Hey, Team Rounds! Put this in the brief book for the primary Pat says y'all aren't afraid of!
Once again, Rep. Kristi Noem proudly supports a Paul Ryan budget that focuses cuts on lower- and middle-income people. Medicare, Social Security, food stamps, Medicaid—whack! whack! whacky-whack!
Rep. Noem calls those cuts a "crucial step" to a sustainable budget. She recites her mantra that we have a spending problem, not a taxing problem (which is more hogwash)... but in the Ryan budget, she also voted for $5.7 trillion in tax cuts targeted mostly at the rich and powerful, with no plan to offset those cuts.
In supporting yet another Ryan budget, Rep. Noem also supports sandbagging the economy and killing two million jobs:
On net, we estimate that the Ryan budget would decrease gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.7 percent and decrease nonfarm payroll employment by 2.0 million jobs in calendar year 2014 relative to current policy. We estimate that the Ryan budget would increase the unemployment rate by between 0.6 percentage points and 0.8 percentage points. The Ryan budget would push the output gap—the difference between actual output and non-inflationary potential output, which registered $985 billion (5.9 percent of potential) as of the fourth quarter of 2012—from 4.4 percent under the AFS baseline back to 5.9 percent. By proposing a budget that would leave the output gap unchanged from 5.9 percent of potential GDP by the end of 2014, Ryan has essentially proposed that for at least two years the U.S. economy make zero relative progress in emerging from the current adverse economic equilibrium of depressed economic output, slow growth, high unemployment, and large cyclical budget deficits [Andrew Fieldhouse, "Ryan Proposes Another Path to Fewer Jobs and Slower Economic Growth," Economic Policy Institute: Working Economics, 2013.03.12].
You'd think Rep. Noem and her fellow Republicans would have given up on trying to sabotage the economic recovery once they failed in their primary objective of making Barack Obama a one-term President. Rep. Noem's support for the Ryan budget shows that, no, their loathing of the poor and their fealty to the rich still trump sound fiscal policy and a desire to make the economy work for everyone.
John Thune was whipping the votes on the Senate side for this bill.
The day Kristi Noem is finally voted out of office will be the day South Dakotans have had it with all this political idiocy.
I can't wait for someone to accuse Noem of being a tax and spend Republican. From Ezra Klein:
"Every Ryan budget since the passage of Obamacare has assumed the repeal of Obamacare. Kinda. Ryan’s version of repeal means getting rid of all the parts that spend money to give people health insurance but keeping the tax increases and the Medicare cuts that pays for that health insurance, as without those policies, it is very, very difficult for Ryan to hit his deficit-reduction targets."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/11/paul-ryans-love-hate-relationship-with-obamacare/
Kristi Noem is just another tax and spend earth hater.
Tax cuts for the rich uber alles! The rich MUST have tax cuts. Priority #1 for the GOP is tax cuts for the rich.
The Grand Old Party, which misleads about its own history since it is younger than the Democratic Party, is blatant about who it represents, the rich. People are developing a resistance to the stuff the GOP throws out there to buffalo non-rich folks into giving GOPsters their votes, like being against gay marriage, being against abortion, being against Obamacare, being against undocumented immigrants, being against poor people (the 47%) - oh, they didn't want that one to get out there, being against women who think for themselves, being against ... . Those issues just don't resonate and distract and inflame like they used to. Being against the economy isn't working too well for them either, as Paul Ryan and his ilk may eventually figure out. The GOP needs some new distractions to make people forget the GOP is always and only for rich.
Between adult beverages, that hopeless drunkard Republan party chairman Reince Priebus is taking suggestions for new demagogueable issues. Call him with new and exciting things to be against.
put yourselves in PP's space: The Game Change is in the HBO loop.
Nuff said.
Wouldn't have known it unless i'd been trapped in Sioux Falls:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1848902/
Kristi Noem makes Sarah Palin look like a Republican.
Kristi is having a hard time understanding debt. Maybe she needs a simple tutorial story about economics, with her as the central character.
There once was a beautiful young woman named Kristi. She inherited part interest in a farm from her folks. About ten years ago her husband decided that they needed more farm ground so he went out and bought a section of ground. He put it on a credit card.
Everybody knows you cant farm expensive farm ground with old outdated machinery so he bought a new Cat Challenger, and the equipment to pull behind it, a New Holland combine, a couple of trucks, and a expensive quarter horse. He knew how much Kristi likes shinny horses.
Ten years later Kristi noticed that there was an awful lot of equipment setting in the yard and the horse that her husband bought for her was spending a lot of time at the vets getting something done to its prostate. Oh, and she was getting bills from somewhere.
