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andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/...obama-deficit-hawk.html - Cached - Annotated View

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rmaguir
Rmaguir bookmarked on 2009-11-13 US politics reference conservatives obama conservatism bush deficit economy statistics healthcare stimulus

  • The recession made deficit cutting in the here and now imprudent in his first year; but now addressing the long-term debt is itself necessary for stabilizing the economy - and reassuring independent voters that he, unlike his predecessor, gives a damn about fiscal health. Well: the good news is that he's going to do exactly that:



    President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year's State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 – and will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs, according to top aides involved in the planning.

  • On the practical side, Obama has spent more money on new programs in nine months than Bill Clinton did in eight years, pushing the annual deficit to $1.4 trillion.
  • This classic Politico piece - in as much as it regurgitates almost comically process-oriented Beltway wisdom - fails to mention a few things about Obama's spending in his first year.
  • Item one: the recession.
  • To treat the stimulus package as if it were something he just felt like doing - because he's a big government maniac - is a lie
  • Item two: The health insurance reform almost painfully tries to pay for itself -
  • something that Bush's Medicare entitlement didn't even pretend to do. 
  • Item three: there's a big big difference between spending on green and infrastructure investment and slashing taxes or increasing Medicare entitlements.

This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 13 Nov 2009, by Robert Maguire.

  • 13 Nov 09
    rmaguir
    Robert Maguire

    US politics reference conservatives obama conservatism bush deficit economy statistics healthcare stimulus

    • The recession made deficit cutting in the here and now imprudent in his first year; but now addressing the long-term debt is itself necessary for stabilizing the economy - and reassuring independent voters that he, unlike his predecessor, gives a damn about fiscal health. Well: the good news is that he's going to do exactly that:



      President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year's State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 – and will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs, according to top aides involved in the planning.

    • On the practical side, Obama has spent more money on new programs in nine months than Bill Clinton did in eight years, pushing the annual deficit to $1.4 trillion.
    • 6 more annotations...