[Vision2020] He's Back!!!

[Nicholas Gier]

Thanks, Tom, for the link to Right Mind. Here's is what I would add:

Yes, the national debt contains much more than the annual deficits under
any president.  For example, the Clinton administration was still paying
off the huge debt left by Ronald Reagan, which tripled during his
administration, primarily due to unnecessary defense expenditures.  (We
upped the ante against the Soviets with every new weapons system.  We ran
them into the ground but at a great cost of debt financed at very high
interest rates.)  Obama was saddled with Bush's war debt, his irresponsible
tax cuts, and the loss of revenue due to the Great Recession.  The smallest
part of our current debt is on Obama's shoulders.

On Wed, Dec 14, 2016 at 11:02 PM, Nicholas Gier <ngier006 at gmail.com> wrote:

> We've not heard from Dale Courtney in ages, so I was surprised to see this
> critique of me in the Daily News.
>
> Nick Gier displays the same partisanship, arguing elsewhere Sept. 3 the
> national debt is the fault of the GOP. He argues Democratic presidents have
> reduced the debt the most; and as proof, the Obama administration has
> reduced the deficit from 11.1 percent to 2.7 percent. Either the philosophy
> professor doesn't know the difference between debt and deficit or he's
> being duplicitous, which is tragic for an ethics professor. The national
> debt went from $10.6 trillion the day President Obama took office to $20
> trillion today.
>
> Nowhere I have ever written that the GOP is solely responsible for the
> national debt.  That's of course absurd.  What I have repeated is the well
> known truth--backed up by non-partisan data--that Democratic
> administrations have run up less debt, have had higher economic growth, and
> have had lower unemployment rates.
>
> Yes, the national debt has doubled under Obama, but the important question
> is: who is responsible for this continuing red ink?The Center for Budget
> and Policy Priorities has calculated the long-term effects of various
> elements of the national debt, assuming that the Bush tax cuts are still in
> place. (Trump's tax cuts will increased the debt even more.)  By 2019
> those cuts will amount to $600 billion of the debt burden as opposed to $75
> billion for Obama’s stimulus. We will still be paying $320 billion for the
> Great Recession (primarily caused by the financial sector) and $150 billion
> for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As I like to say: Bush borrowed
> money to wage two wars, but Obama borrowed money at much lower interest
> rates and saved the economy.
>
> Courtney claims that I confuse deficits and debt, but he is the one that
> is confused. If my monthly budget runs a deficit, I will go into debt, and
> I might borrow some money to get by, but my debt is still there plus
> interest.  It is no different with the government.  The Obama
> administration has brought down the annual deficit from 11.1 percent to 3.2
> percent (it's gone up a bit since Courtney quoted me.  That means that less
> was added to the national debt over six years.
>
> Are you still lurking on the Vision, or do I need to dig out your email
> address to set your "Right Mind" straight?
>
> Your Pal, Nick
>
> --
>
> A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they
> shall never sit in.
>
> -Greek proverb
>
> “Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
> Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance
> from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not in
> lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without
> guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your own
> understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.
>
> --Immanuel Kant
>
>
>


-- 

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they
shall never sit in.

-Greek proverb

“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance
from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not in
lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without
guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your own
understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.

--Immanuel Kant
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