Kerry Says He Would Cap Federal Spending

[ShapeShifter]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040407/ap_on_el_pr/kerry&cid=536&ncid=536

seems like Kerry is trying to down play the image that Democrats are big spenders. i don't know, but i think this is a smart move on his part because he is moving towards the center which is what you are suppose to do come november.

what you guys think? maybe i am just crazy

[Beet]

I think Kerry is still developing his plan and we don't know exactly what that will look at but he's showing us what he would one piece at a time. A move towards fiscal discipline is certainly welcome. Even if he wanted to be a big spender however, a Kerry as President would not be able to get big spending plans through the Congress. But I think he wants to be an economic moderate.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Kerry needs to be both economically liberal and fiscally conservative.

[angus]

Kerry needs to be both economically liberal and fiscally conservative.

Some of that is out of his hands.  Remember the Fed.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I was talking about campaigning

[California Dreamer]

this along with his call to cut corporate taxes are shrewd moves on his run to the center.

and certainly goes against his 'tax and spend' label that Bush/Rove have been slapping on him.


The question is....how is he going to deliver on the programs he is pushing?

[Dave from Michigan]

He's not going to cap anything he'll out spend Bush in no time. Look at all the programs he's proposed. Even if he rolls ack Bush's tax cut just for the "rich" it's still not enough.  If Kerry gets elected after one term he'll make Bush look fiscally conservative.

[The Vorlon]

this along with his call to cut corporate taxes are shrewd moves on his run to the center.

and certainly goes against his 'tax and spend' label that Bush/Rove have been slapping on him.


The question is....how is he going to deliver on the programs he is pushing?

Somebody (I forget who, but it was a good line) discribed the 2000 GOP convention, roughly as follows...

"A bunch of Conservatives, pretending to be LIberals, so that Moderates don't think they are too scary..."

I suspect that Kerry's kick at the can with Business tax cuts, spendings caps is the same logic, just in reverse...

[MN-Troy]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040407/ap_on_el_pr/kerry&cid=536&ncid=536

seems like Kerry is trying to down play the image that Democrats are big spenders. i don't know, but i think this is a smart move on his part because he is moving towards the center which is what you are suppose to do come november.

what you guys think? maybe i am just crazy

Very similar to the proposed middle class tax cut Bill Clinton ran on in the '92 election, which means it's a bunch of hog wash.

The Republicans are terrible at keeping the spending down, but the Democrats are even worse.

[agcatter]

Kerry has to pose as a budget balancer so he can get elected and then be free to do his liberal thing.

[StevenNick]

Kerry is either a moron or a liar.  He proposes nearly $2 trillion in new government spending, the says he's going to cut the deficit in half in four years, and now he says he's for spending caps.  What the hell???  Is this man capable of not contradicting himself?

[Lunar]

Kerry is either a moron or a liar.  He proposes nearly $2 trillion in new government spending, the says he's going to cut the deficit in half in four years, and now he says he's for spending caps.  What the hell???  Is this man capable of not contradicting himself?

You don't have to regurgitate EVERYTHING you hear man.  Kind of obvious.

Relax, just like Bush, Kerry's a politician and will promise more than he can deliver.

[California Dreamer]

Relax, just like Bush, Kerry's a politician and will promise more than he can deliver.

come on...didnt you realise that when he said he was a compassionate conservative who was a uniter not a divider....he was just kidding.

I swear some people have no sense of humor

...did you hear the one about not nation buidling...it was hillarious

[ShapeShifter]

Relax, just like Bush, Kerry's a politician and will promise more than he can deliver.

come on...didnt you realise that when he said he was a compassionate conservative who was a uniter not a divider....he was just kidding.

I swear some people have no sense of humor

...did you hear the one about not nation buidling...it was hillarious

yea I heard about that one.

[classical liberal]

It would be interesting to see a campaign as showing Bush's campaign promisses vs what he's delivered.  I don't understand how people applaud Bush for knowing where he wants to go; he has absolute power at the moment, so where he wants to go should be exactly where we are.  The fact that we aren't exactly where he wants us to be should be a testament to his lack of leadership ability.

[Lunar]

Yes.  It's important for a lot of people to realize that they're politicians first.

The closest I could find was a non-partisan site's analysis of his first 100 days:
http://www.opensecrets.org/bush/100days/

It's actually a very interesting site that you can track campaign contributions and discolusure.  You can go to the entertainment or tobacco industry and see what percentage they give each party.

[angus]

"A move towards fiscal discipline is certainly welcome."
  --Beet

tough counterargument I'll admit.  "ain't gonna be no cap for a while.  might as well enjoy the spending spree.  got any new weapons testing grounds picked out yet?"

yeah, this just may be a wise move on their part.

[opebo]

'Fiscal Discipline' is a fairly unimportant concept that should be about tenth on our list of priorities at the moment.  As long as most of the spending is on the military and wars its all good.

[classical liberal]

'Fiscal Discipline' is a fairly unimportant concept that should be about tenth on our list of priorities at the moment.  As long as most of the spending is on the military and wars its all good.

I'm not even going to start on the many dimensions of incorrectness in this statement.

[zorkpolitics]

A cap on federal spending is a great idea.  Bush should introduce a bill limiting spending increases to the rate of inflation and ask Kerry to co-sponsor it.  
While he is at it, why not bring back one of the OCntract with America goals?  Ask Kerry to co-sponsor a line item veto so Bush can veto wasteful Pork?

[opebo]

'Fiscal Discipline' is a fairly unimportant concept that should be about tenth on our list of priorities at the moment.  As long as most of the spending is on the military and wars its all good.

I'm not even going to start on the many dimensions of incorrectness in this statement.

My point was that as long as it doesn't mess with the incentives that are so important for Capitalism to work it isn't a big deal.  Buying war materiel is much less damaging than providing a dole for example.

[classical liberal]

For every penny we borrow we have to pay interest on it.  We really only should buy new guns to maintain the truth of the fact that we have the best equiped military in the world.  As long as we're better than everyone else we really shouldn't be killing our credit.

[Lunar]

Switching the focus on research to keep ahead is important too.  We rely on numbers like we used to.

[StevenNick]

Relax, just like Bush, Kerry's a politician and will promise more than he can deliver.

come on...didnt you realise that when he said he was a compassionate conservative who was a uniter not a divider....he was just kidding.

I swear some people have no sense of humor

...did you hear the one about not nation buidling...it was hillarious

I'm not surprised or even revolted by politicians abandoning campaign promises after being elected.  It seems like a new phenomenon for a candidate to promise multiple, contradictory things in his campaign.  George W didn't express his aversion to nation building and then talk about overthrowing Saddam Hussein in the same breath.  Kerry, on the other hand, doesn't have any problem openly contradicting himself in the course of the campaign.

At least in other campaigns candidates lie consistently.  Are Kerry supporters so dumb that they don't realize they're being lied to?