politics):
Ryan: Here’s the point. Leaders are supposed to fix problems. We have a $99.4 trillion unfunded liability. Our government is making promises to Americans that it has no way of accounting for them. And so you’re saying yeah, we’re stabilizing it but we’re not fixing it in the long run. That means we’re just going to keep lying to people. We’re going to keep all these empty promises going.
And so what we’re saying is, in order to avert a debt crisis — you’re the Treasury Secretary — if we can’t make good on our bonds in the future, who is going to invest in our country? We do not want to have a debt crisis. And so it comes down to confidence and trajectory. Do we have confidence that we’re getting our fiscal situation under control, that we’re preventing the debt from getting at these catastrophic levels?
If we go back to the preceding chart, number 13, you’re showing that you have no plan to get this debt under control. You’re saying we’ll stabilize it but then it’s just going to shoot back up. So my argument is, that’s Europe. That is bringing us toward a European debt crisis because we’re showing the world, the credit market’s future seniors — people who are organizing their lives around the promises that are being made to them today — that we don’t have a plan to make good on this.
Geithner: Mr. Chairman, as I said, maybe we’re not disagreeing in a sense. I made it absolutely clear that what our budget does is get our deficit down to a sustainable path over the budget window.
Ryan: And then they take back off.
Geithner: Why do they take off again? Why do they do that?
Ryan: Because we have 10,000 people retiring everyday and health-care costs going up.
Geithner: That’s right. We have millions of Americans retiring everyday, and that will drive substantial further rise in the growth of health-care costs. We’re not coming before you to say we have a definitive solution to our long-term problem. What we do know is we don’t like yours.
Read that last part again: “We’re not coming before you to day we have a definitive solution to our long-term problem. What we do know is we don’t like yours.”
In other words, we prefer Nero-esque fiddling to your plan.
In other words, we’d rather stick to promises that can’t be kept than level with the American people and treat them like adults.
When Geithner admits the Obama administration has no “definitive solution,” what he really means is the Obama administration has no solution, no proposal, no plan, at least nothing it wants to talk about publicly, for keeping our fiscal condition from spiraling completely out of control. That’s no exaggeration: Check out the chart to which Ryan referred, which comes from the Obama administration’s own FY13 budget:
Our future under Barack Obama
See, the most Barack Obama is willing to do — in his fourth, count ‘em, fourth budget proposal — is to “stabilize” our debt at the highest level, as a share of the economy, since the end of World War II. In fact, according to his budget, that’s the most Americans can expect for the two presidential terms that would follow his hypothetical second term.
After that, he ostensibly would be willing to let us zoom into the abyss on auto-pilot than propose any sort of meaningful reform to the programs that put us on this path. That’s chiefly Medicare — although, as an Associated Press report notes, we face a shortfall of Social Security funding totaling $134 trillion during the next 75 years, i.e. the period of time that covers the retirement of “just about everyone working today.” To shore that up, AP reports, the federal government would need to “invest $8.6 trillion today, and have it pay returns of 2.9 percent above inflation for the next 75 years, to produce enough money to cover the shortfall.”
We will soon find out if the Obama team has prepared substantive proposals for these issues or was simply betting/hoping Romney wouldn’t have the guts to thrust Ryan — and thus the entitlements question — into this campaign.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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489 comments Add your comment
Kyle Wingfield
August 13th, 2012
3:08 pm
Common Sense @ 3:03: I don’t necessarily disagree, but that’s an argument we should have had back when Granny & Co. were younger.
getalife
August 13th, 2012
3:08 pm
I am looking for a con that can tell the truth.
Are there any cons here that will admit the gop blew out the deficit?
Kyle Wingfield
August 13th, 2012
3:09 pm
Just saying @ 3:03: The only way Romney’s dead in Florida is if the folks there totally buy Obama’s lies about the GOP plan. And Romney is going to have enough money, when he’s allowed to spend it, to tell his side of the story. So I’m not so certain Florida is in the Obama column at this point.
southpaw
August 13th, 2012
3:10 pm
SlickRick @2:47
“someone who at least has entered the nineteenth century, ideologically speaking”
Someone who actually wants to pay off the national debt, which last happened in that century?
Just saying..
