He didn’t call for giving people free money but, admit it, the former president sounds a bit like Duncan:
Bush said that the tax cuts would have a better chance of surviving if his name hadn’t been attached to them. In recent years, Democrats have resisted renewing the cuts, which they say favor the wealthy too much.
“I wish they weren’t called the ‘Bush tax cuts,’” he said.
Bush also seemed to suggest that, as the country climbs out of a recession, the focus on the budget deficit should take a back seat to the focus on growing the economy.
“Most of the political debate — and I guess rightly so — is about our balance sheet,” Bush said. “But we believe that, in order to solve the balance sheet, first and foremost, you’ve got to grow the private sector. And therefore, the focus ought to be on private-sector growth.”
Those comments seem to fly in the face of the new tea party-influenced Republican Party, which has been pushing the debate more towards spending cuts.
But Bush said a bigger economy would eventually eclipse the exploding national debt.
“The pie grows, the debt relative to the pie shrinks, and with fiscal discipline, you can better solve your current account deficits and your entitlements,” Bush said.
Bush’s whole economic theory was a complete failure, but he understood one thing correctly. Once the economy cratered and there was no money to borrow, the government had to fill the hole because no one else could. Even before the financial sector collapse, Bush was exploding the budget deficit, but the only way to fix the economy was to make the budget deficit even bigger.
What he said today was about a third right. He’s a moron for clinging to his ruinous tax cuts. He’s a fool if he thinks they’ll create enough economic growth to pay for themselves, let alone help us to start paying down the debt. But he’s right that austerity is for losers and won’t work.
As for Duncan, I don’t know how he envisions his “hand out free money plan” actually working in real life, but I recall him complaining about the fact that a huge portion of the stimulus was in the form of tax cuts. That’s a form of giving people free money. I’m aware that giving money to taxpayers for doing nothing only puts money in the hands of people who already have some, but we also have programs like food stamps and TANF that give money to people who have none.
Given the fact that the simple idea of doing some mortgage loan forgiveness spawned the Tea Party rage, I don’t think it’s politically viable to just start handing out checks to poor people. I see Duncan’s point about fixing the lack of demand in the economy and rich bankers getting interest-free loans which are basically free money. Fair is fair, and all that.
I don’t know. I look at this Congress and any idea I might have to help people just withers and dies. I mean, when George W. Bush seems like he’s making sense, hope has left the building.
Aside from the Fed directly printing money and giving it to people like us, here’s a more detailed idea of “giving people free money”:
Unearned Income Is Awesome
Also, stop caring about the deficit:
“The pie grows, the debt relative to the pie shrinks…” so make the pie higher!
Jesus, someone sweep Booman’s house for knives, guns, leather belts, prescription pills, chemicals under the sink, etc. It’s not that bad. We could be Greece. Or the Congo.
Santorum’s gone. That’s always a fun schadenfreudey day. I told you dude, April 3rd. The knockout blow. Nailed it. It’s too bad, too, May was one heck of a favorable schedule to the ol’ Man-on-Dog. Romney would have had to eat a bunch more losses. The establishment pressure on Newt and Sanny must have been enormous.
Florida, Michigan, Ohio. That was Mitt’s magic combo to the nomination. Now to make sure he doesn’t win any of those in November (not that the odds are even slightly in his favor).
I didn’t want Santorum to quit. It helps Romney and gives me less to write about. It isn’t great for traffic, either, which is of course tied to revenue. It’s bad all around. Plus. who among us didn’t want to see this car wreck continue all the way to Tampa?
Is there some other Duncan concerned with plans actually working in real life, or the passage or implementation thereof, rather than lazy huffy quips? WHEEEE! SUPERTRAIN! Torture Lou Dobbs! Open thread!
You forgot one: WANKER OF THE DECADE!!!!
But seriously, to follow his blog you need to at least have taken a college freshman level economics class. Also, too, you forget one other thing. Part of the Fed’s mandate(or is it bylaws?) is that in bad times it can take extraordinary steps to stabilize the economy. It certainly did that for the banksters. Why not for the 99%?
I’m very much enjoying his “wanker of the decade” series. Often Duncan’s posts are a brief reference and a link, which is understandable considering how much he blogs and how long he’s been doing it.
