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Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: $tevie
Date: August 15, 2012 03:48PM
Quote

Consider what the Romney campaign, then, is saying: If Romney is elected, then by his third year in office, every single federal program that is not Medicare, Social Security, or defense, will be cut, on average, by 40 percent. That means Medicaid, infrastructure, education, food safety, road safety, the postal service, basic research, foreign aid, housing subsidies, food stamps, the Census, Pell grants, the Patent and Trademark Office, the FDA — all of it has to be cut by, on average, 40 percent. If Romney tried to protect any particular priority, it would mean all the others have to be cut by more than 40 percent.

That’s not even remotely plausible. The consequences would be catastrophic. The outcry would be deafening. And Romney has shown no stomach for selling such severe cuts.

[www.washingtonpost.com]

Quote

“[F]irst, there are programs I would eliminate. Obamacare being one of them but also various subsidy programs — the Amtrak subsidy, the PBS subsidy, the subsidy for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities,” he told Fortune, according to interview excerpts in Playbook. Romney also wants to “tie the compensation and benefits for federal workers to those which exist in the private sector,” claiming that it would save about $47 billion a year.

The problem is, eliminating federal supports for Amtrak and cultural programs would barely save any money. Repealing Obamacare would actually add to the deficit, given the net savings that are in the health-care law. And the savings that Romney projects for tying federal compensation to private-sector levels seem to be overblown, according to recent figures from the Congressional Budget Office. Overall, the cuts that Romney specifies would just be a drop in the bucket, and they still don’t explain how his budget would produce the savings that he promises.

Here’s how it breaks down: In fiscal year 2012, the federal government spent $1.42 billion on Amtrak, $444 million on PBS, and $146 million on the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities. Getting rid of all these subsidies would have saved the government about $2 billion this year — chump change relative to the scale of cuts that Romney wants.

[www.washingtonpost.com]

Romney is promising $6-$7 trillion in cuts over 10 years without touching Medicare or SS and while increasing defense spending.

That means all non-Medicare, non-Social Security, non-defense spending gets cut by 40 percent in 2016 and 57 percent in 2022.


@ezraklein



"Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences." ~ Brian Eno
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: swampy
Date: August 15, 2012 03:55PM
Sounds good to me.





If you don't stand for something, you'll probably fall for anything.
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: cbelt3
Date: August 15, 2012 04:01PM
Did you miss the effect when sequestration takes place in 2013 ? Of course that's not factored into anyone's 'plan', But... if Congress fails to take any action, all that stuff is desperately irrelevant.
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: swampy
Date: August 15, 2012 04:20PM
Hey, it is what it is. It is what our wonderfuly functioning government has given us. I got my garden, I got my gun, bring it on.





If you don't stand for something, you'll probably fall for anything.
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: August West
Date: August 15, 2012 04:29PM
Going to give up that medicare swampy?
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: john dough
Date: August 15, 2012 04:42PM
She got hers; why should she care?



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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: p8712
Date: August 15, 2012 05:17PM
Lots of luck watering that garden when the water main breaks and there's no money/public employees to fix it. Or no cholrine to treat it with, so you have to boil and filter everything you drink. Any food you buy could give you salmonella, or far worse. Everyone around you getting sicker, with no means to do anything about it. No cops to deter the hungry, uneducated, and desperate people from sneaking in your garden and stealing your food. They'll also have more than one gun and youth on their side.

Some people really could live on two grains of rice a day, as long as there's someone else getting just one.
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: billb
Date: August 15, 2012 05:19PM
Does he explicitly promise to cut the deficit in half before the end of his first term ???

Never heard that before.





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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: Ted King
Date: August 15, 2012 05:49PM
Quote
billb
Does he explicitly promise to cut the deficit in half before the end of his first term ???

Never heard that before.

"The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities indulged this idea back in May. If Social Security and Medicare are spared from cuts, then to get federal spending under 20 percent of GDP while holding defense spending at 4 percent of GDP, 'all other programs — including Medicaid, veterans’ benefits, education, environmental protection, transportation, and SSI — would have to be cut by an average of 40 percent in 2016 and 57 percent in 2022.'"

Romney has said he will cut federal spending to under 20% of GDP by 2016. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities analysis led them to conclude that it would require an average of a 40% reduction in the budgets of the programs that Romney has not said he would protect. So Romney didn't directly claim the 40% reduction, but if the CBPP analysis is correct (I haven't seen anyone show that it is wrong yet) then that is what Romney would have to do.

What I see the articles saying is that would need to be about 40% cuts to the programs Romney has not said he would protect, I didn't notice any claims of a 40% reduction of the whole federal budget. Where did you see that?

