Can Obama Cut Deficit?

[Mr. Shaman]

I was really asking what macro economic law you would cite supports the idea of tax-hikes in the middle of a recession.

Does it matter what it's called....after it's PROVEN to work?????

​

 

[Dr.Who]

Fine. Let's return (instead) to a tax-system that (actually) worked.....for everyone.​

Any success had was due to the good economy (which Presidents have little effect on) not due to the higher taxes that certainly did not work for those that were taxed unfairly. Try the same thing in a bad economy and it will fail miserably. Even communism looked good for a while then under pressure it collapsed. Putin has warned Obama not to go down that road.

Those same unfair taxes right now would wreck the economy (even Obama said he would have to scale back his tax plans due to the economy) and would still be unfair.

No matter how you slice it stealing from some of the people to support some other people is wrong. No matter how you slice it government does not produce any product so the larger it is the larger a drain it is on the economy.

 

[XCALIDEM]

Obama plans to cut the deficit in half in 4 years...LMAO

Does he still think he's on the campaing trail, or that all americans are stupid.?
Congress just approved a $410 Billion spending bill, on top of the $787 Billion that was just approved....
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/25/house-approves-billion-spending/

So can you explain to me how can President Obama achieve this when congress is having a great time spendingmoney like there's no tomorrow?

"I am committed to restoring a sense of honesty and accountability to our budget," he said. "That is why this budget looks ahead ten years and accounts for spending that was left out under the old rules – and for the first time, that includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. For seven years, we have been a nation at war. No longer will we hide its price."

He also said his team is going to "go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs." He said the administration has found "two trillion dollars in savings over the next decade."

Lastly, in this section of the speech, Mr. Obama addressed taxes and his campaign promised most often mentioned by Republicans – to raise taxes on the wealthy.

"Let me perfectly clear, because I know you’ll hear the same old claims that rolling back these tax breaks means a massive tax increase on the American people: if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime," Mr. Obama said. "I repeat: not one single dime. In fact, the recovery plan provides a tax cut – that’s right, a tax cut – for 95% of working families. And these checks are on the way."

Here is the prepared remarks from the president on the budget, as released by the White House:



There is, of course, another responsibility we have to our children. And that is the responsibility to ensure that we do not pass on to them a debt they cannot pay. With the deficit we inherited, the cost of the crisis we face, and the long-term challenges we must meet, it has never been more important to ensure that as our economy recovers, we do what it takes to bring this deficit down.

I’m proud that we passed the recovery plan free of earmarks, and I want to pass a budget next year that ensures that each dollar we spend reflects only our most important national priorities.

Yesterday, I held a fiscal summit where I pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office. My administration has also begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs. As you can imagine, this is a process that will take some time. But we’re starting with the biggest lines. We have already identified two trillion dollars in savings over the next decade.

In this budget, we will end education programs that don’t work and end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don’t need them. We’ll eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq, and reform our defense budget so that we’re not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don’t use. We will root out the waste, fraud, and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn’t make our seniors any healthier, and we will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.

In order to save our children from a future of debt, we will also end the tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. But let me perfectly clear, because I know you’ll hear the same old claims that rolling back these tax breaks means a massive tax increase on the American people: if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime. In fact, the recovery plan provides a tax cut – that’s right, a tax cut – for 95% of working families. And these checks are on the way.

To preserve our long-term fiscal health, we must also address the growing costs in Medicare and Social Security. Comprehensive health care reform is the best way to strengthen Medicare for years to come. And we must also begin a conversation on how to do the same for Social Security, while creating tax-free universal savings accounts for all Americans.

Finally, because we’re also suffering from a deficit of trust, I am committed to restoring a sense of honesty and accountability to our budget. That is why this budget looks ahead ten years and accounts for spending that was left out under the old rules – and for the first time, that includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. For seven years, we have been a nation at war. No longer will we hide its price.

 

[Depeche Toad]

Re: Obama plans to cut the deficit in half in 4 years...LMAO

And $634B in new healthcare expenditures.

 

[Bunz]

Threads merged. Please people look for other threads on the same subject before starting a new one. The search forums tool is simple to use.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Any success had was due to the good economy (which Presidents have little effect on) not due to the higher taxes that certainly did not work for those that were taxed unfairly.

Yeah....I'll try to remember that....

​

"Republican leaders, whose large tax-cut proposal last year was vetoed by Mr. Clinton as "irresponsible," have been warming to the idea of eliminating the national debt. The House speaker, Representative Dennis Hastert of Illinois, had called for paying off the publicly held debt by 2015.

Looming budget surpluses have also allowed the presidential candidates of both parties to push for new spending or tax reduction, and in some cases to take a more socially liberal tilt, without being accused of irresponsibility.

