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The Obama Watch
Plenty of Nutting
Yes, Obama’s spending binge did happen — all of it, like Obama’s unprecedented deficits, on his watch.
(Page 3 of 3)
Reality will be much worse. On our current course, with Obama budget policies, when the top federal tax rates soar next year, on top of exploding Obama regulatory costs, the result will be another recession, and the above numbers will all be much worse much sooner.
Don’t try to deny it. The Democrats have revealed they already know these truths. That is why when the Obama budget was put to a vote in the House, it got exactly zero votes. Not one Democrat as well as not one Republican would vote for it. And the exact same thing happened in the Senate. The Obama budget there got the Big Sombrero too, with not even one Democrat vote. Obama has created bipartisan unity at last. In sharp contrast, the Ryan budget was passed by the House.
The real point of Nutting’s article was to confuse the public about these truths, for that is the only hope for Obama’s reelection. Nutting’s nonsense is old-fashioned, Soviet-style disinformation, the kind of gross distortion of the truth the Communist Party used to dish out to its captive population through its party controlled press. True to that form, as should be expected, Obama quickly began citing and echoing Nutting on the campaign trail, with Obama spokesman Jay Carney, an expatriate from party-controlled Time magazine, denouncing anyone in the media who will not echo this party disinformation as guilty of sloth and laziness.
This is not American behavior. It is reminiscent of a 20th century Third World country threatened with a socialist party takeover, like Argentina suffered with Juan Peron and his party. But the American people will not fall for this hapless stupidity, as the Democrat Party will be learned real good this fall. That is why the course for America was so different than the course for Argentina during the 20th century.
Presumably, Nutting was able to infiltrate MarketWatch when it was owned by party-controlled CBS. But now that the Wall Street Journal has taken over, it needs to clean house if it wants to remain an independent journalistic voice. The Journal editorial page, of course, is the leading independent media voice in the country on economic policy issues. But the Journal news division reflects much of the same Democrat Party control as other media institutions.
America faces a threat to its continued, prosperous existence like it has not since 1860. What the Democrat party does not yet realize is that it faces such an existential threat this fall as well.
About the Author
Peter Ferrara is Director of Entitlement and Budget Policy at the Heartland Institute, General Counsel of the American Civil Rights Union, Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, and Senior Policy Advisor on Entitlements and Budget Policy at the National Tax Limitation Foundation. He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under President George H.W. Bush.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (61) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Peter Ferrara
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http://spectator.org/archives/2012/05/30/plenty-of-nutting
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Booger| 5.30.12 @ 7:33AM
From the desk of Rex Nutting:
To: Peter Ferrara
Re: "Plenty of Nutting"
Dear Mr. Ferrara,
In your feeble, right-wing, reactionary, counter-revolutionary attempt to refute my well-researched and thoroughly documented defense of Our Wonderful Leader in The Struggle, President for Life B. Hussein Obama, you very tellingly left out a virtually infinite number of germane facts which demonstrate the absolute guilt that Republicans must bear for our current budget imbroglio. Since I have neither the time nor the patience to list an infinite number of reasons for Republican ruin, I will have to stick to a single key point. Please do try to keep up.
Point One: Yes, when Our Merciful Master began His Ascension, things were indeed worse than He knew (please do not infer that this means Our Great One is not omniscient, merely that George W. Bush's sith powers had clouded his foresight). The true beginning of the current fiscal crisis occurred during the panic of 1873, when the REPUBLICAN president U.S. Grant allowed the banks, without proper federal regulation, to loan money to big business, (the railroads, which were bad then but are good now) with nothing in mind but making a profit. The resultant economic crash is still being felt across the country to this day. Truly, if Our Benefactor from Hawaii knew how much trouble the crash of 1873 would cause for Him, He might well have chosen a different career path.
Sincerely,
Rex Nutting
vtwin| 5.30.12 @ 10:18AM
Ferrara argument is misleading; deficits increased as a percentage of GDP under Obama not because of increased spending by Obama, as Rex Nutting correctly pointed out, but because the GDP collapse under Bush. And, this increase as percentage of GDP of the deficit was projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) weeks before Obama took Office.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/0.....t_outlook/
Nice try Peter but it looks like you'll have to wait another four years for that cushy government job.
