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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPaul Krugman- The Biggest Losers
The pundit consensus seems to be that Republicans lost in the just-concluded budget deal. Overall spending will be a bit higher than the level mandated by the sequester, the straitjacket imposed back in 2011. Meanwhile, Democrats avoided making any concessions on Social Security or Medicare. Call this one for Team D, I guess.
But if Republicans arguably lost this round, the unemployed lost even more: Extended benefits werent renewed, so 1.3 million workers will be cut off at the end of this month, and many more will see their benefits run out in the months that follow. And if you take a longer perspective if you look at what has happened since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in 2010 what you see is a triumph of anti-government ideology that has had enormously destructive effects on American workers.
First, some facts about government spending.
One of the truly remarkable things about American political discourse at the end of 2013 is the fixed conviction among many conservatives that the Obama era has been one of enormous growth in government. Where do they think this surge in government spending has taken place? Well, its true that one major new program the Affordable Care Act is going into effect. But its not nearly as big as people imagine. Once Obamacare is fully implemented, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that it will add only about 3 percent to overall federal spending. And, if you ask people ranting about runaway government what other programs theyre talking about, you draw a blank.
Meanwhile, the actual numbers show that over the past three years weve been living through an era of unprecedented government downsizing. Government employment is down sharply; so is total government spending (including state and local governments) adjusted for inflation, which has fallen almost 3 percent since 2010 and around 5 percent per capita.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/13/opinion/krugman-the-biggest-losers.html
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
Chiquitita
(752 posts)Because I visited my husband's second grade class yesterday. All Krugman said is true and it is severely hurting our children. I saw a school where almost all the kids' families are exploited by our low wage, no investment in human beings economy. It was family day -- the few parents who were able to get off work were there. Most kids looked at their grey, chicken? nugget $1.10 lunches listlessly with mask of emotional hurt. The joblessness, the cutting of unemployment, the cutting of food stamps, will make these children's lives harder, cause more emotional pain, the trauma of depressed or frightened parents.
When we feed our kids industrial waste at school and invite the parents and no one comes, we have to start FIGHTING BACK DAMMIT!
Cosmocat
(14,568 posts)This dog and pony show is a repeat.
They spend like fiends and big government when they have the white house, then go into "fiscal conservative" mode screaming about how are children are being saddled with debt and go into complete clown show mode when a D has the white house.
BumRushDaShow
(129,369 posts)RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)peddled by big media as a loss for right wingers.