Archive for economic stimulus

Chart: Taxes schmaxes. Three-Quarters of deficit reduction has been via spending cuts

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taxes schmaxes

chart deficit cuts not taxes

With the state of the economy as it is today, stimulus is a good thing. Spending works when done right, but austerity is not what we need right now. Yet Republicans insist on austerity measures which, as we’ve witnessed and is painfully evident overseas, are one big fat fail.

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David Cay Johnston:

“They do not want him to succeed. There`s no question about that. They are assert that spending more money is wrong. We really need to be spending a lot more money, fixing up our infrastructure and creating jobs and making the economy run better.

Think Progress has way more than this so please link over:

When McConnell tried to claim on ABC’s This Week that revenue was off the table, anchor George Stephanopoulos wasn’t having it. And the numbers show he was exactly right.

I responded to McConnell’s cut, cut, cut/stop spending gibberish here: VIDEO: Mitch McConnell is a lying, evasive GOP Sunday talk show hypocrite.

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It’s official: Austerity economics doesn’t work

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John Cassidy at the New Yorker wrote an article that had me at “Austerity economic doesn’t work.” It’s more than a little frustrating to watch and listen to Republicans insist on austerity measures which, as we’ve witnessed and is painfully evident overseas, do. Not. Work.

Nor would they work here in the U.S. no matter how many times the GOP repeat their Cut Cut Cut mantra… and you know how reliable their judgment has been, up to and including the 2012 elections and beyond.

And don’t get me started on raising the Medicare eligibility age. Besides, what’s the rush?

Cassidy:

With Republicans in Congress still intent on pursuing a strategy similar to the failed one adopted by the Brits, this is a story that needs trumpeting. Austerity policies are self-defeating: they cripple growth and reduce tax revenues. The only way to bring down the U.S. government’s deficit in a sustainable manner, and put the nation’s finances on a firmer footing, is to keep the economy growing. Spending cuts and tax increases can also play a role, but they need to be introduced gradually. [...]

That austerity has led to recession is undeniable. … consumer and investment spending have remained depressed. [...]

In adopting a fiscal stimulus of gradually declining magnitude over the past four years, the Obama Administration has administered what was, until recently, the standard medicine for a sick economy. As one would have expected on the basis of the textbooks, the American economy, while hardly racing ahead, has fared considerably better than its British counterpart. [...]

Having adopted the policies of Keynes in response to a calamitous recession, the United States has grown more than twice as fast during the past three years as Britain, which adopted the economics of Hoover (and Paul Ryan). 

Clear? Clear.

By the way, why aren’t we talking about a Wall St. transaction tax and much, much more? Hmm?

More of Cassidy’s article at the link.

H/t: @42bkdodgr

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Video- Bill O’Reilly Claims “The Cold Truth Is That [Obama] Has Not Improved The American Economy”

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Get back to us at the end of PBO’s second term Bill, we’ll talk then. Via.

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Debunking a few of Romney’s most persistent campaign lies about President Obama

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Via @ Msmaggiern

 

Greg Sargent wrote a lengthy post that included some of the most persistent lies about President Obama that Mitt Romney has told over the course of his campaign. We’ve addressed these before, but since the election is finally upon us, it never hurts to review them and refer you to the some of the official debunkitude. Especially since Romney’s entire campaign is based on nothing but lies and evasion.

1. Romney: President Obama promised that the stimulus would keep unemployment under 8 percent.

Reality:

Far from being anything that Obama said, the Romney campaign acknowledges that this 8 percent figure comes from a staff-written projection issued Jan. 9, 2009 — before Obama had taken the oath of office. Of course, the campaign still spins it as a negative.

Here’s what happened. Two Obama aides, Christina Romer, the nominee to head the Council of Economic Advisers, and Jared Bernstein, an incoming economic adviser to Vice President-elect Biden, wrote a 14-page report that attempted to assess the impact of a possible $775 billion stimulus package and how much of a difference it would make compared to doing nothing.

Thus, it was not an official government assessment or even an analysis of an actual plan that had passed Congress.

2. Romney: President Obama went on around the world on an “apology tour.”

Reality:

In a lengthy article on the Fact Checker blog, we tracked down every statement Obama uttered that partisans claim was an apology, and concluded that each one had been misquoted or taken out of context. [...]

Take it from us: The apology tour never happened.

3. Romney: President Obama added “nearly as much debt as all the previous presidents combined.”

Reality:

[T]he numbers don’t work. The national debt stood at $10.626 trillion on the day that President Obama took office. It now stands slightly above $15 trillion.

4. Romney: President Obama “is the only president to ever cut $500 billion from Medicare.”

Reality:

Columbia Journalism Review,  May 21, 2012: The facts were and still are these: The health reform law, aka the Affordable Care Act, does call for cutting $500 billion from Medicare to help finance subsidies for the uninsured. The administration portrayed these as “savings”—in other words, money not spent for Medicare that could be used for another purpose. But the important take-away is this: the law does not cut a dime from the basic Medicare benefits seniors receive. All seniors will still get hospital benefits, coverage for physician services, lab tests, hospital outpatient care, prescription drugs, and so on, and will continue to receive them unless pols on both sides of the aisle succeed in changing the fundamental structure of Medicare.

For the record.

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Romney economic speech at company that received stimulus funds from program he labeled a failure

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Another day, another Moment of Hypocrisy from Willard M. Romney.

All during the campaign, he’s bashed the president’s stimulus plan relentlessly, but apparently has no qualms about giving a speech at an Iowa construction company that benefited from stimulus money. As I type this Romney is yammering on about something, but I have the TV muted, and for good reason. It was his “major economic speech” apparently, and the commentators are now saying the speech had “no new ideas.”

Ames, Iowa (CNN) – Kevin Kinzler, owner of Kinzler Construction Services, received a $1.25 million dollar loan from the Small Business Administration through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in May of 2009, shortly after the stimulus plan was signed into law by President Obama. [...]

In addition to the small business loan, Kinzler Construction Services also received nearly $650,000 in stimulus funds through grants provided by the Department of Energy.  [...]

The GOP nominee has also repeatedly labeled the stimulus program a failure…

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VIDEO, PhotOH! Paul Ryan’s pattern of hypocrisy: His stimulus funding story makes front pages of most WI papers

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Welcome to the Paul Ryan Hypocrisy Visual post o’ the day. Videos and screen grabs galore!

The screenshots below from the Newseum show a few front pages from Wisconsin newpapers that highlight Paul Ryan’s hypocrisy on his lobbying for the same stimulus funds from President Obama’s economic recovery plan that he claimed to reject. Enjoy, and tell a friend!

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2002 VIDEO: Hypocrite Paul Ryan supported economic stimulus under Bush

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2002:

2012:

More at Think Progress.

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