The Cafferty File: GOP in position to talk fiscal responsibility?
By Heather Thursday Feb 26, 2009 5:30am
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From the Cafferty File.
In the Republican response to President Obama’s speech last night, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal called the stimulus package “irresponsible”. He said it will grow government, increase taxes in the future and saddle future generations with debt.
“Who among us would ask our children for a loan, so we could spend money we do not have, on things we do not need? That is precisely what the Democrats in Congress just did,” said Jindal.
Interesting, after the last 8 years, it would seem that Republicans are hardly in a position to lecture anyone about fiscal responsibility. When President Bush took office in 2000, the national debt was about $5.7 trillion dollars, which after two wars and lots of other spending, is now approaching $11 trillion. President Bush ran up more debt for this country than all previous presidents combined.
Jindal acknowledged last night that in recent years, “our party got away from its principles.” No kidding.
Keep in mind, Jindal — who some see as a possible contender for his party’s presidential nominee in 2012 — is one of the Republican governors talking about rejecting stimulus funding for his state. Jindal says he plans to turn down $100 million because it would require his state to change its unemployment laws. I guess when you’re a wealthy state like Louisiana you don’t need no stinking stimulus money.
Here’s my question to you: Are the Republicans in any position to lecture President Obama on fiscal responsibility?
Janet from Yosemite Gateway, California writes:
Hello, Jack. Eight years of George W. Bush spending like a drunken sailor, and now the GOP wants oversight and financial responsibility? Shame on them. Any lecturing by the GOP should be done in front of a full-length mirror.Julius in Canada writes:
No, the Republicans are the architects of the current crisis. They let the banking and mortgage firms run amok and now it’s up to Obama to fix it. Maybe the Republicans should go back and look at the last year to see where they failed the American people and go from there. Yes, they need to keep the Democrats in check, but unless they take responsibility for their mishandling of the economy, nobody will take them seriously!Ray from Danville, Virginia writes:
Someone needs to be fiscally responsible. The Democrats have controlled Congress the last 2 years and the federal debt has increased 2 trillion dollars. Obama has said that deficits don’t matter so we see where he stands. I only hope that the Republicans try to hold spending. If not, we are in much worse trouble in the near future than we are now.Tom in Pennsylvania writes:
Neither party should be throwing stones. However, the Republicans should just bury their heads in the sand for a while and let Obama straighten things out. Republicans = deregulation. That’s what got us into this mess.Carole writes:
Gov. Jindal said last week that he would refuse the stimulus money that the government had passed into law, on principle… This is a young man who pundits hailed as one of the savior’s of the Republican Party. I listened to his “rebuttal” last night and my husband and I haven’t laughed so hard for a while. He’s a joke.Michael in Los Angeles, Calif. writes:
Not hardly. Last night, Gov. Jindal was sent on a suicide mission and he knew it. You could see it in his eyes.
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Thank God Jack Cafferty can cut through this rhetorical flurry and put the light of common sense on GOP attempts to spin the bailout as irresponsible on the part of Dems. What about the irresponsibility of the GOP-dominated Congress who gave Bush everything he wanted for six years? Sheesh!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQXECBdPgEA
Of course they can lecture about fiscal responsibility. They just don't want to be fiscally responsible. Remember, they are the ultimate 'do as I say, not as I do'. The MSM taking them to account for their hypocrisy is so rare, it merits an entry on blogs.
Jack is stating the obvious but the republicans are wearing blinders to reality. Jindal is putting his political ambitions before the people of his state. Not the wisest thing to do if you are trying to get their vote in the future, no matter what office you are trying to achieve.
If I hear one more republican chime in with the words "tax cuts" I just might scream so loud everyone visiting C&L will hear me, even the ones in Canada who are concerned. ;)
"Tax cuts" has been their mantra for the past two decades. It's all they know and it's their solution to everything.
I can hear you over here in Korea POP. Keep screaming, I like it.
...not to do. The Republican party is infested with people who contradict themselves virtually whenever they speak.
of the republican party are running the agenda and the remainder are limmings. Repub's can not lecture unless they come up with solutions and ideas that could be executed effiently and effectively!....
Otherwise they should be ignored!
