This page was last updated on May 12, 2011.
Real waste, fraud and abuse; Editorial; Beaver County Times; May 12, 2011.
Before I begin, I thank the Times for making my job easier. Because the Times regurgitates the same old lefty talking points year after year, refuting its positions has morphed from doing time-consuming, original research to recycling previous critiques.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“As the Obama White House and congressional Republicans and (some) Democrats go off on the need to curb federal spending, know this:”
[RWC] Before you accept the editorial’s premise that “the Obama White House … [goes] off on the need to curb federal spending,” consider what Mr. Obama considers spending.
“It isn’t waste, fraud and abuse in the sense that most people understand them that have caused the problem.”
[RWC] For the record, I believe this editorial shows the Times knows what it’s talking about when it comes to “fraud.”
“Go back to 2001. The Washington Post reports that was the year the Congressional Budget Office was predicting ever-larger annual surpluses for the foreseeable future.”
[RWC] Does the Times do any original reporting at the national level or has it morphed into little more than a transcriber of other lefty opinion pieces? As a reminder, the Post is a leftist publication.
“But instead of nurturing those riches carefully, the Bush administration and congressional Republicans went on a tax-cutting binge and spending spree that squandered this bounty.”
[RWC] The editorial refers to 10-year budget estimates that made the ridiculous assumption the go-go economy of the mid- to late-1990s would continue unabated for another 10 years. In truth, the economy started a recession during President Clinton’s last year in office.
In the real world, “ever-larger annual surpluses” were already dropping (by 50% in Mr. Clinton’s last budget). Had “the Bush administration and congressional Republicans” done nothing, the deficits would still have occurred as a result of the decrease in tax revenue caused by the recession.
The primary reasons for the deficits are the recession that started toward the end of the Clinton administration, 9/11 and its aftereffects, and the insecurity caused by the uncovering of accounting scandals (Enron, etc.) that flourished during the Clinton administration.
“The Bush administration and congressional Republicans” didn’t go “on a tax-cutting binge.” The cuts were to tax RATES, not to taxes. Rate cuts are a proven way to help an economy in recession. Eventually we had record tax revenue (from the tax RATE cuts). Before the current recession began to kick in, tax revenue peaked at $2.6 trillion in 2007, an increase of $577 billion (29%) since 2001. By the end of fiscal year 2007 (the last before the recession), the deficit was down to $161 billion. As for the alleged “spending spree,” “discretionary” spending increased at a slower rate than during the Clinton administration.
“This profligacy has caught up with us. The Post reports the main culprit for today’s deficits has been the ‘erosion of tax revenue triggered largely by two recessions and multiple rounds of tax cuts.’
“All told, these elements are accountable for wiping out $6.3 trillion in anticipated revenue. That’s almost half of the $12.7 trillion swing from projected surpluses to real debt, the paper reported.”
[RWC] As I noted above, these projections were based on a fantasy. We have a tough time accurately predicting what will happen next year, let alone what will happen over the course of several years. For example, I’ll go out on a limb and guess these fantasy estimates didn’t account for 9/11, et cetera. What about all the rosy predictions the Obama administration made for its programs? Remember the early-2009 prediction unemployment wouldn’t go above 8% if we enacted Mr. Obama’s “stimulus bill?” Unemployment hit 10.1% less than a year later in October 2009.
“Other debt-adding factors were fighting two wars ($1.3 trillion), the Medicare prescription drug plan ($272 billion) and the Troubled Assets Relief Program ($16 billion).”
“And the bulk of the responsibilty [sic] for this mess rests with the GOP. The Post reports Obama-era choices account for about $1.7 trillion in new debt. Meanwhile, Bush-era policies account for more than $7 trillion in new debt.”
[RWC] When it comes to complaining about “profligacy,” we have to give the Times credit for chutzpah. At least since I began critiquing Times editorials in 2004, the Times has supported just about every spending proposal that came down the pike.
I would like to know the Times definition of profligacy. You see, while the Times allegedly thinks Medicare Part D is profligacy, the Times supports the many-times-larger Obamacare. If you believe the Times opposed the Medicare prescription drug plan because of cost, I have a bridge to sell you. The only reason the Times opposed the benefit was politics. President Bush wanted it; that meant the Times had to oppose it. Why else would the Times “oppose” something included in a bigger thing (a government-run, taxpayer-funded healthcare monopoly) it wanted? For the record, I opposed Medicare Part D from the beginning and still do.
“The real waste in Washington is the time being lost in addressing this problem in an adult manner.”
[RWC] The translation of “adult manner” is keeping/increasing current spending while increasing tax rates.
“The real fraud is that politicians, especially Republicans, refuse to level with the American people in regard to how they got us into this mess and how they will get us out of it.”
[RWC] Regardless of who got us here, and both Democrats and Republicans are to blame, we got here as the result of leftist policies and programs. You’ll notice the editorial failed to note the trigger for the current recession was the sub-prime lending mess. You’ll also note the editorial failed to note Democrats went along with everything the editorial complains about. You see, Republicans never had close to a filibuster-proof Senate. Had Democrats really objected to everything the editorial complains about, they could have stopped it. Further, Democrats were the majority party during the last two years of the Bush administration. Where were all the bills to cut “profligacy?”
“The real abuse is that these same politicians continue to lie to us in order to advance their political and ideological agendas.”
[RWC] Wow, talk about throwing rocks while living in a glass house!
© 2004-2011 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.