The Sequester Debacle in the US

[pErvinalia]

Huh? Is "right-wing theories" an insult?

Reported.

[Drewish]

Hey lookee here, red bars and blue bars. It's all history now.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infographics/us-national-debt

No no no. 1.4 trillion as the cost of both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? And labeling all the domestic and defense spending as Bush policies? Do you seriously believe that bullshit?

[Ian]

Hey lookee here, red bars and blue bars. It's all history now.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infographics/us-national-debt

No no no. 1.4 trillion as the cost of both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? And labeling all the domestic and defense spending as Bush policies? Do you seriously believe that bullshit?

I don't think they should've labeled all the domestic and defense spending as Bush policies, though the spending on them (esp. defense) did increase a lot during the Bush years. But I do think the big grey one at the top ought to have a good tint of red to it.

There seems to be a major line of thought out there that Obama is on some kind of unprecedented spending spree. When confronted by contradictory information, dismissing it as "bullshit" helps to avert what might be an uncomfortable discussion.

As The Architect says, "Denial is the most predictable of all human responses."

[Drewish]

And so is sticking words in my mouth. Not that you'd have any fucking clue when you're making a straw man argument. Now why isn't that foe setting working?

EDIT -

You cannot add administrators and moderators to your foes list.

Shit.

[Ian]

Be a grownup and don't use a foe thing, ffs. And what words did I stick in your mouth? I'm trying to have an actual discussion here.

[Drewish]

And I DON'T WANT to have a discussion with you. I'm responding to comments made by other people. You don't know when you're using non-sequitors. You don't know when you're applying a double standard. It makes having a discussion with you impossible. I don't want to. I can't put you on ignore, so do ME a favor and put me on ignore.

[Ian]

Okay, so don't have a discussion with me about how unreasonable I am. But when you (or anyone else for that matter, this being a forum) post opinions I find to be unreasonable or factually inaccurate, I may or may not respond to them by posting my own opinions, or facts I find on the net. You don't have to reply back to them if you don't want.

And no, I'm not going to put you on ignore. I really don't understand what the problem here is.

[Warren Dew]

Care to discuss how well massive budget cuts have helped Europe recover so well? Or do you just want to cheer on impending budget cuts based on right-wing theories rather than actual history?

The people who had their fourteen months of pay per year cut to thirteen months per year are not the reason Greece has so many unemployed - they're still employed. It's the people thrown out of work because of increased taxes on businesses there that are out on the street.

Obama's put us on the road to the same with the increase in small business taxes in the fiscal cliff deal. He seems to be aiming to finish the job with tax increases instead of the sequester. Hopefully he'll be blocked, and the sequester will go into effect as scheduled, barring some miracle of a veto override that replaces the sequester with other equal or larger cuts.

[JimC]

I honestly thought this would be about sequestration of folks captured in the war against terror...

[pErvinalia]

I thought it was going to be about sequestering carbon..

[Clinton Huxley]

I didn't know what it was going to be about but I knew I wasn't going to enjoy it.

[JimC]

I didn't know what it was going to be about but I knew I wasn't going to enjoy it.

Lie back and think of England...

[Coito ergo sum]

The whole thing is a bunch of nonsense. There is no fiscal cliff, no
disaster looming on the horizon
http://news.yahoo.com/greatest-sequeste ... itics.html

At the same time, we’re spending less on unemployment benefits. First-time unemployment claims continue to hover at the relatively high level of 360,000. But thanks to an improving jobs market and the expiration of extended unemployment benefits, the number of people receiving benefits has fallen sharply

Just pointing out one obvious way that article fudges the numebrs. Seriously. That article is trash, absolute garbage making it seem like our deficit isn't still growing (in fact it claims that it's shrinking) and that the economy has recovered (unemployment numbers say otherwise). I really do hope you were linking to that as a good source of something to be mocked.

The deficit's still growing? Is this something you're hearing? It has shrunk by half a trillion dollars over the last four years.

Not exactly. It rose the first 2 years of Obama's administration and shrank after that. It is not, however, 1/2 a trillion lower than it was when Obama took office.

Care to discuss how well massive budget cuts have helped Europe recover so well? Or do you just want to cheer on impending budget cuts based on right-wing theories rather than actual history?

The countries that actually did act responsibly -- Germany, Estonia, etc. did well. The countries that didn't, well, they're dragging the rest down. Some were so bloated and top heavy that even modest reductions and cutbacks caused rioting in the streets. Fuck the Greeks. You want to retire at 60? (or whatever) Go fuck yourselves. You want 8 weeks of vacation mandated by law per year? (or whatever) Go fuck yourselves.

[Clinton Huxley]

Germany is now also faltering.

[klr]

Germany is now also faltering.

It must be the Yellow Peril. Kaiser Bill might have been onto something after all.