The GOP majority in the House of Representatives is sticking to their guns…they are demanding big spending cuts or they will shut down the government….I normally like politicians that stick to their guns whether I agree with them or not ….but there are times in the life of a country that sticking to one’s guns could be more disastrous than compromise and the whole row over spending cuts could be one of those times when the country, especially a weak economy, may NOT benefit from stubbornly standing on owns beliefs….
This may well be one of those times…..a report issued by Goldman-Sachs (who is NOT one of Obama’s biggest supporters) that show something different than the picture painted by the GOP over spending cuts…..the GOP is pushing this myth that if we cut spending we will grow the economy……the HuffPost is reporting on the Goldman report:
A Goldman Sachs economist has warned that the $60 billion package of spending cuts proposed by the Republicans to counter President Obama’s proposal could slow economic growth.Goldman’s warning follows Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner’s recent claims that the Republican plan would cost jobs.
In the confidential report, obtained by ABC News, among other news outlets, Goldman Sachs economic forecaster Alec Phillips said the GOP plan could slow economic growth by up to 2 percent. Even a compromise deal, with $25 billion in cuts could slow growth by 1 percent.
In its latest spending plan, the White House predicted GDP growth of 2.7 percent this year.
(click on the links and read the reports for yourself)
And then there is the idea of a governmental shutdown and the Goldman report had this to say about it:
…….if budget wrangling between the Obama administration and the Republican-dominated House of Representatives led to a shutdown? That, according to Goldman, could cost $8 billion a week, the Financial Times reported.
It appears that the debate on spending cuts has NOTHING to do with growing this economy and definitely does NOT having anything to do with the promise of jobs…then why are we having this debate? Is it the typical political game? Where is this debate good for the economy and the country?
Nothing the GOP is doing is good for the working majority or what is best for the country…instead we get theater and not very good theater, at that…….by sticking to their guns they may be dooming the economy with the possibility of a double dip recession….something for thought!
Naturally, it has nothing to do with anything other than playing their political games – it’s what they do…
Yes it is….but someone needs to force the people to open their godd*mn closed eyes…..all this trickery is doing NOTHING to further democracy or for that matter to improve our lagging economy…..
I had another thought…..what if their (GOP) intention is to slow down the economy?…would be good for them in 2012 and the election…….if so then they all need top be prosecuted for treason!
I wouldn’t be at all surprised at that – what opposition politicians do often seems to me to be specifically designed to screw up what the incumbents are attempting in order to increase THEIR chances of re-election… In fact, I’d go so far as to say that they do it all the time – and get away with it!
But if they shut down the government…that could bite them in the ass in 2012…..
True – but will the public remember that far back?
Then again, this is the advantage of the UK system over the US system – you get a winner, or a largest party that forms a coalition and they govern – end of (well, more or less). In the US wiiners lose and losers (we all have a lot of them!) win and no one is really in control of anything and even if they are the f*cking states will object…
I mean to say, you couldn’t run a goddamned railroad that way, so how do you expect to run a country like it?
Well said and look at the free ride corporations are getting…..we, the people, are little irritants that that tolerate every couple of years…….