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
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
March 8th, 2013
10:09 am
tibs – Yes, I’ll side up with the bible and you can side up with the animals.
Politico
March 8th, 2013
10:12 am
Tiberius
Maybe not, but I can go by previous posts on this same issue he has made on other AJC blogs which were of a religious based nature.
Maybe he has switched his thought process on it, but I’m skeptical at best.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 8th, 2013
10:13 am
“Fine, that’s a good point but just go back and see Hoover, he did nothing and what was the result of that inaction?”
Nope. Not going to play the “two different situations” game, sailfish. Each and every situation is different, and each and every economic collapse has different underlying causes.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 8th, 2013
10:15 am
Aesop, when was the last time an animal consented to something you wanted to do to (or with) it?
I rest my case.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 8th, 2013
10:17 am
tibs – Yes, I’ll side up with the bible and you can side up with the animals.
Fail
NoBodyYouKnow
March 8th, 2013
10:17 am
I know td. I wish I was as informed and as well educated as you. KISS MY AZZ!
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 8th, 2013
10:23 am
Aesop,
Do you believe that the Bible is word for word 100 percent accurate ?
Im just curious.
Its ok if you do 1 in 3 Americans feel that way. Although that number is declining.
Bud Wiser
March 8th, 2013
10:23 am
Several private individuals have already offered to pick up the tab to reopen the White House tours, but the White House has done nothing towards accepting anything. It is their continual stubborness on all fronts to “blame the sequester on the Republicans”.
It would be a magnanimous and politically wise gesture from Obama to pick it up personally from the funds accumulated by all the money he has collected for the “$5000 dinner with the stars”, but again, the White House has done nothing.
I suppose he needs more tax hikes to pay for it.
HDB
March 8th, 2013
10:26 am
Tiberius – pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 8th, 2013
10:02 am
Marriage is covered under the contract provisions of the Constitution in that contracts recognized in one state are recognized in all 50 states; also, by treaty with nations that we recognize (and vice versa), marriage in one nation is recognized and reciprocated by the other……
Gay marriage, therefore, is de facto LEGAL in the US………………..
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 8th, 2013
10:28 am
Several private individuals have already offered to pick up the tab to reopen the White House tours, but the White House has done nothing towards accepting anything.
And they shouldnt.
I googled using that and didnt find anything.
White house tours private money
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 8th, 2013
10:29 am
Bud Wiser, I saw something yesterday on the White House tour costs. Seems it might be as “high” as $215k per year for the extra uniformed Secret Service officers tasked to guard visitors (as the tours are given by volunteers).
And are these uniformed officers really going to see a pink slip?
This is just another sign of incompetence from the Chief Incompetent. Let’s screw with the kids and their parents to make these cuts seem so artificially draconian . . . .
Pathetic.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 8th, 2013
10:33 am
HDB, why are you telling me about gay marriage? (However, DOMA and the Congress would disagree with you and I on your statement)
tell td and Aesop. (and others)
JDW
March 8th, 2013
10:38 am
@Rafe…”The Treasury Department reported a budget surplus for the fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30,(2001) of $127 billion, compared with $237 billion a year ago.”
2001 was Clinton’s budget…Duhbya owned 2002-2009, the period in time where we went from that $127 billion surplus to a $1.4 trillion deficit, give or take $200 billion…but do blather on.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
March 8th, 2013
10:40 am
Do you believe that the Bible is word for word 100 percent accurate ?
cheesy – An even better question, how come obozo starts going to churchand the media makes a big deal out of it, a week or two before election day?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 8th, 2013
10:41 am
“An even better question, how come obozo starts going to churchand the media makes a big deal out of it, a week or two before election day?”
Deflection.
Bud Wiser
March 8th, 2013
10:43 am
Grits, Eric Bolling and Bill O’Reilly have already publicly made the offer with their own money. Obama is more interested in the perception of grief and anguish from the children and other visitors caused by “sequestration” tha a resolution to the problem.
You must not catch the news so well, as I am sure that pmsnbc is your main source.
His “sequestration” is becoming a publicity “castration” for his precious image.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 8th, 2013
10:47 am
cheesy – An even better question, how come obozo starts going to churchand the media makes a big deal out of it, a week or two before election day?
Nonsense.
By your non answer Ill assume you do.
