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 Democrats Can Win the Budget DebatePosted on Apr 14, 2011By Joe Conason Having hesitated to fully enter the fiscal fray, President Obama has at last delivered a plausible, principled response to the budgetary flimflams of the far right. But one speech, even a very good speech, won’t fulfill his obligation in this fateful argument. What Obama began to do this week is what Democrats ought to have been doing forcefully for many weeks, which is to ensure that Americans understand the central differences between Democratic and Republican budgeting—and how the party’s contrasting programs would affect them and their families. While acknowledging the need to bring the federal budget closer to balance in coming years, the president laid down real markers concerning how that objective should and should not be achieved. It should not be done, he said, by raising the costs of medical care beyond affordability for most of the nation’s elderly, as the Republican assault on Medicare would eventually do. It should not be done by slashing programs that assist the nation’s poor and vulnerable. And it cannot be done at the expense of future generations, by vandalizing the nation’s infrastructure through neglect or depriving the nation’s children of educational opportunity. It must be done instead, said the president, in ways that reflect American traditions of fairness (which in bygone days were once honored by the leaders of the Republican Party, who now disdain them). It must demand the most from those who have benefited most, rather than treating them to still more tax cuts. It must restore the standards that made America the leader of the world in education, research and public investment ever since the Second World War, rather than accelerating our decline. As expected, Obama the politician sought to position himself as close to the center (and independent voters) as he could, by reminding Democrats and progressives that the rapidly rising cost of health care is unsustainable—and that the concept of “shared sacrifice” doesn’t exempt anyone’s priorities, including his and theirs. As usual, he gave away too much before the negotiating process has even started. Advertisement Polls still show, however, that the public agrees with Obama on the most important issues, from preserving Medicare and Social Security entitlements to raising taxes on the wealthy to investing in education, the environment and infrastructure. Very few outside the most dogmatic precincts of the Republican Party believe that the richest of the rich need additional tax cuts, or that such cuts should take priority over food stamps and Medicaid. Is that an “excessively partisan” or “dramatically inaccurate” way to describe the Republican fiscal philosophy, as House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan complained so bitterly in his rejoiner to Obama’s speech? Is the president’s plan “hopelessly inadequate,” as Ryan said, when compared with his own ever-changing, wildly phony “path to prosperity”? Ryan’s angry response has opened up the possibility of a debate that the country desperately needs. Let us hope that Obama doesn’t shrink from that challenge or delegate it to someone else. If his presidency is to become anything but the prelude to an era of decline, he must keep pushing forward just as aggressively as the Republicans push backward. © 2011 CREATORS.COM  TAGS:
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By MarthaA, April 20, 2011 at 1:13 am Link to this comment
Michael Cavlan RN, April 17 at 9:20 pm,
I admit it looks bleak for real progressive Liberals
in the Democratic Party, Democrats won’t even
acknowledge that the majority population even
exists, much less represent them; and the
Republican Party only represents corporations
and the elite, as the Democratic Party chooses
Republican Party dialectic and representing
corporations also. .
I expect I will end up voting “No Confidence” because I can not
vote for anyone who will not represent the majority population.
The Democratic Party prior to the 1970’s was representative of the
majority population, but slowly and consistently since that time
have cooperated with the deregulating of the Conservative
Right-Wing Republican EXTREMISTS and thrown the majority
population under the train until there is no current democratic
representation whatsoever of the majority population.
“Most people don’t realize that prior to the 1970’s, there were no
Report thiscorporate lobbyists on K Street. But since that time, they have
built an unprecedented web of power. And you can’t appease
people who are trying to keep you disconnected and in the dark.
It’s time to actively challenge the corporate influence in
Washington and build a movement that insists on real dialogue
and debate. And that depends on independent and inclusive
journalism. ”—Free Press Media Reform http://freepress.net
By The Worden Report, April 19, 2011 at 3:38 pm Link to this comment
The logic of instituting both revenue increases and expense decreases is running up against the related question of how “big” the U.S. Government ought to be, both in respect to limited government and federalism. With a $14.2 trillion U.S. Government debt and a 2011 deficit expected to be over $1 trillion, it would seem that the logic should trump matters of how limited the U.S. Government should be economically. Of course, the question of federalism will need to be addressed, but we ought not let it interfer with the logic. Actually, addressing federalism now could actually help with the logic. In http://thewordenreport.blogspot.com/2011/04/critique-of-perrys-fed-up-part-iv-on.html, I contend that the financial imbalance necessitating the logic is a manifestation of consolidation trumping federalism.
