Hats Off To The GOP Dirty Tricks Committee

[vulturesrow]

I have over 100 hours of combat flight time and I support Bush. What say you to that?

Chris

[cardcounter0]

Could you show some evidence or proof that "The deficit is not that bad." Maybe a link or two to that amazing assertion.

"Additionally, strong productivity can wipe it out very quickly."

True. But we aren't going to see the double digit productivity gains we saw the entire last decade. There is a limit to productivity growth, even to the most wildly optomistic and I think we have seen the peak.

Please show proof or evidence (or even a link) that productivity is going to vastly increase in the near future.

[vulturesrow]

If we operated with a deficit for a long time, that would be bad. If we always had a surplus, that would be bad too. These are normal things due to the cyclic nature of our economy. A deficit in and of itself is not a bad thing.

[cardcounter0]

Please re-read my post. Where did I say the concept of deficit spending was "bad". However, Bush has vastly increased the deficit in his 4 short years, to new record levels never seen before. The assertion was made that the current deficit is "not that bad", and I am wondering not that bad compared to what? Link, proof, or evidence please.

[vulturesrow]

I guess my answer to that would be, not that bad in the context of events in the United States. The Bush administration inherited a recession, and then took a major economic blow in the aftermath of 9/11. Now add in the cost of military operations, and I think its a valid argument.

That being said, lest you think I am just toeing the party line here, I am very unhappy with the amount of discretionary spending by this administration. Someone of it may have been necessary in order to build political capital but overall the Bush administration certainly hasnt done much to help themselves with the budget problem.

Ill see if I cant find some numbers so we can take a look at it empirically.

Chris

[cardcounter0]

You have provided some justifications for the budget to be at an all time record inbalance. Didn't see any mention of how this is "not that bad".

For instance, if the bank calls me and tells me my checking account is overdrawn by $2.00, it is "not that bad", I can probably find some change in the couch and make it right. If the bank calls me and tells me my checking account is overdrawn by 3 Trillion dollars, I don't think "oh, it's not that bad" would be an acceptable response.

If you dig up some numbers, please try to make sure they include the Billion or so for Iraq, that remains off-budget.

[vulturesrow]

To use your analogy:

Lets say you spent that trillion dollars to deal with situations that you either had no other recourse to deal with it or felt you had no other recourse. Furthermore, you can make a fairly reasonable assumption that your future earnings over time would eventually be able to make up that difference. Then I would say, no its no that bad.

[cardcounter0]

Nice happy thoughts. I'm thinking we have a huge wave of baby boomers retiring, further increasing the budget burdens. So where is this white knight in the future going to come from to pay off all the debt? Link please.

[vulturesrow]

First off, categorizing something as "not that bad" is completely subjective. To go back to your analogy, 2000 dollars overdrawn may be "not that bad" to you, but to another individual could very well be near catastrophic. Its not something that is easily quantifiable. Basically it boils down to a couple questions in my mind. One, is the American economy robust enough to handle the swings. Two, if it comes down to it, will the US be able to tighten the purse strings if necessary. The second question is the one that is had to predict. We'd like to think the answer is yes but there is no way to say for sure.

[cardcounter0]

The statement was made "it is not that bad".

I haven't seen one bit of proof that it is subjectively or emphically not "not that bad".

If my checking account is overdrawn, and my job has just been outsourced to India, thinking some mythical future earnings (oh, yeah my insurance rates just went up) makes it "not that bad" is pretty stupid.