Why is it “Deficits don’t matter” — whenever THEY are in Charge?

(9AM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

Let me jog your memory, about one of the more memorable things the Former VP said to a ‘fiscally responsible’ Treasury Secretary — right before he fired him …

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill was told “deficits don’t matter” when he warned of a looming fiscal crisis.

OnTheIssues.org

[…]

O’Neill said he tried to warn Vice President Dick Cheney that growing budget deficits-expected to top $500 billion this fiscal year alone — posed a threat to the economy. Cheney cut him off. “You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don’t matter,” he said, according to excerpts. Cheney continued: “We won the midterms (congressional elections). This is our due.” A month later, Cheney told the Treasury secretary he was fired.

Source: Adam Entous, Reuters, on AOL News Jan 11, 2004

Maybe “deficits don’t really matter” — whenever the Gophers have the National “Credit Card” in THEIR Pockets — Then it’s Party time, for their friends and buddies in the corporate boardrooms?

Otherwise — it’s “evict the lazy bastards”.

Cut the Funds for something — NOW!

No Worries.

Running up Deficits is A-Okay for THEM — because St. Ronnie Reagan did it!

Hint: Democrats, that doesn’t mean YOU can ride those Reagan Coat Tails — just pay the Tab already, for the last decade — and try being more Fiscally Responsible, Why don’t ya?

Cheney’s ‘Deficits don’t matter’ becomes Obama’s hot potato

Posted by Jon Talton, SeattleTimes — February 2, 2010

One first is true: President Obama inherited the largest deficit in history.

Deficit projections are extremely fluid, dependent on such factors as how quickly the economy – and thus tax revenue – recovers, whether taxes are raised on the wealthy, etc. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, experts argued that eliminating the deficit was impossible. Yet it was done quickly thanks to the modest Clinton tax increases and the economic boom of that decade.

The real question is: When does a deficit matter?

It didn’t matter to Republicans when they were in power. Then Vice President Dick Cheney famously said, “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.” Now all of Washington and the media have bought into the narrative that they do. So which is it?

Which is it, indeed?

It’s OK, if you’re a Republican. Period. End of Story.

It’s Not OK, if you’re actually trying to help the Citizens of the country, get back on their feet, in these hard Economic Times.

Hint: Democrats, As far as the GOP is concerned, it’s “Do as I say — NOT as I DO.”

Hint2: Don’t let a few Facts get in you’re way. Just ‘Duck and Cover’ — The Deficit — It’s the neuvo “Wedge Issue” this Election time!

Bring your calculators.

Deficit data and the fog of war

By Brad DeLong — July 19 2010

Professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley

In 1942 the US ran a federal budget deficit of 14.8 per cent of GDP; in 1943 30.8 per cent; in 1944 23.3 per cent; and in 1945 22.0 per cent – a four-year average deficit of 22.7 per cent of GDP.

Today, in 2010, the US is running a federal budget deficit that the CBO estimates at 10.3 per cent of GDP.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the federal budget deficit for 2010 will exceed $1.3 trillion — $71 billion below last year’s total and $27 billion lower than the amount that CBO projected in March 2010, when it issued its previous estimate, but that projection is predicated on the Bush tax cuts and other tax breaks expiring.

Relative to the size of the economy, this year’s deficit is expected to be the second largest shortfall in the past 65 years, the CBO reported on Thursday. At 9.1 percent of gross domestic product, it is exceeded only by last year’s deficit of 9.9 percent of GDP. “As was the case last year, this year’s deficit is attributable in large part to a combination of weak revenues and elevated spending associated with the economic downturn and the policies implemented in response to it,” wrote CBO director Douglas Elmendorf.

[…]

According to the CBO’s projections, the recovery from the economic downturn will continue at a modest pace during the next few years. “Growth in the nation’s output since the middle of calendar year 2009 has been anemic in comparison with that of previous recoveries following deep recessions, and the unemployment rate has remained quite high, averaging 9.7 percent in the first half of this year,” wrote Elmendorf. “Such weak growth tends to occur in recoveries from recessions spurred by financial crises.

Hmmmm? Great Recessions … like the one we’re still stuck in, are caused by “financial crises” …

Hmmmm? Anyone recall, exactly HOW we ended up with one of the worse one of “those” since the Great Depression?

Hint: both Crises were caused by Republican Presidents, who misunderstood the role of Deficits in an Economy.

Good times! Good times …

We’re creating… an Ownership Society in this country, where more Americans than ever will be able to open up their door where they live and say, welcome to my house, welcome to my piece of property.

– President George W. Bush, October 2004

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

How’d that “Ownership Society” plan work out for you America?

No worries, if you’re facing foreclosure — the GOP says “deficits don’t matter” —

Whenever THEY are the ones controlling the Nation’s Checkbook.

How do you think we got into this Deficit Mess in the first place?

Hint: It wasn’t on the Democrats’ Watch.

Unfunded Medicare Prescription Drugs Program. (Donut Holes)

Unfunded Tax Cuts.

Unfunded Wars on Terror.