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71% Say Obama’s Policies Have Driven Up Deficit

Discussion in 'Political Debate & Discussion' started by Revmitchell, Aug 6, 2009.

  1. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    Seventy-one percent (71%) of U.S. voters say President Obama’s policies have increased the size of the federal deficit, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

    Only five percent (5%) say the president’s policies have cut the deficit, and 10% say they have had no impact. Thirteen percent (13%) are not sure.

    Eighty percent (80%) of investors say Obama’s policies have driven up the deficit, a view shared by just 57% of non-investors.

    Not surprisingly, 88% of Republicans blame the president’s policies, compared to 52% of Democrats. But 79% of voters not affiliated with either party agree.

    More Here
     
  2. Crabtownboy

    Crabtownboy Well-Known Member
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    Yes, but his policies had to be put in place to try to prevent the further disaster that Bush had already inflicted upon the country.
     
  3. sag38

    sag38 Active Member

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    Great logic. Use one disaster to stop another disaster. Seems to me that the disaster has only been expanded and not averted. Consider the cap and trade mess. Talk about costing us all dearly. Or consider the massive cost of the health care legislation proposal. Or the the cash for clunkers mess.
     
  4. targus

    targus New Member

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    Only 73%?

    Shouldn't it be more like 100%?

    Well except for Crabby.
     
  5. shinninglight

    shinninglight New Member

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    "Yes, but his policies had to be put in place to try to prevent the further disaster that Bush had already inflicted upon the country"

    Crabtownboy is absolutely right, no question. Bush messed it up by letting the wolves into the sheep pen. Bush made mistake after mistake.
     
  6. Aaron

    Aaron Member
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    . . .<pa deleted-LE>.
     
    #6 Aaron, Aug 6, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 6, 2009
  7. LadyEagle

    LadyEagle <b>Moderator</b> <img src =/israel.gif>

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    Bush made a lot of mistakes. So, why does a Canadian care? How did Bush policies affect your daily life for the better or for the worst? Did the Canadian economy crumble under Bush? Did Bush bail out your banks? Did Bush raise your taxes or cut them? I fail to see what difference it makes to Canadians what goes on here on the other side of the border unless Bush attacked the Royal Mounted Police or something....
     
  8. Aaron

    Aaron Member
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    Let's try it again . . .

    That's a lie.
     
  9. Crabtownboy

    Crabtownboy Well-Known Member
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    No, it is an opinion.

    Your reply is one of those that should not be allowed. We are discussing this in another thread.
     
  10. rbell

    rbell Active Member

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    Hmm....let me try an example:

    "Well, you just shot me in the foot. Let me have that gun so I can shoot myself in the other foot to get even."

    Bush overspent like crazy on government boondoggles. But Obama has upped the ante...borrowing to the hilt, seeking to restrict freedoms...as poor a president as Bush was...this mess has quickly and almost completely become Obama's problem.
     
  11. alatide

    alatide New Member

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    So you're an expert on how to deal with a depression? What would you have done. A huge majority of people in other countries feel that he has done exactly the right thing and it will (hopefully) help us head off the Bush disaster.
     
  12. rbell

    rbell Active Member

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    Since when did we let people from other countries determine the direction of ours?

    Last time I checked, we are what is known in quaint terms as a sovereign nation.

    I know, how out of date and behind the times is that?

    Well, frankly, JustChristian...I like it.

    BTW...you rang in with off-topic Bush-bash #3,937.
     
  13. Robert Snow

    Robert Snow New Member

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    Posters like Aaron and other extreme right-wing posters here are governed by a different set of rules than the more progressive posters. If you said half the things posters like Aaron says you would be banned. For some reason people like him and Curtis get away with much more than the average poster.
     
  14. targus

    targus New Member

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    If all of that deficit spending was necessary why has only a fraction of it (10%) been used so far?

    Why is most of the money to be used in the out years?

    It has nothing to do with improving the economy.

    Spending the money in four or five years isn't going to help the economy now.
     
  15. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    Don't...don't go confusing the issue with facts. I mean really. And I believe it has only been 95%
     
  16. Paul Brand

    Paul Brand New Member

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    It seems pretty obvious that Obama has driven up the deficit. What's surprising is that not more people realize that spending more money increases deficits.

    But the debate over stimulus is mainly one over economic theory (and a bit with regard to effective implementation). Keynesians believe in counter-cyclical intervention. Libertarians believe in non-intervention.

    I think counter-cyclical intervention is needed to improve the efficiency of the economy. High unemployment rates are not efficient (and neither are super low unemployment rates). Stimulus effectively smooths out unemployment to more efficient levels. It costs more in the short run, but there will be less need to spend money in the future on things that are spent now. Another factor is deflationary trends tend to spiral. A big reason for the Depression was that stimulus took years to get approved, and Herbert Hoover cut spending to try to balance the budget. The deficit situation was worse for the budget cuts. 25% unemployment was devastating to the economy. Another factor is that when there is excess capacity in the economy, stimulus spending will work its way through the economy. A person who makes more money spends more money, which causes someone else to make more money and spend it.

    Deficits are going to occur one way or another in a slow economy. Any attempt at balancing the short term budget would annihilate the economy, much like what happened in the 1930s. Governments need to be saving more during the good times (something that was lacking in the previous administrations), and spending more to navigate through tougher times.

    I think this is counter-intuitive for most people, because micro-economics works much in the opposite way. It is better for the individual to save than to spend in tough times. At a macro level, this isn't quite the case.
     
  17. targus

    targus New Member

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    The whole arguement as you present it is undone by the fact that the majority of the deficit spending in this case is held back until the out years.

    It will do nothing to counter the current down cycle - except perhaps prolong it.
     
  18. Magnetic Poles

    Magnetic Poles New Member

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    Indeed Paul, and a great post. Macroeconomics behaves quite different at times than our personal bank accounts.
     
  19. Paul Brand

    Paul Brand New Member

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    I will agree that it is disappointing how long it has taken for the money to get out into the economy. I think the Bush's TARP program is showing some benefits as the financial sector recovers. Some of the monetary stimulus is already at work, and may bring forth a floor to housing prices (which is necessary to stop the banking crisis).

    I think some of the benefits are in the change in expectations of the future. The stock markets have performed well, and that has increased consumer confidence.

    I don't think the fiscal stimulus will be too late, as to be pointless. I haven't seen that many rosy economic forecasts in 2009/2010.
     
  20. rbell

    rbell Active Member

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    Here's the problem: When the government, at the macro level, overspends, then people at the micro level get pinched.

    (see: Taxation, inflation)
     
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