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Originally Posted by Cimarron29414
No disrespect to Renka, but these talking points are so stupid, it doesn't even matter if they are false, or if Dan Johnson's version of them are true. If the boat is sinking, does it really matter which cannon blew which hole through your hull?
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It doesn't matter if they are true or not? That is laughable. It does matter if it is true. If the deficit is primarily due to the Bush and the Republicans then putting them back in power probably isn't a good idea. If health care is going to save us 200 billion dollars a year then repealing it isn't a good way to cut the deficit. Now can we please address if these points are true or not.
---------- Post added at 04:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:06 PM ----------
I'll start the analysis with a few of these:
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1) President Obama tripled the deficit.
Reality: Bush's last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama's first budget reduced that to $1.29 trillion.
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This is a statement of fact and it should be easy to verify.
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2) President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the economy.
Reality: Obama cut taxes. 40% of the "stimulus" was wasted on tax cuts which only create debt, which is why it was so much less effective than it could have been.
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The first half of this is a statement of fact and should be easy to verify. The second half is a prediction and is subjective and we could argue about it all day and in the end we will never know what might have happened.
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3) President Obama bailed out the banks.
Reality: While many people conflate the "stimulus" with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson. (Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be "non-reviewable by any court or any agency.") The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.
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This is a statement of fact. The bailouts were passed by Bush and continued under Obama. Thus I'd say both of them should share in any blame or praise resulting from the bailouts.
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4) The stimulus didn't work.
Reality: The stimulus worked, but was not enough. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs.
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This one is tough as it is an estimate not a fact. Also it doesn't take into account if the jobs created were worth the money.
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5) Businesses will hire if they get tax cuts.
Reality: A business hires the right number of employees to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will find the money to hire. Businesses want customers, not tax cuts.
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Well this one is subjective I'd say there is a lot of logic in it. Employment is primarily driven by demand. I do not believe tax cuts would significantly increase that demand unless they are tax cuts directed at purchasing (ie tax rebates).
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6) Health care reform costs $1 trillion.
Reality: The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion.
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This is again a prediction and we won't know until the end of the year if we spent more or less on health care.
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7) Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is "going broke," people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc.
Reality: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit (compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to.
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This is true, social security only recently went in the red and could easily get in the green again. Though I do think we need to consider incentives to keep people working longer.
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8) Government spending takes money out of the economy.
Reality: Government is We, the People and the money it spends is on We, the People. Many people do not know that it is government that builds the roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that all government spending is on "welfare" and "foreign aid" when that is only a small part of the government's budget.
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Government money only takes money out of the economy if it is being spent outside the US, Let's say on a couple wars....