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Shut Up Whining About the Imaginary Recession, You Whiners! (Part 2)

Posted by DAMOZEL in Economy.
Jul 10th, 2008 | Comments

It seems that even John McCain understands economic reality better than Phil Gramm, who told The Washington Times:

“You’ve heard of mental depression;
this is a mental recession. … We have sort of become a nation of
whiners."

“You just hear this constant whining, complaining, about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline. … We’ve never been more dominant; we’ve never had more natural advantages than we have today.”

McCain at least knows there’s a problem: one that he is going to eradicate with his fabulous plan (endorsed, sort of, by 300 economists!).

So McCain severely rebuked Gramm, saying:

Phil Gramm "does not speak for me — I speak for me."

"So, I strongly disagree," McCain told reporters gathered for a press conference that was added to his schedule following a town hall meeting near Detroit at least in part to deal with Gramm’s comments that the economy was not in as poor shape as is portrayed.

Questioned whether Gramm, who has been rumored as a potential Treasury secretary for McCain, would still have a position in his
administration, the GOP candidate underscored his unhappiness with his former colleague’s comments without directly answering the question.

"I think Sen. Gramm would be in serious consideration for ambassador to Belarus," McCain said with a broad smile. "Though I’m not sure the citizens of Minsk would welcome that." (Politico)

Ouch!

However! Gramm stands by his recession comments, so nyaaa nyaaa neener! However! Gramm stands by his recession comments, so nyaaa nyaaa neener! He did say that leaders — not citizens– were the ‘whiners’ to which he was referring, but you and I know this is back-pedaling, right?

Hellloooo, Minsk!

Especially recommended: Sadly, No!

And don’t miss this harrowing post by Jill Miller Zimon re: economic woe in Michigan. Whiners!

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Neocon

Obama wants to banish corn. I like corn its my favorite vegetable. McCain wants to bring back the corn and do something else.

So there you have it. A vote for Obama is a vote to destroy corn. A vote for McCain is a vote for destroying something else.

I know who Im voting for.

DLS

He said Belarus instead of Iraq?

DLS

(or Iran)

GeorgeSorwell

Obama wants to banish corn.

There you go again: typical neoconservative hysteria!!

;)

Neocon

I really dont know whats so hard about balancing the budget. If were 400 billion in the hole then cut spending by 400 billion.

We do it. You cant spend what you dont have. How hard can balancing the budget be?

Once we have balanced the budget then how about a 10 percent national sales tax devoted directly to paying down the debt. Any surplus would be mandated to pay down the debt.

Solved. Every agency has to cut 10 percent from their budget. Gee that was easy.

Or mabey we could just come home from all those foreign countries, stop spending money on their economies and save another 200 billion per year and then each agency would only have to cut 5 percent.

Balancing the budget is done in homes all across the nation. Most states have a balanced budget............ITS TIME AMERICA. Demand a balanced budget. Or demand your congressmans job.

Jim_Satterfield

Can you say Depression instead of Recession? That's the Neocon solution.

roro80

Wow...McCain really isn't the next Bush -- he knows what Belarus is. I think that makes him an elistist, don't you?

Neocon

Im curious. Why is cutting the budget by 10 percent a depression?

Jim_Satterfield

Let's see, the economy is currently (In spite of what the old definition says.) in a recession. If you're going to cut government spending by 10% across the board you're going to fire a lot of people. Bringing our servicemen home from bases in peaceful countries won't save that much money unless you're going to discharge them from the military. Increase unemployment, reduce consumer spending. You're going to cut benefits in social programs as well. That means less money for the poorest people to spend. It means more stress on already strained private charities. None of these factors will do wonders for consumer confidence, something our economy counts on. Yeah, I'd say it could just be enough to kick us over into a Depression. Or at the very least a deeper recession.

jchem

Balancing the budget, eh? I think I have heard this line before. Every presidential candidate says they will do it, yet every one succeeding them always tries to make it part of the platform...I sense a problem here.

I think we could tame our spending habits quite a bit by limiting the pork barrel spending. I mean, if you look at some of the earmarks on any bill that gets passed, you have to wonder why the country has to pay for it (think about the "bridge to nowhere").

Like Neocon said, we all individually have a budget to balance. Why can't we expect the same thing from our government? I mean, if my household was spending in the red as much as our government likes to do, then I would be declaring bankruptcy here pretty soon. How long can this continue? We can't spend money that we don't have. Probably the wisest advice I ever received. Why can't the government take this to heart?

Neocon

Well I think Jim Hit upon it.

We dont want to lower the peoples standard of living.

The people have come to rely upon the government too much.

The government is too big. It employs too many people to cut the budget.

The government is a self perpetuating entity that feeds upon your paychecks.

So to sum up Jims positon and oppose a balanced budget:

The government has established itself as a germ.........a virus in our lives and it is constantly growing and growing. It is a leech upon society. A once useful tool for the advancement of a society has become an entity unto itself.....ever voracious, ever starving to be fed.

And feed it we do. With more and more tax dollars so it can become larger and larger until it absorbs us.

Cut the budget...........HOW DARE US. Balance the BUDGET.........HOW DARE WE.

The government must be fed. It must LIVE. Tax the people more............drain them more and more to feed the beast.....For the beast must be fed.

runasim

jchem,
I've balanced my budget pretty successfully, with dramatic exceptions.
When a serious, long lasting health condition beset my husband, I had to go into serious debt, despite the excellent insurance coverage we had, I'm still trying to work myself out ot it, because I couldn't put my children up for adoption while I dealt with bills,

Balancing budgets in normal times is fine and dandy.
These are not normal times. On top of everything else, we are financing our wars by not paying for them.

Then, too we have this:
BALANCE THE BUDGET, BUT DON'T ASK ME TO CONTRIBUTE BY PAYING TAXES. Let someone else pay, especially those most heavily affected by stagnated wages and rising prices.

runasim

McCain is definitely in over his head when it comes to the economy.
On the last video I saw, he was even pretending his summer gas tax relief proposal wasn't meant seriously.

Neocon

Well I think runasim's response is the one the democrats AND republicans rely upon to keep from ever balancing the budget.

Balancing budgets in normal times is fine and dandy.

Year after year and decade after decade their is always an exceptional event that prevents us from balancing the budget. There always will be. They depend on this type of thinking to convince the ordinary tax payer that THIS year is no exception.

ChrisWWW

Corn is filler. It might be your favorite vegetable, but it's very low in actual nutrition.

DLS

"Cut the budget...........HOW DARE US. Balance the BUDGET.........HOW DARE WE."

That's the typical entitlement-addicted mentality. Reducing spending is criminal.

Increasing spending or redirecting the current levels is gospel. Remember that famous phrase after the Cold War ended, the "peace dividend" (to be spent, of course).

ChrisWWW

That's the typical entitlement-addicted mentality. Reducing spending is criminal.

Increasing spending or redirecting the current levels is gospel. Remember that famous phrase after the Cold War ended, the "peace dividend" (to be spent, of course).

So you're a closet Bill Clinton fan. Good to know.

DLS

Actually, the far Left considered Clinton a traitor for conceding somewhat to reality after the 1994 elections. (The far Left also hated those election results.)

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