Associated Press
David Cameron's economy isn't pointing in the right direction.
For quite a while, Republicans have looked at the economic austerity agenda that's dominating Europe and called for the United States to follow the continent's lead. This is especially true of David Cameron's British austerity policies, which have drawn enthusiastic praise from Republicans, who wish President Obama would implement parts of the Prime Minister's plan here in the U.S.
Indeed, it was almost exactly a year ago when Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) wrote an op-ed urging U.S. policymakers to follow the lead set by our friends across the pond: "We need a budget with a bold vision -- like [the one] unveiled in Britain."
We're getting a very good look at the efficacy of the austerity agenda Republicans are so fond of.
Britain's economy slid into its second recession since the financial crisis after official data unexpectedly showed a fall in output in the first three months of 2012, piling pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron's embattled coalition government.
The Office for National Statistics said Britain's gross domestic product fell 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012 after contracting by 0.3 percent at the end of 2011, confounding forecasts for 0.1 percent growth.
The last time Britain suffered a double-dip recession was in 1975.
Remember, this is of critical importance here in the U.S., because Republicans are eager -- desperate, really -- to impose this same kind of austerity agenda here. In fact, perhaps the most frustrating realization about the news out of the UK is that it won't deter Republicans at all.
At what point is it no longer impolite to suggest the GOP's economic vision is ridiculous? In 2009, with an economy on the brink of collapse, Democrats wanted Keynesian stimulus, while Republicans pushed for debt reduction. Republicans were wrong and Democrats were right -- using the government to pump capital into the economy almost immediately improved job creation and economic growth.
In 2011, austerity's champions -- in Europe and the U.S. -- said taking money out of the economy and scaling back investments will lead to stronger growth and lower debts. We've now seen the results of this experiment: lower growth and higher debts.
Instead of learning anything from these developments, Republicans still expect the American electorate to give them the power to pursue a European-style austerity agenda here at home, despite its abject failures.
A year ago, Richard Portes, an economist at the London Business School, argued, "My view is that we are in serious danger of a double-dip recession. This is going to be a cautionary tale."
Twelve months later, we know Portes was exactly right, but American conservatives refuse to learn the lesson.
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Read The Republican Brain by Chris Mooney and read the research that Dr. Bob Altemeyer has done in the way that conservatives think. For doctrinaire conservatives, reality is nonexistent. As a major republican personage, probably Rove, said, "We make our own reality."
What they do is take something that really happened that shows that their doctrine, dogma, if you will, is erroneous, and either ignore it or distort it so that their dogma is supported. It reminds me of the old joke about doctrinaire communists who would say, "Sure it works in practice, but does it work in theory." Just as the Taliban and the right wing christianists worship the same god, so the doctrinaire communists and the republican whackjobs follow the same mindset.
You are the prime example of what it means to not be an American.. To be an American is to be a person who loves freedom and the ability to achieve success for you and yr family Your comments put you into i have to have the govt to take care of me mentalty... So Obama !!! Ck out my other comments.. If you believe in America
Republicans live in a fact-free world where they can make it up as they go along and all is as they say it is. The fact they even exist is proof that a sizable number of the American people are more Homo Sap than Homo Sapiens.
If the Republicans get control of Congress, I hope they do pass the Ryan austerity budget. A Republican created depression would end trickle down economics and all the other Republican economic theories. And it will be the last Republican Congress for the next two generations.
I almost want a Republican President and a Republican-controlled Congress/Senate/whatever else. That way they won't have anyone to blame and when things go horribly wrong, nobody will be able to blame anyone but them and their lunatic, stupid policies.
Au contrair . They will always ALWAYS find a way to blame Democrats ....
It's all their fault ..they should have won the election...or they should have filibustered us ... or any other myriad of blame supported by their buds in the pundit class.
Fellahs...I said this all the way through the Bush years and whaddaya know? It's already happened! They done screwed it up so durned awful we STILL haven't been able to unscrew it!
It is going to take at least 2 more election cycles to get rid of the radical GOP/Tea holdovers and to gain enough majorities in House, Senate and Statehouses across America to pass anything resembling progressive, humane legislation for healthcare, the environment, the economy, infrastructure, green jobs, education, equality before the law, etc.
Get OUT there and get rid of the ilk!
This was my thought process with Bush Jr. I considered myself a Republican back then, and when we had the presidency and the congress, I thought well, now we'll prove it!
We did. I was wrong. Never again.
WE the voting public must take some responsibility for voting into office these people that don't have a clue about basic civics, economics, and their own agenda! The GOP does not live in reality! They have wedded themselves to an ideology that is as close to fascism as one can get! These people are NOT working on behalf of the American people that voted them into office, but to the corporate Oligarchy that sponsors them!
Simply because Britain is suffering from another recession doesn't mean that "reality" is going to suddenly invade their brains. I'm sure that the GOP also missed those riots that were happening when these policies were instituted. Ahh, I see it now - we're about to have a "let them eat cake moment" and Madame Defarge is getting her knitting ready.
"In these troubling times, we can no longer afford the fire department. It is time to sell the equipment, and use the proceeds to lower taxes on job creators."