Doctor Right| 5.30.12 @ 10:30AM
Nice try, yourself.
The mere idea that George W. Bush was responsible for Obama's mad-cap spending in 2009 is laughable, and smacks of desperation.
Albertus Magnus| 5.30.12 @ 12:02PM
Nothing Nutting "points out" is correct. Absolutely nothing.
And by the way, CNN is in the tank for Obama just like they were for Clinton. Not a reliable source.
Brooksifier | 5.30.12 @ 5:05PM
Only a masochist would miss the Rove-Cheney era. 9-11 wasn't Bush's fault of course, there was no complicity, no controlled demolition at WTC.
But Rove-Cheney lacked the Vision Thing.
JD| 5.30.12 @ 5:53PM
You make the exact mistake of timing that Nutting made, and are debunked just as he was by what Ferrara wrote. The spending increase happened after the GDP decline had ended.
JmsA| 5.31.12 @ 12:39AM
Anyone with half a brain knows of CNN's bias, and thus unreliability. How then did they really come about those conclusions, vtwin? Could it be that they fudged the numbers? You know, like statistical actuarial analysis used to make Social Security and Medicare projections, which you didn't know about, yet attempted to refute by suggesting statistics were only used in political polling; while proffering government sites titled "Actuarial Projections", to bolster your claim of said entitlements' long term viability?
Do you actually believe that anyone here, other than other lefty trolls would believe anything from CNN, or is this just your latest assigned task?
Von Mises Jr| 5.30.12 @ 7:41AM
Great article. But I would suggest that there is more to socialism than simply an inefficient planned economy.
You have already seen what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have done to your home values. More of the same will destroy your most valuable asset and leave you no choice but Agenda21 communal living in a government complex like Mao's China.
Bernanke with .002% rates at the Fed Borrowing Window and greatly expanded money supply will destroy the value of your retirement accounts. You may still have the same in nominal value, but the real value will be destroyed by inflation.
Fannie, Freddie, HUD and GMAC are your landlords if you own a house. Crony capitalism (fascism) means the government is your de facto employer. The government through the Student Loan nationalization will decide if it is "fair" for your children to go to college (you better think right). And if ObamaCare stands, they will decide if you live or die.
So it is no different or perhaps worse than serfdom or slavery. At least Nobles and slave owners valued their de facto property. The "One World Government" socialist wishes to reduce the population by 80-90%. Join the Brave New World" of you will definitely not be one of the top 10-20%.
Ryan| 5.30.12 @ 8:40AM
The point should be easily made in a debate as well - "wait, you mean LESS spending is GOOD, Mister President? Why don't you cut MORE?"
Doctor Right| 5.30.12 @ 9:17AM
THANK YOU, TASOnline, for finally requiring that visitors login to the site before posting!!!!
Bye-Bye, Trolls! (And you know who you are!)
vtwin| 5.30.12 @ 9:45AM
Hi Doc, we're not going anywhere!
Doctor Right| 5.30.12 @ 10:33AM
If you want to comment/debate/argue, I'm all for it.
What I'm against are the fools who Robo-post the same nonsense ad nauseum...
Like a certain Paul-bot cowpoke from Pennsylvania, who is conspicuously (and marvelously!) absent.
Your decision to publicly align yourself with Obama and look foolish at the same time is wonderful!
Anthony| 5.30.12 @ 3:39PM
Really vtwin? Not if the gangbangers from Oakland have anything to say about it.
This guy Nutting deserves a position in the Princeton Economics Department, with an office right next to the other acid eating zombie, Krugman.
Occam's Tool| 5.30.12 @ 7:38PM
vtwin: who said you were a troll? You talk a bit of a left wing game, but you argue facts. When was the last time you called me an "Israel bund sandmonkey?"
I hope you are well, as is your bike.
Occam's Tool| 5.30.12 @ 7:43PM
Hell, I don't even mind Jack London.
