Krugman: Dumbing Deficits Down

[ProSense]

Dumbing Deficits Down

By PAUL KRUGMAN

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According to a column in Kaiser Health News, Republican staffers jeered at any and all proposals to use Medicare and Medicaid funds better. Spending money on prevention was no more than a “slush fund.” Research on innovation was “an oxymoron.” And there was no reason to pay for “so-called effectiveness research.”

To put this in context, you have to realize two things about the fiscal state of America. First, the nation is not, in fact, “broke.” The federal government is having no trouble raising money, and the price of that money — the interest rate on federal borrowing — is very low by historical standards. So there’s no need to scramble to slash spending now now now; we can and should be willing to spend now if it will produce savings in the long run.

Second, while the government does have a long-run fiscal problem, that problem is overwhelmingly driven by rising health care costs. The Congressional Budget Office expects Social Security outlays as a percentage of G.D.P. to rise 30 percent over the next quarter-century, as the population ages, but it expects a near doubling of the share of G.D.P. spent on Medicare and Medicaid.

So if you’re serious about deficits, you shouldn’t be pinching pennies now; you should be looking for ways to rein in health spending over the long term. And that means taking exactly the steps that had those G.O.P. staffers sneering.

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[Tippy]

1. K&R

[bertman]

2. from the commentary:

"Of course, Republicans aren’t the only cynics. As the national debate over fiscal policy descends ever deeper into penny-pinching, future-killing absurdity, one voice is curiously muted — that of President Obama.

The president and his aides know that the G.O.P. approach to the budget is wrongheaded and destructive. But they’ve stopped making the case for an alternative approach; instead, they’ve positioned themselves as know-nothings lite, accepting the notion that spending must be slashed immediately — just not as much as Republicans want.

Mr. Obama’s political advisers clearly believe that this strategy of protective camouflage offers the president his best chance at re-election — and they may be right. But that doesn’t change the fact that the White House is aiding and abetting the dumbing down of our deficit debate.

And this dumbing down bodes ill for the nation’s future. Health care is only one of the large and difficult problems America needs to deal with, ranging from infrastructure to climate change, all of which demand that we engage in a lot of hard thinking. Yet what we have instead is a political culture in which one side sneers at knowledge and exalts ignorance, while the other side hunkers down and pretends to halfway agree."

[Pacifist Patriot]

3. Good response

[Armstead]

4. I noticed that too -- A good example of the problem with Democratic leadership

It fits the classic pattern in which the GOP pushes an idiotic message that will be damaging to the vast majority of Americans while letting the rich get richer.

But instead of challenging the core of their lies and idiocy, the "centrist pragmatic" wing of the Democratic Party say "We too agree with the GOP. We should follow the GOP CONservative prescription. We're just a little nicer about it."

Over 30 years of that kind of "We too" by the Democrats is what has enabled this systematic looting of the economy by the oligarchs, and made the government into a paper tiger, rather than an effective counterweight to the power of the Robber Barons.

(A disclaimer-- This does not refer to all Democrats. there are many who "get it" and do try to combat this nonsense. But the ones who have their grip on the controls are the "centrist" sellouts.)

[Cali_Democrat]

5. +1000

[ProSense]

6. "president and his aides know...the G.O.P. approach to the budget is wrongheaded and destructive."

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The president and his aides know that the G.O.P. approach to the budget is wrongheaded and destructive. But they’ve stopped making the case for an alternative approach; instead, they’ve positioned themselves as know-nothings lite, accepting the notion that spending must be slashed immediately — just not as much as Republicans want.

Mr. Obama’s political advisers clearly believe that this strategy of protective camouflage offers the president his best chance at re-election — and they may be right. But that doesn’t change the fact that the White House is aiding and abetting the dumbing down of our deficit debate.

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That's true. The strategy could be to give the Republicans enough rope. Krugman may not see it that way, but as the comment above indicates, he knows where the President stands on the issue. Krugman:

Krugman on the President and Social Security

"Mr. Obama...has done more to rein in long-run deficits than any previous president."

Republicans appear to be afraid to reveal the details of their plan.

[Armstead]

7. Give then enough rope? problem is the GOP would not only hang themselves -- but the whole country

If the administration is waiting for the GOP to make things so bad that America will have an "Aha" moment, that's not a very good strategy.

Why not pre-empt the damage by locking the barn door before the horse escapes?

The GOP have been given a lot of rope for many years. Unfortunately they're using it to hang us.

[ProSense]

8. It's the

House Republicans' budget that's been discussed. Give the House Republicans enough rope. Democrats control the Senate. The bills passed in the House have been voted down in the Senate. House Republicans don't care. They voted to repeal health care, defund Planned Parenthood, gut the EPA, etc. They don't care.

[Armstead]

9. They don't care. That's why we should be going toe-to-toe on all levels

The whole budget crisis has been blown out of proportion by the GOP, to create a framework to basically dismantle the government's ability to do anything -- now and in the future.

The false premises of the GOP should be directly challenged from Point A on a fundamental level.

I saw an interview last nite on Faux news with Sen. Kyle who said "Our biggest problem right now is runaway government spending."

No, out biggest problem, right now is a fundamental distortion of our economy over the last 30 years that has siphoned the national wealth up into the hands of a very small number of people and corporations, while decimating the middle class and the poor. That is the very reason we had a meltdown in 08, and problems with government finances now.

The GOP is using classic Shock Docturne tactics, and we need to call them out on that, rather than reinforcing their misleading premises.

(I am not advocating glossing over the very real budget problems. They did have to be dealt with. But we can't add to the gasoline to the flames that the GOP are trying to stoke as an excuse to advance their long-standing goals.)

[ProSense]

10. "I saw an interview last nite on Faux news with Sen. Kyle who said 'Our biggest problem

...right now is runaway government spending.'"

The public isn't buying it.

The President constantly stresses the need for education and infrastructure spending. As for bringing down health care costs, that has been his emphasis related to Medicare. Republicans, as Krugman points out, reject that and are instead focusing on unrealistic attempts to gut the program itself.

[Armstead]

11. When it comes to healthcare, the GOP are complete assholes

Their only "reform" is to eliminate all entitlements, all regulation and all accountability, and allow the "market" of Big Insurers and Corporate Healthcare Providers to continue to make huge profits at the expense of everyone else.

Frankly, that should be a very "soft target" for Democrats. the basic Framework ought to be real simple. Reorient healthcare so that it is not considered just another "market" to be plundered, but a basic public right and service as fundamental as water, electricity and public safety. Everyone should have access to healthcare that is affordable for their own budget.

Although the actual workings of the system are very complex and require complex detailed strategies for specific problems and cost reductions, that should be the bottom line. There are legitimate issues, including how we can make it more efficient, and minimize the negative impact on overall government finances. There obviously will continue to be a delicate balance between the need for people in healthcare to maker a living and incentives for innovation.

But the baseline ought to be shifted from healthcare as a commodity to a basic human right.

IMO it would be both socially worthwhile and politically advantageous if the Democrats stop playing footsy with intransigent CONservatives and healthcare oligarchs and instead make a clear stand for healthcare as a right as the starting point for all reform.