So, now that the Birther Conspiracies have been crushed into dust, we can now move forward into having some serious policy debates &trade.
Yeah, right.
As we've already seen the After-Birther Movement is already in full swing claiming that even if Obama was born in Hawaii, he still isn't a "Natural Born U.S. Citizen" because the Founders intended that to only mean persons with parents were both citizens.
Except that the 14th Amendment grants Citizenship on anyone born here no matter where they're parents came from.
Except that President James Buchanan's parents were both born in Scotland.
Except that President Thomas Jefferson's mother was born in England.
This level of Insani-Tea is what we've been hearing from the Birther Party for years now. Nothing but twisted Urban Myth's and Swamp Legends, not facts, not truth, not rationality.
And frankly, our so called "Policy Debates" have been just as bad if not worse.
Just like the Zombie Lie that Obama is somehow not legitimately American Enough, there is the argument that he has fostered "Out of Control Spending".
Call me a weird duck, but I actually went out looked up the Federal Budget in 2009 after Obama came into Office. This is what I found.
Spending |
2008 |
2009 |
Difference |
% of Deficit |
Discretionary Spending |
|
|
|
|
Defense |
612 |
726 |
114 |
9.84% |
Non-Defense |
508 |
586 |
78 |
6.73% |
|
|
|
|
|
Mandatory Spending |
|
|
|
|
Social Security |
612 |
675 |
63 |
5.44% |
Medicare |
386 |
425 |
39 |
3.36% |
Medicaid |
201 |
262 |
61 |
5.26% |
Other |
411 |
429 |
18 |
1.55% |
TARP |
|
260 |
260 |
22.43% |
Recovery Act |
|
267 |
267 |
23.04% |
Interest |
253 |
167 |
-86 |
-8.85% |
Disasters |
|
4 |
4 |
0.41% |
Total Outlays |
2983 |
3801 |
818 |
70.58% |
Taxes |
|
|
|
|
Individual |
1146 |
953 |
-193 |
-16.65% |
Corporate |
304 |
175 |
-129 |
-11.13% |
Social Security |
658 |
655 |
-3 |
-0.26% |
Medicare |
194 |
192 |
-2 |
-0.17% |
Unemployment |
40 |
44 |
4 |
0.35% |
Retirement |
9 |
9 |
0 |
0.00% |
Excise |
67 |
66 |
-1 |
-0.09% |
Estate Tax |
29 |
26 |
-3 |
-0.26% |
Customs |
28 |
24 |
-4 |
-0.35% |
Fed Reserve |
34 |
25 |
-9 |
-0.78% |
Other |
17 |
16 |
-1 |
-0.09% |
Total Taxes |
2526 |
2185 |
-341 |
-29.42% |
Deficit |
-457 |
-1616 |
1159 |
|
The Largest Single Impact on the Deficit in 2009 at 29% -
Was Lost Tax Revenue amounting to $341 Billion. That is the definition of a
Revenue Problem. Second to that was the Recovery Act at 23% and TARP at 22%. Also notice that the next largest impact was Defense Spending which Increased $114 Billion in one year, a rise of
9% to the total Deficit - that occurred because
Obama Put the Cost of the Wars ON BUDGET, where Bush had kept it Off-Budget and hidden it's impact on the Deficit. In other words, the Deficit had
always been about 9% worse than what Bush had reported.
Since that time nearly all of the TARP Loans have been paid back, some with a profit.
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Treasury Department said Friday the total amount repaid to taxpayers for government funds used to bail out U.S. companies has surpassed, for the first time, the amount of outstanding debt.
The Treasury, in its May report to Congress on the Troubled Asset Relief Program, reported TARP repayments reached $194 billion, which has exceeded by $4 billion the total amount of outstanding debt—$190 billion.
However, the outstanding debt amount does not include $106.36 billion that has been committed to institutions but has yet to be paid out by the Treasury. Factoring in that amount, the outstanding debt would be roughly $296 billion.
According to the report, $489.88 billion has been committed to specific institutions, and $383.52 billion of that has been paid out by Treasury. The department said it does not expect to use more than $550 billion of the $700 billion program.
In short more has come back that has actually been paid out, and that in the end $150 Billion less than what was originally planned will even be used.
The Recovery Act is largely credited with Saving or Creating about 2 Million Jobs.
And that in recent months things have looked even better.
A surprisingly positive jobs report and data showing that service industries expanded at their fastest pace since 2006 helped US stocks edge higher.
Private sector employment in the ADP report increased by 297,000 in December for the biggest monthly gain in jobs since 2001, coming in far above the average estimate of 100,000 extra jobs.