Gary B| 5.30.12 @ 10:07AM
Doctor Right,
Maybe this will discourage all the cussing and name calling. We'll see...
Humphrey Dumfries | 5.30.12 @ 10:43AM
Doc, We are happy to help. Stay tuned for more bells and whistles, like the ability to IGNORE other users...
Doctor Right| 5.30.12 @ 12:24PM
In that vein, I'd like to pay homage to the folks whom we will (not) miss:
Clint
Jack in Wi
Purp
Alan Brooks
...who am I missing?
Booger| 5.30.12 @ 1:03PM
You should have listed Alan Brooks twice for good measure. I do wonder if the new login requirements have anything to do with the ongoing Brett Kimberlin terrorism.
Al Adab| 5.30.12 @ 2:50PM
Does acceptance of the login imply editorial acceptance of the poster? I agree with the above by Gary B regarding name calling and cussing. Those do not help the cause. There have been some good exchanges with the opposition here, but too many just become party line rote or worse.
Brooksifier | 5.30.12 @ 6:46PM
Feeling is mutual Booger.
Yet, if you really want Romney as president, you might get him, because he is very tough and the GOP is determined to win.
But a guy from Massachusetts??
Brooksifier | 5.30.12 @ 6:48PM
...what the hell is Rightist about Massachusetts?
Hilarity to ensue this November!
Alan| 5.30.12 @ 4:16PM
Doc, that about sums it up. Looks like #'s 1 & 2 might need to find a new purpose in life as they have spent the last 8 months of it here. Ironic that they should be dispatched the day Romney clinches and poop deck paul is officially retired.
Occam's Tool| 5.30.12 @ 7:40PM
John786, Doctor.
Man, this is much more fun.
Purp| 5.30.12 @ 9:08PM
Awww, now that's very nice. What happened to conservative hospitality?
Anyway, I'm here and plan to stay. Otherwise just talk to the mirror.
Albertus Magnus| 5.30.12 @ 11:04PM
The mirror responds with far more intelligence than you have ever displayed.
Alan| 5.30.12 @ 4:19PM
The ignore feature is priceless, it takes away the audience that these no life trolls live for should they start the same stuff. It really makes my day to be able to check in to the site once in a while and not see the same anti-semitic bildge being spewed over and over. Bravo!!!!
Doctor Right| 5.30.12 @ 4:32PM
I actually never "Ignore" anyone, even the most obnoxious trolls.
Call me magnanimous...
Alan| 5.30.12 @ 5:18PM
Thou art truly magnanimousferious!
Fast and Curious| 5.30.12 @ 9:25AM
Great article. I've had the budget discussion with libs so many times yet they ignore facts. Unbelievable.
mjs_pa| 5.30.12 @ 10:34AM
Let us not forget, romney supported the stimulus package, wrote obamacare, believes in cap n trade, violated right of consciense.
So what exactly do we get by switching romney-black with obama-white?
Fast and Curious| 5.30.12 @ 10:59AM
Regulatory reform. Reinstating Bush tax cuts. School choice. NO cap and trade. And most importantly, White House support for budget reforms passed in the House and thus no economic catastrophe.
Albertus Magnus| 5.30.12 @ 1:51PM
AND, better Supreme Court Appointments.
Al Adab| 5.30.12 @ 2:43PM
Should Romney somehow eek out a win (electoral vote remember?) Conservatives would have to watch him closely and keep the heat on over every bill and every appointment. Remember Harriet Myers?; and Bush was to the right of Romney (the spectrum is relative after all).
Albertus Magnus| 5.30.12 @ 3:44PM
I remember Myers, but I also remember Samuel Alito and John Roberts.
Al Adab| 5.30.12 @ 3:49PM
True enough. It is simply an example of how Conservative outcry changed a position. We will need to do a lot of it with Romney. His instincts are not Conservative.
Albertus Magnus| 5.30.12 @ 11:05PM
Agreed. Keep his feet to the fire.