@@
March 8th, 2013
10:47 am
When liberals are looking for an ongoing debate to avoid others of a more important nature, they’ll go with religion and/or global warming.
A tactical ploy.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 8th, 2013
10:49 am
You must not catch the news so well, as I am sure that pmsnbc is your main source.
I just stay away from the Fox News bubble. Nothing but nonsense there anyway.
Sort of like the last election.
Fox News was way way off just like they are everyday.
Difference is that day somebody was keeping score.
New York Times and Nate Silver had it exactly right.
Bill Orielly is a well documented liar so that has to be taken with a grain fo salt as well.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
March 8th, 2013
10:50 am
And now we start another cycle -
A “Sex Weekend” workshop at Yale University Saturday apparently encouraged an open discussion of incest, bestiality, prostitution, and consensual pain during intercourse.
Event director Giuliana Berry ’14 told Campus Reform in an interview on Monday that the workshop was brought to campus to teach students not to automatically judge people who may have engaged in these sorts of activities, but rather to respond with “understanding” and “compassion.”
Now we can keep an look out for the lib study that proclaims that bestiality is “hereditary,” and then listen for those who claim bestiality as a civil right, moron bloggers will soon announce that just because bestiality is an abomination in the eye of the Lord that so is adultery, and of course, adopted children do just fine in a family with one human and one animal parent.
Despite the fact that many of these children kill themselves because of the shame they endure.
But be proud, animal lovers. It’s all about YOU!
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 8th, 2013
10:53 am
bill o’reilly pay for white house tours
Google search produces nothing saying he would pay for the tours.
Honestly it doesnt matter. Bill is just a modern day Lonesome Rhodes.
A populist blowhard. Busy selling books and Christmas ornaments to those dim enough to buy into this crap.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 8th, 2013
10:54 am
Despite the fact that many of these children kill themselves because of the shame they endure.
But be proud, animal lovers. It’s all about YOU!
The crazy is coming out.
Proceed Aesop by all means proceed.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
March 8th, 2013
10:55 am
cheezit – Let’s just for fun say that I do. What mindless point could you possibly want to make?
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
March 8th, 2013
10:57 am
During a presentation on research conducted by George A. Rekers, Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science at the University of South Carolina, the presenters noted that “boys and girls adopted by lesbian and homosexual couples show a greater level of stress than that which is already generated by their status as orphans or children abandoned by their biological parents.” They added that this situation “produces diverse trauma and behavioral disorders that can even lead to suicidal tendencies or attempts.”
“According to various studies containing testimonies from children of homosexual parents, most them of admit to suffering strong emotions, such as fear, anxiety, apprehension, shame and anger in trying to hide from their friends and relatives the homosexuality of their father or mother,” they continued.
It’s all about YOU!
JDW
March 8th, 2013
10:58 am
@Tiberius…”And JDW, once again, you may agree with his policy decision all you want, but if you are using it solely to deny his responsibility for the spending he had the authority to slow, then that is two separate issues.”
As you know, or should know being the self appointed Constitutional Authority the President has no authority to change appropriations that have already been passed. Nixon tried the trick of not spending the money and got slapped down quick by The Congressional Budget Act of 1974, so don’t even go there.
His or one day Her responsibility under the current rules, specifically not the Constitution, is to submit a proposed budget and either sign or veto the resulting agreements. As a point of fact the resulting budget almost NEVER varies, in total spending, from that original submission and of course the President may use the office to support or oppose one course of action or another. For 2009 that process happened in 2008 while Obama was campaigning.
In the case of 2009 Congress gave Duhbya almost to the penny EXACTLY what he asked for and Obama inherited that state of affairs. The only spending in that FY that can be attributed to Obama is between $140 billion (per CATO) and $203 billion (per FactCheck). That simply means that the policies of Duhbya resulted in raising the deficit to about $1.2 trillion, where it has remained.
Your duplicity is staggering…in your mind it was, apparently Obama’s fault Duhbya’s budget was executed and the fault of the Democrats in Congress that Duhbya and a Republican Congress turned the aforementioned surplus into a $1.4 trillion deficit through tax cuts, unfunded wars, other unfunded programs and the trashing of the economy .
HDB
March 8th, 2013
11:01 am
Tiberius – pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 8th, 2013
10:33 am
Tibbi…I was following-up on your point and providing you additional info in support of your position……that’s all! Should that be a problem????