When it was proposed the Right Said that the Recovery Act was "Too Expensive", but does anyone remember what the Republicans were offering as an alternative? Something that was 3.5 Times more expensive.
So if we'd followed the Right's policy plan, we would have been much further in debt, with a much higher deficit - and according to analysis the tax cuts they would have implemented would have been much less effective at restoring the economy.
The Right Claims that don't have a "Revenue Problem, we have a Spending Problem".
Except that Spending for FY2010 actually went down and the impact of the Bush Cuts to Federal Revenue (and the impact of the financial crash on Reveneue) are clearly visible in these charts.
And Except that the Deal the President made last December to extend the Bush Tax Cuts for another two years, drove the Deficit Up according to the CBO.
Please note that this chart shows that looking forward The will be DEFICIT GOING DOWN until 2014, if we did essentially nothing at all. That's because the economy is recovering. That outlook would have been much better without extending the Bush Cuts, and with a few minor changes such as cutting unneccesary Defense Spending and Raising the Social Security Cap - we could very well glide our way to balance and surplus the way that we did under Bill Clinton.
There is no NEED for draconian cuts, there is no NEED to rape and pillage the poor, sick and elderly to lavish riches upon the wealthy. Republicans are only doing that, because they get paid in campaign contributions and lucrative consulting & lobbying jobs to do that.
The Right Claims that we need to continue with the Bush Era Rates because the Wealthy are the Job Creators.
Except that the wealthy in the U.S. are already seeing their biggest Windfall ever - and they're not using it to create jobs, they're removing U.S. Jobs to line their pockets.
The Commerce Department reports that corporate profits have never been higher in American history, so why aren't Republicans -- the party of business -- celebrating the news? After all, those profits are coming not from revenue growth -- which would benefit workers and executives -- but from cost cutting. It's that cost cutting that is keeping the unemployment rate at 9.5%, while allowing more of companies' meager revenue growth to flow to the bottom line.
How historic is this accomplishment? The New York Times calculated that at $1.66 trillion, U.S. corporations are on track for annualized profits that are the highest since such records were first kept back in 1950, and notes that the gains in profits are due mostly to rising productivity.
That productivity boost came as workers spent more hours working, and getting paid less to do it.
Although we have been bringing back jobs, they haven't been jobs that paid as well as the jobs that people had before the crash. American Companies are increasing their profits, breaking all times records in revenue - not by expanding into new markets, but by cutting costs (meaning Workers and Pay). So how exactly will extending these cuts forever change this trend?
The Right blames the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie and Freddie for the Financial Collapse. They say that the "meddling" of the Federal Government in the market to try an d help the Poor (ie. people who don't deserve them) buy homes is the source cause for the Great Recession.
Except for the fact that Federal Regulations prohibited Fannie and Freddie from granting loans to people who couldn't pay them back or implementing sub-prime mortgages schemes.
Except that the Senate Report on the Financial Collapse clearly indicates that it was Irresponsible and Risky practices by Wall Street Institutions such as Goldman Sachs that caused the crash.
The Right Claims that Medicare is "Going Bankrupt" and that "Obamacare is a Disaster"
Except that Medicare Trustee Report says that the Affordable Care Act has extended the lift of the Medicare Trust Fund by another 12 years, making Medicare Stronger than it was before, not weaker. They even project that it will run a Surplus beginning in 2014.
The financial status of the HI trust fund is substantially improved by
the lower expenditures and additional tax revenues instituted by the Affordable Care Act. These changes are estimated to postpone the exhaustion of HI trust fund assets from 2017 under the prior law to 2029...
Beginning in 2014, trust fund surpluses are estimated to occur throughout the short-range projection period and for several years thereafter.
The Right has largely thrown themselves behind the Ryan Plan (at least so far), which privatizes Medicare, cuts Medicaid, repeals the Affordable Care Act, repeals Wall Street Reform, Increases the Deficit even further by not only makng the Bush Rates permanent, but actually cutting taxes for the Rich and Corporations even more and then dumps the cost of all of that onto the Poor and Seniors as the CBO shows in this chart.
Out of pocket costs for Seniors on Medicare in 2022 will be over Double - rising from 27% to 61% - from what they would be under current law (Extended Scenario) to what they will be under the Ryan Privatization Proposal.
Just like the Long Form, these are the objective Facts. These are the most credible projections of the impact of our policy decisions.
Does anyone believe that we're really going to be able to have a grown-up serious conversation with those on the other side of the ideological divide over Any Of this?
I don't.
But that doesn't mean we can't Beat Them over the head and shoulders with the Facts until they submit and cry "Uncle" at Town Halls and at the Ballot Box.
We have the Truth On Our Side, that's the biggest advantage there is.
Vyan