Kwan| 5.30.12 @ 11:46AM
The "Big Lie" is alive and well in "The Great Leap Forward" Obama reelection campaign. Obama can't run on his miserable 3+ years in office so he must manufacture a truck-load of lies in order to deceive the saps, suckers, and morons who still believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and that in this election, only one man has the experience of BEING President - and has done a d* good job at it. Obama 2012.
Purp| 5.30.12 @ 9:09PM
Well, you have that wrong. He has a fine record to run on- just a record you don't like - and that's okay.
chuck| 5.30.12 @ 10:48PM
Then why is he still blaming Bush for everything? I thought he'd have it all fixed by now!
TW in SC| 5.31.12 @ 2:55PM
The crux of it is this:
If Bush was responsible for all the spending, then the wondrous, magnificent boom in the economy Obama is claiming must therefore be credited to Bush. If the awful economy is Bush's fault, then Obama cannot take credit for spending our way out of it.
There's burning a candle at both ends and then there's burning your end on both candles.
Fiscal| 5.30.12 @ 11:57AM
There is no doubt that Obama is a big spending liberal without a great regard for fiscal sanity, but Ferrara's argument just makes him look economically challenged and a poor political hack. Obama maintained the Bush tax cuts and only increased discretionary spending by performing a surge in Afghanistan. One third of the stimulus package was tax cuts and in relation to the total budget, the remaining part of the stimulus was not huge. In addition, any economic effect of policy does not have an immediate impact, so using 2009 is a much better alternative than using 2008.
The problem with the federal budget is structural and it took decades to get it to this level. Both Republicans (including Reagan and Bush) and Democrats made this happen. The largest part of the budget is Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security. Add in the 20% military and paying interest on the debt (which Bush increased dramatically), and Obama's record on spending is not all that bad. The Medicare drug plan has an infinitely larger PERMANENT effect on the budget than anything Obama has done. Only an idiot or a right wing fanatic would believe otherwise.
The real issue is that we are going broke and neither side has the will to change our course including Ryan and Romney.
Indiana_Alex| 5.30.12 @ 1:24PM
One could make a legitimate argument that the one time tax credits passed with the stimulus should be considered spending rather than tax cuts.
Fiscal| 5.30.12 @ 3:03PM
That would be a stretch inasmuch as the tax credits put more money into private hands. That said, Romney is turning out to be a real coward since he won't put specifics out on reducing the debt and his general plan actually increases the debt more than Obama. He won't even have a "Sister Soljah" moment with the nutcases in his party. I'm still voting for him because there is absolutely no hope with Obama, but I'm holding my nose.
JD| 5.30.12 @ 5:56PM
One could NOT make a legitimate argument that they should NOT be considered spending. They are spending and could not be anything else. They are exactly the same as welfare checks.
Truth to Power| 5.30.12 @ 4:01PM
Nice article. Fiscal is making the arguments of left wing political hacks. In a humorous way he seems to trying to talk himself into voting for President O. Look at this bit of logical thinking.
"There is no doubt that Obama is a big spending liberal without a great regard for fiscal sanity..."
I guess at this point we are to think he is one of us but wait just a little later he comes up with this gem.
"...and Obama's record on spending is not all that bad."
Well I guess not. Fiscal is quite the thinker. He reminds me of a guy named Bob V. that used to post all the time. He uses the same ridiculous charts and makes the same inane points. The party is just about over Bob. All Bob will have in the end is the memories of bribing money bundlers.
MusilliR| 5.30.12 @ 12:17PM
The great thing about a democracy is that the people deserve everything that they get. They only get what they ask for. If the citizens of this once great land (greatness comes from the people) vote to continue on the present path, we will begin to look like Rome after the ascent of the likes of Caligual, Nero, and Claudius. If the citizenry can be so easily fooled by the rediculous manipulation of numbers that clearly make no sense, the descent of America will not take 4 more centuries.
Al Adab| 5.30.12 @ 1:52PM
Taylor Caldwell wrote in her intro to Pillar of Iron (novel about the life of Cicero) "any resemblance between the United States and the Roman Republic is strictly historical". We are on such a path.