Jack has really cut through the B.S. as he is often adept at doing. Yesterday I overhead some Repugs talking about how the stock market had dropped 140 points (around noon) because Obama was "screwing everything up", he was "trying to do too much too fast" and was "going to increase the national debt like there was no tomorrow". These idiots are just incapable of putting things in perspective and recognizing their party's responsibililty for why we are where we are and why Obama must act fast. Why can Rupukes never accept responsibility for ANYTHING?
For re-Thuglics, up is down, black is white, right is wrong.
Their reality is their own - they said they "make their own reality" -- and they weren't kidding.
Sociopaths perception of the real world really is skewed beyond all recognition of reality.
This is part of what makes them so dangerous.
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You are exactly correct, they are sociopaths and they should be treated as such.
This one must be a Faux News fan
Ray from Danville, Virginia writes:
"Obama has said that deficits don’t matter so we see where he stands."
uhh... it was Cheney that said "Regan showed us that deficits don't matter"
NO!
They need to go away entirely, except that these lectures will help them lose more seats in Congress.
So by all means...lecture away!!
They still don't get it, both voted for the bailout, both wanted a stimulus (just different). I've done my best to communicate this, anyone who thinks there is going to be a recovery at year end or 2010 is living on wishful thinking. Just page through my posts, plenty of good links to many sources who explain this better than those Washington is listening to right now.
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/user/1016...
The most basic of fiscal questions can't be answered and indeed are being avoided.
{ Deleted. SiteMonitor}
Actually Vegasrage has been around this site for awhile; I don't recall seeing your nom de'guerre before now.
whenitrains has been registered here for about two weeks. Don't know if he or she has commented before today.
....I believe in debate and disagreeing without cuss words.
My ideas are liberal. I'm an Obama supporter (bigtime).
Why was my post was deleted?
{ Because I don't want to deal with a flamewar between you and Vegas Rage. SiteMonitor}
except for the no cussin part...
I do so enjoy my swear words...
Don't know what you said, but I did vote for Obama, he was hands down better than McCain, and while my comments are critical of our current direction. It's with the purpose of trying get people to see both parties are missing.
If we fail, we all fail I really am not looking forward to a downturn more than anyone else. I welcome critical responses, by all means they are important. We need to get this right and if that means I'm a thorn to help us get it right, I am willing to take harsh criticism for it.
checkbook), and I know you get knocked about here, but I appreciate your posts. I know we couldn't keep going in the direction of the last eight plus years, and I hope that we are moving in a better direction. Time will tell, but thanks for keeping the pot stirred and us thinking.
Thanks, I'm not here to be just a pessimist. I don't expect people to believe me, I hope people will do their own research. I work for a living too, and I am very grateful for my job today.
All this for me started in 2005 when I just wanted to learn how to invest for my future so I educated myself. I started with a copy of Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad, and in the of educating myself I discovered there was going to be a huge crash. I got all kinds of flack for suggesting that in Raging Bull's web site by conservatives.
Now I catch flack here for it, I'm reading the same people who said the crash was coming but for some reason no one wants to listen to them despite being right.
We all knew, didn't we? You couldn't flip on the comptuer without being solicited to take out a $600,000 loan for $386 a month (credit score irrelevant.) How does that work? It doesn't, not for long. I used to talk about it with my Dad, three years before the crash.
..are there any ideas how to get the economy going again without the government pumping billions into the economy? Did anybody out there think that with all the deregulation and tax cuts and two wars and hurricanes and Ponzi schemes and bridge collapses, etc., we weren't going to have to raise at least some taxes?
"You can't have guns and butter." Something's got to give.
and I have sent many to our representatives. I got asked that yesterday here.
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/new-yo...
I added a link to other posts where I put up ideas where I am not just bitching.
Two apparent criminals running through the woods from a murder scene, only one with blood on his hands. Surrounded by police the fugitives are ordered to raise their hands. Suddenly the criminal with the bloody hands yells "We're both guilty!"
Lay off Dobbs.
doesn't just love to spread the blame? The only thing I've gleaned out of the last month or so is that if this were 2nd grade, the Republicans would get an F in, "works and plays well with others".