"Honey why are we getting all these bills in the mail?" "Well dear about ten years ago I used a credit card and bought those things, along with a section of ground." "I thought we were making all kinds of money, what's going on here?" "Well babe, we are paying for the things we bought sense then, but just barely, and I haven't been making the payments on the credit card and these people think they can make us pay for something we now own." "Oh."
"Well dear husband something has to change. We are going to have to cut back on expenses, ya that's it if we slow down the spending we wont have to pay for all that stuff we ,"you" bought. These people will just go away and leave us TF alone."
Note to Kristi. Congresswoman, if you buy something and put it on a credit card, even if you stop spending altogether, you will never, I repeat never, pay for that something without revenue. You cant save money by not spending money in the future that you don't have now, and pay the bills with that imaginary money. China is smarter then that.
So here's my question for you Kristi. How are you going to pay for these "things" without real money? And where is that real money going to come from if not from taxes?
Congressmen, yes that's right I put everyone of them on the same Titanic, both dems and repubs, a ten year old credit card bill cant be paid for by cutting spending and taxes now. Where the hell were you people when the credit card was being used? Don't blame the poor of this country for the two unfunded, unnecessary wars that you felt we needed to be in so we could feel macho again. The only people that benefited from these wars were the defense contractors. Do you have your hands in their pockets or do they have their hands in yours? Or is it both? Now that's a sick picture.
Here's my last question. Without these wars where would be be financially?
Ah crap. excuse me folks I didn't notice until now that my tin foil hat fell off a little while ago. NEVER MIND.
The Blindman
And that's what I like about the south.
The Blindman
The Ryan budget doesn't come close to addressing our current overspending problem. In order to get rid of the deficit and start paying off our national debt, we must simplify taxes, broaden the base for collecting taxes, eliminate waste, cut programs, get rid of loopholes, instill a sense of personal responsibility and bring our troops home while not putting the economy into a tail spin. There will be pain. There will need to be sacrifice on everyone's part.
"In order to get rid of the deficit and start paying off our national debt, we must simplify taxes,"
What a great and novel idea. Why hasn't someone thought of that before? Oh, that's right they have. And yet here we are.
" broaden the base for collecting taxes,"
That has always been code for making someone pay more taxes that is already working two jobs and still living below the poverty level. That also has a familiar ring to it. Are you also talking about lowering the tax rate for the one percenters?
" eliminate waste,"
Absolutely. Do you want to start by prosecuting the defense contractors for money spent and lost in the last ten years? I agree lets start there and work our way backwards.
Five hundred oversea bases, cut it to a hundred and let our tech take care of the world problems.
Stop pretending that we can fix every problem the world has, we cant.
No more money for countries that spy on us.
No more money for countries that use us for their big brother by bringing up a religion and then expecting us to step in and fight the one they started. If Israel is such a great place let them find peace on their own and stop trying to start a fight. As long as we have their back neither them or the Palestinians will give an inch. Can you say MONEY PIT?
"cut programs,"
Another great idea. Now be specific so we can know exactly what you are talking about. What programs do you want to cut?
"get rid of loopholes, "
Finally something we can agree completely with.
"instill a sense of personal responsibility and bring our troops home while not putting the economy into a tail spin. "
Here we are talking about the war again. As far as personal responsibility those at the bottom have shown that, they are living day to day because that is how the rich want them to live, how about those that are in the one percent? I don't see them hurting any from the ten years of war.
"There will be pain. There will need to be sacrifice on everyone's part."
I agree again. But should that pain be as painful for the middle and lower class as for those that didn't really feel the pain in the first place. "The rich keep getting richer, and the poor keep getting, what is it that the poor are getting again, poorer."
The Blindman
If anyone needs any more proof the GOP is always and only for the rich, just go over to South Dakota's #2 blog and read the story about Sen. Thune's #2 budget amendment to repeal the estate tax, which only hits people who inherit over $5.25 million dollars. If those heirs had worked for the $5.25 million they would have (at least in theory) paid income tax on the money. But when they sit on their arses instead of working for it and just wait for it to be handed to them - they shouldn't have to pay any taxes at all. At least according to Thune. And while the GOP is at it, rich folks who make their money from investments ought to continue paying a lower tax rate than people who work for their money too. Right Sen. Thune & Rep. Noem? The public doesn't buy into these GOP policies, so why don't Democrats go on the attack?
Michael: "sacrifice on everyone's part"—Thune and Noem ignore that as they cry foul about cutting the Wind Cave campground, the Hot Springs VA, and other pork for SD.
R, I agree: when we have a credit card bill this big to pay off (Bill D, thanks for the story!), we have no business talking about getting rid of revenue sources.