August 13th, 2012
3:10 pm
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer’s ineptocracy
August 13th, 2012: 11:57 am-If Romney loses there are no excuses, just the facts, that the takers have finally out numbered the makers.
Rafe-
It’ll be ok, buddy. Not everyone enjoys living in a democracy…
getalife
August 13th, 2012
3:10 pm
robme has been running for years and does not have a budget plan Kyle.
Kyle Wingfield
August 13th, 2012
3:10 pm
getalife @ 3:05: Those projections assume economic growth suddenly leaps from below 2% to above 4%. Not gonna happen with the current crew in the White House.
SlickRick
August 13th, 2012
3:10 pm
This just in, from David Frum (for the Regressive troglodytes, he of Bush-speechwriter-turned-heretic-cos-he-told-the-GOP-how-moonbat-crazy-they’ve-become): “Romney did Obama a huge favor” (see: http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/13/opinion/frum-romney-ryan/index.html?hpt=hp_t1).
Thank you, David Frum.
AND THANK YOU, Mittens “Etch a Sketch” Robme!!!
The Artful Dodger (Myth Robme) Is A Ryan Shame
August 13th, 2012
3:10 pm
The Boy Wonder Paul Ryan WAS HECKLED IN IOWA.
heeheeheeheehee
He better get THICK SKIN.
Somebody is not to THRILLED WITH THE BOY WONDER RYAN.
getalife
August 13th, 2012
3:11 pm
Kyle,
Where is robme’s budget plan?
Kyle Wingfield
August 13th, 2012
3:11 pm
Artful Dodger @ 3:06: The better question is: Why would anyone believe that’s what one of the two major parties in this country wants to do? It’s patently absurd.
Kyle Wingfield
August 13th, 2012
3:12 pm
getalife @ 3:08: I’ve said it many times: Bush and the GOP Congress were spendthrifts. What Obama and the Democrats have done, however, is an order of magnitude greater.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
3:13 pm
If Romney loses there are no excuses, just the facts, that the takers have finally out numbered the makers.
That would mean the majority of the takers – seniors, farmers, mentally retarded, homeless, poor whites, etc – will have voted for Obama. I’m not convinced he can get the poor white vote – that is the GOP base – takers all
Tealiban Party
August 13th, 2012
3:13 pm
Kyle — in your graph, you should add labels to years 2000 – 2008….. My guess is the dramatic upward trend right before the 2012 mark could be attributed to those years — and the same policies advocated by Romney and Ryan.
Common Sense
August 13th, 2012
3:14 pm
Kyle,
How would we have done that when we could not vote? This expansion of benefits started in the 60’s.
Granny’s generation bought into the idea that they were going to contribute $1 and get $6 or more in return. It’s not possible.
So to keep Granny happy, we are going to make future generations bear this cost? What is equitable about that?
The hard discussions have to be made. The longer we refuse to, the harder and deeper the cuts will be.
If you have not yet read Peter Schiff’s Book “The Real Crash”, I suggest you look into it.
This is NOT the only hard decision we face.
It’s time the politicians in DC pulled up their Big Boy Pants and deal with things. They are certainly paid more than well enough to do so.
getalife
August 13th, 2012
3:15 pm
“What Obama and the Democrats have done, however, is an order of magnitude greater.”
You think saving a collapse is free?
What kind of economy did you expect after a collapse Kyle?
Doug B
August 13th, 2012
3:15 pm
Why is no one mentioning the elephant in the room? Do we really need to spend more than the rest of the world combined on defense? Let’s abdicate the position of “World Police” and cut defense spending by 2/3.
Kyle Wingfield
August 13th, 2012
3:16 pm
Artful Dodger @ 3:10: Yep, the Obama campaign hecklers certainly are not too thrilled with Ryan. Btw, he kept right on going without missing a beat…so I think the thick skin is taken care of.
getalife
August 13th, 2012
3:16 pm
BTW, ryan voted for the bailouts and the stimulus so not sure why the tea party worships him.
Kyle Wingfield
August 13th, 2012
3:17 pm
Tealiban @ 3:13: It’s an Obama administration chart. It’s from his FY13 budget.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
3:17 pm
Texas A&M shooting.
Now do we take people’s guns?
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
August 13th, 2012
3:18 pm
The libs are quoting David Frum now, geez, the total desperation has set in.