Report thisBy Byard Pidgeon, April 18, 2011 at 8:03 pm Link to this comment
Great speech…now, let’s see if he backs it up with deeds, like the VETO,
Report thisor does the usual back off.
By aacme88, April 17, 2011 at 10:00 pm Link to this comment
Where to begin?
Report thisThe president needs to burnish his credentials as a budget balancer? Against the Republicans? They have demonstrably and purposely, over 30 years, destroyed the budget and run up debt in order to bring on the current crisis, in which their masters expect to win big.
The only reason Obama is showing some verbal spunk at all is he’s back in campaign mode, what he does best, which is why he was tapped for the job. He knows that the only reason that almost the whole country doesn’t vote Democratic is the refusal of the Dems over the last 30 years, and especially the last 2 years, to mount an effective fight against the Repubs. As soon as the election is over, Obama and the Dems will return to serving their masters, the same masters the Repubs serve.
This country, and to an extent the whole world, has reached a tipping point. The corporations have, not just a lot of money and power as in the past, but all of it.
The Democrats aren’t going to come roaring back on a white charger to save the day. They know on which side the bread is buttered, and who owns the butter. They, along with the Republicans, will have to be dragged out of their ivory tower by an angry mob intent on a government that serves them. It started in the Middle East. It’s in the air.
By Michael Cavlan RN, April 17, 2011 at 5:55 pm Link to this comment
BTW
For the record. I point out Dem apologist articles here and how Common Dreams, Op Ed News etc banning of dissident voices, very much on purpose.
It makes them much less effective as propaganda tools.
Preach On Folks
LET’S GO.
Even if I am “disappeared here” just like at Common Dreams and Op Ed News.
Keep it up.
Report thisBy Michael Cavlan RN, April 17, 2011 at 5:51 pm Link to this comment
Azythos
Preach On Brother/Sister.
Like I said, folks are abandoning the corporate Democrats. No matter how many Democratic Party apologist articles are posted on Truth Dig. No matter how many people are banned from even posting on “progressive” sites like Common Dreams, Op Ed News, Daily KOS, Huff Post, TruthOut etc etc
NOW resistance can start.
See. Americans CAN start to resist their own corporate regime, right here at home.
Egypt is not a river in denial.
Report thisBy Salome, April 17, 2011 at 5:40 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Inherit The Wind—-after Dean brought Dems victory with his 50-state strategy, I was surprised a position in the WH wasn’t found for him. Maybe it was offered, he didn’t want it.
Report thisI wonder how a Dean presidency would have gone. Politics is compromise; Dean may be too combative.
By azythos, April 17, 2011 at 5:22 pm Link to this comment
“Some of the Democrats are the problem, not all of the Democrats.”
What epic bullshit!
Whoever voted to continue the “two”-party dictatorship is the problem.
Whoever accepts to vote for continuing the winner-take-old stranglehold on democracy is the problem.
Whoever has voted to bring us many more years of most heinous crimes against humanity, international aggression, torture and war crimes, open and bloody war against the poor at home, creeping suppression of our most basic civil rights, and a worse-than-Bush presidential whore who claims the unconstitutional right to jail and murder and invade is the problem.
Who do you think was the “problem” that allowed the triumph of Nazism? People just like our Democrat-voting morons, that’s who!
You, personally, are the f&& problem!
Report thisBy Michael Cavlan RN, April 17, 2011 at 5:20 pm Link to this comment
Martha
Which “progressive” Democrat would that be?
Dennis Kucinich, who spoke out on why the Corporate Democrats Healthcare Bill was worse than no Bill? Right before he took his “airplane ride” with Obama and then suddenly changed his mind and voted for it?
Or John Conyers, who called for Impeachment of Bush right until he became the Chair of the Judiciary Committee (which is responsible for introducing Impeachment proceedings) and then became the biggest obstacle to Impeachment of Bush? To protect his equally complicit Democrats like Nancy Pelosi or Senator Dick Durban it must be noted. In my honest opinion.
