Friday News Roundup - Domestic
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2013-02-22/friday-news-roundup-domestic
Sparring over spending and taxes intensifies one week before sequestration. Details of immigration proposals emerge. And Florida’s governor reverses course on Medicaid. Guest host Steve Roberts and a panel of journalists discuss the week’s top national stories.
Guests
Chris Cillizza
author of The Fix, a Washington Post politics blog, managing editor of PostPolitics.com and author of the book, "The Gospel According to The Fix."
Shawna Thomas
White House producer for NBC News.
John Dickerson
chief political correspondent for Slate.com and CBS political analyst and contributor. Author of "On Her Trail: My Mother, Nancy Dickerson, TV News' First Woman Star."
Friday News Roundup Video
Panelist Chris Cillizza, author of The Fix politics blog, discussed Vice President Joe Biden's remark that if Americans want to protect themselves against home intruders, they should "get a double-barrel shotgun." Biden spoke as part of a Facebook town hall Tuesday saying that Americans don't need semi-automatic weapons because shotguns have the same impact. Cillizza said Biden supporters and detractors responded to the remark differently. "Like almost everything in politics these days, it's dependent on the partisan lens through which you see these things," Cillizza said.
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This Sunday NASCAR will run it`s premiere event,the Daytona 500. With budget cuts and the Sequester looming,it`s time to take NASCAR off of the government teat. NASCAR got many millions as pork in the TARP act. NASCAR got another $70 million during the "Fiscal Cliff" crisis a few months ago.NASCAR got another $20+ million from the Hurricane Sandy and FEMA negotiations..
Nearly every NASCAR track is getting even more pubic dollars from local governments..
They tell me we`re too broke to feed the poor,but not too poor to feed the wealthy.. Go figure,only in a Fox News driven America could this idiocy happen.Here in Ohio,the poor getting a $68 tax increase,while the wealthy get a $10K tax cut...Nuts ??
"House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he got "98 percent" of what he wanted in the final deal to raise the debt ceiling.
When you look at this final agreement that we came to with the White House, I got 98 percent of what I wanted. I'm pretty happy," Boehner said in an interview with CBS News on Monday evening".
Can you believe now the Republicans say ,budget cuts,and the Budget Control Act are Pres. Obama`s creation. All I`ve heard from Conservatives is CUT CUT CUT... At the same time Conservatives are saying the CUTS pending are NOT deep enough.. America doesn`t need jobs,we need CUTS.
Just like the failure of Conservatives and their "AUSTERITY" plan in Europe,what do they say.? "AUSTERITY" is a liberal creation. They handed off the "Great Bush Recession" to Obama. The Republicans have done everything in Washington and locally to continue damaging our economy.I`m frankly sick of Republican anti-Americanism. Everything Obama is for,Republicans are against.That includes getting America back to work..
In case these issues are not brought up on the show:
"Blueneck BillyBob wrote:
...
They tell me we`re too broke to feed the poor,but not too poor to feed the wealthy.. Go figure,only in a Fox News driven America could this idiocy happen.Here in Ohio,the poor getting a $68 tax increase,while the wealthy get a $10K tax cut...Nuts ??
February 21, 2013 - 1:17 pm
Several Republican ruled States want to replace Income Taxes with Sales Taxes. Won't that be a nice screwing for the already grossly overburdened Ordinary People?
Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com
citizencontact wrote: "The sequester could just be repealed. End of story."
This is only a concern to idiots, $85 billion from a $3.6 trillion budget.
"No deal needs to be done now. Republicans have already extended the default limit without cutting the budget. And the government funding legislation later in March (aka CR) is a better vehicle for any grand deal."
Obama does not want any deal.
"Most of the money that the government borrows is from US investors. China, Japan, and the rest only hold about a third of our debt."
You forgot money from air, the Federal Reserve.
