The Deficit is the Economy, Stupid! June 10th, 2009

America’s collective debt is the mother of all of our economic woes. Many on the left are far too dismissive of its import, while those on the right are predictably selective in their outrage.

This from today’s NYT is pretty straight-up:

The story of today’s deficits starts in January 2001, as President Bill Clinton was leaving office. The Congressional Budget Office estimated then that the government would run an average annual surplus of more than $800 billion a year from 2009 to 2012. Today, the government is expected to run a $1.2 trillion annual deficit in those years…..

You can think of that roughly $2 trillion swing as coming from four broad categories: the business cycle, President George W. Bush’s policies, policies from the Bush years that are scheduled to expire but that Mr. Obama has chosen to extend, and new policies proposed by Mr. Obama…..

The solution, though, is no mystery. It will involve some combination of tax increases and spending cuts. And it won’t be limited to pay-as-you-go rules, tax increases on somebody else, or a crackdown on waste, fraud and abuse. Your taxes will probably go up, and some government programs you favor will become less generous.

So now we have one ideology that says you can never raise taxes, and a countervailing political movement that says you have to iniate massive programs to stimulate the economy out of the great rececssion. For the record, I am an ardent Obama supporter. I’ve waited my entire life for a president to articulate plans to rebuild America’s infrastructure, create a real national health care system, and build a renewable energy base. But the deficits are real, and very problematic. So as a patriotic American, I am calling for substantial spending cuts (military weapons procurement, means testing social security and medicare, and much more), as well as tax-increases. Repeal the Bush tax-cuts on upper income Americans immediately, and build national healthcare!

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Marc Gopin Comments on Obama Speech Chez Zej June 9th, 2009

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Narrative Crossroads May 29th, 2009

I received an email blast from the Israel Project today that announced, “Obama Calls on Palestinians to End Culture of Hate.”

And I agree completely. I also agree with the J-Street campaign to freeze the growth of settlements. In fact I strongly believe that the Palestinians should stop using terror, and the Israelis should roll back settlements and remove checkpoints in the West Bank.

In fact most Zionist sympathizers (let’s call ‘em “those on the right” to simplify the argument) would agree that the Palestinians should abandon violence and hatred, and most Palestinian sympathizers (let’s call them “the left” …) would agree that Israel should roll back the settlements and remove checkpoints. It is in reality far more complicated, but this in a nutshell is the problem. Until Israel realizes that it has to roll back settlements and remove checkpoints and  the Palestinians realize they have to abandon hatred the cycle of violence will continue, and each side will continue to shout their certainties to their own choirs. And more people will die, and Israel will not be secure.

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