Incidentally, 40% is far enough away from 50% that at a minimum it's a bit misleading to say "cut the deficit in half".



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2012 05:56PM by Ted King.
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: Pam
Date: August 15, 2012 07:41PM
I really don't know how these guys can say drastically reducing the deficit and cutting taxes will grow the economy with a straight face. It just won't work that way. They know it. They have to know it. It's nothing but pandering to the uninformed brainwashed masses. I'd bet money that if Romney won and the republicans held majorities in both houses of congress that they would not do what they are proposing. They know it would slam this country to the ground.
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: Black
Date: August 15, 2012 11:21PM
Quote
Pam
I really don't know how these guys can say drastically reducing the deficit and cutting taxes will grow the economy with a straight face. It just won't work that way. They know it. They have to know it. It's nothing but pandering to the uninformed brainwashed masses. I'd bet money that if Romney won and the republicans held majorities in both houses of congress that they would not do what they are proposing. They know it would slam this country to the ground.

But on the brighter side, the public would finally learn not to put a Republican in the White House, and would finally figure out once and for all that Republican economic policies don't work. It would be a looong time until that lesson were forgotten. Like, at least 4 years.



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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: RgrF
Date: August 16, 2012 02:03AM
Quote
swampy
Hey, it is what it is. It is what our wonderfuly functioning government has given us. I got my garden, I got my gun, bring it on.

Until your next health episode.
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: Black
Date: August 16, 2012 02:18AM
Fair-weather anarchist.



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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: Dennis S
Date: August 16, 2012 02:41PM
"But on the brighter side, the public would finally learn not to put a Republican in the White House, and would finally figure out once and for all that Republican economic policies don't work. It would be a looong time until that lesson were forgotten. Like, at least 4 years." - Black

You're being awfully optimistic. If those clowns haven't already learned, they never will.
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: $tevie
Date: August 16, 2012 03:15PM
I'm pretty sure that was sarcasm.



"Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences." ~ Brian Eno
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: lafinfil
Date: August 16, 2012 10:50PM
Quote
$tevie
I'm pretty sure that was sarcasm.


... or fantasy



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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: samintx
Date: August 17, 2012 06:26AM
Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy? SO IS OBAMA'S...HE HAS NEVER PRODUCED ONE!
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: $tevie
Date: August 17, 2012 07:40AM
Sam, that is simply not true.
[www.gpo.gov]



"Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences." ~ Brian Eno
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: Ted King
Date: August 17, 2012 07:46AM
Quote
$tevie
Sam, that is simply not true.
[www.gpo.gov]

I gave samintix a link showing that claim was not true a few days ago. Samintix, would you mind explaining why you think that Obama hasn't produced a budget? Where did you hear that?
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: August West
Date: August 17, 2012 07:55AM
Quote

Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy? SO IS OBAMA'S...HE HAS NEVER PRODUCED ONE!

I also hear he is a socialist Kenyan who adheres to Islam and eats dogs. No wonder this country is in such a mess, sam!
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: Ted King
Date: August 17, 2012 09:27AM
Since someone else - swampy, I think - mentioned that the president doesn't have a budget, it seems like that notion must have come from somewhere. I have a suspicion that this may be the source:

[www.politifact.com]

In April Romney said that Obama failed to pass a budget. That's true, but it's not all unusual at all for that to happen. Maybe somewhere along the line of repeating what Romney said, someone got sloppy and transformed it from "Obama hasn't passed a budget" to "Obama doesn't have a budget."
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: Lemon Drop
Date: August 17, 2012 09:41AM
Quote
samintx
Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy? SO IS OBAMA'S...HE HAS NEVER PRODUCED ONE!

Read a little US history and some civics and you won't fall for so much stuff that floats around the wingnutsophere.
The federal budget originates from the White House. Every year since 1921. There is a parallel process in Congress, which ultimately has to reach compromise and pass the budget. Money is raised and spent whether budgets are passed, or not. In our system it is somewhat of a formality.
Ask Paul Ryan why his party's leadership refused to compromise on recent budgets.

[www.pgpf.org]
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: $tevie
Date: August 17, 2012 09:42AM
It appears that Buddy Roemer gets credit for its origin:
[www.politifact.com]

Their "half true" is because the original statement also chastised Congress for not passing a budget. The claim that Obama hasn't submitted a budget is, of course, totally false.



"Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences." ~ Brian Eno
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Re: Romney's budget is a fantasy:
Posted by: Avenger
Date: August 19, 2012 01:20PM
>>That’s not even remotely plausible. The consequences would be catastrophic. The outcry would be deafening.<<

That is what they said about welfare reform. Today, Dems take credit for it
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