Joseph Lockhart, the White House spokesman, said that "obviously the strong economy" had made possible the debt proposal.

The federal budget surplus last year was dollars 124 billion, the largest in history

Reduction of the national debthttp://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_32/b3641059.htm helps consumers by removing the government from competition for loans. That helps bring down interest rates and makes it easier for employers to invest in plants and payroll, spurring economic growth.

Growth, in turn, increases the government's tax receipts — and options."

 

[Hobo1]

I am kind of amazed. In one month, Obama has definitely started down a new direction in running the government. And no doubt he has had the support of every Democratic politician to pass the new spending laws.

Conversely, the Republicans have been noticeably absent from the new Obama philosophy.

Obama has got to show some solid evidence that his programs are starting to bear fruit in the next 2 years. The old excuse that "we inherited the problems from the Bush Administration" will not hold water. People's current optimism must be met by tangible results, ie, more jobs, better economy, and increased consumer confidence.

That's a lot to accomplish in 2 years. Obama has promised a lot of things to a lot of people. If he cannot deliver quickly, then he could easily loose the faith of the American people and his Democratic majority in the Senate. The American people are optimistic but by no means convinced. Only the future will show whether Obama's ability to government wisely match his oratorical abilities.

Personally I doubt that Obama can pull it off. When you promise a chicken in every pot, at the end of 2 years, most families will want to start to see the chicken knocking at the door.

 

[Pidgey]

Going to be awfully tricky. Take a look at the Slosh Report since February, 2000:

One thing of note really stands out: that large peak exactly coincides with the peak of RCO (Regular Conventional Oil) in late 2005/early 2006. Let's break it out ino its components and see what falls out:

Total Submitted:

Total Accepted:

Total Maturing:

 

[Pidgey]

Net Add:

Total Sloshing:

Average Sloshing:

 

[Pidgey]

Treasury Held:

Agency Held:

MBS Held:

 

[Pidgey]

TIO Sloshing:

(TIO means "Term Investment Option" and is defined here: http://www.fms.treas.gov/tip/ )

TAF Sloshing:

(TAF means "Term Auction Facility" and is defined here: http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/taf.htm

Looks like an awful lot of debt looking for an investor. The Fed's broke.

 

[Pidgey]

Oh, by the way... did those graphs quick & dirty, so the numbers on the x-axes are actually the Excel row numbers that correspond to specific dates. Here's a quickie key:

113........12/11/2000

225........05/16/2001

337........10/19/2001

449........03/26/2002

561........08/29/2002

673........02/03/2003

785........07/07/2003

897........12/12/2003

1009......05/18/2004

1121......10/21/2004

1233......03/28/2005

1345......08/31/2005

1457......02/03/2006

1569......07/11/2006

1681......12/14/2006

1793......05/21/2007

1905......10/24/2007

2017......03/28/2008

2129......09/02/2008

 

[Dr.Who]

I just heard on the radio today that the projected deficit as a result of the stimulus so far is going to be twice what it was in the last year of the Bush Administration.

Back when Reagan was pres the dems were really complaining about how high the deficit was at 6% of GDP. At the rate P. Obama is going it will be 12% before the year is out. Will there be complaints now? Even Shaman should be complaining since he thinks Clinton was a great president primarily because he appears to have eliminated the deficit.

 

[Pidgey]

Tax revenues will be falling very sharply so if not enough investment money comes in from Sovereign Wealth Funds and the like then where do you suppose live funds are going to come from? If from the printing press then our ability to purchase foreign goods gets diluted accordingly. Foreign goods like... cheap clothing and oil and...

 

[Hobo1]

I could almost tolerate that big deficit IF I were somewhat confident that the money being spent had a reasonably good chance of turning the economy around. But the overriding theme of most economists I hear on MSNBC these days is that nobody really knows how to pull the economy out of its current recession. Most people agree that the Keynesian theory of spending government money to stimulate the economy doesn't consistently work. On the other hand, even Greenspan has admitted recently that the free market cannot be relied upon to correct itself.

Once again, our banking system and Wall Street have failed us because the lessons learned from the last great Depression were forgotten. "Over exuberant" leveraging by investment banks, coupled with irrational speculation in real estate have resulted in the loss of tens of trillions of dollars of net worth from the economy when the housing bubble burst.

While the cause of the economic downturn can perhaps be identified with some confidence, economists are truly baffled by how to fix the problem. Once the economy starts to fall because of imprudent banking practices, the problem quickly spreads to all areas of the economy. Suddenly, irrational factors such as fear and uncertainty begin to fuel the recession. The problem can no longer be fixed by any infusion of government money. Rather, people must begin to regain confidence that the economy will once again prosper. And as of the 21st century, neither economist or psychologist has figured out a way to stop the mob mentality.

Basically, we've got ourselves in one hellofa mess with no solution on the horizon.