Krugman: Where Are The Deficit Celebrations?

[ProSense]

Where Are The Deficit Celebrations?

For three years and more Beltway politics has been all about the deficit. Urgent action was needed to avert crisis. A Grand Bargain absolutely had to be reached...So where are the celebrations now that the debt issue looks, if not solved, at least greatly mitigated? And it’s not just recovering revenues: health costs, the biggest driver of long-run spending, have slowed dramatically.

What we’re getting from the deficit scolds, however, are at best grudging admissions that things may look a bit less dire — if not expressions of regret that the public seems insufficiently alarmed.

Jamelle Bouie gets at a large part of it by noting what was obvious all along: for many deficit scolds, it was never really about the debt, it was about using deficits as a way to attack the social safety net. Deficits may have come down, but not the way they were supposed to — hey, we were supposed to be kicking 65 and 66 year-olds off Medicare, not doing something so goody-goody as managing costs better.

There is, however, a secondary factor: think about the personal career incentives of the professional deficit scolds. You’re Bowles/Simpson, with a lucrative and ego-satisfying business of going around the country delivering ominous talks about The Deficit; you’re an employee of one of the many Pete Peterson front groups; and now, all of a sudden, the deficit is receding, and you had nothing to do with it. It’s a disaster!

- more -

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/where-are-the-deficit-celebrations/

[sheshe2]

1. Deficit Celebrations~

Deficits may have come down, but not the way they were supposed to — hey, we were supposed to be kicking 65 and 66 year-olds off Medicare, not doing something so goody-goody as managing costs better.

You holding your breath for them to come, ProSense~ Ya, me neither!

[ProSense]

2. They'll never admit it. n/t

[BlueCaliDem]

3. Parts of ObamaCare has had an impact on the quicker reduction of the deficit. I understand why

Republicans and other anti-Obamanites {including a lot around here} aren't mentioning it. They HATE ObamaCare but now it's having a positive effect on paying down our country's debt faster than expected . . . silence.

Like I said, Obama just can't catch a break. Not even around here.

However, what I don't understand is why corporate media is more fixated on non-scandals that they're clearly trying to tag on Obama and Democrats rather than reporting on Jon Karl's con-background and how quickly the deficits are dropping.

MSNBC is all hurricane all the time {except for breaks for commercials}. I hope that regular scheduling will return tomorrow. I feel for the people of Oklahoma, but did MSNBC have to air the destruction of this hurricane non-stop {only breaking for commercials} all friggin day?? CNBC isn't doing it. Fox Noise hasn't done it. CNN is reporting sporadically. But MSNBC has been reporting on this hurricane ALL FRIGGIN AFTERNOON just when the more progressive talk shows are about to air, starting with Martin Bashir.

[Jamaal510]

5. This always happens...

"MSNBC is all hurricane all the time {except for breaks for commercials}. I hope that regular scheduling will return tomorrow. I feel for the people of Oklahoma, but did MSNBC have to air the destruction of this hurricane non-stop {only breaking for commercials} all friggin day?? CNBC isn't doing it. Fox Noise hasn't done it. CNN is reporting sporadically. But MSNBC has been reporting on this hurricane ALL FRIGGIN AFTERNOON just when the more progressive talk shows are about to air, starting with Martin Bashir."

whenever there is a major story or event happening; they milk it for all it's worth, even though there are other things happening in the country, too. At least it gives a person a chance to change the channel for about a day or so and give themselves a break from the politics, I guess.

[BlueCaliDem]

7. That's true.

whenever there is a major story or event happening; they milk it for all it's worth, even though there are other things happening in the country, too. At least it gives a person a chance to change the channel for about a day or so and give themselves a break from the politics, I guess.

It's pretty bad with MSNBC, though. It's as if they couldn't wait for the opportunity to avoid having to show progressive shows and replace it with something else, unlike CNN, Fox Noise, CNBC, and Bloomberg that continue with regular programming. That's the regrettable part. We only have MSNBC in the afternoon {evening for the East Coasters} and that wasn't made available to us today. No wonder Americans are so uninformed.

Anyway, I've been able to watch River Monsters reruns and catch up on the Game of Thrones episodes that I'd DVRed. I will admit, it did feel good to take a break, though.

[John2]

19. i've been watching MSNBC.

They have been showing Matthews and Scarborough pushing scandals. Ed should have took Scarborough's spot on the morning shows. It would balance things out with Matthews. They should put Scarborough on the weekends.

[zipplewrath]

13. Prove it

"Parts of ObamaCare has had an impact on the quicker reduction of the deficit."

I'm not sure what time frame you are discussing here. No one disputed that ACA reduced the future rise rates in Medicare, that was where many of the "savings" came from (much of it from phasing out Medicare Advantage). Heck, it was a major GOP talking point that "Obama was taking money from Medicare".

