The American Spectator : What, Me Worry?

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What, Me Worry?

By Doug Bandow on 2.14.13 @ 6:08AM

CBO warns of fiscal doom, and our president reacts like Alfred E. Neumann.

(Page 2 of 2)

Second, there’s the little matter of spending discipline, which Capitol Hill has never exhibited, at least in my lifetime. Discretionary outlays are appropriated every year and thus are the most enjoyable for legislators. The 2011 Budget Control Act established spending caps that “would reduce such spending to an unusually small amount relative to the size of the economy,” 5.8 percent of GDP, below the previous low that occurred back in 1999.

Third is the impact of a rising debt. The CBO doesn’t fall for the “we owe it to ourselves” silliness. Warned the agency: “debt held by the public is projected to be significantly greater relative to GDP than at any time since just after World War II.” And contra Alexander Hamilton, this debt will not be a “national blessing.” Explained CBO: “If the amount of debt held by the public remains so large, federal spending on interest payments will increase substantially when interest rates rise to more normal levels.”

That’s not all, alas. “Because federal borrowing generally reduces national saving, the stock of capital assets, such as equipment and structures, will be smaller and aggregate wages will be less than if the debt were lower.” That is, Americans will be earning less while having to pay more. Such a deal! Finally, “such a large debt poses an increased risk of precipitating a fiscal crisis, during which investors would lose so much confidence in the government’s ability to manage its budget that the government would be unable to borrow at affordable rates.”

It would be nice to curb federal borrowing, but a fiscal crisis probably isn’t the best way to do so. Although this analysis is enough to scare anyone, the budget agency isn’t done. For an encore it peers into the more distant future, and it doesn’t like what it sees.

Noted CBO: “Under current law, the aging of the population, the rising costs of health care, and the scheduled expansion in federal subsidies for health insurance will substantially boost federal spending on Social Security and the government’s major health care programs, relative to GDP, for the next 10 years and for decades thereafter.” Without substantial policy changes, “debt will rise sharply relative to GDP after 2023.”

No worries, however. There is no spending problem. The president promises us.

CBO does fine analytic work, but its reports are a bit dry, even arcane. However, the agency’s budget reports have become the scariest pieces of literature around. Read the latest budget outlook and it’s like seeing Freddy Krueger bearing down on you.

But the president says not to worry. There is no spending problem.

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About the Author

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is the author and editor of several books, including The Politics of Plunder: Misgovernment in Washington (Transaction).

Letter to the Editor View all comments (59) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Jack in Wi| 2.14.13 @ 7:33AM

Another great job by Doug Bandow. Mr. Bandow is one of the best writers on the site.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.14.13 @ 11:41AM

I would have never known that you felt this way.

Jack in Wi| 2.4.13 @ 3:48PM

Another fine essay by Doug Bandow. He is one of the best writers on the site. It was very informative on this issue.

Jack in Wi| 1.15.13 @ 7:07AM

This is a great essay.

Moe Blotz| 2.14.13 @ 12:39PM

Qui, mi anxious sum?

Moe Blotz| 2.14.13 @ 2:20PM

Correction:

Quid, mi anxious sum?

Jack in Wi| 2.14.13 @ 4:26PM

I wrote the first comment not the others. Someone is back to stealing names again. Name stealers should be banned. I thought you had that fixed on the software?

Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.14.13 @ 6:37PM

I gotta tell you, those name stealers sure were clever (i.e. not only did they say exactly the same thing 10 days before you wrote a nearly identical post, but they did it at the time you normally begin).

Aristocat| 2.14.13 @ 7:47AM

Don't just blame Obama....House Republicans have voted for every dollar of this fiasco. If the House doesn't vote for it, it doesn't get spent.

Al Adab| 2.14.13 @ 8:37AM

Empty suit once again best describes this group. Reality does not match the paradigm of The Left and that is leading to denial in a clinical sense which puts Americans at risk everywhere in the world.