Bill,
I may have to bring you in to teach my young'uns how to do line by line rebuttals. Well said.
Noem, Thune, and most republicants have a bankrupt idea of what it takes to create good economic conditions. It is not austerity. It is not corporate welfare.
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2013/03/15/spending-isnt-the-problem-sequestration-and-austerity-are_print.html
We have a spending problem to the tune of $1 trillion a year. Why do Republicans and Democrats not grasp that you can't continue to spend more money than you take in?
You worry about keeping a campground open when the fiscal future of our country is at stake.
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Well then Michael and anyone else who utters those words you had better get out there and work your tail off. And drag Mrs Noem along with you. Because together the R's have been the part time Grossly Over Paid party.
And the more you repeat the lies the more you tie them to Goebbels and his propaganda regarding a lie repeated often enough and big enough somehow 'miraculously' becomes the (choking on this one) "truth". Guess he never had his mouth washed out with soap.
In the meantime I quietly wish for our very own Tina Fey.
Working harder might not get us out of this one.
We do not have a spending problem. Economist Dean Baker says that the only reason our deficit expanded in the recession because the economy tanked and reduced tax collections. Fix the economy, and we can sustain our spending just fine. And as Baker explains, going ape with deficit reduction now ensures the economy stays slow and the deficit stays big. Deficit hawkery is a sham peeddled by rich guys who want to destroy the social safety net. It's crazy, it's zen, it's macroeconomic judo, but it's the truth: Don't reduce the deficit now, and you will reduce the deficit.
And what happens when interest rates rise to historic norms? Additional trillion dollar deficits will only add to future interest payments and to increase future deficits.
Washington has a HUGE spending problem compared to the amount of TAXES it receives. It's a problem that has spanned generations.
Cory, you are making the flawed assumption that everything in the economy is going to react the same as it has in the past. Technology is going to quickly change the landscape of America very soon. We are already seeing the leading edge today. Check out people at Walmart are fewer than before. Robots weld and paint in auto plants. Dairy cows can be milked without farmers being there.
How are we going to collect taxes from people when their jobs have been eliminated by a robot costing one third of one employee's yearly salary, that can operate 3 shifts a day and lasts 5 years?
Well Michael Black, the Republican solution is to cut taxes for rich people. That's their solution when the economy is good, and when the economy is bad. According to Republicans, there is no economic problem that can't be solved by cutting taxes for rich people. In fact, Senator Thune is right now as we speak proposing to completely eliminate a tax that only hits rich people. So when the government spends more than it takes in, leave it to Senator Thune and the GOP to cut government revenue, and to give a windfall to rich people who didn't work for the money they were handed. Problem solved, right?
And don't forget Kristi's whining about the Post Office not delivering on Saturday's. You have to start cutting somewhere.
In my opinion, the biggest con the GOP/TP ever pulled is convincing the middle class to blame the poor for the sins of the rich. I imagine things would be much different if this wasn't legal:
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Tax-Dodge-Report-3.pdf
Both sides are looking through rose colored glasses.
What spending should we cut Michael?
Owen, that's where life gets very interesting. First we must shed the sense of entitlement everyone seems to have.
A visually impaired individual can see that the cuts mantra is a sieve. If you want to cut, seriously the Pentagon is rich with wasteful expenditures. The two wars that were not funded or budgeted for is THE place to begin.
Otherwise I'm not hearing, except for Bill and Larry any serious sensible proposals. And I must say both of them did rather well.
I was at the Post Office this afternoon in solidarity with the workers protesting the cutbacks in service being proposed. It amazes me how ill informed many are about how the USPS is funded. Glad we Cory to stand up every day and dispense some truth.
To a point I agree with you Michael. But where do we start? The poor-that's where Republicans want to start.
How about farm subsidies? Farmers will scream bloody murder. The defense budget? Corperate welfare? Republicans won't let that happen.
Or with what happened to me. A company decides it needs more money so they lay off their workers and move those jobs overseas.
Now, I'm on a government program that is paying for my retraining. I don't feel that the government owes me anything. But I'm sure glad its there-so that I can have a chance for a good job.
Michael,
Please stop with the bromides and the pseudo-philosophical nostrums.
What are you willing to cut? What tax breaks are you willing to give up to make the tax code simpler? Both Bill and Owen have given concrete examples showing why simple phrasing doesn't come close to workable policies.
The reply that everyone must "shed the sense of entitlement" might work on the back of greeting card, but it's not a serious response to a simple question.
Vincent! I gave a solidarity honk to the picketers at the Rapid City post office! Indeed, the Post Office provides good service at a bargain price. Congress has been using USPS as a whipping boy when USPS deserves much better. It is not the cause of our deficits.