"Tax cuts for the wealthy are paid for by the government borrowing mainly from US investors. So instead of the investors borrowing themselves on the open market, they are getting tax breaks and lending a large portion of it back to the government."
Bottom line, the upper income brackets are paying by far most of the frieght for the federal government nanny state.
"Wall Street investors were worried that the government would stop borrowing money and kill the market for treasuries/bonds, and got their wish for deficits from the Bush administration after years of surplus."
The Bush administration was handed a reccesion and 5+ trillion in debt right out of the box.
"If the interest rates do go up on government debt, it will be wealthy US investors that directly profit. Scaring the world that the US might default could finally drive those rates up".
The U.S. will default, inflation and economic colapse make it inevitable with our current leadership. Just as with any high risk loans, interest rates are by necessity higher on people that probably won't or can't pay the loan back. Foreign and U.S. investors are not entirely stupid. When the interests rates go up and they will, the sequester will look like chump change in comparison to the hundreds of billions in increased interest payments on the national debt.
"It is inaccurate to say that state budgets are balanced compared to the federal government. States regularly issue debt, that is borrow, but just call it a capital budget. The federal government balances its budget each year, it just does it from a general budget. The main difference is that the federal government can create money, although that is generally done through the Federal Reserve."
Yes, the states are burdened with billions of dollars of unfunded public sector union benefits, it's all a house of cards. Money printed from nothing makes all the money currently in circulation worth less and in the end worthless. "Despite the fact that 49 states have balanced budget requirements the report calculates $4.2 trillion of state debt, $2.8 trillion of which is unfunded pension benefits. It’s by far the dominant source of debt for state governments across the country."
http://reason.com/blog/2012/09/27/28-trillion-in-unfunded-state-pension-de
"Raising the minimum wage is a very efficient way to decrease federal spending. Instead of needing as much federal and state assistance, an indirect subsidy of low wage employers, the employers would pay. And businesses that are not efficient enough to create value to pay decent wages would have to become more efficient."
They will go out of business because they will price themselves out of the market, not many will want to buy a Big Mac for 12 bucks. There will be less jobs, more government dependency and more debt. When possible, automation will replace workers .
The Minimum Wage: A Little Light Empiricism on a Heavy Subject
http://reason.com/blog/2013/02/21/the-minimum-wage-a-little-light-empirici
mchaun wrote: Several Republican ruled States want to replace Income Taxes with Sales Taxes. Won't that be a nice screwing for the already grossly overburdened Ordinary People?
That would be Obama and the democrats. Half the country is on the dole in some form or another, where do you think the funds lie in order to pay for it? The middle class! Just wait till the dems start pushing the VAT. value added tax
Mrs. Pelosi's VAT
The Speaker floats a middle-class tax hike..
"The allure of a VAT for politicians is that it applies to every level of production or service, rakes in piles of money, and is largely hidden from those who ultimately pay it—namely, consumers. With a $9 trillion 10-year budget deficit, $4 trillion in spending in fiscal 2010 alone, and a $1 trillion (at a minimum) health-care entitlement in the wings, Mrs. Pelosi knows that not even the revenue from the expiration of the lower Bush tax rates in 2011 will cover the bills. Nearly every European country that has passed national health care has also eventually imposed a VAT, and it's foolish to think the U.S. will be different."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870329800457445751200701041...
The Myth of European Austerity
"The austerity agenda, critics have it, in which debt-laden governments have slashed services and social programs, has angered European voters. Worse yet, the critics claim, it's not working, as European nations that have followed this supposedly vicious austerity program are struggling with nonexistent growth and slipping back into recession."
"Instead, in most European nations, austerity has mostly taken the form of higher taxes. We shouldn't be surprised Europe is struggling: when you raise taxes in a weak economy, it has a negative effect on investment and economic growth."