OK, Barbara Lee I can see. Maybe at times Maxine Waters. Except that they all support Obama. All of the “progressive” Democrats do. None will even run in a primary race against him. Not even Senator Feinstein, who no longer has a job and is from Wisconsin. The state which Obama abandoned Trade Union workers and their right to collective bargaining.
There are NO PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS. Just some folks who make pretty noises, just to keep progressives from bolting the Democratic Party. Providing political cover for the DLC corporate Dems.
Which is not going to happen. Progressives are abandoning the corporate Democrats.
Because…
The Democratic Party is where progressive politics and movements go to die.
Report thisBy MarthaA, April 17, 2011 at 4:36 pm Link to this comment
Michael Cavlan RN, April 17 at 8:22 pm,
Some of the Democrats are the problem, not all of the Democrats.
The problem was caused and sustained by the Republican led DLC,
Democratic Leadership Council of New Class Democrats within the
Democratic Party that caused a Corporate New Class to be
formed. It is the Corporate New Class that is the problem, as the
DLC New Class Democrats only represent their Corporate New
Class and the Republicans only represent Corporations and the
Elite leaving 70% of the population, the majority population of the
United States without representation.
There are Liberal Democrats that do not represent corporations,
Report thisalthough I do admit there aren’t many, but there are some, while
Republicans will never represent the common majority.
By Michael Cavlan RN, April 17, 2011 at 4:22 pm Link to this comment
Martha
The Democrats are the greater evil, when it comes to progressive politics. The Democratic Party is where progressive politics and social movements go to die. That simple political reality makes them the greater evil.
At least Ron Paul and Jessie Ventura are possibly willing to take on the corporate corrupted one money party with two wings.
So far, no one on the so called left have stood up for the challenge. Not Kucinich, not Sanders, not Feinstein, not Chris Hedges, no one.
Sp please take your Democratic Party apologist crap elsewhere.
The Democrats are the problem, not the solution.
Report thisBy MarthaA, April 17, 2011 at 3:08 pm Link to this comment
Michael Cavlan RN, April 17 at 1:44 pm,
Would Paul swear his allegiance and follow the agenda of the
Report thisRepublicans or the Democrats as an Independent, as there is no
Independent Party. The Republican Party’s conservative culture
could take the air out of both Ron Paul’s and Jesse Ventura’s
individual sails really fast, as would the Democratic Party, but the
Democratic Party would be the best way to go, when the choice is
made as to whether to represent the Left or represent the Right, the
Left can best be represented from the Left, as there is no
representing the Left from the Right. The United
States needs representation of the Left, not the
Right, as currently the Left’s 70% Majority
Common Population is unrepresented.
By Leefeller, April 17, 2011 at 1:23 pm Link to this comment
“Medicare and Social Security entitlements”? ...... Come on Joe using the word entitlements is now a negative word having been made naughty by the Replicates/Tea Bags. . Entitlements, the word, seems to be catching up to the Republicans/Tea Bags most used naughty word in their limited vocabulary,...... “Socialist”!
Report thisBy Michael Cavlan RN, April 17, 2011 at 9:44 am Link to this comment
Well, I just seen some FANTASTIC NEWS
According to an interview in the Christian Science Monitor, Jessie Ventura (my former Governor) has said that he will run for Vice President, along with Ron Paul as president.
Only if Ron Paul will run independent. He also states that he would never vote for fellow Minnesotan, Michelle Bachmann.
Now, please carry on with the Democratic Party apologist nonsense.
It is irrelevant now.
Perhaps Truth Dig can allow a series of articles on a possible Paul/Ventura ticket. Or some by Cindy Sheehan.
Hey, I got hopey/changey for real now.
Report thisBy ardee, April 17, 2011 at 8:47 am Link to this comment
Just another in a seemingly endless series of speeches that lead us nowhere. Fine words must be backed by equally fine deeds. Obama is long on words and short on deeds. If only his party was not equally inept.
Report thisBy MarthaA, April 17, 2011 at 12:28 am Link to this comment
Political dialectic of the Left is the logical
proof of the political agenda of the political
Left.
Political dialectic of the Right is the logical
proof of the political agenda of the political
Right.
It is not logical for the Left to argue political
benefit and best interest of the Left using the
frame of the political dialectic of the
Right, because dialectic is a
logical loop that is causal in
nature and arguing a “causal loop” that
does not support the thesis of your argument is
not beneficial to the best interest and outcome of
your argument.
