Comments on: How to avoid a fiscal panic

By: nbywardslog

nbywardslog — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 06:25:41 +0000

Fewer economic theorists looking back and more practical thinkers looking forward.
This is what we need. Sterile debate is not so sterile that it can’t drift past its sell-by date.

http://nbyslog.blogspot.com/2010/06/budg et-on-tuesday-osborne-needs-to.html

By: Vinsane38

Vinsane38 — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:08:55 +0000

Water boils at 100 C, not 99 C…you are right that we do not know what event (if any) will push markets and economies over the brink. But you have to ask yourself what the probability of success to failure is, and the logical endgame of all this debt is failure.

By: Franklin010

Franklin010 — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:34:43 +0000

With respect to Obama and “government spending” — he did try to take the axe to the F-22; the federal student loan program (private servicing portion); and Medicare advantage. Eliminating those programs saves taxpayers tens of billions.

If the GOP was more intent on deficit reduction too; we could have found huge savings in the Medicare Part D program and in other parts of the defense budget.

The GOP presents an additional challenge in fighting against regulation of the financial sector, which has already added hundreds of billions to the national debt in direct costs; and perhaps a trillion or so in secondary ones.

Of course there’s the unbudgeted wars; and Reagan and Bush era Republicans never met a tax cut for the super-wealthy that wasn’t purchased on the basis of future debt.

The fairest measure of Obama’s profligacy, or lack thereof would have been something approaching a clean balance sheet at the beginning of his first term. Unfortunately, he inherited $5 trillion in new debt off from the start; $3 trillion in unfinanced new obligations enacted during the 2000s that had yet to be booked onto the national account; and a treasury bleeding revenues due to the recession.

By: johnhhaskell

johnhhaskell — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:55:13 +0000

I don’t think the Tea Party has any representation in Congress. Also, I recall that the Republicans tried to “shut down the government” but refusing to increase the debt ceiling in 1995, and it was quite the lead balloon. The GOP probably has enough problems right now without adding another.

And the GOP, as I remember, controls exactly no Houses of Congress right now. It’s kinda funny that I need to point that out in a response to a blogger who claims to inform his readers on “Washington, Wall Street, and everything in between.”

By: DanHess

DanHess — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:40:01 +0000

Bonds are a dangerous place to be. Technically, taxes can be dialed up to European levels, but that is not likely to occur.

Republicans are expected to either take the House or establish effective ‘tax control’ with Blue Dog Democrats.

Meanwhile, Obama never met government spending he didn’t like. I voted for the guy because he was against the wars, but there he has gone totally flaccid. He focused instead on massive new long-term entitlement spending, exactly the worst thing possible for America’s long-run fiscal position.