Mittens betrays Teabaggers, admits spending cuts would throw us into recession

[Lief]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/25/romney-spending-cuts-depression-tea-party_n_1545933.html

"Well because, if you take a trillion dollars for instance, out of the first year of the federal budget, that would shrink GDP over 5 percent. That is by definition throwing us into recession or depression. So I'm not going to do that, of course," Romney said in an answer picked up by former bank regulator William Black, a HuffPost blogger.

Boehner, by contrast, said cutting spending will spur the economy by giving "certainty" to the business community. "It would lift this cloud of uncertainty that's causing employers to wonder what's next. So dealing with our debt and our deficit are critically important," he said.

Any spending cuts, Romney said, should come down the road, after the economy has improved.

"I don't want to have us go into a recession in order to balance the budget," he said. "I'd like to have us have high rates of growth at the same time we bring down federal spending, on, if you will, a ramp that’s affordable, but that does not cause us to enter into a economic decline."

[bgwah]

Newt tried to warn us.

[shua]

Looks like Boehner agrees with Romney here.  The spending cuts need to be focused on the long term - which means entitlements.  Too bad so far entitlements are the one thing the Democrats in DC aren't willing to look at.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

The only person who wants to cut a trillion dollars is Ron Paul. I don't see how this is news.

[memphis]

So he wants to increase spending and lower taxes? Typical Republican. This budget mess isn't that complicated.

[shua]

So he wants to increase spending and lower taxes? Typical Republican. This budget mess isn't that complicated.

Okay , how would you balance the budget in one year without negatively affecting the economy?

[memphis]

So he wants to increase spending and lower taxes? Typical Republican. This budget mess isn't that complicated.

Okay , how would you balance the budget in one year without negatively affecting the economy?

Ending the Bush tax cuts, both on income and capital gains, and the Bush wars would be a huge step.

[Emperor SJoyce]

So he wants to increase spending and lower taxes? Typical Republican. This budget mess isn't that complicated.

Okay , how would you balance the budget in one year without negatively affecting the economy?

Ending the Bush tax cuts, both on income and capital gains, and the Bush wars would be a huge step.

Don't really think you can call them "Bush wars" or "Bush tax cuts" after Obama's had 4 years to try to end them...

[IDS Legislator Alfred F. Jones]

So he wants to increase spending and lower taxes? Typical Republican. This budget mess isn't that complicated.

Okay , how would you balance the budget in one year without negatively affecting the economy?

Ending the Bush tax cuts, both on income and capital gains, and the Bush wars would be a huge step.

Don't really think you can call them "Bush wars" or "Bush tax cuts" after Obama's had 4 years to try to end them...

I partially shall concede your points on the tax cuts (though they were originally created by Bush), but Obama has, in fact, ended Iraq and has a clear strategy for ending Afghanistan, neither of which Bush came close to doing.

[Emperor SJoyce]

So he wants to increase spending and lower taxes? Typical Republican. This budget mess isn't that complicated.

Okay , how would you balance the budget in one year without negatively affecting the economy?

Ending the Bush tax cuts, both on income and capital gains, and the Bush wars would be a huge step.

Don't really think you can call them "Bush wars" or "Bush tax cuts" after Obama's had 4 years to try to end them...

I partially shall concede your points on the tax cuts (though they were originally created by Bush), but Obama has, in fact, ended Iraq and has a clear strategy for ending Afghanistan, neither of which Bush came close to doing.

Although he's ended Iraq, we're still in the Philippines, we're still in the Gulf of Aden/Horn of Africa, still conducting some operations in the Sahara, still a presence in Colombia, still bombing Yemen and the NWFP, and he started Libya. Overall he's been a tad better than Bush but not as good as McCain (cause with McCain the DNC would be howling from the rooftops about how terrible he is, keeping Guantanamo open and bombing Libya and whatnot, but now they're silent).

[TXMichael]

Yes cutting spending would hurt the economy, that would provide "certainty".  Although I don't see how certainty of economic decline would help the spur economy

[IDS Legislator Alfred F. Jones]

So he wants to increase spending and lower taxes? Typical Republican. This budget mess isn't that complicated.

Okay , how would you balance the budget in one year without negatively affecting the economy?

Ending the Bush tax cuts, both on income and capital gains, and the Bush wars would be a huge step.

Don't really think you can call them "Bush wars" or "Bush tax cuts" after Obama's had 4 years to try to end them...

I partially shall concede your points on the tax cuts (though they were originally created by Bush), but Obama has, in fact, ended Iraq and has a clear strategy for ending Afghanistan, neither of which Bush came close to doing.

Although he's ended Iraq, we're still in the Philippines, we're still in the Gulf of Aden/Horn of Africa, still conducting some operations in the Sahara, still a presence in Colombia, still bombing Yemen and the NWFP, and he started Libya. Overall he's been a tad better than Bush but not as good as McCain (cause with McCain the DNC would be howling from the rooftops about how terrible he is, keeping Guantanamo open and bombing Libya and whatnot, but now they're silent).

I think Memphis is talking about Iraq/Afghanistan.

