Progressive Opinion

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has pointed out that President Barack Obama’s plan for a spending freeze improperly exempts all of the militarism budget from any cuts whatsoever.

Seriously, does any sentient human being truly believe that all of the $549 billion the military intends to spend during 2011 is justified? That absolutely none of that is waste? more »

Kim Wright is the assistant director of communications for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

Contrary to popular myth promoted by Wall Street billionaires, the main stream media, and Washington’s so-called deficit hawks, Social Security is not to blame for the nation’s fiscal problems or our bleak debt and deficit picture. To the contrary, Social Security’s trust fund surplus has been used for years to help balance the federal books. Without it, things would look much bleaker. Yet, the economic recession and the deficits it has caused have given Social Security’s foes a political opportunity to “go where the money is” to trim rising deficits. more »

Robert Borosage is the co-director of Campaign for America's Future.

The drumbeat about deficits has reached deafening levels. The president warns about "out of control" spending. Fed Chair Ben Bernanke calls for bringing deficits down. The opinion pages bristle with rants about the U.S. turning into Greece, headed to default. Next week, the first session of the president's "National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform" will convene. The next day, shamelessly, the two co-chairs and the staff director (all committed deficit hawks) will grace a forum sponsored by the Peterson Foundation, established by Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson largely to gin up hysteria about America's long term deficits.

Premature Ejaculation

This potion is being served long before its time. Sure, deficits are big and the projections are scary. But the economy is struggling to get out of a big hole. Unemployment is still near 10%. Foreclosures are still rising. Banks aren't lending; businesses aren't hiring. Deficit spending is critical to what little growth we've seen.

The president and the Congress should be focused on jobs, not deficits. Ironically, when pushed, most of the purveyors of the hysteria agree. Bernanke admits we shouldn't roll back the spending too soon, and is keeping interest rates (for the banks) near zero. David Walker, head of the Peterson Foundation, agrees deficits might be larger in the short run to create jobs and help get the economy going. But these cautions can't be heard amid the clamor about deficits.

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tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com — This is a question that people should be asking, given the list of prominent economists and economic analysts who are headlining the debate on deficit reduction. To kick off his deficit commission, President Obama is planning a big show on April 27th that will include a number of experts talking about the need to reduce the deficit. Not one person among this group saw the housing bubble and the risks that it posed to the economy.

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Kim Wright is the assistant director of communications for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

We’re focusing our attention on some basic truths about Social Security. Most of these truths have been lost, ignored, or even lied about in an orchestrated campaign to persuade Americans that we must cut Social Security if we’re “serious” about returning fiscal sanity to Washington. more »

news.newamericamedia.org — In return for their taxes, European receive a generous support system for families and individuals for which Americans must pay exorbitantly, out-of-pocket, if we are to receive it at all. That includes quality health care for every single person, the average cost of which is about half of what Americans pay, even as various studies show that Europeans achieve healthier results. But that's not all. In return for their taxes, Europeans also are receiving affordable child care, a decent retirement pension, free or inexpensive university education, job retraining, paid sick leave, paid parental leave, ample vacations, affordable housing, senior care, efficient mass transportation and more. In order to receive the same level of benefits as Europeans, most Americans fork out a ton of money in out-of-pocket payments, in addition to our taxes.

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washingtonpost.com — Who are the men and women of the IRS? They are the people who collect the revenue that allows the government to finance our troops who are in harm's way, help our wounded warriors, pay Grandma's Medicare bills, cover the costs of keeping our food and drugs safe, and do so many of the other things the vast majority of us want our government to accomplish. Yes, if you support our troops, you have to support the work of the Internal Revenue Service.

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