"In fact, most countries in Europe are spending more today than they did before the 2008 crash, according to financial reports from the European Commission, the European Union's executive arm. Yet austerity critics want to attribute the sluggish European economy entirely to spending cuts. France and the United Kingdom, for example, have made virtually no effort to cut spending; they've seen spending increase nearly every year over the last decade."
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2012/06/01/the-myth-of-european-a...
Topic: To the Tune of Captain Spaulding from Marx Brothers “Animal Crackers”
(This is the refrain)
Our names are Mitch and John,
We're out to have some fun,
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
We're filibuster proven,
To our country's ruin,
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
Refrain.
Filibusters, 10, 20, 150
We think they're really nifty,
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
Refrain
Sequestration will hit our nation,
Fed programs will get ablation,
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
Ignore and starve the poor,
For Medicare, there's no cure,
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
People will work till 70,
Then part-time till 80,
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
Refrain.
Forget Mighty Dollars,
We'll turn US into schnorers,
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
Refrain.
Rich need to get richer,
Others will get leaner,
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
Teachers are our menace,
Let's cut them, they betray US,
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
CBO numbers are imaginary,
They only agree with Nancy and Harry,
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
We'll sell 50 as 100 proof,
When looked at, our numbers go poof.
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
If you think this is lame,
It's our last laugh when we go down the drain,
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
Our names are Mitch and John,
We're out to have some fun,
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
Big Picture question:
Do the panelists think that all the "trash talking" about government employees will have a long term impact on getting highly qualified and competent people - at all levels of the government - to work for our government?
Jill
And the winners will probably be!----the one-percenters and their minions.
And the losers will proably be!-----everybody else.
America--the decline continues. And perhaps even quickens a bit.
On the other hand, the sequester could just be another major fraud perpetrated by the one-percenters and their minions. Where those fellows go, a stench sometimes follows.
Statman2's little tune says it all. LOL
"Statman2's little tune says it all. LOL"
I thought it was akin to sticking your fingers in your ears and screaming LA LA LA
I assume that Congress is not affected by the sequester. I think we would have more progress on the economy if Congress did not exempt itself from all the laws it makes.
I think the liberal panelists on this show are setting the stage for the political blame game for the coming recession. It appears to be an obvious attempt to set up republicans as the blame for it. The accomplice media is on full display today.
Our president is a great speaker and very good at the art of politics. But, as Chris states, the bottom line is that he is the president. I am not sure that a very expensive 3 day weekend golfing when our economy is in such a challenging state is reflective of great leadership.
I am a Florida resident, and after hearing one of the panelists remarks regarding Rick Scott and his supposedly remarkable turn around in regards to his position on accepting federal money for Obama Care, I just had to comment. As your guest mentioned, Rick Scott used to own hospitals. However, he is still involved in the medical industry and only recently accepted this federal aid after he negotiated a change in the policy regarding WHICH companies would be involved in providing services to new healthcare recipients, making sure that HIS companies were included. Also, he is beginning his re election campaign. Not quite so remarkable
"Statman2's little tune says it all. LOL"
I thought it was akin to sticking your fingers in your ears and screaming LA LA LA
Now Groucho Marx could have done that really well! LOL
mpollow wrote:
I assume that Congress is not affected by the sequester. I think we would have more progress on the economy if Congress did not exempt itself from all the laws it makes.
Right. I haven't heard a word about the "cut" they AREN'T going to take.
You can bet that there is more to this sequester than has been said. Anything a politician does should be viewed with suspicion. These are very crafty individuals; most of whom were born with "silver tongues". They are terrific at making "inspiring" speeches that, in the long run, don't mean a thing.
"Fresh off his golf vacation in Florida, the President yesterday breathlessly intoned that the looming sequester was poised to visit untold devastation on our nation. A government with a 3.6 trillion dollar budget is about to be eviscerated by an 85 billion dollar cut.
A mere ten years ago, this same government managed to get by on only 2.2 trillion dollars of spending. That’s a 68% increase in the budget in ten years. And yet this government will be brought to its knees by a 2.3% decrease in spending?"
http://doug-thetempest.blogspot.com/2013/02/my-barnyard-manure-detector-...
