Here are some simple facts that help explain what we're really looking at as we move through the government shutdown lunacy, and towards the debt ceiling nonsense. Regular readers will recognize several graphs from previous posts.
THE POOR ARE NOT BREAKING THE BANK (not even close):
Even with unemployment climbing after the 2008 market downturn unemployment insurance - or "social welfare" - has not taken a big bite out of our financial picture (there are no $168 per day welfare recipients). This is especially the case when we compare welfare spending to defense spending, as this graph from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank makes clear.
TAX-INCOME BASE TOO LOW:
The real fiscal problem we have is that our national income (i.e. tax income) has dropped to historic lows, especially when compared to how much the economy produces. We have to go back to the era of Dwight Eisenhower to find a period of years when taxes as a percentage of GDP were as low as they have been during the Obama administration.
TAX RATES AT HISTORIC LOWS:
Part of the reason that our tax base is too low is that tax rates in America have fallen precipitously since the 1980s. They are now at their lowest levels since right before the Great Depression, and at the end of the Bush I presidency.
SIZE OF FEDERAL WORKFORCE DECLINING:
In spite of what conservative pundits like to claim, the size of the federal workforce has declined. Simply put, as the second chart here shows, the ratio of federal workers compared to the size of our population has gone down under President Obama (and continue to decline).
NEW GOVERNMENT SPENDING STALLED:
Here's another fun fact that most Americans don't know about, or stubbornly refuse to acknowledge. New government spending under President Obama has effectively stalled, and is at a 50 year low. Put another way, the Obama spending binge never happened.
ANNUAL DEFICITS ARE GOING DOWN:
While President Obama's critics don't want to mention it, annual budget deficits are going down. The built in trillion dollar deficits left by President Bush may be a thing of the past (the CBO even reported that we had a surplus during the month of June):
ROOTS OF THE DEFICITS:
If new government spending is going down while the size of our federal workforce is falling then why are we still struggling with $600 billion budget deficits? This is an easy one. I've written on this numerous times (see here, here, and here). Simply put, we're still dealing with the after effects of the Bush years.
DEBT CEILING HYPOCRISY:
Last point point to ponder. The Republicans had no problem raising the debt ceiling (or voting for it) when President Bush was in office. Their support for funding our nation's obligations, which Congress voted to spend the money on, effectively ended when President Obama arrived at the White House in 2009.
There's more, but you get the point. When it comes to fiscal discipline, complaints about the poor, tax levels, new spending under President Obama, the size of the government, and the reasons for annual deficits and our national debt, the Republicans don't have a clue - or are flat out lying to America - about our economic situation, and what we can do about it.
- Mark
_______________________
THE POOR ARE NOT BREAKING THE BANK (not even close):
Even with unemployment climbing after the 2008 market downturn unemployment insurance - or "social welfare" - has not taken a big bite out of our financial picture (there are no $168 per day welfare recipients). This is especially the case when we compare welfare spending to defense spending, as this graph from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank makes clear.
TAX-INCOME BASE TOO LOW:
The real fiscal problem we have is that our national income (i.e. tax income) has dropped to historic lows, especially when compared to how much the economy produces. We have to go back to the era of Dwight Eisenhower to find a period of years when taxes as a percentage of GDP were as low as they have been during the Obama administration.
TAX RATES AT HISTORIC LOWS:
Part of the reason that our tax base is too low is that tax rates in America have fallen precipitously since the 1980s. They are now at their lowest levels since right before the Great Depression, and at the end of the Bush I presidency.
SIZE OF FEDERAL WORKFORCE DECLINING:
In spite of what conservative pundits like to claim, the size of the federal workforce has declined. Simply put, as the second chart here shows, the ratio of federal workers compared to the size of our population has gone down under President Obama (and continue to decline).
NEW GOVERNMENT SPENDING STALLED:
Here's another fun fact that most Americans don't know about, or stubbornly refuse to acknowledge. New government spending under President Obama has effectively stalled, and is at a 50 year low. Put another way, the Obama spending binge never happened.
ANNUAL DEFICITS ARE GOING DOWN:
While President Obama's critics don't want to mention it, annual budget deficits are going down. The built in trillion dollar deficits left by President Bush may be a thing of the past (the CBO even reported that we had a surplus during the month of June):
ROOTS OF THE DEFICITS:
If new government spending is going down while the size of our federal workforce is falling then why are we still struggling with $600 billion budget deficits? This is an easy one. I've written on this numerous times (see here, here, and here). Simply put, we're still dealing with the after effects of the Bush years.
Last point point to ponder. The Republicans had no problem raising the debt ceiling (or voting for it) when President Bush was in office. Their support for funding our nation's obligations, which Congress voted to spend the money on, effectively ended when President Obama arrived at the White House in 2009.
____________________________
There's more, but you get the point. When it comes to fiscal discipline, complaints about the poor, tax levels, new spending under President Obama, the size of the government, and the reasons for annual deficits and our national debt, the Republicans don't have a clue - or are flat out lying to America - about our economic situation, and what we can do about it.
- Mark
btw I post as Greg Saunders if you want to have a look yourself, you might some of them useful.
ReplyDeleteI don't think my comment posted properly, google glitch if it didn't<you can delete this part just for your ref.
ReplyDeleteGood post, I have posted similar posts on sodahead which is pretty much right wing dominated, though they dispute even that. They are generally ignored by the right who don't want to face the truth that Clinton and Obama have brought down deficits while the Reps have doubled or tripled them.
Same scenario in the UK where the IMF stooge Thatcher ushered in the corporate takeover and now they control the media little will be done about it.