There is more space for logical discourse in
political dialectic than there is for emotions that
lead the logically challenged to support the
argument of opposing political dialectic by
arguing within the frame of opposing political
dialectic while never becoming aware that
their own argument is false to the frame
of their own political dialectic.
Does it serve the aims of the political agenda of
the political Left’s Democratic Party to use the
proof of opposing Republican Party’s political
Right dialectic to prove the Democratic Party’s
political Left’s argument? —— Or, do you think
that it would better serve the Democratic Party’s
political Left’s agenda to use the proof of the
Democratic Party’s political Left’s dialectic to
prove the Democratic Party’s political Left
argument??
Success in any argument on logic lies in the
latter, rather than the former argument; this is
why the Republican Right has been so successful
since the time of Nixon and why the Democratic
Left has been so dismal and pathetic.
My natural inclination is to believe that no one is
Report thisignorant and unaware enough to willingly
use someone else’s dialectical frame that
is contrary to their own frame of dialectic,
and that when it is done, that it is done with
disingenuous intent and purpose to lead others
to accept false conclusions and a false sense of
advantage.
By azythos, April 16, 2011 at 8:36 pm Link to this comment
“Democrats Can Win the Budget Debate”
Well, no sh**, so they win. And what happens when they “win”?
Will that stop said Democrats from aiding, abetting and intensifying the Bush crimes against humanity, committing more agressions of their own, cancelling the Constitution, and still continuing to make the morons believe that they are any different from the so-called Republicans?
Democrats are the main obstacle to democracy in the US and must be destroyed. No other way out.
All you stupid people who voted to continue the “two”-party dictatorship, do you also want thanks for screwing us worse than Bush?
Report thisBy hogorina, April 16, 2011 at 7:13 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
THE WIERD WORLD OF BLOCKHEADS
THE FOLLY OF A TWO PARTY POLITICAL SYPHILIS AND BACTERIAl IMPLOSION
The study of mother nature respectively as to unpolluted water and its vital necessity in protecting the lower animal world against man’s various activities——lead to passing off deadly jack-jawed mentally cultivated bacteria via spheres contrary to healthy living must be considered. The loathsome disease of political whoredom’s two party augmented devised mental syphilis of organic poisoning brought on by excessive alcohol with the consumption of unregulated bacteria loaded processed foods; and most of all, struggling through life with a hobo’s mentality of degradation, in official prostitutional whore mongering is a direct duality between bacteria and water poisoning, because bribes in all industries contributing directly in ruining the nation’s pure water supply are passed onto organized thieves, turning their heads in protecting public health and the lower animal order.
Report thisFirst hand experience with an industry in the ship-build field is the guiding light in making accusations against OSHA as one governmental orientated department supposedly having an interest in the area of any industry with ship building or repairs. Observation was that for years oil and manure was flushed into a local river in poisoning ocean life and killing wild animals and birds while heads were turned the other way. One could observe human feces and oil drifting along year after year. The most harbored and obnoxious thought against local political syphilus was to watch fish netted and put on the local market. Much bottom feeders such as mullet found their way into local tourist traps. Openly we can note the political connection between bacteria and scoundrels being bribed in high office. The saddest thing is to note as to how OSHA wore blinds! and millions that were passed to localized political whoredom through bag men or ladies.The-Red-light districts had more to offer tourism than bacteria loaded mullet; customers could enjoy river food from the local sludge flow.
Nationwide such assertions can be made. There is no confidence within many states with whom are allied with public serving rogues in feathering their own nests while helpless citizens can go straight to hell! The only answer to this whole riddle of bacteria and political whores is to go out and vote the inefficient fools back into office. By nature, humanoids are more disposed to suffer evils ( pollution ) while evils ( politicians ) are sufferable. If the national sewer of political syphilis is allowed to expand through herd-like dispositions of a mob-like cancerous expansion then America will gradually become a national disaster of wide spread bacterial inplosion. Political whoredom and enhanced as a poisonous viper
will be the eventual death and decline of a republican / democratic system will continue to roll over into a national metropolitan sewer in the hands of sickened political whores fastening onto the innocent hides of tax-payers’ Eradicate them ! back to the rural outhouses where many leaned that mother nature cannot be aborted on either end; the master political prostitute ends up as a fish out of water, where these anti-social clowns ruined the amphibian water kingdom, which balances out nature’s structure, specifically the creatures, that survive in water for the most part of their existenc.