But, but, what if my house catches fire?"
"Increase your fire insurance! (or, buy one of those fire trucks. . .)"
At what point is it no longer impolite to suggest the GOP's economic vision is ridiculous?
At any point since it began.
At what point was the GOP's economic vision not ridiculous in the last 30 years?
The problem with Republican or conservative arguments is that they take much less effort to buy into.
If you say "we are broke so we must cut spending" it sounds logical but it assumes facts that are not necessarily put into evidence ("we are broke") and overlooks any meaningful analysis (the solution is simply "cut all spending").(See also "the debt ceiling crisis", "drill, baby, drill", "no new taxes" etc, etc etc...)
And because these arguments are facile and simple, ordinary people, who just want things to be better and don't have time to invest in serious political thought, choose the pre-packaged, branded slogans in the hopes of the quick fix that they have been promised.
Now, I don't blame people for not having time for anything other than their day to day lives, what is truly frustrating, however, is that when these ideas fail, the same people who supported them never connect the dots to see what the cause of their troubles really are! they just look for the next political quick fix (see also "2010 mid-term elections"), or, put another way, people who do not benefit from conservative or Republican policies, continue to vote for them.
So my question is this... What is the solution to this problem?
I think a step in the right direction is education. High schoolers need to understand government and ecomonics. Unfortunately, if Rethugs get their way, education funding is cut, thus minimizing the risk to their empire.
One solution imo dfabs4 is for dems to stop trying to meet these gop lunatics 1/2 way on these incompetent ideas , it gives them political cover , and excuses the media for not holding the gop accountable , look at what happened when obama tried to meet them 1/2 way in 2011 , it was a utter failure , and even if he had achieved the goals set forward , THAT would have been another utter failure , polls even showed the public did not want the end results of trashing social security , which is the gop's main agenda
It is time for the dems to define themselves from the gop , period ...When you meet the gop 1/2 on trashing SS, etc , alls you end up getting is an even worse SS system ....
That and end the senate filibuster rules
Republicans don't view the current economic situation as anything other than a politically acceptable opportunity to kill programs they never liked anyway and give the money to their beloved top 1% in the form of still more massive tax cuts aimed at Rush, Mittens and Murdoch. All their rhetoric aside, that's really all they want.
To convince right leaning voters it would take a combination of Elvis, Billy Graham and Wyatt Earp. I struggle to come up with an American alive today that promotes significant trust to cross the political line. I like POB and Bill Cllinton but I am already convinced that consumers having jobs and money is the best answer.
Re"drill,baby,drill'';''cut taxes for the rich'',etc.,etc.,...if you think the answers to our problems can fit on a bumper sticker,PLEASE,PLEASE don't vote.
Democrats wanted Keynesian stimulus, while Republicans pushed for debt reduction. Republicans were wrong and Democrats were right -- using the government to pump capital into the economy almost immediately improved job creation and economic growth.
Steve - Your declarative statement in fact is debatable. I would say that you are completely wrong in your analysis. Case in point is your own unemployment claims chart which you misleadingly and coincidentally point out the Stimulus as the reason why unemployment claims have trended down, but most recently have bumped up. The primary reason why employment has improved is our Uncle Ben Bernanke and his zero interest rate policy until 2014 and the current Operation Twist of issuing short term treasuries at 25bp to buy 10 year treasuries bonds at 200bp.
Yes, the medicine to prevent a sovereign debt collapse which we are witnessing in Greece, Spain and Italy is the path which Britain was going on until they decided to do the hard thing - austerity. A possible result of this austerity is a recession. Austerity is difficult. Its political suicide and thus its difficult to have the courage to champion an issue which is very unpopular, particularly with posers, I mean posters on this blog. ;-)
However the US economy came out of our recession in June 2009 and we are approaching 3 years of expansion, albeit a lackluster one. So 1, its not correct to label the next recession as a "double dip" and 2, lets try cutting our spending to meet our lower revenue. Who knows (including you Steve) whether this will result in a recession? We haven't had a balanced budget let alone a surplus for over a decade since Clinton (who I believe was a pretty good moderate Republican)
Obama to date has ignored the recommendations of Simpson-Bowles. It will take his leadership to have the political courage to champion this. Maybe that will be the upside of his reelection and what he meant when he said to Medevev that he has more flexibility after his next election.
Great comment Hank, but going down this path at this blog is like posting climate change on a climate change denier blog. Most folks here do not like to talk about our massive debt (and growing by a Trillion a year lately). I do believe that most think that some kind of biblical sized miracle will somehow erase most of our IOUs while still funding everything in every category of life. Oh yeah, they will demand higher taxes on the "one percenters" which is OK by me, but that will bring in about 5 Billion a year which would offset one day of the current annual deficits.
That whole Simpson-Bowles thing was a joke from the start. Like anyone believed the government would listen to their "recommendation". It does look good to the small fraction of the American population that pay any attention to this crap.
No, lets just plod along and keep borrowing and see what happens :).
Prove it! Prove that investors borrowing at near zero percent from the Fed invest that money and make American jobs, not invest in China or Vietnam and make jobs there, losing American jobs. Prove those investors do not use that cheap money to buy foreign bonds, such as Greek bonds that pay 30%.