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 8th, 2013
11:02 am
cheezit – Let’s just for fun say that I do. What mindless point could you possibly want to make?
Absolutely nothing.
As I said 1 in 3 Americans belive the bible word for word.
It just lets me know the point of view you are coming from.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
March 8th, 2013
11:03 am
George A. Rekers, Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science at the University of South Carolina, the presenters noted that “boys and girls adopted by lesbian and homosexual couples show a greater level of stress than that which is already generated by their status as orphans or children abandoned by their biological parents.”
This has been de bunked over and over.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
March 8th, 2013
11:08 am
This has been de bunked over and over.
cheezy – You libs don’t care about decency, you don’t care about morality, you don’t care about responsibility and most of all, you don’t have any use for honesty.
Save it for a fellow heathen, kay?
Aquagirl
March 8th, 2013
11:11 am
LOL, citing Rent-A-Boy Rekers does wonders for Aesop’s case. What a google faceplant.
billy ray
March 8th, 2013
11:15 am
Aesop’s Fables and other Lib Economic Theories Go lie down and take your meds and play with your crayolas- kay?
Politico
March 8th, 2013
11:17 am
Aquagirl
That is almost as good as when he said Larry Craig was a liberal but had to run as a Republican. When shown his voting record which was a 96% grade from a conservative organization and the accolades from social conservative groups, it was everyone’s reading comprehension that was the problem. Not his stupidity in stating that Craig was a liberal.
JDW
March 8th, 2013
11:22 am
@Aesop…more fables I see…you know there are actually people that study this sort of thing…
From Princeton and the Brookings Institute…
“Summarizing the research, the American Psychological Association concluded in its July 2004 “Resolution on Sexual Orientation, Parents, and Children,”
There is no scientific basis for concluding that lesbian mothers or gay fathers are unfit parents on the basis of their sexual orientation. . . . On the contrary, results of research suggest that lesbian and gay parents are as likely as heterosexual parents to provide supportive and healthy environments for their children. . . . Overall, results of research suggest that the development, adjustment, and well-being of children with lesbian and gay parents do not differ markedly from that of children with heterosexual parents.”
billy ray
March 8th, 2013
11:23 am
Tiberius – pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 8th, 2013
10:41 am
“An even better question, how come obozo starts going to churchand the media makes a big deal out of it, a week or two before election day?”
Deflection.
BINGO!!!!
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
March 8th, 2013
11:23 am
OK, I’ll open the floor to the liberals to lecture us on morality and responsibility.
This should be fun.
@@
March 8th, 2013
11:25 am
There are studies…and then there are more studies.
Kudos to those gay parents, like those of Zach Wahls, who have done a remarkable job in raising their now young-adult children. I’m sure the challenges were significant and the social support often modest. There are cases in the data of people like Zach, but not very many. Stability is pivotal, but uncommon.
but…
To improve upon the science and to test the theory of “no differences,” the NFSS collected data from a large, random cross-section of American young adults—apart from the census, the largest population-based dataset prepared to answer research questions about households in which mothers or fathers have had same-sex relationships—and asked them questions about their life both now and while they were growing up. When simply and briefly asked if their mother and/or father had been in a same-sex romantic relationship, 175 said it was true of their mothers and 73 said the same about their fathers—numbers far larger than has typified studies in this area. We interviewed all of these respondents (and a random sample of others) about their own lives and relationships, as well as asked them to reflect upon their family life while growing up. The differences, it turns out, were numerous. For instance, 28 percent of the adult children of women who’ve had same-sex relationships are currently unemployed, compared to 8 percent of those from married mom-and-dad families. Forty percent of the former admit to having had an affair while married or cohabiting, compared to 13 percent of the latter. Nineteen percent of the former said they were currently or recently in psychotherapy for problems connected with anxiety, depression, or relationships, compared with 8 percent of the latter. And those are just three of the 25 differences I noted.
@@
March 8th, 2013
11:26 am
Oops!