By Awi, April 16, 2011 at 6:16 pm Link to this comment
Conasin is just another Democratic apologist. Truthdig has sold out to the apologists. I’ve grown ill reading articles that tell us Obama will rescue us if only….......
I’m done with Truthdig. It’s bullshit dig.
Report thisBy Michael Cavlan RN, April 16, 2011 at 6:10 pm Link to this comment
Sooooooo
Just how many right wingers do they need to hire, to post comments that support this nonsense?
To make it appear “credible” or that the corporate corrupted Democrats are not playing WITH the corporate corrupted Republicans?
Add to that. How many Democratic Party apologist articles need to be published on Truth Dig, to provide the appearance of support for Obama and the Democrats?
So when does the purging of dissenting voices start on Truth Dig. Just like what happened on so many other “progressive” blogs. Like Common Dreams, Op Ed News etc etc.
There is a <s>election coming up, so can we assume that it will start soon?
Man, am I really getting this cynical of the level of cowardice and complicity of self describing “progressive” groups and blogs?
Based on my experiences in the past 10 years, I can only answer yes.
When will we develop the moral and political courage and integrity to overthrow our own corporate regime, right here at home?
Egypt is not a river in denial.
Report thisBy TDoff, April 16, 2011 at 1:01 pm Link to this comment
Damn good article, Joe, and good approach! It would probably work in a country that had not spent the past couple of generations turning it’s public ‘educational’ system into corporate-drone-making trade schools, and it’s private ‘institutions of higher learning’ into academies for teaching the intricate applications of the criminal financial arts, with advanced degrees in the bamboozling of and thievery from citizen drones.
Report thisBy altara, April 16, 2011 at 8:10 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
IMPEACHABLE?
Last Wednesday, President Obama delivered an excellent address on the deficit, budget cuts, and American values. As part of his solutions, he proposed tax increases. But he didn’t say “tax increases”. Instead, he referred to:
“reducing spending in the tax code”
I consider this linguistic atrocity to be an impeachable offense.
homer http://www.altara.blogspot.com
Report thisBy Morpheus, April 15, 2011 at 10:01 pm Link to this comment
Wake up America. It’s time…
“THE REVOLUTION HAS STARTED”
Read “Common Sense 3.1” at ( http://www.revolution2.osixs.org )
FIGHT THE CAUSE - NOT THE SYMPTOM
Report this“Spread the News”
By Inherit The Wind, April 15, 2011 at 8:46 pm Link to this comment
thebeerdoctor, April 15 at 10:45 am Link to this comment
“Let us hope that Obama doesn’t shrink from that challenge or delegate it to someone else.” ?
Good luck with that.
*************
Ditto. This President has backed down every time in the two years and 3 months he’s been in office. Not once has he drawn a line in the sand and stood by it.
Now, maybe there’s a first time for everything, but…When will Obama realize that if he doesn’t show determination, he’s finished and has little chance of getting re-elected next year? I voted for him happily in 2008. In 2012, I’m going to have to hold my nose to vote for him again—and all the Democrats.
I’ve been getting calls from the various factions of the Democratic party, asking for money. As soon as they say they are from the President’s re-election committee, or the Senate re-election committee, I hang up without another word.
Why shouldn’t I? They’ve betrayed every principle of their own party. They’ve squandered every dollar I’ve given them, going back to the 2004 election, when George W. Bush was a sitting duck and they STILL managed to lose the White House.
When the Dems WON back the House and Senate under the brilliant leadership of Howard Dean, they squandered it by caving into the White House on EVERYTHING—-and tossed Dean out. Now the House is gone, and the Senate is doomed—too many Dem seats and not enough GOP seats come up in 2012. And Obama’s best chance is the GOP nominating either someone really dull (like Romney), or too bat-shit crazy and ignorant to get elected, like Sarah Palin.
When the time came to dance, they sat on their hands and lost the GOLDEN opportunity to save our nation from those that would turn us into a Christian corporate feudal serf society.
And somehow, Obama just doesn’t see it.
Report thisBy Michael Cavlan RN, April 15, 2011 at 7:46 pm Link to this comment
Boy
There sure are a lot of Obama/Democrat apologist articles appearing here these days.
