Jim Devine
-------- Original message --------
Subject:Let William Black help you celebrate this holiday!
From:David Marple <[email protected]>
To:[email protected]
Cc:
Geithner also spoke in favor of the August deal, and he completed the
pro-austerity mantra by invoking what Paul Krugman has aptly dubbed [3] the
“confidence fairy.”
“‘You’re going to see this basic underlying growth we’ve see in the United
States improve over time because people will be more confident we can live
within our means,’ [Geithner] said. ‘With more confidence we can get our arms
around this long term. We will have more room to do the things we need to
strengthen investment jobs now.’”
The confidence fairy stubbornly refuses to appear, but Geithner’s faith in
fairies abides.
Note Obama’s explanation for why he approved the August 2011 austerity
program. He was delighted that the “fiscal cliff” provision imposed “a strong
incentive” on Democrats to agree to inflict severe cuts in social programs and
the safety net. Obama issued a formal statement embracing (1) austerity, (2)
the “fiscal cliff” as a device to force Congress to inflict austerity, and (3)
the claim that the federal government is just like a household and should
balance its budget (“live within our means”).
“‘The sequester was agreed to by both parties to ensure there was a meaningful
enforcement mechanism to force a result from the Committee,’ the White House
said in a statement. ‘Congress must not shirk its responsibilities. The
American people deserve to have their leaders come together and make the tough
choices necessary to live within our means, just as American families do every
day in these tough economic times.’” – Washington Post [5]
Austerity is not a “tough choice.” It is a vicious, self-destructive policy
that is the result of equal parts ignorance and inhuman indifference to the
senseless suffering it causes. Obama and the nation have been saved from
austerity by luck, the Tea Party’s extremism, and progressive Democrats’
refusal to be bullied or panicked by Obama’s and the general media’s hysterical
and false claims about deficits and the safety net. Obama’s pitch for
austerity and unraveling the safety net cannot withstand even cursory review.
His “logic” is:
We must act urgently to avoid the “fiscal cliff” because it would inflict
austerity and force the nation back into a gratuitous recession, and therefore,
We must urgently adopt a budget deal that inflicts even greater austerity and
begins to destroy the safety net
As our Senator, Claire McCaskill, said recently: “whiplash!”
I propose that we all celebrate the failure of the July 2011 Obama/Boehner deal
to inflict austerity on the nation and the failure of Obama’s effort to use the
“fiscal cliff” to extort progressive members of Congress into supporting
austerity and the unraveling of the safety net. I also propose that we send
Obama on an inspection tour of Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece.
This visit would not involve meeting heads of state. Obama should visit each
of these nations and talk with the people. We would never have to defend the
nation from another effort by him to engage in the self-mutilation of our
economy and people. Absent such an awakening by Obama, progressives will need
to step up and save Obama from Obama, America from austerity, and the safety
net from Wall Street at least one more time.
Article printed from The Big Picture: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog
URL to article:
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/12/lets-celebrate-the-failure-of-the-july-2011great-betrayal/
URLs in this post:
[1] William K. Black: http://neweconomicperspectives.org/p/about.html
[2] New Economic Perspectives: http://neweconomicperspectives.org
[3] second effort:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/debt-ceiling-deal-president-obama-signs-bill-fight-looms/story?id=14213050
[4] Obama said:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/08/with-default-averted-obama-looks-to-jobs.html
[5] Obama intervened:
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-11-11/politics/35284532_1_top-tax-rate-supercommittee-trillion-in-new-taxes
[6] August debt deal:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cbo-confirms-debt-deal-would-save-at-least-21-trillion/2011/08/01/gIQAzmMVnI_story.html
[7] pushed the “super committee” to “go big” and inflict $4 trillion in
austerity:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/06/moderate-lawmakers-lead-insurrection-urge-super-committee-to-defy-leadership/
[8] to warn before the election:
http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2012/11/wall-street-urges-obama-to-commit-the-great-betrayal.html
[9] failed to reach:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/supercommittee-fails-to-reach-bipartisan-deal/
[10] not an outlier:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/14/one-day-after-doubts-lawmakers-put-on-brave-face-for-super-committee-deal/
[11] New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/us/politics/03spend.html
[12] Medicare:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier
[13] Medicaid:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicaid/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier
[14] Social Security:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/social_security_us/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier
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