Virtue| 2.14.13 @ 8:39AM

Obama never made a payroll. Clueless. And the Republicans are the Stupid Party on merit.

TLP| 2.14.13 @ 10:53AM

Stories like these, here, and in the Papers, would do a lot more good if we could cut the Orwellian Bullshitt, and start using REAL NUMBERS, for a change.

Is it possible to get the REAL Unemployment Numbers, and not the Numbers from underneath one a those Magic 8 Balls?

Can we all agree that when someone "Drops outta the Workforce" because the unimaginable happened, and they Ran Out of Unemployment Checks, that they are STILL Counted in the Census? That they STILL exist? They STILL live in this Country and should be figured into the Unemployment Numbers?

Can we get the Real Inflation Numbers? If Ground Beef was going for $1.79 a lb. four years ago, and it's $4.79 a lb. now? Can we say that we have Inflation?

If our Gasoline, Fuel Oil, and Heating Oil used to be $2 a Gallon LESS than it is Today? Can we admit that we have Inflation?

I realize that Food, Fuel, and Clothing are not Factored in when determining the Inflation Rate. Does it make ANY sense that the Price of things that we buy the MOST, are left out of the Equation? That's like writing 2 + _ = 4 but you're not allowed to enter 4 into the blank.

This Emperor has no Clothes. His Economic Policies have no Clothes. His Domestic Policies have no Clothes. His Energy, Jobs, and his Foreign Policy have no Clothes. And his Ambassador was RAPED and MURDERED, because he was left Naked.

It's high time that GOOD MEN do something, lest Evil succeed.

Hardcard| 2.14.13 @ 8:52AM

How did Mr. Bandow get my picture?

JimH| 2.14.13 @ 9:04AM

Hello....Newman.

TLP| 2.14.13 @ 11:31AM

I heard he got it from Purp's Car.

Apparently, it was taped to the Sun Visor.

Bob Grant| 2.14.13 @ 11:40AM

Hard,

The question is where did you get that red/gold suit and who cut your hair?

TLP| 2.14.13 @ 3:10PM

Purp.

c. j. acworth| 2.14.13 @ 8:54AM

Reminds me of the old joke about the alcoholic who refused to see he had a problem. "I drink, I get drunk, I fall down. No problem!"

vtwin| 2.14.13 @ 8:58AM

Relax, during the eight years of Bush as a nation we went from peace, prosperity and surpluses to wars, depression, and trillion dollar annual deficits. Obama has in only four years reduced the number of wars turned the economy around and reduced projected deficits to below $1 trillion.

Archie| 2.14.13 @ 9:29AM

Recession, not depression. And Bush had ONE year that can be attributed to him (at least partially) with a $1T deficit. This link is a bit dated, but still useful in illustrating how incredibly off your analysis or memory is.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....00104.html

vtwin| 2.14.13 @ 9:55AM

I’m not old enough to have first-hand experience of the Great Depression but I have lived through most of the post WW II recession and the Bush “Recession” was a beast of a different color. And we are still paying today for the bad choices Bush and the Republican controlled House and Senate made in 2001-06.

Goldwater Girl| 2.14.13 @ 10:16AM

Twit,
Let's not forget that Booosh secretly arranged for Al Quaeda to attack the US on Sept 11, or he would have never been able to fulfill his dreams of endless wars. You have such an insight into his character!

vtwin| 2.14.13 @ 11:05AM

Apparently, my insight into Bush character wasn’t as fine as yours as I wasn’t aware of his "dreams of endless wars."

gene| 2.14.13 @ 11:08AM

I have always found the "vast right wing conspiracies" to be very comical. On one hand GWB and other Repubs. are supposed to be morons, idiots, etc. Then when it is convenient, they accuse these same people of incredibly complex, wacko, complicated conspiracies.