The only way for the Republicans to win this argument is for the country to go down the tubes entirely. It's really sad to think that the loyal opposition is praying for this. They are a sick bunch.
that asshole kid in second grade, that cheats off your tests, steals your lunch money, breaks your crayons, and then runs to the teacher cryin when ya punch 'em and take your lunch money back...
Ya hearin me Todd Swanson?
I haven't forgotten you, ya little punk! lol
LMAO
I listen to:
Jim Rogers
Jon Nadler
Marc Faber
Max Keiser
Michael Maloney
Peter Schiff
Robert Kiyosaki
Richard Duncan
Ron Paul (on economics, not all of stuff)
to name a few.
you'll probably appreciate this: http://www.strike-the-root.com/91/allport/all...
I will read that
I'm gonna check it out more thoroughly when I have time.
than all. previous. Presidents. COMBINED."
Tattooed on my brain so I will never forget.
but we're compounding this action now with more of the same actions.
The Democrats had it right
Odd the Democrats RIGHTLY brow beat Bush and the GOP about where the hell the money was going to come from for his two no exit strategy wars, and they avoided the question like the plague.
What’s the ROI on our stimulus investment?
But now here we are doing more deficit spending in even larger sums for nobler causes and now suddenly the question no longer applies? Not only is question gone but the Democrats demand this is an investment! They insist those against the stimulus should know the difference, as if investors and economists who saw this coming years ago like Jim Rogers, Marc Faber, Peter Schiff, Robert Kiyosaki don’t understand what an investment is. Hello?
The focus is to put people back to work now and then invest in our future. Since this an investment then our nation should expect a positive ROI, OK let’s look at our investment and, what we can expect as a return?
Straight off the White Houses web site here is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that will jumpstart job creation and long-term growth by:
These are great projects which will no doubt yield a return but the REAL question is, will all this help address the primary problem which lead us to the collapse? That is our national debt? Foreign debt which we are now adding at an exponential rate, currently we have nearly $15 trillion in hard debt and $53 trillion in entitlements, with new deficit spending for all this infrastructure investment our debt now stands somewhere between $60 and $99 Trillion.
Everything listed above will take 10 to 20 + years before yielding positive returns, will it be enough to pay down $60 to $100 trillion in debt? Will China loan it too us? Not likely. The interest alone on servicing this debt will crush our nation; already today we pay more than a dollar a day for every man, woman, and child on just the interest. By the time we get a point where we can realize a return from this stimulus investment we will be facing defaulting on our obligations. This kind of stuff should have been done 20 to 30 years ago and private investors know this! That is why the stock market is still tanking, no investor is going throw good at a project that will take 20 to 30 years to yield a return.
Zombie banks and the undead’s toxic assets that can’t be properly valued
We now have Japan style Zombie banks, the WSJ did a piece on this just this morning
Curse of the Zombie Banks Haunts Fed
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1235603897327...
Since the government didn’t let the banks fail, they now hold toxic assets that no one will touch with a ten foot pole because they can’t be properly valued for fire sale purposes. America’s greatest natural resource is investors who are willing to put money into our nation (and I’m not talking about Wall Street), we have lost that resource now.
What about exports?
That stimulus might get exports going in 20 to 30 years but what about now? We are the largest debtor nation in the world with a trade deficit that is abysmal at every level, we produce a fraction of what we use to. The stimulus while it looks great on paper is going to add to our problems, it will burden us with massive expense and yield returns way too far down the road. We should be letting businesses fail and let the fire sales begin from the private sector again I’m not talking about Wall Street.
The idiots who screwed us are entrusted with fixing this mess.
I talked about in my post yesterday, Obama’s economic team are the dolts who put us into this mess. I don’t know about you but that does not give me hope.
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/barbar...
Obama put us in this shithole. where do you get your info from, fatass rush or that prick hanaditiy
No this is 30 years of bad policy by both parties, Obama did not put us in this mess. His direction though is going to make it worse, he is getting his advise from the same goons who put us in this mess. Read the bottom link in my post above and see who is responsible.
