As the country heads, yet again, to a budget an impasse over the budget risking a possible government shut down and possibly, worse, a debt default, it is worth considering what this is all about. As Ezra Klein explains, here is what has happened to deficits as a percentage of GDP:
Basically, post the sequester and the massive cuts Obama has agreed to, combined with an improving economy, slower than anticipated growth in medical costs and an end to the stimulus, deficits have shrunk back to pre-recession levels.
It is important to bear this in mind as we look at the fight today. There may be a longer term structural deficit problem, however: (a) that is not what the GOP is seeking to address, and (b) the most compelling issues today are not the deficit or debt. In fact, by creating uncertainty around debt, the GOP may in fact create a problem where there is none today.
The GOP's latest laundry list of demands includes: "a one-year delay of the president’s health care law, fast-track authority to overhaul the tax code, construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, offshore oil and gas production, more permitting of energy exploration on federal lands, a rollback of regulations on coal ash, blocking new Environmental Protection Agency regulations on greenhouse gas production, eliminating a $23 billion fund to ensure the orderly dissolution of failed major banks, eliminating mandatory contributions to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, limits on medical malpractice lawsuits and an increase in means testing for Medicare, among other provisions." While many of these may be core to the GOPs policies, which of these, if any, are important enough to warrant risking the US credit rating or shutting down government?
Basically, post the sequester and the massive cuts Obama has agreed to, combined with an improving economy, slower than anticipated growth in medical costs and an end to the stimulus, deficits have shrunk back to pre-recession levels.
It is important to bear this in mind as we look at the fight today. There may be a longer term structural deficit problem, however: (a) that is not what the GOP is seeking to address, and (b) the most compelling issues today are not the deficit or debt. In fact, by creating uncertainty around debt, the GOP may in fact create a problem where there is none today.
The GOP's latest laundry list of demands includes: "a one-year delay of the president’s health care law, fast-track authority to overhaul the tax code, construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, offshore oil and gas production, more permitting of energy exploration on federal lands, a rollback of regulations on coal ash, blocking new Environmental Protection Agency regulations on greenhouse gas production, eliminating a $23 billion fund to ensure the orderly dissolution of failed major banks, eliminating mandatory contributions to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, limits on medical malpractice lawsuits and an increase in means testing for Medicare, among other provisions." While many of these may be core to the GOPs policies, which of these, if any, are important enough to warrant risking the US credit rating or shutting down government?
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