Is there any truth to the GOP's argument that maintaining the current level of debt is unsustainable and that continuing to pay the interest on that debt will lead to serious damage to the economy? How do we push back on that argument?
They are ignoring that Biden has already paid down a portion of the debt in the past 2 years. And his budget goes far to reduce it farther. Also Trump jacked up our debt by 25% during his term.
We can have that discussion through the normal channels of budgeting; and as a reminder, as I show in my analysis, the last 3 GOP Presidents exploded the deficit, the last 3 Dems brought it down. We have been the party of fiscal responsibility. For the sake of this discussion, as we write if we cut spending now we will push the economy into recession. That is what they want, and there is no way from them to avoid the reality of this.
If we cut spending as the Rs are proposing here the economy will go into a deep recession that will likely last past the election - which is the whole point. The deficit increased under Trump. They only use austerity when it works to hobble a sitting Dem President.
Yes, I understand and agree that raising the debt ceiling to pay for already legislated expenditures should be non-negotiable. And I understand that the GOP's strategy is to create a recession. None of that is forgivable. However, I was hoping your answer to my question would be -- No, it is not true that federal deficits at this level are unsustainable, i.e., interest payments would eventually eat up too much of GPD. So... If it actually is true, then our response is -- Budget deficits should be addressed through normal channels of budgeting, in addition to pointing out that Republicans are just as, if not more, responsible for increasing federal deficits. I was just curious to know whether their statement about unsustainable debt, about "spending money we don't have" is even true. I'm not an economist, but I do know that the federal budget deficit and the national debt are two different things. I also know that government budgets should not be compared to personal household budgets, as the GOP likes to do. But that's the extent of my understanding. I really would like to know if the national debt is a real problem or a problem "made up" by Republicans, regardless of how we got here.
If the debt was as Rs say it is, why did the deficit go up every year under Trump; why did they go along with the biggest deficits as a percent of GDP since WWII under Trump; and why did they all vote against Biden's economic plan which has brought the deficit way down? The economic and fiscal track record of the GOP since Reagan has been a disaster for the country, and nothing they say should be taken seriously. There is a one fiscally responsible party in America and it's not the Republican Party.
Also please Sub to ChopWood Carry Water here on Substack for Civic Action Items with scripts for calls to your congresspeople on this and other topics!
Should our calls include the White House and urging the President to invoke the 14th Amendment and refuse to allow the default of the debt. It’s the most originalist of originalist actions.
I had a cold last week and ended up finishing The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy and the Life of John Maynard Keynes, by Zachary D. Carter. It's a wonderful read and helped me to better understand today's economics. I'm a ceramic artist, so a book that makes economic history intelligible to me is welcome. I think you will all be hearted by this quote in the book's conclusion:
"But all over the world, people are acting as if even this frightening global slide into authoritarianism might be reversed through the mechanisms John Maynard Keynes proposed three-quarters of a century ago. They are organizing, planning, and voting as if they really can improve society for themselves and their children by changing the economic arrangements that currently divert so much of the world's wealth into the hands of so few. In the United States, activists and politicians are promoting a Green New Deal, reviving the legacy of FDR to combat climate change through public investment. Mainstream economists now speak openly of moving "beyond neoliberalism, and" and there is talk in academic circles of a new Bretton Woods conference that might replace the global order erected in the 1990s with a new harmony of international economic interests.
These optimists may succeed, and they may fail. But they are pursuing a vision that sustained Keynes through three world crises and demonstrated beyond any doubt that a better world was possible on the other side. Keynesianism in this purest, simplest form is not so much a school of economic thought as a spirit of radical optimism, unjustified by most of human history and extremely difficult to conjure up precisely when it is most needed: during the depths of a depression or amid the fevers of war.
Yet such optimism is a vital and necessary element of everyday life..."
One of the most infuriating things is that the "Main Stream Media" coverage portrays this as a negotiating deal for President Biden. It is not. If we can't count on our free press to help people understand the true situation, we face an uphill battle indeed. Long gone are the times when the newspapers (back then it was only papers) exposed the truth and the corruption.
WAHOO!!!! Modest Dem Rep Mark Desaulnier from CA and his Rule Staff has laced a bill HR626 with a ‘discharge petition’. that needs now apparently ( not an expert here!) only 5 Republican House Rep signatures to be brave enough to avoid the default! And then a vote needing 50 Rupubs ‘
We should be grown ups’ Check it out! “Secret capacity to SAVE the Country from default “. Way to go.....forward thinking wise Dem politicians like this Rep! Now call your Reps CWCW on Substack. SHARE THIS PLEASE
Is there any truth to the GOP's argument that maintaining the current level of debt is unsustainable and that continuing to pay the interest on that debt will lead to serious damage to the economy? How do we push back on that argument?
