President Obama is right. Looks like he and Krugman and Stiglitz and many economists agree on this core point. Of course, Joe Scarborough, noted ignoramus, disagrees, as does John Boehner.
One day after Republicans rolled out a detailed proposal aimed at eliminating the federal deficit through steep cuts and repealing many of the president’s accomplishments, Mr. Obama told them pointedly in a rare visit that their highest fiscal priority was not his.
“Our biggest problems in the next 10 years are not deficits,” the president said, according to accounts from the meeting, bluntly rejecting an idea that has become Republican fiscal dogma.
That left many Republicans, who are resisting the president’s calls to close tax loopholes that benefit the wealthy, wondering where they could find room for compromise.
“Well, he doesn’t want to balance the budget in 10 years, and he wants tax increases, and he wants new spending,” Representative Darrell Issa of California said as he left the meeting early. “But other than that, we’re close.”
NY Times
As bad as the sequester is, it appears that any deal with Republicans would be far worse.
Today Republican Speaker John Boehner demands that President Obama force Democrats to agree to much of the Ryan budget/war on America:
The president also doesn’t share the goal of a balanced budget, despite frequent talk of a “balanced approach.” But we need to try, because doing so is vital to ensuring that our children and grandchildren have a chance to live the American dream.
The problem, in large part, is that Democrats refuse to make the tough choices necessary to solve our long-term debt crisis. Despite enacting $650 billion worth of tax hikes in January, they would rather raise taxes again and tinker around the edges on entitlements — if at all — while spending on these and many other federal programs continues on autopilot.
This is not how we’ll fix Washington’s spending problem. The president knows that. During our debt discussions in 2011, he supported such reforms as raising the Medicare eligibility age and achieving savings in Medicaid. He has since taken these reforms off the table. Instead of continuing to backpedal, the president could put these ideas back in the mix — and make it so that this budget process isn’t just a political exercise that goes nowhere.
John Boehner: Obama’s outreach is nice, but where’s the leadership?
Far from ensuring the "American Dream," adoption of the Ryan budget would ensure an American Nightmare for current and future generations, a Pottersville rather than Bedford Falls. (If Republicans had made "It's a Wonderful Life," Mr. Potter would have prevailed in that version: "Every time a bell rings, a worker is thrown out of his or her home!")
Boehner ignores the trillions of dollars of cuts already made that have created headwinds harming the still nascent recovery.
The best outcome here is no deal. We have to win in November 2014. And the next two years will be a teachable moment to Americans regarding government spending, as they see some of it disappear.
I hope President Obama spends much time campaigning in the next two years, using OFA and all other resources, and repeating this core principle like a mantra so people understand:
“Our biggest problems in the next 10 years are not deficits,”