It shocks me how people can still defend Bush when he helped his rich friends while we all suffered. The fact that Bush spent so much money and has NOTHING to show for it enrages me. We're in a sh*tload of debt and he's buying fine china and playing his g*dd*mn guitar. F*ck him and anyone who supports him.
And as KO pointed out last night...
bushy is STILL fucking up this country.
No way Jose, not after the GOP ran up record deficits in record time. Of course they will try to blame the deficit on liberal democrats thats part of their lying schtick.....fact is the GOP controlled Congress from 1994 until 2006 and the Democrats had such a slim margin from 2006-08 they couldn't do anything if they wanted to. Couple that with a moron in charge of the Executive Branch the past 8 years and its no wonder spending is out of control and the Country is in the sorry shape its in.
The republicans desperately need a come to jesus moment to realize they are just as deep in this shit as the rest of the country. They can either keep pissing and moaning or they can roll up their sleeves and get involved in helping to get us out of this. Standing on the sidelines and repeating "tax cuts" isn't getting us anywhere. The longer they balk at every effort to try to fix things, the longer it's gonna take. Are they sure they want to hold up progress? It's not going to look good on their future resumes.
I guess when your party is being run by and lectured to by the likes of Rush, then you have reached the bottom when it comes to leadership. I mean how pathetic is it when you hear, as I did yesterday, someone like the maverick McCain, say he respects what Rush has to say.
skit, fawning all over Jindal like a Dominican boy. Hilarious!
Tuned in late (collecting on real player) - I might have missed it . . . .
Yesterday Rush said "Leave Bobby Alone!!" I knew the jokes would be coming as soon as I read the article.
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in hour three again, at least here in Miami. You might be able to still catch it. (at about 15 min after the top of the hour).
With their party in ruins, the GOPers are so afraid of that fat windbag and what he'll say about them on his program, that they have lost all reason and all courage. McCain is a paper tiger, and an old one at that.
Telling it like it is - calling a spade a spade.
Bless his crochety little heart.
"
You've got to be kidding me!
The GOP has and will eternally be the "poster child" for excessive spending in driving up the national debt to outlandish proportions as they bent over to provide a blank check to Herr Bush for 6 years.
This is the biggest joke ever. They will NEVER again be known as the party of any form of responsibility - they've bungled everything they've touched - on all fronts, all venues, and every aspect of this government.
Governing, obviously, is not the Republican strong suit any longer.
The GOP is over, that's becoming patently clear as Bobblehead Jindal waxes inane and juvenile as their heir apparant. Pair him up with Miss Titty Sarah and you've got the "match made in Hades" for sure.
Why not throw in Joe the Plumber for the world'class "threesome"???
The "Flirtin' with Disaster" tour.
money. This is something I've been wondering since his announcement. How's that playing in Louisiana. I'm just a poor girl from Missouri, where our Senator Bond didn't vote for it but is making all sorts of plans on how to spend it.
Jindal would be recalled here. How do the citizens of Louisiana feel about his grandstand play? If anyone knows, I'd love to hear.
would love to hear that reaction. I would also love to hear how they feel about Bobby bringing up Katrina in that "rebuttal".
no the GOP is not in a position to lecture ANYONE on ANYTHING, except how to bring an economy to a screeching halt, and how to project.
FUCK THE GOP!
GOP'ers are like goldfish with a (willfully) short memory.
Each turn around the fishbowl is like a whole new day to them.
Their breath stinks.
What a great analogy.
And puts a funny mental pic in me head too, lol!
Not Larry Criag. He's hiding behind the plants waiting for young male fish to stray into his lair.
I wonder if any of these people who voted against the stimulus bill ever voted against money going to rebuild Iraq or the war. I mean I think rebuilding America is just as important as rebuilding any other country. And I truly believe there will be more oversight in with the stimulus money than there was with the no bid contracts to rebuild Iraq. How much of our money went to build our largest embassy in the world? Where were the republican complaints about that?
The only time the GOP has seemed to want to wear the mantle of fiscal responsiblity in the past 8 years is when money was to be spent on the American taxpayer and his needs. When it was being spent to enrich Halliburton, "rebuild" Iraq, or wage some secret war, they've been all about it. They sort of stink of hypocrisy, don't you think?