Ayn Rand was right
August 13th, 2012
3:18 pm
@ getalife – in order to have the Clinton team balance the budget, you have to ditch Obama. Mr. Bill no likey the big O
getalife
August 13th, 2012
3:19 pm
Kyle,
ryan looked sick.
He is not going to make it.
Too much pressure.
Common Sense
August 13th, 2012
3:19 pm
“Texas A&M shooting.
Now do we take people’s guns?”
Nope….
You start to eliminate the gun free zones.
JDW
August 13th, 2012
3:19 pm
@Kyle…”So, it’s not much of a bridge”
Fact is we don’t need much of a bridge. Medicare is not going to roll over and die today…it will be fixed within the context of whatever deficit control plan is chosen when either one party controls all the levers or the Republicans can focus on something other than just defeating the President as they have for the last 3+ years.
getalife
August 13th, 2012
3:20 pm
Ayn,
He is using Clinton’s team and willie is hiring the bushies.
I trust the Clinton team and never trust the bushies.
DawgDad
August 13th, 2012
3:20 pm
“not sure why the tea party worships him”
Not at all sure they do. I don’t. But I could vote for him.
JDW
August 13th, 2012
3:21 pm
@Kyle…understand the S word though I really wonder about those filters…I saw a word earlier I would have expected to get zapped.
getalife
August 13th, 2012
3:21 pm
I report,
Frum is on your team.
yuzeyurbrane
August 13th, 2012
3:23 pm
Kyle @1:54– your comment about paying for your grandparents’ SS may be largely accurate, depending on the age of your grandparents, how much FICA they put in and how much they have gotten back, but for the exact same reasons it is largely inaccurate as it pertains to your parents as I assume they are of boomer generation to which you refer. A recent study, which again I will be happy to research and cite if you disagree with my statement, shows that with its large numbers and increased FICA after the 1983 SS reform law, the boomer generation will be the first to put more into SS than it gets back. It is the boomers who built up the $2.7 surplus in the SS Trust Fund. So you owe your parents and other boomers an apology. You may be confused because for accounting reasons the Trust Fund first pays current benefits out of current revenues and then pays out of the interest accumulating on the $2.7 surplus.
This ties into my prior point about being skeptical of effecting the Romney-Ryan budget without negatively impacting SS. You responded that Romney is not talking about raising FICA taxes so you didn’t see how SS benefits would be impacted. Well, raising FICA taxes is 1 of the solutions to SS’s long-term financing problems being discussed. More importantly, if you have further multi-trillion dollar tax cuts for the wealthy without touching military expenditures then draconian cuts would have to take place elsewhere. The only source for that kind of money would be entitlements and the temptation to cut SS benefits so as to slow payments out of the $2.7 SS surplus held in US Treasury Bonds would be quite great. Nor do I rule it out that the debt to seniors might simply be reneged on, even before reneging on US Treasury Bond payments to foreign countries, hedge funds and the like. Ryan’s solution in the past has been to support proposals for privatizing SS although, to be fair, Romney has not been quite so extreme. Now, if you want SS financing to change from a non-urgent problem which can be solved with minor modifications to an urgent crisis then this is the way to go. Just take away the FICA revenues from the country’s prime working age people and you will rapidly accelerate the number of years it takes for SS to burn thru its Trust Fund, not to mention to making SS subject to stock market vagaries. So Ryan has an idea, but like many of his others, a very bad idea.
getalife
August 13th, 2012
3:23 pm
“But I could vote for him.”
DawgDad,
He could promise to steal everything you own and you would vote for him.
nomaj
August 13th, 2012
3:24 pm
Works for me. Thanks GOP, for ensuring Obama’s re-election!
Hmmm, let’s see Ryan’s credentials: Never been in military? Check! Never held a private sector job? Check!
Just saying..
August 13th, 2012
3:25 pm
“…19th-century blogging software isn’t capable of distinguishing between the two…”
Not begrudging free market outcomes, are you Kyle?
The Artful Dodger (Myth Robme) Is A Ryan Shame
August 13th, 2012
3:25 pm
@Kyle Wingfield
August 13th, 2012
3:16 pm
Artful Dodger @ 3:10: Yep, the Obama campaign hecklers certainly are not too thrilled with Ryan. Btw, he kept right on going without missing a beat…so I think the thick skin is taken care of.