[Lloyd Bentsen's Ghost]

I've always been amused by the idea that laying off a bunch of people is a good way to reduce unemployment, as many Republicans seem to think.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

Okay , how would you balance the budget in one year without negatively affecting the economy?

What benefits do civil servants provide the economy? They don't contribute anything, so firing them will save taxpayers money and increase the number of private sector jobs.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

Ending the Bush tax cuts, both on income and capital gains, and the Bush wars would be a huge step.

So raising taxes on people who can't afford to pay more, is going to increase, rather than decrease revenues? The Bush cuts have increased, not decreased revenues.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

Okay , how would you balance the budget in one year without negatively affecting the economy?

Cut domestic spending back to 2000 levels. The way you do that is shrink the size of the government by laying off public sector workers.

Then you pass pension reform forcing public sector workers to pay 50 percent into their pensions (instead of 3 percent), and then you pass a bill eliminating collective bargaining for public sector unions.

Problem solved. You'll see a surplus in a year.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Okay , how would you balance the budget in one year without negatively affecting the economy?

Cut domestic spending back to 2000 levels. The way you do that is shrink the size of the government by laying off public sector workers.

Then you pass pension reform forcing public sector workers to pay 50 percent into their pensions (instead of 3 percent), and then you pass a bill eliminating collective bargaining for public sector unions.

Problem solved. You'll see a surplus in a year.

In what alternate universe would this not be disastrous for our economy? Domestic spending can't be cut back down to 2000 levels at the moment without gutting the safety net and reducing GDP numbers by a non-negligible number.

What would be the purpose of destroying public sector unions besides to hurt Democrats? We need to continue to have a very high level of compensation for federal public workers in order to attract the most qualified workers possible to fill the slots and the sliver of the deficit you'd reduce would be tiny.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Ending the Bush tax cuts, both on income and capital gains, and the Bush wars would be a huge step.

So raising taxes on people who can't afford to pay more, is going to increase, rather than decrease revenues? The Bush cuts have increased, not decreased revenues.

This post must be a joke. Pity the billionaire who is at his highest levels of wealth in human history and paying his lowest tax burden in half a century!

[ingemann]

Okay , how would you balance the budget in one year without negatively affecting the economy?

What benefits do civil servants provide the economy? They don't contribute anything, so firing them will save taxpayers money and increase the number of private sector jobs.

Impressive even for moronic nonsense this is in a category of it own. Yes I'm sure 0cops, firemen, soldiers have no positive effect on the economy, it's not like protection from disasters criminals or foreign enemies has any positive contribution to the economy. Just as the road net which civil servants also administrated also have no positive effect either. It's the reason that Somalia which lack all these thing are the most prosperous state in the world, while USA are a third world country.

[shua]

So he wants to increase spending and lower taxes? Typical Republican. This budget mess isn't that complicated.

Okay , how would you balance the budget in one year without negatively affecting the economy?

Ending the Bush tax cuts, both on income and capital gains, and the Bush wars would be a huge step.

So a major tax increase on all Americans is going to help economic recovery?

Okay , how would you balance the budget in one year without negatively affecting the economy?

What benefits do civil servants provide the economy? They don't contribute anything, so firing them will save taxpayers money and increase the number of private sector jobs.

All those civil servants would need to find new jobs, increasing the labor supply and so making it harder for every unemployed person to find a job - at least in the short term.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

In what alternate universe would this not be disastrous for our economy? Domestic spending can't be cut back down to 2000 levels at the moment without gutting the safety net and reducing GDP numbers by a non-negligible number.

As opposed to massive, perpetual deficits that will be even more devastating longterm?

What would be the purpose of destroying public sector unions besides to hurt Democrats?

That public sector workers pay only 3 percent of their pensions is ridiculous. 50 percent corrects this massive outflow. It will happen.

We need to continue to have a very high level of compensation for federal public workers in order to attract the most qualified workers possible to fill the slots and the sliver of the deficit you'd reduce would be tiny.

Hah, pensions and pension reform is by far the largest slice of domestic spending. It will happen - we're going broke as it is with the unsustainable largesse they are currently receiving.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

This post must be a joke. Pity the billionaire who is at his highest levels of wealth in human history and paying his lowest tax burden in half a century!

Most of the recipients of the Bush tax cuts are middle class. Raising their taxes is going to reduce, not increase government revenue.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

Impressive even for moronic nonsense this is in a category of it own. Yes I'm sure 0cops, firemen, soldiers have no positive effect on the economy,

What percentage of public sector workers are cops, firemen or soldiers? Roughly 20 percent. The other 80 percent are none of these. Making this ratio 50 percent would be far better, which would mean laying off some 4 million public sector workers.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

This post must be a joke. Pity the billionaire who is at his highest levels of wealth in human history and paying his lowest tax burden in half a century!

Most of the recipients of the Bush tax cuts are middle class. Raising their taxes is going to reduce, not increase government revenue.

What drugs are you on/may I please have some?

[Frodo]

Sounds like common sense -we'll see if he has the spine to stick with his position after getting raked over the coals by the Tea Party that wants everything and wants it now!