Pressuring the people to pressure the politicians about our national debt
First came the New Year’s tax increases of the “fiscal cliff.” Last week, the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration took effect. Still, Congress will spend much of March negotiating a deal to fund the federal government for the next six months — a deal that, in all likelihood, will mean borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars more.
Lurching from one crisis to the next, however real or contrived each one may be, has not put the country on a more solid, sustainable fiscal path. That’s where Maya MacGuineas comes in.
“We actually know for the most part what the parameters of a fix are,” MacGuineas, head of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, told me during a stop in Atlanta two weeks ago. “You know that you’re going to have to look at all parts of the budget.
“You know that a key challenge here is reforming our entitlement programs, as aging and health care are driving the debt, and that … we can reform entitlement programs in ways that are true to protecting people who depend on them — if we get ahead of it.”
True to CRFB’s bipartisan credentials, MacGuineas doesn’t put all the emphasis on the spending side. She also points to the $1 trillion in annual “tax expenditures,” subsidies hidden in the tax code rather than appropriations bills.
“Nobody looks at them,” she said. “These spending programs, dressed up as tax cuts — many of which are not working, many of which are de-leveling the playing field instead of allowing for a functioning economic system, all of which are draining the Treasury — need to be part of that evaluation too.”
So, how do we get politicians to do something they seemingly don’t want to do? One step is for everyone to acknowledge the immediacy of the problem.
“It really concerns me,” MacGuineas said, to hear “the argument, ‘Look at the [interest] rate environment. Why would we want to focus on the deficit? What we should be doing is borrowing more.’ That’s what people who give you credit-card teaser rates say also, to hook you in.”
Government debt that isn’t repaid on time — i.e., virtually all of it — must be refinanced later, almost certainly at higher interest rates. Just a 1-percentage-point increase in interest rates, MacGuineas said, could mean at least $1.3 trillion more in interest payments over the following decade.
“That’s the amount the super-committee [created by the 2011 debt-ceiling deal] failed to find in savings,” leading to the sequester cuts, she pointed out.
Another way is to point out the glaring flaws of proposals on the table.
“I give Paul Ryan credit for putting out a budget that shows how he would do it with spending cuts only,” MacGuineas said, “but don’t forget that budget includes a bunch of Medicare savings he said he opposed during the [2012 presidential] race.”
President Barack Obama’s budgets have their own problems, she said: “One year, he talked about 12-year budgets compared to other people’s 10-year numbers. The next year he counted war savings [after previously announcing the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan], which is really a gimmick.”
MacGuineas said voters “bear a huge responsibility” for continuing to “elect people with a bunch of promises that just are not workable, but they sound good.” That said, she insisted voters “should be able to trust their elected leaders to lead an honest discussion about it. … And that’s not happening.”
She also hopes that if others, such as herself, force that honest discussion upon the country, it will change the political incentives that affect taxing and spending.
“I think what happens in discussions is there are tipping points. And I think if you have enough people talking about this, you have the next ‘Ross Perot moment,’ where it goes from everybody promising fiscal giveaways to, suddenly, we the voters demand they tell us how they’d fix it. And once it gets to that point, then you know that somebody selling you the easy way out isn’t telling the truth, and then it becomes politically more important to have a fix.”
– By Kyle Wingfield
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467 comments Add your comment
JDW
March 7th, 2013
12:14 pm
@Tiberius…11:58…it’s official you have lost your ever loving mind…
You want to hold Obama responsible for FY 2009…the budget of $3.1 trillion that was submitted in Q1 of 2008 BEFORE he was the nominee of the Democratic Party, that was over 90% funded BEFORE he was elected and that every independant group that has looked at has held to be 90%+ the work of Duhbya et al…you are truly a maroon
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:14 pm
JDW, there are lies, damned lies and statistics.
You rely on statistics only.
You’re incapable of discerning the deeper issues because you are blinded to to the concept of “context”. You are incapable of appropriate assigning blame to those that deserve it, because you are blinded to the concept that your beliefs cannot possibly be wrong, despite all evidence to the contrary.
Which is why you’re generally considered a liar on this blog.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 7th, 2013
12:16 pm
Particularly since 47% of Americans pay zero income taxes.
A big percentage of those are military and the elderly remember.
NoBodyYouKnow
March 7th, 2013
12:16 pm
Most people are so hooked on this Liberal and Conservative thing, and the politicians are so hooked on proving its not their fault. Its the other guys fault that nothing gets done. If ALL voters of ALL persuasions would get on the phone or on their computers and tell the politicians they are SICK and TIRED of all the bickering and expect them to get the country back on it financial feet it just may do some good. (but who knows?)
