Report by CBO Shows The Recovery Act Reduced the Deficit

I found the link to this report on BobCesca.com and had to share the report and some of the information with you.

This report was written by Economists Alan Blinder and Mark Zandi and published by the CBO. This chart shows what the deficit would be without the Recovery Act and how it is WITH the Recovery Act.

From the Wonk Room at Think Progress comes this:

Their conclusion is that had the combined financial and fiscal policies not been enacted, “GDP in 2010 would be about 6.5 percent lower, payroll employment would be less by some 8.5 million jobs, and the nation would be experiencing deflation.”

Blinder and Zandi break out their estimates separately for the financial policies and the fiscal policies. They estimate that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and other fiscal policies have saved or created 2.7 million jobs and without them, unemployment would stand at 11 percent and job losses would have totaled 10 million. On top of this, they estimate that if nothing had been done to address the financial crisis — no Troubled Asset Relief Program, no bailout of American International Group Inc, and no investment in the auto industry — our economy would have 5 million fewer jobs than we do today and unemployment would be sharply higher, at 12.5 percent.

However, one tidbit in the report that has received little notice is that by acting, Congress actually reduced our potential deficit problem. Given the policy steps taken, Blinder and Zandi estimate that by the end of the 2010 fiscal year, the federal budget deficit will be $1.4 trillion and it will fall to $1.15 trillion in fiscal year 2011 and $900 billion in fiscal year 2012.

The bolding is mine... because I wanted to make sure you saw it. For some reason all these so called Deficit Hawks are ignoring this in their reports and talking. Here is more:

However, had Congress done nothing, the deficit would have ballooned even higher, hitting over $2 trillion by the end of the 2010 fiscal year, $2.6 trillion in fiscal year 2011, and $2.25 trillion in fiscal year 2012. That’s right, doing nothing would have meant that the 2012 federal budget deficit would likely be over 2.5 times as large as taking the steps we took.

Once again bolding is mine. This is something we should be shouting from the rooftops and lording over the GOPers who are claiming now to want to reduce the deficit. A deficit that is largely due to their policies and the spending that went on during the years of 2001 and 2006 especially and to a smaller extent from 2006 to 2008.

Here is a nifty little chart that shows all the spending and how it is divided by category

As is shown by this chart the Bush Tax Cuts and the downturn of the economy added much more to the deficit than anything President Obama and the current Congress has done.

If you want to read the entire article from the Wonk Room, just give it a click.

We need to get this out and let people know the TRUTH about what is going on with the Finances of our Country. I have not seen this on any media outlet and I know it will never get much play if any on Faux Noise, because it tells the truth.

I hope you read the report and post these charts so everyone can see them... Please feel free to take anything you want... Linky love if you can, but is not necessary. I just want everyone, including some of the RWNJ's out there to see these and try to explain how the GOPers are going to fix this.
.

The Road to Recovery and the Party of NO

Sometimes the road to recovery is longer and harder than we expect it to be. We live in an instant society and we expect and want things yesterday. That's what people have expected from our government in this recession.

You know it took us about 20 years to get to this point, really. This mess all started when the champion of the right came into power. Saint Ronnie started this downhill slide when he created this trickle down economics mess and the deregulation and it has just grown since then. Yes, we have had some good times during the years since then, when we have had some recovery in there, or like when Bill Clinton was in office and he actually turned things around by using some common sense and overturning some of the tax cuts Sir Ronnie put in.

Then Georgie came in and undid what Pres. Clinton was trying to fix, and here we are. Now, 6 months into Pres. Obama's 1st term, people are wondering why he doesn't have it fixed yet and why things aren't getting better yet. Well, folks it takes time.

Today in my email from Think Progress they pointed out 3 myth's about the Recovery the Right Winger's are pushing.

