Comments for The NYT Has Determined that the United States Has a Spending Problem at http://www.cepr.net , comment 1 to 9 out of 9 comments http://www.cepr.net Tue, 21 May 2013 10:30:04 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-nyt-has-determined-that-the-united-states-has-a-spending-problem#comment-21791 Yellow journalism has returned! Editorializing in columns masquerading as news articles is cool again! People who couldn't report their way out of a bag now get to write articles for national news rags, provided they counter the liberal bias of the facts! Happy days are here again! We now return you to your regularly scheduled [s]brainwashing[/s] programming - David Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:14:03 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-nyt-has-determined-that-the-united-states-has-a-spending-problem#comment-21767 Newspapers like the NYT and the TV news need to provide more charts that show Budget Components and How They Grow. Hey, that would be a good name for a childrens' book. - Bart Wed, 06 Feb 2013 02:39:59 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-nyt-has-determined-that-the-united-states-has-a-spending-problem#comment-21763 [quote]"New deficit projections will define the scope of the nation’s spending problem."[/quote] Now hear this. This hole in the ground we're digging will define the amount of dirt taken out of it. - Last Mover Tue, 05 Feb 2013 23:01:42 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-nyt-has-determined-that-the-united-states-has-a-spending-problem#comment-21757 @ Chris - Pretty much exactly what I wrote in the comments of an earlier post here. It's easy to imagine someone making that mistake if they haven't really thought about how things work much, if at all. The average person will think - well, if I spend my money it's gone... I can't spend it twice. They don't think about how when they spend, it comes back to them in a circle. But that's probably because so little does come back to the average person!! But more than that, people at newspapers ought to know better. What really grieves me the most though, is that these statements are made in such a cold, matter-of-fact way, as if they're talking about a family deciding to pare back their budget by cutting soda pop and a yearly 2-week trip to Disney World. Like okay well, we need to balance the budget so grandma has to die because she's not getting her heart pills - oh yeah, and that poor baby who needs an antibiotic - sorry, he has to die too. No heat for the single dad or the disabled war veteran! Cut down on the assistance to the paraplegic - he can pee his pants and only eat every other day. Oh well, it's just the budget! That's the way things are! I want to say, is that REALLY how lazy & selfish a lot of Americans are now? That many Americans will just allow their fellow citizens to suffer and die rather than coming up with a viable solution? Really? Really? What's the other explanation? There's only so many meanings you can glean from this, even if what they say was 100% true... it just sounds really ugly. - watermelonpunch Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:40:23 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-nyt-has-determined-that-the-united-states-has-a-spending-problem#comment-21756 [i]That must mean that Bill Clinton balanced the budget because he was a good accountant...[/i] That's how Kevin Kline balanced the budget in about an hour as substitute president in "Dave". That [i]was[/i] a how-to video, wasn't it? - JDM Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:30:28 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-nyt-has-determined-that-the-united-states-has-a-spending-problem#comment-21755 After running into the constant demand for "spending cuts" by the federal government, I have come to think that they are due to widespread confusion between the fiscal situation of a sovereign government and an individual family. Most families probably think they "overspend" and that breaking this "bad" habit would be good for them. They then apply this sentiment, ignorantly, to the government and, if asked, almost always agree that spending should be cut. If they had a better understanding of macroeconomics much of this nonsense would vanish, I hope. - Chris Tue, 05 Feb 2013 19:26:48 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-nyt-has-determined-that-the-united-states-has-a-spending-problem#comment-21754 Although the NYT article notes that it has been edited to report that the Alternative Minimum was changed, not repealed, it has also been extensively rewritten (someone reads little-upfisted comments and Dean Baker?). The news article no longer reports that future CBO deficit projections will define the scope of our spending problem. Now reports that deficits will rise starting in 2016 due to aging and health care costs, which is slightly less misleading. - JaaaaayCeeeee Tue, 05 Feb 2013 19:00:13 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-nyt-has-determined-that-the-united-states-has-a-spending-problem#comment-21753 In the same news article, they report our budget busters as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, then note that health care costs continue to rise. So the news is that fixing health care costs is, if at all, our 4th most important spending problem. Military spending doesn't make the list at all. This news article reports as news that the CBO blames future deficits on entitlements for the aging. And report the administration's warning that sequester cuts hurt the neediest, but that the WH is AGGRESSIVELY warning of the irresponsibility of defense cuts. While the NYT tries to sway public opinion by editorializing in news reports, Digby does some real reporting on entitlements today: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/guess-what-americans-arent-selfish.html - JaaaaayCeeeee Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:08:11 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-nyt-has-determined-that-the-united-states-has-a-spending-problem#comment-21751 That must mean that Bill Clinton balanced the budget because he was a good accountant, not because the 90's enjoyed something akin to full employment. - Union Member Tue, 05 Feb 2013 15:44:22 +0100