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 7th, 2013
12:17 pm
One last thought, do you pay income taxes cheesy
Yes I do. And at a much higher rate than Mitt Romney.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 7th, 2013
12:18 pm
Which is why you’re generally considered a liar on this blog.
Real reason for that is you dont like what he is saying.
Not that he is lying.
HDB
March 7th, 2013
12:18 pm
Tiberius – pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
11:58 am
” he owns FY 2009″
You’re wrong there, Tibbi….the federal fiscal year starts October 1 and ends on September 30; they changed it from starting July 1 and ending June 30. FY2009 started October 1, 2008….almost FOUR MONTHS before Obama was sworn in; those appropriations were done during the last BUSH term…..so Obama’s hand in the budgeting process doesn’t start until FY2010!!
Retired Soldier
March 7th, 2013
12:19 pm
Cheesy-
I’ll bite, what is that percentage?
Retired Soldier
March 7th, 2013
12:21 pm
Cheesy-
You forgot the second half of the question, do you take allowable deductions? We will assume the answer is yes. You know what that makes you Cheesy?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:21 pm
This is why JDW can never have a logical debate:
“You want to hold Obama responsible for FY 2009″
Yes.
“…the budget of $3.1 trillion that was submitted in Q1 of 2008 BEFORE he was the nominee of the Democratic Party,”
Submitted, but not yet passed NOR spent.
” that was over 90% funded BEFORE he was elected”
A lie.
” and that every independant group that has looked at has held to be 90%+ the work of Duhbya et al”
“The work” is in the budget’s CREATION, not it’s implementation and does not mean it cannot be changed by the CHIEF EXECUTIVE, JDW. After all, he’s spent much of his first term signing executive orders, but he has yet to do so on anything of a fiscal nature. You may not like it, but any chief executive can change the way dollars are spent once he gets into office, especially those under the control of the executive branch.
No wonder you like the guy so much. You both epitomize failure on a grand scale; he at leading and you at debating.
HDB
March 7th, 2013
12:22 pm
Aesop’s Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
March 7th, 2013
11:46 am
“Name something good that has come about of liberalism. You can’t do it.”
How about the United States?? I’ll start there…….
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:25 pm
HDB, I suggest you read my 12:21.
President Incompetent had 8 months in which to corral spending in FY 2009 – he simply chose not to.
The inability of he and you to take responsibility for his actions (or lack thereof) is stunning.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:26 pm
““Name something good that has come about of liberalism. You can’t do it.”
How about the United States?? I’ll start there…….”
Once again, LIBERTARIANISM, not liberalism.
Learn the distinction, HDB
breckenridge
March 7th, 2013
12:26 pm
Kyle your column brings up a good point: Washington politicians are masters of pretending they actually want to do something when their true interests are 1) getting reelected and 2) maintaining the status quo.
Remember the bi-partisan Erskine Bowles commission? They fought and bickered and cussed and fussed and finally came up with a blueprint. But it was too hard, and might not be popular with voters, so it wasn’t implemented.
And how about the Iraq study group? Another bi-partisan commission that came up with good ideas which were duly ignored, except for troop escalation.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:27 pm
“Real reason for that is you dont like what he is saying.”
Correct, Cheesy. I loathe liars.
JDW
March 7th, 2013
12:27 pm
@Tiberius…”Which is why you’re generally considered a liar on this blog.”
If I were considered anything else by you I would be doing it wrong. The proof as they say is in the pudding…or in your case the publicly documented trail of arrogant pompousness and failure.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 7th, 2013
12:28 pm
Once again, LIBERTARIANISM, not liberalism.
Wrong. Liberalism.
We have been over this before.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:30 pm
“Example: one need not refer to the Bible or Ten Commandments to know that it’s wrong to kill his neighbor, rape his wife, steal his pigs and burn down his house.”
No, Breckenridge, but it’s a pretty good place to start. To deny that our laws are based on Judeo-Christian moral values of right and wrong is to deny reality, even if we are not in fact a Christian nation.
JDW
March 7th, 2013
12:32 pm
Tiberius…”You may not like it, but any chief executive can change the way dollars are spent once he gets into office, especially those under the control of the executive branch.”
So in your warped view of reality Obama should have taken office in the midst of the worst Recession since the 1930’s and called on Congress to revisit the prior budget, now more 6 months into it with an eye to slashing the funding established by his predecessor…yeah right
See my last post and add delusional to pompous and arrogant.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:33 pm
“We have been over this before.”
And as usual, you continue to ignore the reality that is in front of you because you are blinded by your ideology.
The Founding Fathers were, and will always be considered libertarians who believed in personal responsibility and a limited government.