The media was too cowed to point this out before, and the American people didn't really care because things were going along okay. Now that the shit has hit the fan, there are plenty of people who don't mind pointing out what a bunch of snakes these guys are.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llhRGUYMcfU
The Republicans are insane! Insane I tell you. Before Obama was elected there was consensus that money had to be no object to get this nightmare fixed. Both the right and the left were saying it. Now that Obama is in the wingnuttery as predictable as a sunrise are trying to obstruct ANYTHNING Obama does. As Cafferty says the Right have no standing after what they have wrought the last eight years.
Remember that the republicans in Congress and Bush lowered taxes on the richest 1% of the country saying that it would make our country rich. This was after Clinton left office with a projected $5,000,000,000,000 (that is not a typo) over ten years. If the republican tax cuts in 2001 were suppose to be the answer to all out problems how come we have so many problems now? How come we are on the cusp of absolute disaster? How did Bush run up the debt $5,000,000,000,000 if the tax cuts were the answer to prosperity. The economy was absolutely BOOMING (even though it was a bubble created out of fraud it was still booming) during that time yet Bush and the Republican congress were still running a deficit. A $500 billion deficit. Even bigger than his daddy's deficit.
In 2005 bush was pushing HIS tax cuts for the Rich. The press did not Say one thing about the TAX increase for the middel class. this Tax increase was for people making from $75,000 a year to $150,000.
check it out:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61178-2004Aug12.html
The Republican "tax cut only" solution has been shown to be a fraud. If it didn't work during a boom when would it work?????
They say the Depression was ended because of WWII. That was because of all the employment it created. During the Bush years we had near full employment and money was flowing like the Hudson during a plane crash yet the Bush rich people did not spend their money. Their whole theory has been proven to be nonsense. In living color. Their supply side economic theory is nonsense. It has destroyed out economy.
The "suicide mission" comment was right on the money.
Good to see that the repukes are thoughtlessly sacrificing their "best hope" for the 2012 elections - jindal was clearly exposed as bumbling, naive and incompetent. He is certainly not ready for prime time.
It's true that Reslugs would sacrifice their children, Mothers etc, for money and power, without any conscience.
... and those ridiculous words, he must have thought he was talking in a daycare dayroom to a bunch of infants.
He WAS reaching to the GOP base...
just sayin...
Ray from Danville, Virginia is quite the economist, isn't he.
If you are a conservative and/or Republican...
Unless you have screamed and yelled about the irresponsible spending and tax cuts and deficits of the W administration, and ACTIVELY WORKED TO REMOVE THOSE RESPONSIBLE FROM OFFICE (i.e. - you did NOT vote for W in 2004 or McCain in 2008), then STFU about the necessary spending that is now needed to pull the country out of the depression your bozos set us up for.
"Here’s my question to you: Are the Republicans in any position to lecture President Obama on fiscal responsibility?"
I love his questions -- they're so 'loaded', as in 'have you stopped beating your husband'...
One of a very few no nonsense straight shooters in the MSM , sure wish there were more like Cafferty , is like a breath of fresh air to hear someone tell it like it is . It needs to be repeated over and over again that Reaganomics , Bush and the Republicans are the ones who destroyed the economy , spent like bangees and turned us into the biggest debtor nation in the history of the world and that it was their tax cuts for the rich , deregulation and their ideology that got us where we are today ... in deep shit . That the Republicans can now be taken seriously when they critique or advise Obama about anything is absolutely laughable .
Cafferty should replace Scarsborough on msnbc. This guy should have a full show, his style is great, even radio.
Let's encourage our home grown fascists to keep exposing Sarah Palin, Rush and especially Piyush Jindal, the happy little exorcist from Baton Rouge.
"Ray from Danville, Virginia writes:
The Democrats have controlled Congress the last 2 years and the federal debt has increased 2 trillion dollars."
you are definitely a gop koolaid, ass-sucking moron.
talk the party points. what a jackass. i hope you
don't have children to continue your stupidity.
Is like having a nymphomaniac lecture us on abstinence....
You mean the party that stuck $5 trillion on the AMEX card? Hardly. They're the spend and spend party. No plan to pay back either. (They leave that for the Dems.)
PS video not working.
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