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Economy
In reply to the discussion: Weekend Economists and the Accidental President December 13-15, 2013 [View all]Demeter
(85,373 posts)33. A Cruel, Irresponsible and Dysfunctional Budget Deal John Nichols
http://www.thenation.com/blog/177550/cruel-irresponsible-and-dysfunctional-budget-deal
The trouble with making functional government the great aspiration of the American experiment as so many pundits and politicians now do is that a smoothly operating Congress is not necessarily moral, humane or even economically smart. It is important to remember this disconnect as we consider the budget deal announced late Tuesday by House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, and Senate Budget Committee chairman Patty Murray, D-Washington.
Ryan was equally self-congratulatory, declaring that after a fall the saw a government shutdown, nasty wrangling over the historically uncontroversial task of raising the debt ceiling and general congressional dysfunction he and Murray had achieved a clear improvement on the status quo.
Murray and Ryan are excited that they had stopped fighting for long enough to agree to $63 billion in sequester relief as opposed to an actual end to sequestration and $23 billion in net deficit reduction. They're also glad that they have set the discretionary spending level for fiscal year 2014 at $1.012 trillion, while setting the level at $1.014 trillion for fiscal year 2015. That apparently qualifies in the eyes of the budget negotiators as a sufficient alternative to lurching from crisis to crisis. But the agreement does not address the crises that matter. This plan won't create jobs, get the economy back on track, or meaningfully cut the deficit, explains Congressman Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon. And that's not the worst of it.
What of the 1.3 million jobless Americans who with a fully Dickensian twist now stand to lose Federal unemployment benefits three days after Christmas?
MORE VITRIOL AT LINK
The trouble with making functional government the great aspiration of the American experiment as so many pundits and politicians now do is that a smoothly operating Congress is not necessarily moral, humane or even economically smart. It is important to remember this disconnect as we consider the budget deal announced late Tuesday by House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, and Senate Budget Committee chairman Patty Murray, D-Washington.
This agreement breaks through the recent dysfunction to prevent another government shutdown and roll back sequestrations cuts to defense and domestic investments in a balanced way, said Murray. Its a good step in the right direction that can hopefully rebuild some trust and serve as a foundation for continued bipartisan work.
Ryan was equally self-congratulatory, declaring that after a fall the saw a government shutdown, nasty wrangling over the historically uncontroversial task of raising the debt ceiling and general congressional dysfunction he and Murray had achieved a clear improvement on the status quo.
This agreement makes sure that we don't have a government shutdown scenario in January, he added. It makes sure we don't have another government shutdown scenario in October. It makes sure that we don't lurch from crisis to crisis."
Murray and Ryan are excited that they had stopped fighting for long enough to agree to $63 billion in sequester relief as opposed to an actual end to sequestration and $23 billion in net deficit reduction. They're also glad that they have set the discretionary spending level for fiscal year 2014 at $1.012 trillion, while setting the level at $1.014 trillion for fiscal year 2015. That apparently qualifies in the eyes of the budget negotiators as a sufficient alternative to lurching from crisis to crisis. But the agreement does not address the crises that matter. This plan won't create jobs, get the economy back on track, or meaningfully cut the deficit, explains Congressman Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon. And that's not the worst of it.
What of the 1.3 million jobless Americans who with a fully Dickensian twist now stand to lose Federal unemployment benefits three days after Christmas?
MORE VITRIOL AT LINK
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