To understand where the administrative social-welfare state will take us remember as a wise man once said, "The issue is never the Issue, the Issue is control.
One Mediator 1 Tim. 2:5. | 5.30.12 @ 2:02PM
TLP,
Where are you? I replied to your post over in "The Winner of Our Discontent".
JimP| 5.30.12 @ 3:21PM
I love Peter Ferrara's and Jeff Lord's columns. They always give the facts and the real history of President Reagan's terms. I always forward their columns to friends and especially my kids, so they will know the truth. Thanks guys. Please never stop writing.
KyMouse| 5.30.12 @ 4:50PM
OT -- I can't speak for anyone else, of course, but I'm glad we have to register and login now. Perhaps it will keep the trolls under their bridge.
I, for one, welcome our new TAS overlords.
Butch| 5.30.12 @ 4:53PM
Just testing the new system.
Ghost of Cicero (NB) | 5.30.12 @ 4:59PM
Just goes to show that these regressive pukes are SO desperate to polish the giant turd that is MaoBama's record has reached "hilarious" status. Too bad no one's buying the bullshat anymore.
Alan| 5.30.12 @ 5:20PM
40 million Poles didn't get the joke either. This clown can't open his mouth without putting his foot into it anymore. amazing how fast the BS factor wears out when there is nothing there in the first place.
Occam's Tool| 5.30.12 @ 7:42PM
The world's greatest ectoplasmic chef!
Ghost of Cicero (NB) | 5.30.12 @ 7:55PM
:-)
One Mediator 1 Tim. 2:5. | 5.31.12 @ 11:29AM
Your friend is a liar, who has committed libel against me in another thread.
He claimed that I am committing unemployment fraud, that I posted my ss# and info. to that effect.
This has been refuted by me at length in previous posts when he posted under his other handle, Con Chef.
Being that he is using this to incite others to turn against me, as he claims I am therefore "a phony conservative", I have asked TAS to ban his butt.
And I would hope that you take a stand as well.
The ss# that was posted by me was not mine, and I do NOT collect unemployment.
Your "friend" here is the fraud, liar, and phony conservative, by the true definition of those words, Occam.
Immortal 600| 5.30.12 @ 9:24PM
Mr. Ferrara, a well written article. Thank You. It was a pleasure reading it.
The Bruce| 5.31.12 @ 2:00AM
I think you use a great many words to describe what is so simple. It goes like this:
In April of 2008, Bush signed into law the Federal Budget of 2009 (created by the Democrat-controlled House and Senate). The budget ran from October 2008 through September 2009 (FY2009). That budget ran a deficit of $449B.
Fast forward to February and March of 2009. Øbama signs the Stimulus and Omnibus Bill into law. These two bills add a further $1T to current FY2009 spending (increasing the deficit to $1.4T).
Now, in 2012, along comes Nutting, a useful idiot and Øbama apologist. In his brilliant wisdom, he concludes that since this extra spending was tacked onto a budget that Bush initially signed into law, he made the quantum leap that this additional spending was, in fact, "BUSH" spending -- nice distortion, right?
Anyhoo, Nutting, along with his merry band of malcontents, set the baseline of "Bush" spending at $1.4T. They go on to say that because Øbama went on to spend $1.6T, $1.3T, $0.9T and $1.3T (proposed) in the following years, that he's not only reduced deficit spending over previous administrations, but also that he's some sort of deficit hawk?
Being an Øbama apologist is nice work if you can get it, but I wonder if those people are looking past the Piper himself, as he merrily marches his rats (and the rest of us) over the cliff, yonder.
The Bruce| 5.31.12 @ 2:02AM
To AmSpec: Thanks for installing a registration system. The name-grabbing was a tad ridiculous.
But a thumbs-down on the 1500 character limit. I had to butcher my last post as a result.
One Mediator 1 Tim. 2:5. | 5.31.12 @ 11:32AM
That is solved by just post a second comment, then, to continue your thoughts.
I too appreciate the fact that the Trolls must use their one handle to insult and demean. No more cowardly posts allowed.
Although, some will not give up the behavior of open slander and abuse, as I indicated, above.