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/06/gay_parents_are_they_really_no_different_.single.html
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
March 8th, 2013
11:28 am
On the other hand, it may suggest that the household instability that the NFSS reveals is just too common among same-sex couples to take the social gamble of spending significant political and economic capital to esteem and support this new (but tiny) family form while Americans continue to flee the stable, two-parent biological married model, the far more common and accomplished workhorse of the American household, and still—according to the data, at least—the safest place for a kid. – Slate, June 11, 2012, at 6:02 AM
It’s all about YOU!
breckenridge
March 8th, 2013
11:28 am
I see the Georgia House passed legislation yesterday that will allow people to carry guns to church. I like that! That way when the preacher starts droning on and on, boring the entire congregation with crap nobody cares about, just fire a few rounds over his head to get things moving again.
billy ray
March 8th, 2013
11:31 am
Aesop’s Fables and other Lib Economic Theories You are a repuke- you have no idea of what morality means unless it lines your pockets or it satisfies some misguided nonsense that you are the only one with the correct answer and the only one that is patriotic and that it is somehow your mission in life to use your master of the universe personna to save that wee small part of the world that you do not want to blow up or invade.
Bruno
March 8th, 2013
11:33 am
Looks like Karma can be a b!tch sometimes:
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/ex-congresswoman-faces-possible-disbarment/nWkfL/
I can’t think of a more deserving candidate for disbarment than Denise Majette.
Matz
March 8th, 2013
11:39 am
Bruno @ 11:33,
On this we agree.
breckenridge
March 8th, 2013
11:40 am
But notice the roaring silence coming out of Washington republicans as the Supreme Court considers two gay marriage cases. Even the usual suspects – Bachmann, Inhofe, Smith from New Jersey – have been completely silent. In fact all we’ve heard is that a handful of republicans sent a letter to the Supreme Court expressing support for gay marriage.
Why no GOP outrage? I think republicans have realized that gay marriage is a total loser of an issue for them. They’ve looked at the numbers and seen how rapidly national opinion has swung on this issue and realize there is nothing to be gained from trashing gays in Santorum-like style.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 8th, 2013
11:44 am
“Authority the President has no authority to change appropriations that have already been passed.”
Two words, JDW:
Bull sheet.
If he did not have the authority, the Congress wouldn’t have found the need to pass the follow-on act, moron!
“Your duplicity is staggering”
As is your galactic-sized stupidity. JDW
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 8th, 2013
11:46 am
“George A. Rekers, Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science at the University of South Carolina, the presenters noted that “boys and girls adopted by lesbian and homosexual couples show a greater level of stress than that which is already generated by their status as orphans or children abandoned by their biological parents.” ”
Even if it is true (and I’m not sure that it is), do you blame them for having more stress when ignorant blowhards like Aesop and LBB go around degrading their parents in public as animals?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 8th, 2013
11:49 am
“OK, I’ll open the floor to the liberals to lecture us on morality and responsibility.”
Wondering when you’ll realize it isn’t the government’s role to legislate morality when it comes to the actions of consenting adults, Aesop.
hryder
March 8th, 2013
11:51 am
DO NOT ELECT ANY INCUMBENT ELECTED FEDERAL OFFICE HOLDERS SHOULD THEY SEEK TO REMAIN IN THAT POSITION!!! Then immediately pass term limitations, repeal Obama care, no Congressional retirement benefites, no special health insurance, balanced budget except in time of war, and impeach Obama if still in office and find him guilty of lying in public statements and ineptness in carrying out the mandated duties of office with a demonstrasted lack of fiscally sound ecomomic practices and policies.
Bruno
March 8th, 2013
11:51 am
Bruno @ 11:33,
On this we agree.
Matz–Did she beat you out of money also??
A little fun for you on this glorious Friday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5A12o3vqOs
Too bad I have to work all weekend
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 8th, 2013
11:55 am
“The only spending in that FY that can be attributed to Obama is between $140 billion (per CATO) and $203 billion (per FactCheck). That simply means that the policies of Duhbya resulted in raising the deficit to about $1.2 trillion, where it has remained. ”
For what President Incompetent spent, JDW, NOT what he failed to spend. You would think that someone who promised to fix the economy and cut the deficit in half before the end of his first term would try to actually do both. Little did you know (even if half the country did know) that he couldn’t do either one.
Once again, you continue to rely solely on lies, damned lies and statistics without the background context. The all-too-typical shallow lack of thinking usually provided by you and the rest of President Incompetent’s sycophants.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 8th, 2013
11:57 am
Hyperbolic nonsense alert at 11:51!