Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was asked about an extension of the payroll tax break yesterday, but instead of answering the question, the Republican changed the subject. The subject on McConnell's mind was the debt.
"We have this problem at the risk of being repetitious, because we spend way too much. We now have a debt the size of our economy. We look a lot like Greece. We're heading toward western Europe. If you want to see what happens, just look across the Atlantic. That's the direction we're headed in.
"Under this administration, we've run the national debt up 43 percent in just three years."
McConnell first started equating the U.S. and Greece last summer, and the argument is not improving with age.
In every meaningful way, the comparison is just silly. The U.S. has extremely low interest rates and foreign investors are happy to loan us money; Greece has extremely high interest rates and no one is eager to loan the country money. The U.S. has its own currency; Greece has the euro. We have a manageable debt; Greece has a debt crisis. We're a large country with an enormous economy; Greece is a small country with a small economy. We have one of the world's most stable systems of government (at least for now); Greece's government structure is suspect.
For a leading senator to tell a national television audience that the United States looks "a lot like Greece" is a clear reminder: McConnell is not to be taken seriously on these issues.
Incidentally, there's also the matter of McConnell's credibility on fiscal issues, or in his case, the lack thereof. The Republican leader voted for the Bush tax cuts, and added the costs to the national debt. He voted to finance the war in Afghanistan by adding the costs to the national debt. McConnell voted to put the costs of the war in Iraq onto the national debt. He supported a massive expansion of the government's role in health care (Medicare Part D) and voted to pile all of its costs right onto the national debt. The GOP leader even backed the Wall Street bailout and added the bill to the national debt.
Perhaps Mitch McConnell should choose something else to complain about.
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And then there's the debt limit compromise, consisting of lowered payments to Medicare providers and a reduction in military spending. Mitch doesn't seem to want to keep either end of that bargain. He and his cronies fought pretty hard for that. Talk about a waste of oxygen.
McConnell wants to retire with a cushion of money and will do exactly as his big money funders say. At the repub/tparty convention in early 2010, they were all told, "One-Term for Obama," and "cut spending will be the main mantra - no matter what." Well, Mc is stickg to it, he's too old to change now. We all know how dangerous Pres. Obama is to the repub/tparty, and spending cuts is old hat and the Dems are workg on that issue long before the R/Tps brought it up. What do they think Americans are? As dumb as their followers?
Yes, yes, Steve; but McConnell lives in a Fact Free Zone- AKA Washington, DC.
(The place where "Both Sides Do It" is carved in stone.)
Maybe Mitch McConnell will complain about how he looks like a turtle, and sounds like an evil Jimmy Stewart.
When you run up the debt like McConnell did, then you don't get to have a seat at the table, you're not one of the people trying to figure out a solution to the problem. You're one of the problems.
Mitch says that he may look like a "turtle" however, he's white, old, pasty faced, and has money - and that's just the way he likes it!!!
Hey Steve- Welcome over to the Maddowblog! I'm a longtime reader, and I'm making my very first comment to say I'm so glad to have you here!
Steve's just tearing it up. I can't believe I never read this guy's work until now. No wonder he has such a following ;-)
@ The Mouzer @9:59 AM EST
Just wait, Steve's just getting warmed up. :)
@Mitch McConnell.........I can't stand him.
just more SOP BS from the GOP.
everyone look at the bad guy in the white house, dont look it was the GOP and few Dems that has totally try to crippling our country.
maybe next time he try to retract his head he should do it in his shell and not his fourth point of contact.
The technical term is bullfeathers.
McConnel is full of bullfeathers.
Wealthy people are using high-placed GOP to lie to the country.
So glad to read your posts again. Excellent job. I hope more people will read you here as you have a wonderful way to cutting through the "bull" we have to endure everyday with people like McConnell who ought to be challenged by the media about their lies instead of pandered to. The sad thing is that so many Republicans believe McConnell.
The sooner Mitch sees the writing on the wall, the better off we'll all be. Then we won't have to be subjected to his mundane rantings. And the writing on the wall.....? It says President Obama re-elected in 2012.
The sooner Mitch sees the writing on the wall, the better off we'll all be.
its to bad the writing on the wall seems to be on the wall inside his shell. and to far back from him to read.
Obviously, Mitch "Mumbles" McConnell doesn't read Paul Krugman - or IMF or OECD or CBO reports, or even you or Dean Baker - because if he did, he wouldn't be mumbling about a non-existent debt problem here in the US. Not only has the national debt shrunk slightly under Pres. Obama, it represents well under 25% of GDP - a far cry from Greece.
But I suspect that, even if McConnell does read Krugman et al, what he is really trying to do is shift the discussion back to last summer, away from jobs and inequality to crazy talk about debt.