The Wanker series has been a rare opportunity to read some of his longer-form stuff (relatively speaking) and gives his dry sense of humor a chance to shine.
while food stamps themselves constitute economic stimulus (every $5 in SNAP benefits generates $9 in economic activity, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture), it is also true that SNAP benefits can be awfully stingy, and have been recently cut.
And don’t get me started on TANF. It has not worked out so well.
yeah, the benefits can be more generous. However, both food stamps and welfare should be temporary for able-bodied people. I don’t mean that you have to enforce that, but you don’t want to make it too comfortable, either. It’s supposed to help you out until you recover from whatever calamity you’re currently facing. It’s not supposed to be a lifestyle. We have SSI for that.
In NJ, to get General Assistance, you have to look for work for 30 hours a week and document it. Gov. Christie cut the cash allowance.
No one who has to apply for Welfare is comfortable and once on it, you have to qualify every six months.
Christie also cut off the day care for women who are doing the Workforce NJ going to work and getting off Welfare.
On the para transit bus, which has had routes cut, a woman was crying because she had found a low paying job, but the day care care centers had been all closed because of the budget cuts.
The amount of the cash allowance, before the cuts was $140 per month.
I fell through the cracks of getting help with housing because I’m on SSD and not SSI. Go figure.
piggybacking on utried, it’s also a fact that the much-vaunted “service economy” ushered in by Bill Clinton has not panned out as anticipated. In fact, most low-wage service jobs practically force people to food stamps because the salary/wage is nowhere near what you need to feed a family.
that’s what’s one of the many cruelties about the right’s food stamp cuts (and the rest of their attacks on the social safety net): they literally drive struggling families that are just barely getting by into actual abject poverty.
Service workers need to join a union like SEIU. And the minimum wage needs to be raised to a living wage. The first would help the second. Democrats should have passed EFCA in 2009 like they promised when they were running.
I’m curious, utried. Does New Jersey offer those 30 hour jobs or just demand you get one of them?
Reminds me of the time my heater hose exploded on the GW Parkway drenching the distributor (remember them?) and a Park Police cop came strutting up, thumbs in belt and said, “You’ve got to move this here ve-hicle, Boy.” I responded, “If I could, I would.”
Same answer to New Jersey.
Sorry I’m so late in answering.
When you get General Assistance in NJ, You have be actively looking for work for 30 hours a week. There are no jobs for the most part.
It is dreadful and if you have no money and are in the Social Security Disability process for a couple of years, it is hellish. You have to be declared disabled by a doctor to get out of it.
There’s a place in hell with Bill Clinton’s name on it.
He also put the offset onto Social Security for student loans etc.
No apology required. I’m late in responding too.
My bottom line point is: Unless NJ is offering the work (and work appropriate to your physical limitations) they have no right to demand you get one, especially in an era of high unemployment.
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I listened to his speech … “Biggest divide since Johnson-Goldwater”
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."I get it- but Romney is no Goldwater, who, in the 1960’s was way more extremist than Romney.
With Ricky dropping out today, we’ll see Romney do exactly as his staff person said recently- “shake the Etch-A-Sketch, reset, and tack back to the center on most issues.
I suspect there will be less BS regarding abortion, birth control, and gay marriage from Romney, and more focus on BS regarding “Obamacare”, the deficit and economic growth.
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Read this article –
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Off point, but the Rambler station wagon was most famous for having a front seat that would fold down all the way to form a bed. Thus, it was truly a motel on wheels.
And.. law of unintended consequences: how many guys/gals lost their virginity in the “Rambler bed”?
Sorry Booman, bit of a disconnect here: you refer to bush as a moron for clinging to dubious tax cuts, but earlier in your post you point out “Bush’s whole economic theory was a complete failure”.
Morons don’t develop “economic theory”.
Bush was the classic front man; put into office in 2000 by our sad electorate, the corporate oligarchy who funded him (and benefitted from the tax cuts and other sundry corporate welfare, including TWO wars of choice) and a pro-oligarchy SCOTUS.
In 2004, the feeble democratic party/voters could not manage to field a POTUS candidate capable of defeating bush- even though by then bush himself had admitted there were NO WMD’s in Iraq, the “war” there thus revealed as a complete and utter sham.
And again, congress is not off the hook here. Even IF Bush was capable of creating credible economic policy, it’s congress who crafts the legislation and puts it (or not) into place.
How many congressional democrats orginally supported the bush tax cuts?
“How many congressional democrats orginally supported the bush tax cuts?”
Here’s the count ~ summarized with links.