Al Adab| 2.14.13 @ 11:32AM

We can only wish that we of the Right were good enough to form the vast conspiracy so many attribute to us.

spike59| 2.14.13 @ 12:36PM

"and then Bush made the water all stinky, and made my frog run away, and made my mommy start drinking..."

grow up, dullard-that load of drivel might play on PuffHo or some other 'tard echo chamber, but it doesn't scan with adults

Moe Blotz| 2.14.13 @ 12:44PM

Forgive the vtwin, his primary chain is loose, clutch is slipping, and he is burning lubricating oil that produces a blue haze from his tailpipe. Maybe his flywheels are out of true and the vibration keeps him from being in tune.

bustunloose| 2.14.13 @ 12:47PM

Like what ? He inherited the Clinton reccession and we got hit on 9-11. He cut taxes and others things and soon we were doing well ? The we had the crises-then we had Obama who I say had an easier task than Bus. He just had to throw money at the problem and manage it well. He has failed. And the damage he has done with other policies exceeds anything in our history. Bush never steered us into a socialist nightmare no matter what THE RIGHT WING HARDONS say. I want the Bush economy back.

Stan Redmond| 2.14.13 @ 9:10PM

We gotta a fevah' and the only cure is more government!

bustunloose| 2.14.13 @ 10:45AM

The unemployment and deficeits of the Bush years would be paradise today. The crisis we faced is fixed-we bailed out the banks. No we shoild be far on our way to something much better than this. The democrats want the stimulus to be part of the permanent budget. And, their crazed regulatory agenda, energy nuttiness and all the rest are killing us. And, by the way-this Clinton surplus going on and on was a fantasy. Anyone with an ounce of honesty knows this.

vtwin| 2.14.13 @ 11:08AM

As would the Clinton years but what had we in between? Oh yea, the Bush years.

bustunloose| 2.14.13 @ 12:41PM

Which were fine prior to collapse-the Clinton years were full of false assumptions-like with no Soviet Union we were at peace forever-please. The military expenditures that relate to those surplus projectios were crazily out of whack with reality-no Iraq-fine-but all the rest 90 per cent of it huge hole blowing in that alledged surplus-and the increased homeland security. Please get over your delusions of Clinton's surplus and balanced budget. Not to mention the prescription drug benefit. Bill always blubbered over the plight of seniors needing help here but even with his surplusses did squat. The benefit seem to be working. I hear the costs are lower than projected. 2 groups hate it. First the union pigs with cushy pensions who runAARP-always carping about the donut hole. And of course RIGHT WING HARDONS who wish to harken back to days when Grannie and Gramps had to cut by half their pill dosage to make ends meet. TOSE WERE THE GLORY DAYS-DONT YA MISS THEM ?

CrackerHound| 2.14.13 @ 1:18PM

That is abosultely the ONLY thing the left has...BLAME BUSH!!
Ohh...that and everytime an existential crisis that they created comes up...shift gears to birth control, gays, guns, womens rights, etc. and then blame Republicans for pushing their social issues.

The nail in the coffin is that the majority of our citizens buy it and are like sheep being lead to the slaughter.

spike59| 2.14.13 @ 12:46PM

"Obama has in only four years sat back and took credit for the process that Bush started in ending the Iraq war, while managing to record 4 straight years of deficits above $1 trillion/year, added more debt than all the previous Administrations combined, leave unemployment near 8% for over 4 years, increased the number of people on food stamps to record levels, wage an air war in Libya without Congressional approval, managed to get his Libyan Ambassador killed (while trying, unsuccessfully, to blame a video that no one has seen) by terrorists, divided the entire nation along sectarian, religious, economic class, and racial lines, and played a record number of rounds of golf, while spending more on vacations than any President in history"

there-fixed it for ya

CrackerHound| 2.14.13 @ 1:29PM

President Downgrade Eye Candy

Stan Redmond| 2.14.13 @ 9:08PM

You are so right!!! And the only thing that can save us is EVEN MORE government!!!

Biff| 2.17.13 @ 10:08AM

...more cowbell?