__________________________________________________________
YEAH, because he is USE TO IGNORING the POOR and ELDERLY.
He got that DOWN PAT.
getalife
August 13th, 2012
3:26 pm
The truth is robme does not have a plan .
He is not ready for big time politics.
Tealiban Party
August 13th, 2012
3:30 pm
Kyle Wingfield
August 13th, 2012
3:17 pm
Tealiban @ 3:13: It’s an Obama administration chart. It’s from his FY13 budget…
in which you can see the obvious rise in slope during the Reagan years, the downward trend of the Clinton years, and the dramatic rise during the 2000s decade of Republican policies. Which does Romney/Ryan advocate?
Kyle Wingfield
August 13th, 2012
3:31 pm
yuze @ 3:23: I’m critical of the boomers because they voted for the people who spent that “trust fund” to which you refer, which is little more than a collection of IOUs from future taxpayers. They used the FICA surpluses to “balance” the budget, but that money will have to come from future taxpayers if it’s to pay for any future SS benefits.
getalife
August 13th, 2012
3:32 pm
robme is being mushy as usual on the ryan plan and does not have a plan yet.
He is not ready.
16 is right around the corner.
He lost this one when he said trust him on his taxes.
There is no trust for our pols silly.
Kyle Wingfield
August 13th, 2012
3:32 pm
Just saying @ 3:25: What in the world are you talking about?
Just saying..
August 13th, 2012
3:33 pm
“…I’m not so certain Florida is in the Obama column at this point.”
Given Florida’s ‘00 and ‘04 value, it does seem to place an extremely high bet on getting that message understood.
SlickRick
August 13th, 2012
3:36 pm
Kyle – Time to make this a no spin zone. You lose with each attempt at spinning the facts to make the lie.
Just saying..
August 13th, 2012
3:37 pm
If the AJC made Apple profits, perhaps the paper could afford 21st century software.
SlickRick
August 13th, 2012
3:38 pm
Enter your comments here
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right
August 13th, 2012
3:45 pm
When you read Geithner’s comment to Ryan, it really hits home that this administration is the problem when it comes to working with people across the aisle.
getalife
August 13th, 2012
3:48 pm
“I’ve said it many times: Bush and the GOP Congress were spendthrifts”
The gop rubber stamp congress was out of control spending.
I watched them spend on C Span and now cry about deficit.
gop hypocrisy has no bounds.
Chris Sanchez
August 13th, 2012
3:49 pm
Kyle: Obama has no intention of leveling with the American people. His problem is much simpler than the GOP problem: he honestly believes that he can raise taxes on the so-called “rich” and continue to spend unprecedented amounts of money on welfare programs. He simply fails to understand the true scope of the problem.
On the other hand, Romney and Ryan understand the problem. Further, they have to figure out a way to explain it to the American people. In our hearts we know the federal government cannot continue to spend as it has in recent years. But politicians do no win elections by telling the people the truth. Elections are won by those who are creative enough to have just enough truth in their attack ads demonizing the other side to get 50.1% of people to vote for them.
It really is sad. More than anything the American people need to have an adult conversation. No matter! If we do not get out fiscal house in order, the rest of the world will do it for us by refusing to by American bonds. The Fed cannot print money forever (I think they are already coming to a realization on that front but that is for another day). It will be far better for the country if we deal our debts on our own terms. I pray American will have the courage to do so!
getalife
August 13th, 2012
3:51 pm
The President’s priority is to recover the rest of the jobs w lost then work on the deficit.
You don’t cut in a bad economy or we end up in another recession or depression.
It is not complicated.
Michael H. Smith
August 13th, 2012
3:58 pm
I’m hearing great reviews on the new movie 2016.
If it is as good as I hear then I hope every independent center and center right person old enough to vote will see it; or as I’m told see the real Obama few people know.
I’ll take that Obama/Biden bet: Ryan will be great going up against Biden the gaffe-nator(sic) in debates particularly on fiscal issues.
Logical Song
August 13th, 2012
4:01 pm
MHS
Yeah that Biden / Ryan debate will ensure the Romney victory just like the Biden / Palin debate did for McCain
Oh wait a minute……….. My bad. McCain and Palin were trounced