They are ignoring that Biden has already paid down a portion of the debt in the past 2 years. And his budget goes far to reduce it farther. Also Trump jacked up our debt by 25% during his term.
We can have that discussion through the normal channels of budgeting; and as a reminder, as I show in my analysis, the last 3 GOP Presidents exploded the deficit, the last 3 Dems brought it down. We have been the party of fiscal responsibility. For the sake of this discussion, as we write if we cut spending now we will push the economy into recession. That is what they want, and there is no way from them to avoid the reality of this.
If we cut spending as the Rs are proposing here the economy will go into a deep recession that will likely last past the election - which is the whole point. The deficit increased under Trump. They only use austerity when it works to hobble a sitting Dem President.
Yes, I understand and agree that raising the debt ceiling to pay for already legislated expenditures should be non-negotiable. And I understand that the GOP's strategy is to create a recession. None of that is forgivable. However, I was hoping your answer to my question would be -- No, it is not true that federal deficits at this level are unsustainable, i.e., interest payments would eventually eat up too much of GPD. So... If it actually is true, then our response is -- Budget deficits should be addressed through normal channels of budgeting, in addition to pointing out that Republicans are just as, if not more, responsible for increasing federal deficits. I was just curious to know whether their statement about unsustainable debt, about "spending money we don't have" is even true. I'm not an economist, but I do know that the federal budget deficit and the national debt are two different things. I also know that government budgets should not be compared to personal household budgets, as the GOP likes to do. But that's the extent of my understanding. I really would like to know if the national debt is a real problem or a problem "made up" by Republicans, regardless of how we got here.
If the debt was as Rs say it is, why did the deficit go up every year under Trump; why did they go along with the biggest deficits as a percent of GDP since WWII under Trump; and why did they all vote against Biden's economic plan which has brought the deficit way down? The economic and fiscal track record of the GOP since Reagan has been a disaster for the country, and nothing they say should be taken seriously. There is a one fiscally responsible party in America and it's not the Republican Party.
Also please Sub to ChopWood Carry Water here on Substack for Civic Action Items with scripts for calls to your congresspeople on this and other topics!
Should our calls include the White House and urging the President to invoke the 14th Amendment and refuse to allow the default of the debt. It’s the most originalist of originalist actions.
I had a cold last week and ended up finishing The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy and the Life of John Maynard Keynes, by Zachary D. Carter. It's a wonderful read and helped me to better understand today's economics. I'm a ceramic artist, so a book that makes economic history intelligible to me is welcome. I think you will all be hearted by this quote in the book's conclusion:
"But all over the world, people are acting as if even this frightening global slide into authoritarianism might be reversed through the mechanisms John Maynard Keynes proposed three-quarters of a century ago. They are organizing, planning, and voting as if they really can improve society for themselves and their children by changing the economic arrangements that currently divert so much of the world's wealth into the hands of so few. In the United States, activists and politicians are promoting a Green New Deal, reviving the legacy of FDR to combat climate change through public investment. Mainstream economists now speak openly of moving "beyond neoliberalism, and" and there is talk in academic circles of a new Bretton Woods conference that might replace the global order erected in the 1990s with a new harmony of international economic interests.
These optimists may succeed, and they may fail. But they are pursuing a vision that sustained Keynes through three world crises and demonstrated beyond any doubt that a better world was possible on the other side. Keynesianism in this purest, simplest form is not so much a school of economic thought as a spirit of radical optimism, unjustified by most of human history and extremely difficult to conjure up precisely when it is most needed: during the depths of a depression or amid the fevers of war.
Yet such optimism is a vital and necessary element of everyday life..."
One of the most infuriating things is that the "Main Stream Media" coverage portrays this as a negotiating deal for President Biden. It is not. If we can't count on our free press to help people understand the true situation, we face an uphill battle indeed. Long gone are the times when the newspapers (back then it was only papers) exposed the truth and the corruption.
WAHOO!!!! Modest Dem Rep Mark Desaulnier from CA and his Rule Staff has laced a bill HR626 with a ‘discharge petition’. that needs now apparently ( not an expert here!) only 5 Republican House Rep signatures to be brave enough to avoid the default! And then a vote needing 50 Rupubs ‘
We should be grown ups’ Check it out! “Secret capacity to SAVE the Country from default “. Way to go.....forward thinking wise Dem politicians like this Rep! Now call your Reps CWCW on Substack. SHARE THIS PLEASE
https://youtu.be/kBh97HUiPvY