While the vast majority of comments are from people who do not but the bullshit line.
Per my previous banning from Common Dreams. I am starting to wonder if Truth Dig has an invisible donor problem?
Perhaps not, perhaps the owners and editors are just Democrat apologists.
Just saying.
Report thisBy bill janes, April 15, 2011 at 4:41 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Let’s see if we can do a little prognosticating after Wednesday’s speech, when
President Obama came forward with a proposal for ‘budget balancing’.
To help us with our fortune telling, let’s look back at Obama’s track record with
respect to honoring the public’s wishes, i.e. the desires of those who voted for
him.
Honoring the wishes of those who voted for him:
Health Care: 72% of Americans supported “a government-administered
insurance plan—something like Medicare for those under 65—that would
compete for customers with private insurers.” Obama-led ‘non-reform’ gives
private insurers a 20% overhead for all government-mandated - i.e. ALL -
customers.
TARP & Financial Bailout: Over 70% of the American people opposed the bailout.
Three years later, un- and under-employment exceed 18%; record profits for
financial institutions.
Afghanistan: 64% of the American people opposed expanding the war in
Afghanistan and wanted to disentangle from Bush-era ‘War on Terror’ and
‘preventive war’ policies. Today, over 60% of Americans oppose the war. The
war continues.
“Negotiating” with Republicans to protect voters’ interests.
Let’s take a look at Obama’s track record with respect to “debates” with
Republicans on “significant issues”:
McConnnell/Obama compromise on taxes (end of 2010) - $10,000 for every
millionaire; $1 for each working family (and unemployment)
and
Boehner/Obama ‘historic deal’ to avert a manufactured threat of government
‘shut down’ - Loss of $40,000,000,000 in government services.
Are you ready to predict the future, i.e. Obama’s end game?
Before you make your prediction, recall the ‘health care debate’. The ‘health care
debate’ is the model for what’s happening now.
Here’s how Obama handled the ‘health care debate’. Obama wanted to avoid
single payer and favored the Bob Dole/Mitt Romney (Republican) approach - i.e.
giving tax payer dollars to private insurers at an overhead rate of 20% and
mandating people to buy or be fined. To make sure that’s what happened,
Obama simply took the original people’s mandate and the Democrats’ 60-year
policy goal - i.e. single payer - and let it become the victim of gun-toting Town
Halls and Tea Party mau-mauing. These activities were allowed to move
forward without rebuttal by the White House during the summer prior to
Congressional debates.
Those activities effectively set-up the Max Baucus silent ‘hearings’ in which no
single payer advocates could be heard.
Toward the culmination of the process, Obama made some lame remark (“I dont
know what’s wrong with looking at a single payer”), attempting to show
‘support’, but knowingly and effectively putting a final spike in the heart of
sixty years of Democratic policy. In the interim a secret deal with the insurance
industry had been completed and we got the disaster we have no - no single
payer and huge subsidies to the insurance industry.
Today’s budget ‘debates’ are a re-play of the health care scenario: Obama
remains silent, allowing the Republicans to frame the debate; then Obama folds
his hands and asks everyone to act like grown-ups; then Obama makes some
lame remark to ‘appease the liberal base’ (the speech today is the parallel here).
In the interim, Obama crafts a secret deal with the Republicans (that’s going on
now with the ‘Commission Report’ (which not even a majority of the
Commission signed); finally, Obama folds and supports the Republican
position.
So, Obama will not be the Democratic nominee in 2012. He should have been
Report thisthe Republican candidate.
By American Democrat, April 15, 2011 at 4:39 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Here are ten indications the Democrats do not have a President who supports
Democratic policies and disdains Democratic values.
1. Shifting private debt to the public sector (thereby freeing corporations, esp
the financial industry, but also financial arms of GM, GE, etc, and saddling the
middle class with the obligation to ‘pay it off’).
2. Watching private sector profits reach un-precedented levels (while
investment goes abroad, hiring moves abroad, and manufacturing continues to
disappear and un-employment continues).
3. Raising the defense budget 6% (so, when “cuts” come, the defense industries
will be safely sandbagged).