MYTH #1 -- ELECTORAL CONSIDERATIONS ARE DRIVING THE DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS: This myth popped up most prominently in a USA Today story yesterday, with the headline, "Billions in aid go to areas that backed Obama in '08." According to this USA Today analysis, "Counties that supported Obama last year have reaped twice as much money per person from the administration's $787 billion economic stimulus package as those that voted for his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain." Naturally, the right wing immediately picked up this report as evidence of malevolent political manipulation by the Obama administration. Fox News host Stuart Varney devoted an entire segment to it, and Sean Hannity blasted it out to his nearly 30,000 Twitter followers. If they had read the whole story, however, the likes of Varney and Hannity would have discovered that there was nothing there. In fact, in the second paragraph of the piece, reporter Brad Heath wrote, "Much of it [the stimulus funds] has followed a well-worn path to places that regularly collect a bigger share of federal grants and contracts, guided by formulas that have been in place for decades and leave little room for manipulation." These formulas are largely based on where the need is greatest. Adam Hughes of the non-profit OMB Watch said that "it would be almost inconceivable for [the spending imbalance] to be the result of political tinkering."

MYTH #2 -- NO NEW JOBS HAVE BEEN CREATED: "How can we sit here and claim success when people are hurting out there?" House Minority Whip Eric Cantor compassionately complained on MSNBC last month. "We already know, as of now, at the rate that we lost jobs last month, over eight people a minute in America are losing their jobs. That's eight families without a paycheck." Similarly, in a New York Daily News op-ed he wrote, "To put it generously, the $787 billion bill has not been the 'temporary, targeted and timely' job-creating machine the public was sold." House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has called the recovery package nothing short of "generational theft," and declared, "When it comes to slow-moving government spending programs, it's clear that it doesn't create the jobs." These claims are false. In fact, the recovery act is creating jobs right in their districts. And it's important to remember that the purpose of the legislation was also to save American jobs. Even Boehner has had to admit these facts. In a little-noticed press release, the Minority Leader highlighted the Obama administration's recent order that the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) redirect $57 million to shovel-ready projects. He said that he was "pleased" that the funds would "create much-needed jobs." A few weeks later, when Boehner was back to lashing out at the stimulus, the ODOT actually came out and criticized him. ODOT's spokesman called Boehner's inaccurate statements "disappointing" and pointed out that the agency had just approved "six more stimulus road projects, which will cost about $43 million." Cantor's hypocrisy has also been highlighted by the media, who have noted that he is a backer of using stimulus funds to bring high-speed rail to Virginia because it would create...jobs.

MYTH #3 -- THE RECOVERY IS A TOTAL FAILURE: The Republican National Committee released a new web ad yesterday, declaring the stimulus a "failure." But leading economists agree that it's too early to make any such determinations. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that "about a quarter of the money would be spent by year's end, and that about 75 percent would flow by the end of 2010." In other words, as Center for American Progress Senior Economist Heather Boushey has explained, "the largest job gains from [stimulus] spending were projected to occur in the late fall through 2010." So far, the spending appears to be on track. The health care and education sectors, both of which received stimulus money, have shown net job gains since the recession began. Furthermore, Obama noted that infrastructure projects were always going to take "six months to eight months to get that money actually into the ground because that's the nature of big infrastructure projects."

President Obama's administration has been doing everything he can to push the realities of the $787 billion stimulus package, in the face of aggressive Republican misinformation. Vice President Biden, for example, traveled to Ohio yesterday, forcefully backing the recovery bill and asking for patience from the American public. "Remember, we're only 140 days into this deal. It's supposed to take 18 months," he said. Only $60 billion of $175 billion allocated to federal agencies so far has been paid out. Earlier this week, President Obama took time out of his trip to Moscow to discuss the recovery. "There's nothing that we would have done differently," he told ABC News. "We needed a stimulus and we needed a substantial stimulus." The republicans, who overwhelmingly voted against the recovery act in Congress and have still offered no new ideas, are now trying to sow public dissatisfaction. In fact, the "plans" that republicans have been offering are largely the same ones that put the country into the current economic mess. To create confusion, the GOPers just resort to sloppy attacks and make up lies. What else is new from them party of no?

This is One of the Stupidest Things I Have Heard Lately

I have heard this stupidity before, but it still causes me to shake my head every time I hear it. Even though they are supposed to be teaching and promoting gun safety and good gun ownership, all they are doing is fanning the flames of anarchy and hysteria.

They keep pushing the idea, albeit covertly that Pres. Obama will be taking their guns away.

Guess who is helping to lead this charge over the weekend...well the NRA convention is in his backyard so Sen. John McCain dropped in to help out, along with Michael Steele.

First watch this little video, from Think Progress, then we will have some statements.



