Spending Binge, Part Deux
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on June 19th, 2010 4:32 am by HL
Spending Binge, Part Deux
Stephen Moore, Wall Street Journal
Don't expect any Republican votes for the White House's new proposal for a $50 billion bailout of the states. Republican resistance to deficit spending is stiffening, even among moderates. GOP leaders in the House tell me that they were “shocked” at the latest spending plan to pay states to hire more teachers and police officers, adding that there are virtually “no votes” inside the House and Senate Republican caucuses for the new package of largesse. They see the Democrats' continued binge of spending as a political gift to ensure ever larger GOP pick-ups…
How Badly Has Oil Spill Hurt the President?
Tom Bevan, RealClearPolitics
Some observers have noted that while President Obama has faced intense criticism over his handling of the Gulf Oil spill during the last eight weeks, his approval rating remains more or less unchanged. Indeed, on April 21, the day after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sunk in the Gulf, President Obama's approval rating in the RCP Average stood at 47.9% and his disapproval rating was at 46.9%. Despite all that's transpired over the past two months, today President Obama's approval rating in the RCP Average is two tenths of a point higher, at 48.1%, and his disapproval…
Obama’s Slickness Meets Reality
Michael Graham, Boston Herald
Remember January 2009 when Barack Obama was walking on water? When his approval rating was north of 70 percent and we conservatives were told that "resistance is futile" in the face of the most powerful political figure since, well, ever?Then came that unavoidable force known as "reality." The stimulus . . . didn't. Unemployment is stubbornly high. Iran keeps ignoring us. A majority of Americans still hate Obamacare, and Obama's endorsed candidates have performed about as well as a BP well cap.After every policy setback and political gaffe, the…
Global Austerity is a Huge Mistake
Paul Krugman, New York Times
Suddenly, creating jobs is out, inflicting pain is in. Condemning deficits and refusing to help a still-struggling economy has become the new fashion everywhere, including the United States, where 52 senators voted against extending aid to the unemployed despite the highest rate of long-term joblessness since the 1930s.Many economists, myself included, regard this turn to austerity as a huge mistake. It raises memories of 1937, when F.D.R.'s premature attempt to balance the budget helped plunge a recovering economy back into severe recession. And here in Germany, a few scholars see…