Minuteman78| 2.14.13 @ 8:58AM

Unemployed person = Democrat voter. No problem.

vtwin| 2.14.13 @ 10:58AM

That explains it; unemployed voters put Democrats in power. Democrats fix the economy the unemployed become employed and vote Republican which intern creates a whole new batch of unemployed voters.

spike59| 2.14.13 @ 12:33PM

'Democrats fix the economy'
----------------------------------
hahahahahahaha........wait, you're...SERIOUS???

oh, then...HAHAHAHAHAHAHA....

Minuteman78| 2.14.13 @ 12:45PM

I didn't think a pile of fertilizer was capable of typing...

But the reality is that Democrat legislators make laws that takes money from people that won't vote for them (most working people) and gives it to people who will vote for them (most unemployed people). For those not on Capitlol Hill, that's called theft. For those that are, it's called "fairness".

Biff| 2.17.13 @ 10:07AM

Nothing I have ever heard, no matter how ignorant or obscene, could be further from the truth. Are there more out there like you? No wonder we're sliding into the abyss...

Pecos Pete| 2.14.13 @ 9:30AM

As always, the CBO projections also include an estimate for revenue in their determination of deficit. Thus, if revenue falls below their estimate, then their deficit projections are too low. Sort of like the funny numbers game played in the state budgets of California, Illinois and New York .

Compound lower revenue with higher interest costs on rising debt and the result is, as everyone knows except socialist/marxist/democrat/RINO politicians (and trolls), a total failure of government resulting in chaos.

Von Mises Jr| 2.14.13 @ 11:21AM

The CBO prepares a Budget Analysis based on the assumptions given to it by Congress. But we know for the last four years every unemployment and GDP report is declared "unexpected." This is because as Joe Wilson said "You Lie." They assume static projections when in fact ObamaCare premiums and FINES like $4-5K for being a smoker kicks in 2014.
If you take all this money out of the private sector and reduce the disposable income of individuals, then demand for goods collapses. So if nobody has money to buy unnecessary items, producers stop building them and tax revenues collapse. Then little barry will be proved correct in "YOU DIDN'T BUILD THAT."

CrackerHound| 2.14.13 @ 12:55PM

The fact that only a handful (relatively speaking) of people realize that all of the numbers are fudged and based on false assumptions is the dangerous aspect to all of this.

I hope I am wrong, but I believe you are correct...chaos is inevitable. There is nothing we can do because once you go over the cliff, there is nothing until the bottom. We are over the cliff now. The point of no return was reached quite awhile ago.

Hardcard| 2.14.13 @ 10:24AM

just another paid troll of georgi soros. bush did it, bush did it !!!!! praise obamao for murder,treason,corruption, and being a born liar!! STFU

N8tivTxn| 2.14.13 @ 10:31AM

But the president says not to worry.

And so the proletariat (low-info voters) go back to their regular programming... Dancing With the Stars, believing that their president, Mr Teflon, will do his utmost to control the injustice the bourgeoisie visits upon them, while completely ignorant that their savior is the best magician since Houdini.

Don't worry, BE HAPPY!

gene| 2.14.13 @ 11:16AM

On this voting business? Michele makes all these public statements about "Voter Suppression". Okay let's look at it. In districts in Philly, Republican Ballot Watchers had to go to court to get Emergency Court Orders after being BARRED from Polling Stations. In some voting districts in Philly, Pres. Obama received ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of the vote and the Main Stream Media insists this is not suspicious. As a child, we would read about elections in Dictatorships/Communist countries etc. and we would laugh when a "candidate" would receive 80, 90, or 95% of all the votes. Now an American President racks up ONE HUNDRED PERCENT in parts of Philly in Pennsyvania, and the rest of the world is laughing,.................... at us. NOW the U.S. of A. is the "Banana Republic" with the fake elections and a Government suffering from "Cranial Anal Insertion". Now we are the Third World Country and being laughed at by the rest of the world. THAT is sad.

