Seems to me that Old Uncle Miltie Friedman said that deficits could be a good thing since they force cuts in social spending. Maybe he would approve the bailout on those grounds!
Cheers, k hanly Blog: http://kenthink7.blogspot.com/index.html Blog: http://kencan7.blogspot.com/index.html --- On Thu, 9/25/08, Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Pen-l] Obama: bailout will force social spending cutbacks > To: "PEN-L list" <[email protected]> > Date: Thursday, September 25, 2008, 9:57 AM > http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0a4fefee-89d2-11dd-8371-0000779fd18c.html > > Obama concedes delay in plans > By Andrew Ward in Detroit and Daniel Dombey in Washington > > Barack Obama acknowledged for the first time yesterday that > the > financial crisis could force him to rein in his ambitious > spending plans > as the proposed $700bn bail-out of Wall Street threatens to > plunge the > government deeper into debt. > > The Democratic presidential candidate hoped that much of > the public > money committed to the financial sector would be recovered, > but said it > was likely some of his spending plans would be delayed. > > "Does that mean I can do everything that I've > called for in this > campaign right away? Probably not," he told NBC's > Today programme. "I > think we're going to have to phase it in." > > His remarks reflected a growing realisation that the > financial crisis - > and the government's costly resp-onse to it - had > transformed the fiscal > landscape for the next president and thrown both > candidates' economic > programmes into doubt. > > The US was facing a record $480bn (€327bn, £259bn) > budget deficit next > year even before recent events, and the proposed bail-out > threatens to > push it to more than $1,000bn. > > Both candidates would be constrained by the crisis. Mr > Obama wants to > commit an additional $130bn a year to an array of new > federal programmes > while cutting taxes on the middle classes by $80bn. The > shopping list > includes $65bn on healthcare, $18bn on education and $15bn > on green > energy initiatives. > > John McCain, his Republican opponent, plans a sharp cut in > corporate > taxes that could reduce federal revenues by up to $300bn a > year. > > In later comments at an event in Florida, the Democratic > nominee > insisted that "a lot" of his spending plans would > be financed by changes > to the budget elsewhere, arguing that, in times of economic > difficulty, > healthcare improvements and a middle class tax cut were > more important > than ever. > > But he added: "It would be irresponsible of me to say > I am not going to > take into account what things look like should I take > office", > highlighting uncertainty over whether the US economy would > recover or > "slide deeper into recession". > > Mr Obama plans to help fund his proposals by raising taxes > on people > earning more than $250,000 but he acknowledged this month > that rate > increases might have to wait until the economy had > stabilised. > > He said it was still unclear how much the bail-out would > cost taxpayers > and what its impact would be on the budget. > > "Although we are potentially providing $700bn in > available money to the > Treasury, we don't anticipate that all that money gets > spent right away > and we don't anticipate that all that money is lost. > How we're going to > structure that in budget terms still has to be > decided," he said. > > Opinion polls have so far shown Mr Obama benefiting from > the crisis by > refocusing attention on the struggling economy and failures > of the > Republican administration. > > Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008 > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