You do not know what the words mean. The Federal Reserve buys Treasuries issued by the federal government with money created out of thin air. That money goes to the federal government to pay for tax cuts for the rich. Prove that cutting taxes for the rich makes jobs.
Spending on what? You do not have a clue.
What recommendations, exactly? You do not know what they are.
We could solve our so-called "debt problem" overnight with a Moron Tax.
Because, it is evident that there is an endless "supply-side" of money available there.
Spoken like a true "debt-denier" DAY-3905329. :)
It's funny how liberals like Krugman were the ones raising alarms about deficits ten years ago when the economy was relatively strong, but it's conservatives who suddenly discovered the danger of deficits when the economy went into the tank.
Skip - I know its futile, but I like to poke the trolls in the eyes! Here is the presser from the most powerful man in the world today (hint its not BO)
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22119566
Covah - Please take your meds, you obviously forgot them today.
Spending on what? Still waiting.
Like I said, not a clue.
It is funny watching hank and skip SELF leg hump each other into oblivion in here , these are the same people who scream we must tank the economy , by paying down the dept , then scream we need to cut taxes , and cause even more debt , because that will help the economy
Here is what steves OP should make everyone scream , NEVER LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE WHO COLLAPSED THE ECONOMY , AND CREATED THE DEBT , WHEN THEY TURN AROUND AND TRY AND ADVICE EVERYONE ONCE AGAIN , ON HOW TO FIX THE ECONOMY AND THE DEBT THEY JUST TANKED
OK Pantango - the nearly 2 Trillion spent every year even now is all their fault. Again, no one here ever brings up anything about how to bring down our deficits and our debt - not even to break even in a fiscal year. Just trash anybody that brings it up. Like I said earlier it's like bringing up global warming to a blog that is a climate change denial site. By the way Hank and I did not bring up tax cuts. But thanks for you interesting input.
Wrong. Basic econ 101 stuff: get out of the depression, which gives you a strong economy that will allow you to pay off the debt.
As you can see happening in Spain and Ireland, austerity in a depression tanks the economy so that deficits increase rather than decrease.
It doesn't matter how impressed you are by your recent discovery of the horrors of deficits, because we're going to have them until the depression ends and trying to cut them now will make the depression last longer.
D.C. What depression are you talking about? Our recession ended in June 2009. Our economy is booming!
As you can see happening in Spain and Ireland, austerity in a depression tanks the economy so that deficits increase rather than decrease.
DC - Spain, Ireland and Greece have ceded control of their sovereignty to the Germans because they practiced what most on this blog preach - spend, spend, spend and tax the rich to pay for it. They were too far gone in their deficit spending and yes the Germans are enforcing austerity which is causing what you call their depression. Its just like in your household - if you run up your credit card bills, draw down your 2nd home equity line, when you can't pay your loans, you have to answer to your creditors.
You see DC, they shared your belief that the government is the last resort to prime the pump when the consumer cuts back. And oh yeah, they wanted to keep their generous pensions and benefits notwithstanding the decrease in revenue.
Unfortunately for your little fable, Spain and Ireland were running surpluses and had much less public debt than the USA until the bottom fell out. In fact, they were widely praised in right-wing circles for that very fiscal restraint.
Then their private banks failed and the ECB leaned on the governments to cover that private debt to bondholders.
Oh, sorry about the facts -- I realize that they have a well-known liberal bias.
And by the way: Keynesian economists preach running surpluses in good times so that you can run a deficit in bad times. The Republican approach is to run deficits in good times and then demand austerity in bad times.
see where Netherlands, Britain, France are all given up on the total failure of austerity.
Germany is not to far behind, dam if Europe gets it and we dont yet again.
Steve Kornacki! What did he say what was he trying to say, i wanted to hand him a tissue.... Rachel Maddow ! How pathetic... Like every person who loves America knows, the only person who hates america more than Obama is Mss Obama, Rachel Maddow is right there with her every night with her racially divisive comments,, how pathetic, rachel uses her hatred for her parents and sexuality to bad mouth the country that has allowed her to have the forum that she spews her hatred from ... So typical of the liberal socailists... speilling incoret on pirpose
LMAO
oh that's some good stuff as well, heck it seems your sides comdey writers are still using old stuff. but then again when you have nothing you have to make up something.
Do not ever try and take a non partisan view its as transparent as your hatred for all the USA stands for... Do you believe in judging people by the content of there character ? Or if they have ever worked or supported there kids before taking handouts fm the govt.....What wld your followers think of ration stamps during ww2 ? what wld yr followers think of volunteering for ww1 or ww2 or korean war just for there country ? Like iam sure all of your gmoms and gfarthers did.... Pls try and rember this is America we are diffrent we are a place where people can achieve great succues, even with little or no talent like you... think abt it... You have yr own show !! Imagine that What a horrible place to grow up...
Dancing Queen... Thats not Newt its yr gay boy barney... the one who had the gay prostitute sevice being run out of his office or orifice depending on how twisted we know BARNEY IS..