What would you do if crazed fundamentalist republicans took over the country

[thombergeron]

The last recession, which did explode during the Bush administration, had it's roots in the Clinton administration when the lackey of Wall St. and the big banks, then Treasury secretary Robert Rudin, talked Clinton into signing legislation to de-regulate the banks.

This allowed the banks, for the first time since the Great Depression, to trade financial instruments with their own money and the instruments most frequently traded were the mortgage bonds which ultimately brought the global economy to it's knees.

Please note that Rudin, after leaving his post as Treasury Secretary, went to work for Citi (the worst of the offenders and the bank which required the largest taxpayer bailout) for an annual salary of $20M/yr.

Um, not quite. First, his name is Robert Rubin.

Second, you’re talking about the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, which repealed some important parts of the Glass-Steagall financial regulatory regime. The legislation was introduced by Republican Senator Phil Gramm and Republican Representative Jim Leach. Republican Representative Thomas Bliley signed on as a co-sponsor later. The Clinton White House actually threatened to veto early versions of the bill. It was passed by Congress along basically partisan lines. Clinton eventually signed the bill, but by the time he did, Lawrence Summers had been Treasury Secretary for more than six months.

Rubin couldn’t have talked Clinton into signing the bill, because by the time it was signed, Rubin was no longer a member of the Administration. Certainly Rubin advised Clinton as the GLB was making its way through Congress, but this was a Republican bill from start to finish.

By the time Obama is out of office he will have run up more debt than all presidents that came before him combined.

This, of course, is false, but even if it were true, it demonstrates a pretty profound misunderstanding of public finance and economics. The United States federal government has been accumulating programs, agencies, and assets for over 230 years. There is also prior debt that must be financed. Your implication is that Barack Obama personally conceived of and ordered every dime of current federal spending. That’s simply not how the federal budget works.

For instance, Congress passed Medicare Part D in 2003. The legislation was and is entirely debt-financed. Medicare Part D will add $727.3 billion dollars to the U.S. debt between 2009 and 2018. Please explain how the on-going program costs for legislation passed by a Republican Congress under a Republican President are an example of Barack Obama’s “profligate spending.”

But more fundamentally, you seem to completely misunderstand deficit spending and sovereign debt. Deficit spending is not a mistake; it’s a legitimate policy tool for managing public finance. There are virtually no nations currently in existence without public debt. Without deficit spending, the U.S. would have been unable to field troops and materiel during World War II. We would have been unable to keep pace with the Soviet Union during the nuclear arms race. We would have had no standing military to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan.

[serial138]

Nothing makes me laugh harder than Republicans lecturing on fiscal restraint or complaining about deficit spending. I seem to remember Reagan and Dubya where pretty big proponents of deficit spending. But lets not slander St. Reagan!

[surf4490]

The US national debt only increases because of WAR .Statistically Independence ,Revolutionary ,1812,ww1 and ww2 were the only time debt increased (minor increase during depression ).By 1974 debt to gdp was about 35% ,Reagan / Bush increased it to about 53% .Clinton with no war and big tax increases decreased it a bit .Then we have the WAR on a word TERROR !! The never ending war has corresponded to a never ending increase in debt ! Obama is about to blast through 110% of gdp ,with more debt in the pipeline .

[trish]

Bush and Cheney kept a considerable portion of the cost of their two wars off budget. Obama put it back on the books.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...-cost-iraq-war

[Ben]

"When the World Outlawed War"

[bzzzay]

I'm a crazed fundamentalist republican and you guys have some pretty far out ideas about what people like me believe.

[Prospero]

well bzzay... why not offer enlightenment instead of merely being baffled.

[Prospero]

Misrepresented...

[martin48]

I'm a crazed fundamentalist republican and you guys have some pretty far out ideas about what people like me believe.

So what DO you believe?

[EvaCassini]

hahaha he(they) got nothing, because he knows that everything they do/say is nonsense.