Liberalism fails that test on each and every level.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 7th, 2013
12:34 pm
To deny that our laws are based on Judeo-Christian moral values of right and wrong is to deny reality
Wrong again. ( Like a broken record )
They are based on English Common Law.
md
March 7th, 2013
12:34 pm
So according to JDW if I write a check to the power company and sign it in my name I didn’t really write that check…….ok, got it.
JDW
March 7th, 2013
12:35 pm
@Tiberius…”I loathe liars.”
See another difference between us you loathe and are loathed far more that I…I do however pity you.
HDB
March 7th, 2013
12:36 pm
Tiberius – pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:21 pm
Tibbi, the point that JDW is attempting to make is further clarified here:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Which_republican_president_balanced_a_budget
“One point that is often misunderstood is that the budget for a President’s first year in office is set by the prior President.”
Since the budget is set in the PREVIOUS Administration, all the incoming President would have the capability of doing is signing off on what was already agreed to. As you have noted, Obama signed the FINAL appropriations in March of 2009…eight weeks INTO his Presidency. At the worst, Obama would be held responsible for those entities that were funded by those final signed appropriations….not the entire FY2009 budget….but it’s not seen in that light. FY2009 is viewed as the FINAL Bush budget……..
JDW
March 7th, 2013
12:36 pm
@md…”So according to JDW if I write a check to the power company and sign it in my name I didn’t really write that check…….ok, got it.”
No, however if you buy a business in January and the power bill for December comes in March…you pay it.
md
March 7th, 2013
12:38 pm
And let’s not forget TARP, where a portion of the fundes were REQUESTED by Obama even though they get chalked up to Bush:
“Second Half of TARP
After Senator Obama won the 2008 Presidential election, he asked President Bush to request the second half of the TARP funds to be allocated to TARP. In making the request, he stated that the economy was still too frail and that it would be irresponsible to enter office without having all the tools he needed to address the problem.
Funds Issued and Repaid
Of the funds issued by President Bush, a vast majority went to the Capital Purchase Program and the Targeted Investment Program. A vast majority of that money has been repaid by the financial institutions that received them. The loan to GM was repaid, but some money from the GM bailout remains.
Of the funds issued by President Obama, almost none of them have been issued to the programs originally designed through TARP. Most of the funds issued by President Obama have gone to home ownership programs and the bailout of GM through stock purchases. As seem in the chart below, almost 90% of the funds issued by President Bush have been returned while less than 10% of the money issued by President Obama has been returned.”
http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/Profiles/President/US/Barack_Obama/Views/TARP/
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:38 pm
“Obama should have taken office in the midst of the worst Recession since the 1930’s and called on Congress to revisit the prior budget,”
No, he should have implemented executive orders which curbed spending in the departments under is control, WHICH HE HAD THE POWER TO DO. Now, you can make any claim you want about whether it was the right thing to do economically, but it doesn’t absolve him from the spending he could have cut IF HE CHOSE TO. Again, it might have been the wrong thing to do in your warped mind, JDW, but the onus of that spending is still on President Incompetent.
” now more 6 months into it”
Somebody can’t even count, and he’s trying to talk to us about trillion dollar budgets.
Try 8 months, JDW.
” with an eye to slashing the funding established by his predecessor…yeah right”
Which he was hired to to do with the powers that office holds.
Reality sucks, doesn’t it, JDW?
JDW
March 7th, 2013
12:39 pm
“The Founding Fathers were, and will always be considered libertarians who believed in personal responsibility and a limited government.”
So proclaims the Emperor Tiberius…he of the new clothes in perpetuity.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
March 7th, 2013
12:39 pm
fact “check” is for saps.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:40 pm
“They are based on English Common Law.”
Which are, in turn, ultimately based on Judeo-Christian values.
Stop being so dense, Cheesy.
md
March 7th, 2013
12:40 pm
“No, however if you buy a business in January and the power bill for December comes in March…you pay it.”
First off, if the power bill comes 3 months after I use it the power company has problems.
And ever heard of negotiating with creditors?
The fact remains that Obama signed that bill, NOT Bush…….Obama is the one that had the choice.
JDW
March 7th, 2013
12:42 pm
@MD…TARP
The TARP program originally authorized expenditures of $700 billion. The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act reduced the amount authorized to $475 billion. By October 11, 2012, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated that total disbursements would be $431 billion and estimated the total cost, including grants for mortgage programs that have not yet been made, would be $24 billion.[
You mean the one that Obama reduced and has cost a total of $24 billion….try again
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 7th, 2013
12:42 pm
No, however if you buy a business in January and the power bill for December comes in March…you pay it.
Its fairly simple but you arent going to get that through to these people.
There is no changing them. The best we can hope for is people reading this have good sense and blunt some of their nonsense.