Pecos Pete| 2.14.13 @ 2:16PM

gene: May I steal your "Cranial Anal Insertion" comment?

Biff| 2.17.13 @ 10:05AM

...wonder if Obamacare covers that?

Stormzeye| 2.14.13 @ 11:22AM

Doesn't anyone pay attention? HE'S DOING ALL THIS ON PURPOSE! Obama's bound and determined to bring this country down to the level of Bulgaria and Portugal (both of whom had larger standing armies than the U.S. in 1939 according to Michael Korda in his fabulous biography, "IKE"). What he has done and continues to do (thank God for a Republican House of Representatives) has been well thought out and a Marxist's wet dream.

gene| 2.14.13 @ 11:30AM

For decades, certain groups wanted a President who was just out and out Anti-Western Culture, Anti-Christian, Anti-Semetic, Anti-Constitution, Anti-Everything this country has stood for. Now they have it. We will have chaos, food shortages, crime, and a whole lot of other trouble. And the rule book says they will blame it all on the Jews, the Christians, the Conservatives. I do find it hard to believe that most of all this happened during my lifetime. For those of you who believe, the Boss will be returning soon for judgement. For those of you who do not believe? Well then if right, you will cease to exist when your heart stops beating. (I would not bet eternity on the latter)

Who Knows?| 2.14.13 @ 11:29AM

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

All you have to know about Obama and the CBO kabuki dance.

However, what can't continue WON'T.

The bond market will sooner or later see the light---or should I say dark, as in black hole?---and in our day of tight communication, the reaction should be swift.

It's all about when, not if, the tipping point arrives.

Picture a glass, and water being poured into it. Obama is, for a while, able to "grow" the glass, and pour the water = debt into it. But, the flow of borrowed money will soon enough become a trickle, and they interest rates will shoot up, for any more money lenders will risk.

cicero| 2.14.13 @ 11:45AM

The Founders knew that democracy was dangerous. That is why they wanted no part of one. The country went to a democracy in the 1830s and has been on a steady course ever since. At each expansion of the franchise, we got closer and closer to the cliff. We are now there. It is now possible (happened in the Nov. election) for the have nots to vote themselves the treasury. There is no way to stop them.
The goernment will continue to buy votes to stay in power. The have nots and the jealous will vote to keep the ball rolling. This will result in massive inflation, continuing unemplyment figures in unreal (actual unemployment is probably at 14% nationwdie, and 25-39% in the central Dem controlled cities) numbers. The natural outcome will be unrest (riots) in the cities, poverty on the family farms, and fat beaurocrats bunkered in the seats of government, wondering how it all came to this.

Jacob McCandles| 2.15.13 @ 12:57PM

Tis the tyrants of the majority. Like cancer cells, the takers will soon outgrow their blood supply and turn necrotic.

Hardcard| 2.14.13 @ 12:05PM

the suit is from the "Pee Wee Collection" at Big Lots and the hair cut is from Tupperware.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.14.13 @ 12:43PM

You've got to straighten out the headline writer with the proper spelling of Alfred E.'s Newman. He's using the German version, as in St. John Neumann.

Ronsch| 2.14.13 @ 1:21PM

So, supposedly the payments made to doctor's will drop, and save money, despite NerObamaCare adding recipients to the program...How is that going to work? Slightly less payments costs with more people added, seems that unless doctor's are paid 50% less per patient, it will never balance out the costs...it will always cost more.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.14.13 @ 2:13PM

When I go to the grocery store later today, instead of paying $75 for groceries, I'm going to pay $40, using the Medicare reimbursement formula (because that's what they're worth).

Don't be surprised if the Albert Constantine, Jr. mugshot and police reports are soon featured on The Smoking Gun website.

TLP| 2.14.13 @ 5:21PM

And the Advocate, in the Village.

CALL ME!

Biff| 2.17.13 @ 10:02AM

I think his point would be more effective were Obama to slowly swing a gold pocket watch back and forth while repeating, "there is not spending problem...there is no spending problem..."

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