| | And if you think that's funny, then check out the transcript of the presidential response to the S&P credit rating downgrade:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/08/08/remarks-president
Some funny excerpts:
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... there's not much further we can cut in either of those categories [domestic spending & defense spending
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Recap:
Obama is not willing to cut actual spending, but only the growth in spending -- and, even then, only by a modest amount (a couple trillion over a 10 year span: ~$200 Billion a year). That "attitude" will not calm the markets.
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Tax reform that will ask those who can afford it to pay their fair share [which would equal about $100 Billion in added federal revenue] and modest adjustments to health care programs like Medicare.
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Recap:
Asking "those who can afford it to pay their fair share" -- under the optimistic assumption that they won't change their behavior in response to this -- would only amount to about $100 Billion in extra revenue. With a budget forecast approaching $4 Trillion now (4000 Billion), that's essentially a meaningless amount. This isn't a serious plan and, therefore, will not calm the markets.
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So it’s not a lack of plans or policies that’s the problem here. It’s a lack of political will in Washington. It’s the insistence on drawing lines in the sand, a refusal to put what’s best for the country ahead of self-interest or party or ideology. And that’s what we need to change.
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Recap:
But it is a lack -- or rather, a wrong choice -- of political and economic philosophy. By this time during Reagan's first term, economic growth (the solution to our problem, both then and now) was phenomenal. We needed Carter to prepare us to accept Reagan, and Obama is worse than Carter -- so now we need someone even better than Reagan.
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And the good news here is that by coming together to deal with the long-term debt challenge, we would have more room to implement key proposals that can get the economy to grow faster. Specifically, we should extend the payroll tax cut as soon as possible, so that workers have more money in their paychecks next year and businesses have more customers next year.
We should continue to make sure that if you’re one of the millions of Americans who’s out there looking for a job, you can get the unemployment insurance that your tax dollars contributed to. That will also put money in people’s pockets and more customers in stores.
In fact, if Congress fails to extend the payroll tax cut and the unemployment insurance benefits that I’ve called for, it could mean 1 million fewer jobs and half a percent less growth. This is something we can do immediately, something we can do as soon as Congress gets back.
We should also help companies that want to repair our roads and bridges and airports, so that thousands of construction workers who’ve been without a job for the last few years can get a paycheck again. That will also help to spur economic growth.
These aren’t Democratic proposals. These aren’t big government proposals.
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Recap:
Obama thinks -- or says that he thinks -- that if you fund unemployment more, then you will get less of it. He thinks that if government gets more in bed with business -- giving government hand-outs (of citizens' tax dollars) to private companies that work on roads, bridges, and airports -- that if we would only allow our government to become more fascist-interventionist than it already is -- then that will spur economic growth.
Above all, Obama reassures us that these increases in welfare and fascism-interventionism aren't "Democratic" or "big government" proposals. Really? This guy is laughable.
Ed
(Edited by Ed Thompson on 8/08, 4:33pm)
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