4. Allowing the financial industry to ‘borrow’ from the ‘public sector’ (i.e. me
and you) at 1% and buy bonds that pay 3% interest (Banks take your $1 and
make $2 off each one they ‘borrowed’ from you. But, here’s the real deal: You
gave them the $1 they ‘borrowed’, and you pay them the $2 interest they
‘earned’ on the bonds. All the money they ‘invest’ came from you – a ‘loan’ –
and all the money they make comes from you – you have to cover the interest
on the bonds).
5. Allowing the financial industry to ‘borrow’ from the ‘public sector’ (i.e. me
and you again) at 1%, to loan to me and you at 4%, 12%, 18% or more
mortgages, credit cards and other lines of credit (pocketing 3%, 11% and 17% on
your and my money – first given to them by us, then ‘paid back with interest’ by
us).
6. Giving private sector insurers a windfall: mandated customers, with a
taxpayer-paid overhead rate of 20% for ‘mandated customers’ (20% of our
premium spent on administration, CEO salaries, bonuses, sitting on Boards to
set rates and decide who’s covered, lobbying for the insurers’ benefit,
advertising and propagandizing to redefine more and more as ‘health care
service’ while delivering fewer and fewer services—- essentially, giving our tax
money to insurers to do with it what they will). *The American people wanted a
government administered plan like Medicare - for everyone. (72% - CBS/New
York Times poll June 2009)
7. Expanding the war in Afghanistan. (64% of the American people opposed
expanding the war in Afghanistan and wanted to disentangle from Bush-era
‘War on Terror’ and ‘preventive war’ policies. Still, over 60% of Americans
oppose the war.?
8. Keeping the six too-big-to-fail banks – now bigger than ever; keeping
deposits at risk by maintaining huge grey areas between commercial and
investment banking; not ‘punishing’ the financial industry, ie taxing it - now
even more profitable, with bonuses among the biggest ever.
9. Supporting ‘Negotiations’ – e.g. McConnell/Obama giving every billionaire
$10,000 for every $10 provided to an un- or under-employed person or family
(with a 15% tax rate for hedge funds; 25-33% for lower & middle class workers;
no taxes and a bailout for GE, taxing unemployment benefits and not
addressing an 18% un- and under-employment rate.)
10. With a majority in both Houses of Congress, Obama took positions 1-9.
Now, with a Republican majority in the House of Representatives, Obama can
proceed with impunity to support the Simpson Bowles disaster and call it an
“historic compromise’. The ‘historic compromise’ will retain the same basic
Republican philosophy Obama has endorsed in the past: Low to no corporate
taxes, low to no taxes on the wealthy, bailouts for private for-profit failure, no
assistance to un-employed and under-employed, low interest loans from the
fed for private for-profit corporations that are ‘in trouble’, no assistance to
home owners, no taxes and bailouts for GE, but higher taxes and fewer services
for America’s families.
In order to win, the Democrats would need a President who supported
Report thisDemocratic values. Obama does not support Democratic policies or Democratic
values; so, Democrats will not ‘win the budget battle’.
By Bobbie Sue, April 15, 2011 at 3:48 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Go Joe Conason! Well said! Well said. Thank you.
Report thisBy Weniger Gottquatsch, April 15, 2011 at 11:19 am Link to this comment
The idea that the Democratic Party is more interested in an equitable budget than the Republicans is ludicrous. There is one party, and it is the party of money.
Both Dems and GOP are bought and paid for by the ultra wealthy. The job of both parties is to continue the assualt on the poor and middle class, on working people in order to move more wealth to their paymasters.
It’s true that htere are exceptions in the Democratic Party. It’s also true that Preznit Obama speaks better tna clowns like Ryan and Boehner. But that just indicates that the President and his party are clever, sneakier, even more hypocritical than the GOP.
Report thisBy RedwoodGuy, April 15, 2011 at 11:09 am Link to this comment
Fascinating! More exciting commentary on the Big Fight between the Blues and the Reds! My gosh, what will happen next? Stay tuned, huh?
Report thisBy Jeffrey C. Goldfarb, April 15, 2011 at 8:33 am Link to this comment
The tide has turned and the President is leading, http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/04/president-obama-on-taxing-and-spending-and-the-american-center/
Report thisBy thebeerdoctor, April 15, 2011 at 6:45 am Link to this comment
“Let us hope that Obama doesn’t shrink from that challenge or delegate it to someone else.” ?
Report thisGood luck with that.