Sunday News Show Round Up, part 3: Meet the Press
On Meet the Press, David Gregory hosted John Boehner. Talking about Friday’s disappointing job numbers, Gregory said that private sector job growth is “anemic at best.”
Should Americans fear a double dip recession? Boehner sounded scripted when he said “the American people are asking where are the jobs?” There are no jobs because “employers are scared to death…fearful of what’s coming next out of Washington. All the spending, all the debt.”
Boehner said that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire—or “raising taxes”—would likely lead to a double dip recession. But despite Boehner’s worry about “all the spending, all the debt,” he would not answer Gregory’s repeated question of whether the tax cuts are paid for. Instead, Boehner said, “What you’re trying to do is get into this Washington game…you cannot get the economy going again” by raising taxes.
If the Bush tax cuts are not paid for, do Republicans contradict themselves by wanting them extended? Juan Williams asked this question on Fox News Sunday. Again, Republicans did not answer him head on.
But maybe Boehner and other Republicans should note that letting people keep their own money (extending the tax cuts) is not the same as spending money you don't have (as the Democrats want to do). So the question of whether the tax cuts "paid for" doesn't really make sense.
Another issue Gregory and Boehner discussed was birthright citizenship—whether children born in the United States should automatically be citizens of this country, as the 14th amendment guarantees. Because birthright citizenship creates an incentive for illegal immigrants to cross the border and give birth to their children in the US, some Republicans have advocated amending the 14th amendment to end birthright citizenship.
Though Boehner said that this proposal is “worth considering," I think the issue is a distraction that makes Republicans look unfocused and small-minded. Sometimes the first thing you need to do is get your priorities straight.
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Sunday News Show Round Up, part 3: Meet the Press
I find all this talk of a "double-dip recession" curious. It presumes that we've had some sort of recovery from which we can fall into a second recession. So when did that recovery happen? Oh, sure, I know the President and his minions are roaming all over the country on their Recovery Summer 2010 Tour, but saying we're in a recovery doesn't put us into one. From where I sit (and the economic numbers have a nice comfy seat beside me), we've had a small amount of GDP growth but that's it.
Boehner would make a lot more economic sense if he talked about the continuing recession, not a mythical "double-dip".
May '10
Re: Sunday News Show Round Up, part 3: Meet the Press
Rem acu tetigisti, Emily. Treating tax cuts as spending is a stupid trap. Can't imagine why the GOP ever agreed to it (can't trust em an inch). By that measure, growing government is exactly the same as shrinking government. Re birthright citizenship, as both Dame Peggy and John Derbyshire have been saying for quite some time, there's no need for an amendment. Just enforce the damned border. What is so difficult for these people to understand? It wouldn't even be an issue if we'd enforce our laws. That's the line Boehner shoulda took.
Jul '10
Re: Sunday News Show Round Up, part 3: Meet the Press
Rem acu tetigisti, Emily. Treating tax cuts as spending is a stupid trap. Can't imagine why the GOP ever agreed to it (can't trust em an inch).
My sentiments exactly. I remember the first time I heard tax cuts referred to as "tax expenditures": it was Walter Mondale in a debate with Reagan. I lept out of my chair in a frenzy of outrage at this latest liberal re-formulation of reality.
But over the years, the GOP dunces in Congress internalized that new reality: All individual earnings are, by right, the property of government and any such earnings government allows us to keep are "tax expenditures".
Re: Sunday News Show Round Up, part 3: Meet the Press
Emily Esfahani Smith: If the Bush tax cuts are not paid for, do Republicans contradict themselves by wanting them extended? Juan Williams asked this question on Fox News Sunday. Again, Republicans did not answer him head on.
But maybe Boehner and other Republicans should note that letting people keep their own money (extending the tax cuts) is not the same as spending money you don't have (as the Democrats want to do). So the question of whether the tax cuts "paid for" doesn't really make sense.
You're totally right, Emily. I hate letting that construction go without nailing it. "Paid for?" Since when is keeping your money something that needs to be justified, or "paid for," like it's some kind of luxury indulgence?
I wish the Republicans would get together and fight back against this awful phrase. Because it really does illuminate the difference between free-market conservatives and "big gummint" liberals.