However, if you are discussing the RECENT reductions in the deficit, mostly the ones realized this year, it has been suggested that ACA has something to do with it, but no one has been able to demonstrate this. Most of the reductions in costs in the short term are as easily explained by the fact that people haven't had as much money to spend on health care. It remains to be seen whether these cost reductions are sustained. There is a real concern, even within the White House, that much of this current cost reductions are due to people not getting health care when they should be. It's the old "penny wise and pound foolish" problem. Even HMO's discovered this in their day. It's all well and good to try to incentivize people to control their health care costs, but more often than not, they'll skip the tests and procedures they should (economically) pay for, and then result in the more expensive procedures that could have been avoided.

People aren't spending as much on their health care right now, and that it resulting in cost savings for the government. It remains to be seen whether this is due to reduced costs, or reduced demand.

[hay rick]

4. Conclusion: "the deficit progress must be minimized and bad-mouthed."

It was never about the deficit...

[grahamhgreen]

6. Pro + Krugman = win

Much of this is from the forced sequester, yes?

[1StrongBlackMan]

16. Not in terms of healthcare spending ...

but yes, the deficit reduction can be attributed to the forced sequester ... and the increase in tax revenue.

[DallasNE]

8. The Problem For Simpson/Bowles Is

That they were flat wrong -- as many of us suspected all along. With credibility in the crapper they need to just fold the tent and go home. Why were they wrong you ask. Because they applied discredited trickle down principles. End of story.

[ProSense]

9. Not just

"That they were flat wrong -- as many of us suspected all along."

...them but everyone who bought into the theory. Their argument was bogus.

'The Excel Error Heard Round the World'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022686815

[byeya]

12. And to add: The committee did not submit its report in a timely manner; in fact, the report was

voted down under the rules establishing the Simpson/Bowles commission.
These two publicity&money grubbers are being quoted right and left and it's left out that they failed to deliver a committee report.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. GOP Congress is celebrating by going 'hostage shopping', as Charlie Pierce says

It may have slipped past you during the past week's round of Scandalopoly (no, you can't be the thimble; Louie Gohmert's storing his brain there) but we're just now beginning to round the far turn and heading for home on the debt ceiling again, and the Republicans are suited up like the SLA for some serious hostage shopping.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/The_Next_Round_Of_Nonsense

He links to the Washington Post:

The bad news for President Obama: Republicans will demand some kind of prize for voting to raise the debt limit, preferably some policy that serves to reduce the debt. They say they will not simply roll over again, as they did in January when they voted without much fuss to suspend enforcement of the debt limit through this weekend.
...
But what should they ask for? On that, Republicans are all over the map. With the budget deficit falling far faster than anyone expected, House leaders have backed off their insistence that any debt-limit increase be paired with budget cuts of equal value. Now, it seems, the sky’s the limit.

At the meeting, 39 lawmakers lined up at microphones to offer suggestions. They ranged from tax and entitlement reform to approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to passage of a bill that would require congressional approval for any federal regulation that would impose more than $100 million in new costs on business.

At least one person wanted to take on late-term abortion in the wake of the murder conviction of Philadelphia doctor Kermit Gosnell. Others suggested repeal or delay of Obama’s health-care initiative. But for the most part, lawmakers tried to be “realistic,” aides said, suggesting measures that could reasonably be expected to both improve the economy and pass the Democratic-controlled Senate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/new-gop-debt-limit-demands-ban-late-term-abortion-and-approve-keystone-pipeline/2013/05/16/5dff0c68-bdaf-11e2-9b09-1638acc3942e_story.html

It won't surprise you to learn that the bag of virulent pus known as Paul Ryan is at the centre of this. Now that the credibility of "we're doing this because the long term economy demands it" has been shot to smithereens, the GOP want to demand some other way of diverting money to their supporters, in return for allowing the US government to continue to function.

[ProSense]

11. Well,

"GOP Congress is celebrating by going 'hostage shopping', as Charlie Pierce says"

...hammer, meet nail: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022877304

[JDPriestly]

14. Pete Peterson will be remembered in history as a hysterical fool who tried to

sell the nation on fear and timidity. Social Security will take care of itself if our exports increase demand for American goods and our American economy produces more jobs. The key is in producing American products so efficiently and with such excellent workmanship that we can export more than we import. If we focused on that, we would have a great economy. We are just one nation in a big world. We need to focus on exports and tourism, on bringing in foreign money without selling out our democracy or our standard of living.

[tanyev]

15. The only time Republicans care about the deficit is when they can use it as a political weapon.

Heck, that's probably why they run it up so high when they're in charge.

[ProSense]

17. Yes. n/t

[spanone]

18. didn't mr krugman get the meme? this President gets NO kudos for doing well...period.

motherfrackers