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Joe BidenCongratulations to our presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden!
 

Kid Berwyn

(14,651 posts)
Tue Oct 29, 2019, 07:46 AM Oct 2019

Senator Warren is Exactly Right

"Warren is determined to talk about the substance of the issue, whether or not the reporters want to hear it.

by Dean Baker

EXCERPT...

For a larger context, consider how the budget is reported. Reporters routinely highlight the budget deficit and the accumulated debt, as though this is the most important feature of the budget. It is at least implicit in nearly all reporting that the country would be better off with a lower budget deficit.

This is also indicated in their choice of sources. An incredibly high percentage of budget stories in leading news outlets (i.e. the New York Times, Washington Post, and National Public Radio) feature comments from Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, an organization committed to lower deficits and debt.

News stories on the budget almost never present the countervailing view, which is endorsed by a growing number of economists, that the budget deficit has generally been too small in the years following the Great Recession. The result has been that growth has been slower than it otherwise would have been, causing workers to be needlessly unemployed.

Furthermore, there is now considerable research on the concept of "hysteresis," which means that there are lasting effects of a period of slow growth and high unemployment. The logic is that many of the people who go unemployed for long periods of time lose skills and may end up being permanently unemployed. In addition, less growth will typically mean less investment. This lost investment means the economy will be less productive in the future. Furthermore, there is even a generational impact, since we know the children of unemployed parent(s) are likely to have poorer educational prospects and therefore worse labor market prospects when they grow up.

Instead of the debt and deficit posing a generational burden on our children, as the conventional story has it, the opposite is true. The failure to run deficits that are large enough to push the economy to full employment leaves the country, and our children, poorer than they otherwise would be.

CONTINUES...

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/10/26/senator-warren-exactly-right
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
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8 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Senator Warren is Exactly Right (Original Post) Kid Berwyn Oct 2019 OP
Just remember DownriverDem Oct 2019 #1
Just doesnt seem to get through, does it? oldsoftie Oct 2019 #2
Great. Leadership involves vision, know-how and can-do attitude. Kid Berwyn Oct 2019 #4
Are you asserting Turin_C3PO Oct 2019 #5
So we're basically AT "full employment" now. There will never be a 0% UE rate. oldsoftie Oct 2019 #3
How many workers live paycheck to paycheck? Kid Berwyn Oct 2019 #6
It hasnt worked before now & I doubt it would ever work. What country DOES it work? oldsoftie Oct 2019 #7
A dose of reality for Medicare-for-all Gothmog Oct 2019 #8
 

DownriverDem

(6,206 posts)
1. Just remember
Tue Oct 29, 2019, 08:25 AM
Oct 2019

we are a Center/Left country. If we blow the nomination, trump wins.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

oldsoftie

(12,410 posts)
2. Just doesnt seem to get through, does it?
Tue Oct 29, 2019, 09:06 AM
Oct 2019
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Kid Berwyn

(14,651 posts)
4. Great. Leadership involves vision, know-how and can-do attitude.
Tue Oct 29, 2019, 09:21 PM
Oct 2019

Dean Baker makes clear Elizabeth Warren holds them, plus possesses a history of doing as she said she would.

FDR thought big, too.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Undecided
 

Turin_C3PO

(13,650 posts)
5. Are you asserting
Tue Oct 29, 2019, 09:26 PM
Oct 2019

center left voters would vote Trump over Warren? Because if they do, they’re a right wing nut, not center or left.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

oldsoftie

(12,410 posts)
3. So we're basically AT "full employment" now. There will never be a 0% UE rate.
Tue Oct 29, 2019, 09:11 AM
Oct 2019

But the interest payments on the debt continue to eat a bigger chunk of the budget every year. Yes, "deficit" & "debt" are two different numbers. But a larger deficit increases the debt.
Ignoring that simply because of the source of the info is pretty stupid. Fine, go get the numbers from the government; they'll tell you the same thing.
I dont see our current growth rate as too slow. Go at the 4% trump PROMISED (and didnt deliver), and you'll get faster inflation growth, which eats away buying & savings power.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Kid Berwyn

(14,651 posts)
6. How many workers live paycheck to paycheck?
Tue Oct 29, 2019, 09:27 PM
Oct 2019

78%.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/09/shutdown-highlights-that-4-in-5-us-workers-live-paycheck-to-paycheck.html

When three people own as much as half the country, it’s easy to see why.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/08/bill-gates-jeff-bezos-warren-buffett-wealthier-than-poorest-half-of-us

I agree with Baker and Elizabeth Warren, who think the US government should go back to being, not only, referee, but return to active participant in shaping the future.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Undecided
 

oldsoftie

(12,410 posts)
7. It hasnt worked before now & I doubt it would ever work. What country DOES it work?
Tue Oct 29, 2019, 10:21 PM
Oct 2019

The rich just move their assets, turn them into businesses, split assets, hide assets, buy rare items that arent tracked, etc. There's a ton of ways to do it. When most of the wealth is just stock value, it just isnt the same as actual property or businesses. Look how often we see a big stock drop & the news touts how Bezos "lost" 9 billion today. Its not REAL until its realized. Which it rarely is. But hey, go for it. What happens when the multi billionaires are no longer HERE & we still have the same problems?

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Gothmog

(144,005 posts)
8. A dose of reality for Medicare-for-all
Wed Oct 30, 2019, 06:37 PM
Oct 2019



Now we have two more data points. The quite credible think tank, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, comes up with some options assuming a cost of $30 trillion over the next decade (a midway point in the range of estimates):

We estimate the cost could be covered with a 32 percent payroll tax, a 25 percent income surtax, a 42 percent value-added tax, or a public premium averaging $7,500 per capita or more than $12,000 per individual who wouldn’t otherwise be enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP. Medicare for All could also be paid for by more than doubling individual and corporate income tax rates, reducing federal spending by 80 percent, or increasing the national debt by 108 percent of GDP. Tax increases on high earners, corporations, and the financial sector by themselves could not cover much more than one-third of the cost of Medicare for All.


But you say, none of that is remotely feasible politically and would have all sorts of negative economic consequences.

Warren actually has an even harder task since CFRB does not exempt the middle class. Therefore, Warren cannot use “a 32 percent payroll tax, a 25 percent income surtax, a 42 percent value-added tax, or a public premium averaging $7,500 per capita” if they are going to hit the middle class to such an extent that it wipes out savings from removing insurance premiums, co-pays, deductibles, etc. This is the equivalent of trying to balance on elephant on the head of a pin.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
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