Debt
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Opinion: An excuse for slashing entitlements - POLITICO.com Print View
With all the talk of Standard & Poor’s downgrade, no one mentioned that the ratings agency’s business model is, essentially, lying for money. Instead, many politicians insist that the S&P downgrade is the reason for the market turmoil — not the banking freeze-ups in the Eurozone or political paralysis here. The credibility accorded to S&P by U.S. political elites shows that the rot is indeed deep — and worrisome. Continue Reading Let’s note, at the start, that this downgrade was absurd .
In the midst of the debt crisis in Washington, D.C., Danny Hartzell backed a Budget rental truck up to a no-frills apartment building that is on a strip of motels and pawnshops in Tampa, Florida. He had been laid off by a packaging plant during the financial crisis of 2008, had run through his unemployment benefits, and had then taken a part-time job stocking shelves at Target in the middle of the night, for $8.50 an hour. His daughter had developed bone cancer, and he was desperate to make money, but his hours soon dwindled to four or five a week. In April, Hartzell was terminated. His last biweekly paycheck was for a hundred and forty dollars, after taxes. “It’s kind of like I’ve fallen into that non-climbable-out-of rut,” he said.
George Packer: The Debt-Ceiling Fight Continues
Harold McGraw III
McGraw at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, 2011. Harold Whittlesey "Terry" McGraw III (born 1948) [ 1 ] is chairman , president and chief executive officer (CEO) of McGraw-Hill Companies and chairman of the Business Roundtable , an association of CEOs of American companies. [ edit ] At McGraw-Hill
This is the best the White House could salvage after inexplicably failing to insist that the debt ceiling be raised as part of December’s deal to extend the Bush tax cuts — which would have let the country avoid this unprecedented exercise in self-inflicted damage? If you put aside the talking points both sides will peddle, the disappointing contours of the emerging endgame run as follows: First, Washington will do nothing more to boost jobs and growth. The best that can be said is that the spending cuts will be tiny in the next two years, so the feds won’t be contracting demand, save for the end of the stimulus. Our epic jobs crisis remains ignored.
The debt deal: Disaster averted, decline straight ahead
The Nauseating Debt-Ceiling 'Solution' - James Fallows - Politics
I agree with Matt Miller : (needless) disaster averted, decline embraced. >>So this is what we've driven the global economy and America's credit rating to the brink for? ... This is the best the White House could salvage after inexplicably failing to insist that the debt ceiling be raised as part of December's deal to extend the Bush tax cuts -- which would have let the country avoid this unprecedented exercise in self-inflicted damage?Despite what antigovernment conservatives say, non- defense discretionary spending on areas like foreign aid, education and food safety was not a driving factor in creating the deficits. In fact, such spending, accounting for only 15 percent of the budget, has been basically flat as a share of the economy for decades. Cutting it simply will not fill the deficit hole. The first graph shows the difference between budget projections and budget reality.
How the Deficit Got This Big
The Chart That Should Accompany All Discussions of the Debt Ceiling - James Fallows - Politics
It's this one, from yesterday's New York Times . Click for a more detailed view, though it's pretty clear as is. It's based on data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.