Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The blatant lies of Peterson, Walker, Simpson, Bowles


By now we have all seen the sheer, blatant, empty, vicious lies of the likes of Pete Peterson, David Walker, Erskin Bowles, Alan Simpson and the rest of the subversive Deficit Terrorists clan.

This dangerous and destructive group is on course to decimate a national standard of living that was once the envy of the world. Their program is all based on filthy lies and the worst part is, they're going to get away with it.

I'm sure you're all familiar with the clever soundbites and dogmatic propaganda points they use:

"Stabilize the debt, unfunded liabilities, fiscal sustainabillity..."

Listen to that snake, Bowles, as he spews forth his lies in an interview with Charlie Rose

Erskine Bowles: I would say that any of these budget proposals that don't reduce the deficit by at least four trillion dollars over the next decade because that's the minimum amount you need to stabilize the debt and get it on a downward path as a percent of GDP, any of them that don't do that, any of them that don't address defense, any of them that don't address Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and don't reform the tax code, and aren't balanced in some way between that aren't serious.

Charlie Rose: Then why do you think people have not come to support Bowles-Simpson?

Erskine Bowles: Because it's politically painful. The problems are real. The solutions are all painful. There's no easy way out. And everybody gets the arithmetic, everybody understand the economics, but they have to make tough political choices in order to do it. And as long as people are worshipping the great god of reelection, then we're going to have a hard time getting to the promised land.

Erskine Bowles: You know, you got to respect the fact that this is tough, you know, for one side or the other. It's going to be tough for the Republicans to concede the fact that we have to have some additional revenue. It's going to be tough for the Democrats to make the kind of concessions you have to make to make Social Security sustainably solvent. But, we have to do these things in order to put our fiscal house in order for our kids.

They're lies, damn lies and nobody even questions them outside of these pages (and a few other MMT sites).

The other day I showed you how the U.S. redeemed ("paid back") $32 TRILLION in debt in the past six months alone. That's more than twice the entire national debt. Done. Paid off. In six months.

Or how about the fact that we paid back $64 trillion in 2011? That's four times the national debt PAID BACK in just 12 months.

How did we do it? Where did all that money come from? China? Japan? Taxes? Savers? There's not that many dollars in the whole world.

We "got it" by changing numbers in bank accounts. Simple as that. Keystrokes. Or, if you prefer...we "printed" it. Yes, we printed it and guess what? No hyperinflation, no collapse in the dollar, no spike in interest rates. In fact, inflation has been tame, the stock market has been going up, the economy has been growing, jobs were created, interest rates remained at historically low levels and yes, even the dollar rallied.

All the fear mongering and all the hysteria about hyperinflation or us becoming the next Zimbabwe is pure bullshit.

Yet nobody looks at the facts. They just swallow the poisonous Kool Aid of the Debt clan.

Where is Geithner or Bernanke, who surely know that the U.S. paid back that $32 TRILLION?

Timothy Geithner is the Secretary of the Treasury for God's sake!!! Are you kidding me, he knows these figures! These numbers are compiled and reported by his own department. Ben Bernanke knows this, too! But they stay silent. They say nothing, other than to repeat the lies of their masters: "We need to get our fiscal house in order." And this is all the excuse they need to gut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Veterans benefits, education, food stamps, etc.

What a sham!

Now we have this ridiculous debt commission that is proposing their hugely destructive policies designed to address the so-called "unfunded liabilities" of Social Security. Do you know just exactly what those "unfunded liabilities" amount to? They amount to some supposed shortfall of $4.32 trillion 75 years from now! That's right, we just put a bunch of clowns in place to deal with a supposed shortfall of $4.32 trillion SEVENTY-FIVE FUCKING YEARS FROM NOW even though we just paid off 8 times that amount in the last six months!!

The stuff I am telling you is the truth. The stuff you are hearing out of the mouths of Peterson, Walker, Bowles, Simpson and the rest of the Deficit Terrorists clan is not. Nor are the words of the lackey, subservient, politicians who parrot their crap for the promise of some campaign donation, true either.

The bottom line is, the fiscal crisis is a myth. It's a myth manufactured by a bunch of ideological zealots who want nothing more than to steal the wealth of this nation for themselves so they can lord over a bunch of powerless, servile peasants. That would be us.

We have no fiscal crisis in this country. The only crisis we have is that these bastards are in charge. It's time to make that stop.

-Mike Norman

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bernanke confuses me.

Isnt it part of the Bernanke Doctrine that recessions/deflation is caused by a lack of aggregate demand?

He has to know that putting money in people's pockets fixes that problem, yet he sit there and says the same nonsense as everyone else.

Sometimes I hope they pass a balanced budget amendment and just get it over with. It would destroy a lot, but people would realize how wrong mainstream economics is in a heartbeat and we could finally move on.

Jonf said...

"We have no fiscal crisis in this country. The only crisis we have is that these bastards are in charge. It's time to make that stop. "

The lies, the damned lies will destroy us all. I listened to the President speak and even he talks about deficit reduction. It is incredible. No one it seems outide of MMT can talk any sense.

I wish I could make it stop but both our political parties are broken. I feel your pain, I share it.

Tom Hickey said...

The problem is that the deficit hawks have framed the debated in terms of the household analogy and the public has bought into it, so now the few politicians that know better are afraid to confront this fallacy. I would like to say that this is a wholesale failure of the economics profession, but most economists are in the dark on it, too, and they are marginalizing the people that do get it.

The ironic thing is that they are all trying to save capitalism from the welfare state but in destroying the welfare state, they are destroying the effective demand upon which capitalism (investment) relies.

A variant of Warren's for fear of becoming the next Greece, we are becoming the next Japan.

mike norman said...

We're gonna be far worse than Japan. Japan is s completely different culture within a totally homongenous society. The Japanese people have shown they can stay quiet, orderly and peaceful under even teh most dire conditions. It won't be that way here, I can assure you.

DanF said...

Someone needs to make a flow chart of this. I think it would be rather illuminating.

Jonf said...

The household analogy is sinister. People without any knowledge of economics buy into it easily and that becomes the parable to tell everyone. And those who know better are afraid to speak and remain silent. Wait, have I heard this story before, where I wonder?

Matt Franko said...

Righteous post Mike!

Tom, great observations wrt "the household", Mike coined it "taxpayer on the hook!" some years ago.

I continue to think about it, but this 'household/TP on the hook!' falsehood could be the foundational untruth to attack; overturn that and I think we can gain an advantage.

resp,

Tom Hickey said...

"I continue to think about it, but this 'household/TP on the hook!' falsehood could be the foundational untruth to attack; overturn that and I think we can gain an advantage."

I am convinced that this is the key.

Anonymous said...

DANF, how's this flow chart grab you? http://shmookey.net/blog/2012/01/the-flow-of-funds/

apj

John T said...

When the Krugman/Keen argument settles on a truce, this is exactly what they should focus on. They are probably on the same side as far as policy goes. Let's see the same kind of passion spent denouncing these despicable policies. Ryan's Path to Poverty should be exposed as the sham it is.