While McConnell's change of topic might not be surprising, what is both surprising and disheartening is how the Sunday talk host(s) let him get away with it,
McConnell snorts Koch.
Robme clearly stated he wants the recession to get worse so that wealthy people can increase their wealth by purchasing real estate confiscated from newly created homeless people that used to be members of the middle class.
Speech in Nevada. Good listen.
"While McConnell's change of topic might not be surprising, what is both surprising and disheartening is how the Sunday talk host(s) let him get away with it,"
You forgot the "news" is now "company owned"!! Do you really think that the "journalists" working for those companies is going to do the proper work and "ask follow-up questions", come on now!!!
It drives me crazy to no end how people will just let them spew whatever nonsense they want to spew. And if you correct them you'll be seen as part of the 'gotcha journalism,' 'liberal media' that's always out to attack conservatives. Because wanting honesty from your representative government, apparently, is tyranny. Le sighs.
Keep watching as McConnell is rapidly becoming to our national political dialog what Professor Prufrock was to middle aged romance.
He just can't seem to tell us exactly what he thinks as he fears the exposure of his disgruntled temperment! -Kevo
This brings up something I wish more reporters and pundits would discuss-the price of both wars being put openly into the budget. President Bush financed the wars by asking for money bits at a time, while President Obama made the wars items in the budget. More transparency in why the deficit was going up. Moderators in the endless Republican debates, as well as MSM don't bring this up.
Yea!!! Thank heavens, Steve is still prolific and taking apart piece by piece the distortions and lies (so I can cheat and use this as a crib sheet for debunking the same when those around me repeat them)!! Huge sigh of relief that leaving WaMo didn't mean going quiet. Love you!!
The debt was never an issue under a Republican president.
And still isn't the issue.
Will these dinosaurs just die already.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_09/remember_deficits_dont_matter032197.php
Hey look here's another article from Steve Benen on the hypocrisy of Cheney and debt. Apparently debt really wasn't a problem under a Republican President.
National debt could disappear in as little as 6 years if the middle east and drug wars stop.
Debt is not the problem. The real problem is federal loan obligations to foreign investors.
Social security will run a surplus of about $1.6 trillion from 2011 through 2020 according to the congressional budget office. Government has been borrowing from the social security trust fund for a long time (since way before Obama became president).
McConnell failed to point that out.
The GOP began bringing up national debt as an issue when social security funds became insufficient to keep up with the demands of unfunded wars in the middle east and the war on drugs. Foreign borrowing became necessary toward the end of the Bush presidency when the financial collapse dropped tax revenue at the same time that war debt exploded.
Debt becomes a problem if the US treasury interest obligation exceeds the unfunded debt obligation, which could occur in about 10 years if nothing changes.
Government obligations total about $20,000/worker while taxes collect about $14,000/worker. Annual accumulating debt is the unfunded difference, and those loans have totaled about $7,000/worker for the past few years.
Interest on the national debt is about $3,000/worker. That has gone up/down about $1,000/worker for past 20 years.
I take McConnell seriously on these issues. What he is referent to in 'the U.S is like Greece" comment is that Republicans like he will make the U.S. like Greece in order to win back their power structure. That is ALL they care about.
All last year they were crying about inflation and higher interest rates because of the Fed monetary policy, which is attempting to spur economic growth. Well, it's a fact that businesses are growing again, but we don't have demand. Consumer demand drives inflation, and the Fed uses interest rates to ensure that inflation does not spiral out of control and chokes off an economic expansion.
I thing what most people do not understand is that inflation is a necessary evil for a capitalistic economy. If you don't have inflation, or you have deflation the economy offers only anemic growth, or is depressed (depression). People must come to terms with accepting an annual inflation rate of 2.5 to 3.5%. Once inflation falls below this then the economy is not growing enough to maintain employment of new workers entering the workforce.
Of course, that does not take into effect of many old farts (like me) leaving the work force; shabang! If I only could, I would, oh would I!
I have been waiting for a long time for someone to debunk so clearly and cogently this false comparison between Greece and the US. People around the world are clamoring for our T-Bonds at 3%; Greece can't give away theirs at 13%. Ya really think the smart money thinks we're going bankrupt?
Next is then Treasury Paul O'Neill's report of Cheney's famous veto of his policy recommendation because "Reagan proved deficits don't matter." This, of course, was before O"Neill was forced out of the Bush administration for not drinking the Kool-Aid. BTW, do a search for "GDP deficit graph" and notice how in the last 30 years the deficit as percentage of GDP has soared under Repub Pres's and declined under Dems until 2009, when massive stimulus kicked in.