Posted on 07/17/2009 5:02:07 AM PDT by Tolik
Just a partial list. Much more at the link: http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/victordavishanson/index
Let me know if you want in or out.
Links: FR Index of his articles: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=victordavishanson
His website: http://victorhanson.com/
NRO archive: http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp
Pajamasmedia: http://victordavishanson.pajamasmedia.com/
... Consider the political effects of Bill Clintons two budget surplus years and ignore the ongoing argument to what effect they were the result of creative accounting, not sustainable, or any of the other conservatives rationalizations use to deprecate the achievement. The truth is that they were, and are, now accepted as unusual achievements.
... So just assume that by hook and crook Clinton balanced the budget and examine the ensuing political fallout (We are talking politics now, not economics).
By the end of his term, the United States was headed into a recession. The president was mired in sexual scandal and had been impeached, and yet his ratings remained overwhelmingly positive. Clearly part of the Clintonian resilience was because Americans not only were relieved that they were not piling up debt on their children, but through modest surpluses were making some progress in paying down the national debt. And they gave Clinton credit (not just the Republican Congress that forced him to stop excessive spending), which trumped his otherwise deplorable behavior.
As you can see, Hanson knows the argument that Clinton's balanced budget was not quite so and anyway who was really responsible for it - the Republican Congress. The main point remains - the public in large remembers that as "Clinton balanced the budget". We are talking about perception here that reflects the reality, but not the reality itself. And as we know, in politics perception beats the reality. Especially with the help of our Orwellian Media.
Dr. Hanson is wrong when he says “Bush at least gave us tax cuts but a large deficit. “
The deficits ballooned after 9/11 to protect the nation. In FY2007, the deficit was down to $250 billion and on a clear multi-year trajectory toward a balanced budget. The Democrat engineered train wreck of the economy (by forcing banks to abandon lending standards so the poorest of the poor could own a home with an ARM) is what destroyed the financial system and led us to the current mess including the $2 TRILLION deficit, 8 times larger than Bush’s last full year in office.
I like Dr. Hanson a lot, but at times his Democrat background continues to seep through his otherwise impeccable logic.
Not true.
The National Debt has not decreased year-to-year since 1957.
On June 30, 1957 the debt was about $2 billion less than it was on June 30, 1956.
Here is the historical record.
There were a couple of years in the late 1990s when the debt "only" went up $20 billion or so, but it's been up continuously every single year since 1957.
There were a couple of years in the late 1990s when the debt "only" went up $20 billion
True. But in the public eye it was as good as balanced budget, especially comparing to what we have now.
2009-2010 budget 3.6 trillion dollars.
I'm not sure how much of the stimulus/tarp shush fund is part of the budget.
New Obamacare plan costs? Wildly low (lying) estimate of 1 trillion dollars over ten years with 587 billion dollars in savings because government is running it. (How can these fark heads lie so boldly?)
Last year we paid about 451 billion dollars in interest on our national debt. With the additional trillion dollar stimulus, trillion dollar deficit in this years budget, we could see interest payments on the debt top 1 trillion dollars per year by the end of Obama's ruination of our countries economy. Especially if interest rates start going nuts and we have to funnel money through Goldman Sachs or the Fed to other countries to make it look like they are still buying up our debt. Remember our tax collections in 2008 were only 2.5 trillion dollars.
57 trillion dollars in UNFUNDED liabilities that our government has promised it's citizens. Not counting city and state pensions that are under funded. The cities and states are depending on taxes to increase each year to fund their pensions.
Remember our tax collections in 2008 were 2.5 trillion dollars.
Is that some scary math or what?
And they say the Obama care is going to cost 100 billion dollars per year? They are f'n lying!!! If we have 50 million uninsured and spending 100 billion to Obamacare them, they are talking about providing medical care for 50 million people at $2,000 per year! I've been trying to track down how many people are getting Medicare and Medicaid to determine how far 682 billion dollars a year goes? Does anyone know?
CONGRESS writes the budget. CONGRESS passes the budget. The president does NOT have a line item veto. He either passes it or vetoes it. If he vetoes it, CONGRESS stops paying the bills for everything. It just doesn’t work!
There needs to be a constitutional amendment to permit the line item veto.
What exactly is wrong with Congress stopping paying the bills for everything?
I’m not afraid of a “government shutdown”. Shut it down permanently.
Remember when Gingrich tried it from the congress side. It isn’t really possible with the current size of government.
I quit reading right there.
This Keynesian nonsense is the old democrat coming out in Hanson.
You are absolutely right! It won't faze the Hanson worshipers here, however. They see him as a sage philosopher and historian who can do no wrong. Interestingly, Hanson barely uttered a whimper of protest against Bush's big government policies including the bailouts. It seems that he only trots out the free market purple prose when Democrats are in office. His first and foremost concern is spreading Wilsonian Democracy around the world, not fighting big government at home.
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I would like to ban the word 'trillion'. Even billion does not mean much to the average person. Thousandbillion is a much better way to document what is happening - as the CBO graphic does: Total $2,979 B
Or 'trillion-with-twelve-zeros' should become one word whenever money is being discussed.
How did "no child left behind" and medicare drug programs protect the nation. The facts are Bush and his Republican Congress were big spenders.
The American people for the most part are too ignorant of the impact of policy decisions on their lives. It will be years before we have to face the music on what the Democrats have done since 2007 and especially starting this year.
I wish I had your optimism.
What makes me sound like an optimist? We have not seen the effect of government health care, cap and tax or massive deficits yet.
That it will be years before we have to face the music.
It will be.....
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