OBAMA ATTACKS AUSTERITY!
By David Vance On June 9th, 2012You would need to have a heart of stone not to laugh;
“Barack Obama launched an outspoken attack on austerity measures last night, warning they risk dragging the world economy into a new ‘downward spiral’. The US President blamed Europe for economic problems in his country and warned that immediate action is required to solve the eurozone crisis. But in an intervention that will alarm the Treasury, Mr Obama declared that cuts are preventing economic growth which could prompt an upturn.”
How very wise Obama is.
But let’s just consider one pesky detail, shall we? Under Obama, US National Debt has increased more in three years than in the eight years when Bush was in the White House. Not sure Professor Obama is the guy to lecture ANY country about economic policy!
//But let’s just consider one pesky detail, shall we? Under Obama, US National Debt has increased more in three years than in the eight years when Bush was in the White House. //
And even that pesky detail is wrong.
He inherited two wars and an eoonomy that was falling, and a GOP that did not want to pay for any of it. This must be mentioned in any such discussion,
Austerity itself cures nothing. Didnt work for Hoover then, isn’t working for Europe now.
This chart should start at zero
By starting at 7 trillion or so,it exaggerates the amount of increase in the debt
Did five minutes research on this
Lets see
US National Debt at the end of fiscal year 2000 -$5674 billion
At the end of fiscal year 2008 – $10,025 billion
That’s an increase of 77% under GW Bush
US National Debt at the end of 2008 – $10, 025 billion
US National Debt now ( as shown above ) $15,566 billion
That’s an increase of 55% under Obama, to date
But you’d never know any of that from this very deceptive little chart.
Plus, Obama inherited an economy falling off a cliff, and Bush most certainly did not etc.
Phantom, the US debt was 10.7 trillion the day Obama moved in.
It probably can’t be exactly spot on, as fiscal years, are not the same as presidential terms?
But your point is very well taken.
Debt and deficits are problems, but the Republican Disinformation Machine ( where this chart probably came from ) is no part of the solution.
And even if Obama had done NOTHING outside Republican desires, with two wars raging, and with Republicans ( correctly ) asking for surges in Iraq and Afghanistan, the debt would have gone up significantly in any event.
It wasn’t just Dubya. The last 3 Republican Presidents (both Bushes and Ronnie) significantly increased US Public Sector debt without much of a whimper from the Right.
The only time the Republican National Committee lies is when they move their lips. All major leaders (*) and both large parties in this country own this pig. Neither is serious about solving it.
(*) Representative Ryan has come closest to caring. The rest of them, not so much.
I think Obama wants an end to Austerity because it will probably put off a collapse in the Eurozone until after November, even if it does mean the eventual collapse is worse.
Like his supporters he doesn’t want “to watch Europeans run their own affairs to the detriment of the Democratic Party, and thus the welfare of the whole world. “
The difficulty is that a large amount of the budget is tied up in Entitlements, interest or military spending, which are very difficult to reduce. Less than 20% of the US budget is in discretionary spending which is the budget negotiated every year.
Great comments Phantom.
And more Neo-Con wars will make it even worse, and possibly be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. What price a US default before 2020?