Part of McCain's statement to the NRA this weekend,

"We can and should do more to crack down on the illegal transfer to Mexico of weapons acquired in the United States, which is a violation of both U.S. and Mexican law. But that doesn’t require us to restrict the rights of law-abiding American gun owners," McCain said to applause at the NRA's 138th annual meeting at U.S. Airways Center in downtown Phoenix. "Again, the United States must do all it can to assist (Mexican) President (Felipe) Calderon in his war against the drug cartels. And I know the NRA will continue to work with the Administration, Congress, and the states to prevent flow of illegal weapons into Mexico by continuing to promote legal gun ownership and sales in the United States while fighting against any limitation on Americans’ Second Amendment rights."

But, what he didn't say nor did anyone remind him or anyone at the NRA to the thunderous applause he got, nor was it pointed out last year on the campaign trail, that he held a different view in 2001. Here is his statement and his stance then:

In 2001, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., rattled the gun-rights lobby by collaborating with Sen. Joe Lieberman, then-D-Conn., on a bill to eliminate the so-called Brady law “loophole” that allows gun sales at shows without background checks.

“Criminals and gun traffickers have figured this out,” McCain said in a May 15, 2001, Senate floor speech announcing the ultimately unsuccessful measure. “Gun shows are the second leading source of illegal guns recovered in gun trafficking investigations. According to a recent report by Americans for Gun Safety, ‘the states that do not require background checks at gun shows are flooding the rest of the nation with crime guns.’ While 95 percent of buyers are cleared within two hours, the 5 percent who are not are 20 times more likely to be a prohibited purchaser. Background checks are an essential part of keeping guns from criminals and other prohibited individuals.”

But, why confuse anyone with facts, when the politics would just get in the way. It is so much easier to paint things in black and white and make Pres. Obama look bad, and try to make it look like he is trying to take away all guns instead of just enforcing current legislation and making common sense assault weapons bans.

Of course, Michael Steele, was the exact same way. He held the same views as Pres. Obama, until it was fashionable to hold differing views. But again, why should we confuse anyone with the facts.

Think Progress has the entire story at their blog, and you can check it out there. It is just amazing to me that people are so gullable they believe all this without checking into it and can't remember from one time to another what these people say.

Pres. Obama has been consistent with his views and his statements. Yet, he is trying to take their guns away, or that is their belief. It is stupidity on their part, and I do mean STUPIDITY. No other words for it.

Want me to repeat it.. I will be glad to.. YOU ARE STUPID!

Think Progress Has an Extensive Review of Torture Failures

Think Progress has an extensive review of torture, what some like to call "enhanced interrogation techniques", which shows the failures of each example that has been given by Cheney and all the others.

The review can be accessed here, and is a great listing of all the talking points given by the right and by the ones who defend the practices of the Bush Mis-Administration.

Among the many examples cited it uses this statement by none other than General David Petraeus, who some have held up as a person who could be the great white hope of the GOP in the future.

“Some may argue that we would be more effective if we sanctioned torture or other expedient methods to obtain information from the enemy. That would be wrong. Beyond the basic fact that such actions are illegal, history shows that they also are frequently neither useful nor necessary. Certainly, extreme physical action can make someone ‘talk;’ however, what the individual says may be of questionable value.” [Gen. David Petraeus, Letter to Multi-National Force-Iraq,

Just goes to show they need to be careful who they pin their hopes on, it may come back to bite them in the butt...lol

Another source they like to use, is that we train our military using some of these same techniques, called SERE so therefore it can't be torture. Well here is what one of the SERE Specialist's has to say.

“According to his testimony, ‘history has shown us that physical pressures are not effective for compelling an individual to give information or to do something’ and are not effective for gaining accurate, actionable intelligence.” [Terrence Russell, JPRA’s manager for research and development and a SERE specialist, testimony to Committee, 8/3/07. Senate Armed Services Report

Those are just a couple of examples from the extensive report they have done. There are many links, many statements with full backup, and much, much more that is worth the time to read and explore the examples they give.

Check out Think Progress Why Enhanced Interrogation Failed. Education, education. It is the only way we can make sure we can stay ahead of the right wingers and get the process done, so we can prosecute these criminals and get the real job of healing our nation done.