Retired Soldier
March 7th, 2013
12:42 pm
Cheesy-
Guess I was right, you decry one person taking lawful deductions on their income tax while you take your lawful deductions. Hypocrite! Maybe you just have “income envy”. Just a thought.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:43 pm
When you’ve got nothing but lies, post ONLY the insult as JDW does.
Of course, when someone cannot make the case that the Founding Fathers didn’t believe in personal responsibility and limited government, when all evidence points to that fact, all they have left is insults and lies.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:45 pm
“No, however if you buy a business in January and the power bill for December comes in March…you pay it. ”
Of course you pay it, but if you don’t immediately start looking for ways to cut your power bill, your responsible for that bill being high the rest of the year.
JDW
March 7th, 2013
12:45 pm
@Tiberius…”No, he should have implemented executive orders which curbed spending in the departments under is control, WHICH HE HAD THE POWER TO DO. Now, you can make any claim you want about whether it was the right thing to do economically, but it doesn’t absolve him from the spending he could have cut IF HE CHOSE TO. Again, it might have been the wrong thing to do in your warped mind, JDW, but the onus of that spending is still on President Incompetent.”
Hogwash…take that thought and go on over to the corner with the rest of the drooling old f@rts…that thinking went out with Hoover.
TiredOfIt
March 7th, 2013
12:46 pm
libertarians are the party of the slots
HDB
March 7th, 2013
12:46 pm
Tiberius – pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:26 pm
“Once again, LIBERTARIANISM, not liberalism.”
Both words are derived from the infinitive “TO LIBERATE”….which means “to set or become FREE”; liberalism The difference is that liberals want personal freedom and a well-regulated business sector..and libertarians want personal freedom and a laissez-faire, i.e., unregulated business sector.
In this case, Tibbi…it would be LIBERALISM…..
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 7th, 2013
12:49 pm
Guess I was right, you decry one person taking lawful deductions on their income tax while you take your lawful deductions. Hypocrite! Maybe you just have “income envy”. Just a thought.
No. I just think it would be fair if Mitt Romney paid the same rate I do.
I really dont think that is asking too much.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:50 pm
“The difference is that liberals want personal freedom and a well-regulated business sector.”
Which is the antithesis of limited government, HDB.
Nice try, but they were, and will always be considered by people without an agenda as libertarians.
JDW
March 7th, 2013
12:51 pm
Thankfully I need to go out and interact with some people that have some sense and leave ya’ll to your echo chambers for a while.
You dream and spin all you want but facts are facts. Social Security and Medicare are NOT big contributors to our current deficits, Duhbya owned FY2009 less about $200 billion in a generous assessment and Tiberius is a delusional pompous arrogant…well you know.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:53 pm
“Hogwash”
Ah, the depth of debate with JDW knows no bounds . . . .
Again, you may not like what one particular course of action was available to him, but you may not absolve him of responsibility if he willingly chose not to exercise that course of action.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
March 7th, 2013
12:53 pm
In addition to Mr. Cruz and Mr. Lee, others who showed up and spoke included Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, John Cornyn of Texas, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Jeff Flake of Arizona, John Thune of South Dakotaand Mitch McConnell, the GOP floor leader, who made a late-night appearance to congratulate his fellow Kentuckian.
What the hell was Taxby doing amongst all these Patriots? Was he just hanging with the crowd again?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:54 pm
“Thankfully I need to go out and interact with some people that have some sense”
As if JDW knows any conservatives. . . .
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 7th, 2013
12:55 pm
“I just think it would be fair if Mitt Romney paid the same rate I do.”
He does. On every penny of income he earns.
indigo
March 7th, 2013
12:56 pm
Tiberius – 12:33 “the founding fathers were, and always will be considered libertarians”
Wrong again.
Maybe you should look up the word “research” in the dictionary.
http://www.politicususa.com/founding-fathers-liberal.html
Retired Soldier
March 7th, 2013
12:58 pm
Cheesy-
Is Romney doing anything illegal? No. If you had his income would you take the deductions that are allowed? Yes. Then why don’t you convince Congress to change the law instead of bellyaching over something you would do if you could.
Do you support the Fair Tax? A flat tax? Either of those will accomplish what you wish to accomplish. Or is it that what you really want is to use the tax code to redistribute income from the rich to the less rich?
breckenridge
March 7th, 2013
1:01 pm
“No, Breckenridge, but it’s a pretty good place to start. To deny that our laws are based on Judeo-Christian moral values of right and wrong is to deny reality, even if we are not in fact a Christian nation.”
No, you are absolutely 100% wrong. You are confusing religiousness with morality and you are making a statement that simply is not supported by facts. Do the research yourself – here I’ll get you started. Thomas Jefferson covered this extensively in his Notes On the State of Virginia.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 7th, 2013
1:01 pm
He does. On every penny of income he earns.
He does not.
I pay a much higher rate than he does.