Friday, May 28, 2010

More on the austerity ghouls

And just think, these crazy people believe they are being sober and responsible.
Deficit Hawk Hypocrisy Is Getting Unbelievable
Marshall Auerback | May 26, 2010, 5:12 PM | 1,400 | 32
How the elites are vying to undo the social safety net — and hurt our chances for recovery.
Harold Meyerson is spot on: “Of all the gaps between elite and mass opinion in America today, perhaps the greatest is this: The elites don’t really believe we’re still in recession. Or maybe, they just don’t care.” What is even more galling is that, having been the greatest beneficiaries of the government’s largesse over the past 2 years, these very same people now decry the government’s “irresponsible” and “unsustainable” fiscal policy.
The collective amnesia and moral turpitude of these elites is truly mind-boggling.
Why do we have a deficit of about 10% of GDP right now when it was less than 2% about 3 years ago? The reasons are: the Obama stimulus, the TARP, and the slower economy (which arose in response to a major financial crisis, not because the government began an irrational and irresponsible spending binge). A slower economy leads to lower revenues (less income=less taxes paid since most tax revenue is based on income, and lower tax brackets) and higher spending on the social safety net.
Conveniently lost in all of this furor about the deficit are the beneficiaries of this recent government largesse. It’s certainly not the unemployed or the vast majority of people who do not work in the financial services industry. more

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