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Title: The President Surrenders
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Published: Aug 3, 2011
Author: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/01/opinio
Post Date: 2011-08-03 09:24:52 by tom007
Keywords: None
Views: 149
Comments: 11
The President Surrenders By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: July 31, 2011 Recommend Twitter comments (975) Sign In to E-Mail Print Reprints Share A deal to raise the federal debt ceiling is in the works. If it goes through, many commentators will declare that disaster was avoided. But they will be wrong. Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times Paul Krugman Go to Columnist Page » Blog: The Conscience of a Liberal Related Obama and Leaders Reach Debt Deal (August 1, 2011) Times Topic: Federal Debt Ceiling Related in Opinion Ross Douthat: The Diminished President (August 1, 2011) Op-Ed Contributors: Our Unbalanced Democracy (August 1, 2011) Editorial: To Escape Chaos, a Terrible Deal (August 1, 2011) Readers’ Comments Readers shared their thoughts on this article. Read All Comments (975) » For the deal itself, given the available information, is a disaster, and not just for President Obama and his party. It will damage an already depressed economy; it will probably make America’s long-run deficit problem worse, not better; and most important, by demonstrating that raw extortion works and carries no political cost, it will take America a long way down the road to banana-republic status. Start with the economics. We currently have a deeply depressed economy. We will almost certainly continue to have a depressed economy all through next year. And we will probably have a depressed economy through 2013 as well, if not beyond. The worst thing you can do in these circumstances is slash government spending, since that will depress the economy even further. Pay no attention to those who invoke the confidence fairy, claiming that tough action on the budget will reassure businesses and consumers, leading them to spend more. It doesn’t work that way, a fact confirmed by many studies of the historical record. Indeed, slashing spending while the economy is depressed won’t even help the budget situation much, and might well make it worse. On one side, interest rates on federal borrowing are currently very low, so spending cuts now will do little to reduce future interest costs. On the other side, making the economy weaker now will also hurt its long-run prospects, which will in turn reduce future revenue. So those demanding spending cuts now are like medieval doctors who treated the sick by bleeding them, and thereby made them even sicker. And then there are the reported terms of the deal, which amount to an abject surrender on the part of the president. First, there will be big spending cuts, with no increase in revenue. Then a panel will make recommendations for further deficit reduction — and if these recommendations aren’t accepted, there will be more spending cuts. Republicans will supposedly have an incentive to make concessions the next time around, because defense spending will be among the areas cut. But the G.O.P. has just demonstrated its willingness to risk financial collapse unless it gets everything its most extreme members want. Why expect it to be more reasonable in the next round? In fact, Republicans will surely be emboldened by the way Mr. Obama keeps folding in the face of their threats. He surrendered last December, extending all the Bush tax cuts; he surrendered in the spring when they threatened to shut down the government; and he has now surrendered on a grand scale to raw extortion over the debt ceiling. Maybe it’s just me, but I see a pattern here. Did the president have any alternative this time around? Yes. First of all, he could and should have demanded an increase in the debt ceiling back in December. When asked why he didn’t, he replied that he was sure that Republicans would act responsibly. Great call. And even now, the Obama administration could have resorted to legal maneuvering to sidestep the debt ceiling, using any of several options. In ordinary circumstances, this might have been an extreme step. But faced with the reality of what is happening, namely raw extortion on the part of a party that, after all, only controls one house of Congress, it would have been totally justifiable. At the very least, Mr. Obama could have used the possibility of a legal end run to strengthen his bargaining position. Instead, however, he ruled all such options out from the beginning. But wouldn’t taking a tough stance have worried markets? Probably not. In fact, if I were an investor I would be reassured, not dismayed, by a demonstration that the president is willing and able to stand up to blackmail on the part of right-wing extremists. Instead, he has chosen to demonstrate the opposite. Make no mistake about it, what we’re witnessing here is a catastrophe on multiple levels. It is, of course, a political catastrophe for Democrats, who just a few weeks ago seemed to have Republicans on the run over their plan to dismantle Medicare; now Mr. Obama has thrown all that away. And the damage isn’t over: there will be more choke points where Republicans can threaten to create a crisis unless the president surrenders, and they can now act with the confident expectation that he will. In the long run, however, Democrats won’t be the only losers. What Republicans have just gotten away with calls our whole system of government into question. After all, how can American democracy work if whichever party is most prepared to be ruthless, to threaten the nation’s economic security, gets to dictate policy? And the answer is, maybe it can’t. A version of this op-ed appeared in print on August 1, 2011, on page A21 of the New York edition with the headline: The President Surrenders.
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#1. To: tom007 (#0)
(Edited)
I wonder what the guy who wrote this is smoking. I have rarely seen so much idiocy in so little space. Why does he believe that the president, even if you assume he is a legitimate president which Obama is not, can "demand" anything of Congress? He isn't their boss, they don't report to him, at least not the ones who have good sense don't.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Lord Acton He (Gordon Duff) also implies that forcibly removing Obama, a Constitution-hating, on-the-down-low, crackhead Communist, is an attack on America, Mom, and apple pie. I swear these military people are worse than useless. Just look around at the condition of the country and tell me if they have fulfilled their oaths to protect the nation from all enemies foreign and domestic. The only difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. Albert Einstein
Ya have a good point.
Thanks.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Lord Acton He (Gordon Duff) also implies that forcibly removing Obama, a Constitution-hating, on-the-down-low, crackhead Communist, is an attack on America, Mom, and apple pie. I swear these military people are worse than useless. Just look around at the condition of the country and tell me if they have fulfilled their oaths to protect the nation from all enemies foreign and domestic. The only difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. Albert Einstein
Clap-trap bump
Break the Conventions - Keep the Commandments - G.K.Chesterson ...to sweet homosexual love. Chi-town nigga on the down-low, yo.....
Good. But Obama will win easily. That will call it into question too.
"Mr. Prime Minister, there is only one important question facing us, and that is the question whether the white race will survive." -- Leonid Brezhnev to James Callahan
Regardless of how this plays out, we can be assured Paul Krugman will not be called into question.
"Mr. Prime Minister, there is only one important question facing us, and that is the question whether the white race will survive." -- Leonid Brezhnev to James Callahan
Better respect, Paul Krugman will slap your shit with his Nobel Peace Prize medal!! He had it melted down and recast into a star-of-David, so it's got sharp corners to give you added pain straight out of the Talmud.
lol !
world fascism was advanced..bottom line.
First of all, he could and should have demanded an increase in the debt ceiling back in December.
OsamaBinGoldstein
#2. To: James Deffenbach (#1)
"Satan / Cheney in "08" 
#3. To: tom007 (#2)
OsamaBinGoldstein
#4. To: James Deffenbach (#1)
#5. To: tom007, James Deffenback, Eric Stratton, Esso, *Obama Reality Check* (#0)
The President Surrenders....
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#6. To: tom007 (#0)
What Republicans have just gotten away with calls our whole system of government into question.
#7. To: tom007 (#0)
#8. To: Prefrontal Vortex (#7)
Regardless of how this plays out, we can be assured Paul Krugman will not be called into question.
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#9. To: James Deffenbach (#1)
+1
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams 
#10. To: X-15 (#8)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#11. To: James Deffenbach (#1)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
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