Not that guy again wrote:
I think the liberal panelists on this show are setting the stage for the political blame game for the coming recession. It appears to be an obvious attempt to set up republicans as the blame for it. The accomplice media is on full display today.
That's the rules of the game. Gotta play by the rules. No big surprise; it's a requirement of the game that someone will be blamed. Be they Republicans, Democrats, or some other kind of varmint.
Blueneck BillyBob wrote:
"Go figure,only in a Fox News driven America could this idiocy happen"
False generalization. I'm a fan of Fox News, but I am not a fan of subisdies for NASCAR ... or most anything else. Go figure.
Jill Anderson is right to raise the issue about "trash-talking" gov't employees! How are we to hire smarter, more moral (and loyal to the people) gov't employees if we constantly put them down?? Nobody wants to work for the "bad guys"!!
It may be hard for a reader to evaluate comments. Unfortunately, all of the misleading, misunderstanding and misinformation written by Not the other guy again are scattered over way too many posts to even attempt to correct them.
One technique to deal with these posts is to disentangle the meaning of words versus the use of them in the posts. For example, the word austerity has a meaning which makes sense for a society that pares spending not just govt spending, but overall spending. Austerity, in the real world, means that people have less due to lower wages and/or higher taxes. Also, in the real world, govt spending can go up in austerity if that spending does not match the overall spending in society (e.g. unemployed due to recession means more unemployment payments from govt, but overall lower take home pay).
Another technique is misdirection and hyperbole. The minimum wage is a law that provides a legal basis against unfair exploitation. To say that the minimum wage should not be higher should be based on reality. Should there be a minimum wage at all? If so, should there be determine it. I suggested that the wage should first pay enough to avoid the rest of us from subsidizing low wages through charity or govt aid (or avoiding deprivation of workers). There has been hyperbole by those that want to continue the underpayment (based on the above criteria) that prices would go up, which is not true in that overall spending will drop in subsidies to low wage employers, and any unemployed due to inefficient businesses will be replaced by more efficient ones hiring more.
I would suggest another way to evaluate the posts, by who in society benefits directly. By lowering taxes during deficit spending on those that have more cash than needed for living, those wealthy will just invest the tax breaks in govt debt which is to promote a society of losers and a few winners.
The blame-game goes both ways, people! For every finger pointed (on every set of hands), there are three pointed back at the pointee! Blaming others does not solve problems and only wastes precious time and energy.......
I think the newspaper boys are learning a lesson that most Americans haven't learned yet. And that is that technology is probably going to eliminate far more jobs than it will ever create. Couple that with a constantly-rising world population, and---well, why don't we just wait for the big surprise.
You know, when John Boehner says "We've finished with the tax issue - now it's time to get serious and tackle the spending side," he is absolutely right. But the way he says it is rather misleading. It implies that, now that we've raised revenues, we have to cut expenditures. But in the context of the whole fiscal cliff/sequester, that obviously doesn't make sense.
Remember, the fiscal cliff was both tax hikes and spending cuts. Back at the New Year, "Taxmageddon" was averted - thus mostly protecting low tax rates, and saving the national economy from certain recession. So, we've finished with the tax issue.
Now it's time to get serious and tackle the spending side. We have to avoid as much of the sequester as is possible, maintaining spending and saving the national economy from certain recession.
Right? Now, Johnny, I'm sure Barry will play nice with you if you just play nice with him.
citizencontact wrote: "It may be hard for a reader to evaluate comments. Unfortunately, all of the misleading, misunderstanding and misinformation written by Not the other guy again are scattered over way too many posts to even attempt to correct them."
How lame, I could have written that and been done with it. Yes all arguments can be countered but as a whole your list was nothing more than democrat party talking points.
Not which guy again? THC 1929?