dagblog - Comments for "Not Working in America: People and Public Policy"

In reevalutaing the

Resistance — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:40:32 +0000

In reply to This is the thing that the

In reevalutaing the expression; WE TOLD YOU SO

The People:to Obama: WE TOLD YOU.

Obama: "SO

This is the thing that the

cmaukonen — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 02:27:29 +0000

In reply to Obama Insists He Made "The

This is the thing that the republicans absolutely refuse to admit and the dems are to scared to admit. That government spending is what keeps the economy going. Not the private sector. They will not and cannot keep the economy going.

Here are a few good links

cmaukonen — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 02:13:36 +0000

In reply to Not Working in America: People and Public Policy

Here are a few good links from Bill Mitchell concerning inflation.

http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=10554

http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=13035

http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=3773

BINGO !

cmaukonen — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 01:38:57 +0000

In reply to I'll add that we don't just

BINGO !

Obama Insists He Made "The

Resistance — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:48:09 +0000

In reply to Not Working in America: People and Public Policy

Obama Insists He Made "The Right Decisions" on the Economy -- The Struggling Middle Class Begs to Differ Arianna Huffington.Posted: September 9, 2010 09:38 PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/obama-insists-he-made-the_b_711515.html

Why isn’t our message WE TOLD YOU SO? Mr. President; Krugman told you what to do, Joseph Stiglitz told you what needed to be done.

President Obama, you are not worthy to be OUR Executive? You chose your advisors, to whom you would listen to, and we suffer because of your decision. We told you so and you ignored us.

Just ask them what,

Dan Kervick — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:34:02 +0000

In reply to What do you ask them, Dan? I

Just ask them what, precisely, is the nature of the big problem they are claiming exists? Three out of four times they won't be able to expalin it to you in sensible terms. They just throw their hands up and start yelling vaguely about debt being a bad thing. Ask them things like:

How big is the national debt?
What percentage of GDP is it?
How much are we paying monthly for debt service?
How big is the annual defict?
What would the ideal numbers be?
Is it really advisable to run a budget surplus?
Doesn't a federal government surplus mean that the private sector is losing money to the federal government?
How often has the government run surpluses throughout US history?
Is there any actual evidence that public spending is crowding out private spending?
Is it possible for the US government to go bankrupt?
Do the Chinese have other realistic options for investing US dollars?
To maintain a constant level of debt serrvice payments do we need to move to a surplus?

Sometimes the debt hysterics don't even draw a distinction between the federal government's debt and the total indebtedness of Americans, public and private combined.

What do you ask them, Dan? I

Michael Maiello — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 18:08:10 +0000

In reply to It's also important not to

What do you ask them, Dan? I have to admit, I always think that when they accuse me of wanting to borrow my way out of debt that they're not confused, they're just playing a game with me.

Overall approval, but now 60%

we are stardust — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:22:24 +0000

In reply to The great tragedy of

Overall approval, but now 60% polled give him negatives on 'handling the economy', though none have breakdowns by political stripe. And David may have meant 'critics on the Left', not 'Liberals'?

Destor; thanks for the Galbraith link.

Great piece. Thanks for the

Cho — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:19:01 +0000

In reply to I think people like James K.

Great piece. Thanks for the link.

It's also important not to

Dan Kervick — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:17:19 +0000

In reply to Excellent analysis. I fear

It's also important not to let opponents define and frame the "problem" to which a solution is necessary. I have found that when people make those excitable and wide-eyed claims about how big a problem public debt is, you just need to follow up with a few questions. Most of them can't give you a single real number in response.