Friday, November 21, 2008

My Morning Wooten

Almost didn't do it this morning. For one thing, Jim (mostly) isn't looney enough to warrant much heat. But mainly because everything seems to be lather, rinse, repeat. I guess that's how things work in the big dog publishing world and even though I'm just a little dog, who am I to buck such time honored traditions?

So, here we go.
Advocacy groups are making their annual claim that Georgia should be spending
more on anti-smoking efforts
I agreed with Jim on this issue about a month ago. I'm not sure why it's coming up again. Unless it's to fill space. Whatever.
Hurry. The Bailout Window is closing. Or it is fervently hoped. “Printing billion-dollar sums of cash each time an industry faces turmoil is not an economic solution; it is a moral hazard,” declared U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-Roswell). He’s five words short, though. Insert “or state or local government” between “industry” and “faces.”
Yeah, yeah. Anarchy in the U.S. Whatever.
The likely new Attorney General in the Obama administration, Eric Holder, is the Clinton administration retread who essentially green-lighted the Marc Rich pardon in the last hour of Bill’s term of office, prompting a national outrage. Two questions here: Could a Republican get away with doing that? And, on a somewhat related matter, will it be a scandal if U.S. attorneys are fired? It was when Democrats found campaign-value scandal in the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys two years ago.
Here we go. This one is so full of horse apples it almost deserves its own entry.

Could a Republican get away with doing what? Last minute pardons for political purposes? You mean like 12 people, most of whom were convicted of some type of fraud but most notably two key players in the Iran-Contra affair, George H. W. Bush pardoned two days before his Presidency ended? Or have you forgotten the uber-pardon of Nixon by Ford.

No, no, Jim. Why should a fine, upstanding newpaper man like you be weighed down with things like facts and context when you can continue to make the case Bill Clinton invented every evil in the latter part of the 20th Century?

Do I even need to beat the tired old fired attorneys horse? Maybe point out that at least the long knives waited until Clinton was in office before the cutting began? Nah. Let's move on.
Anybody surprised at the report by state auditors that the halls of fame created across Georgia are unlikely to be self-sufficient by July 1, the deadline set by the General Assembly?
No. You really think I'm going to disagree with exposing foolish spending? Moving on.
A pro-life advocacy group runs a radio commercial that describes Senate candidate Jim Martin as the leader of a “one-man effort” to kill legislation to ban partial birth abortions. If the effort had no followers, how do we know he led? On the campaign trail, the photos accompanying news accounts of “rallies” usually show a few staffers, a few reporters and some stragglers trying to get in out of the cold. Is it a rally if nobody rallies?
Must have missed the one with Bill Clinton. The one where several thousand stood for hours in the cold. Maybe you were on deadline?

Oh wait. That's not true either. Because...
Quote of the week from Jim Martin to Bill Clinton: “You have left us a great legacy.”
Across the board spending cuts. A budget surplus. A humming economy. Bookmark this one my friends, because I guarantee sometime in the near future, Jim will explain Bush's legacy to us and we can all have a good belly laugh.

Selah.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Nice column, except for the myth of the Clinton budget surplus. The national debt increased each year he was in office, which is impossible with a surplus.

griftdrift said...

Uh yeah there was. Unless you want to get into semantics economic double speak babble. The Republicans even tried to take credit for it.

But thanks for the Boortz injection. I missed my daily dose.

Unknown said...

Thank you for the Clinton/McAuliffe/Carville injection.


The economic double speak is what gave us a "surplus" because it ignores intergovernmental holdings i.e. the money the Fed owes itself. Clinton paid down public debt, but none of the intergovernmental debt. The biggest part of the intergovernmental debt is made up of US Govt securities which Social Security was required by law to purchase with surpluses. When SS begins to fail, those debts will have to be repaid, so it is "real" money. Intergovenrmental debt is not a "wash" or "fake debt" becaue it took REAL money and purchased future governmetn debt obligations which must be repaid with real money to people other than the government.

A true surplus would reduce the National Debt which, according to the Dept of Treasury was as follows;

1993 - $4.4 T
1994 - $4.7 T
1995 - $4.97 T
1996 - $ 5.22 T
1997 - 5.41 T
1998 - 5.52 T
1999 - 5.65 T
2000 - 5.67 T
2001 - 5.8 T

Deficits ranged from $ 281.26 B in 1994 to $ 17.91 B in 2000. The reduction to $ 18 B is commendable but it was a one year blip, bookended by $ 130 and $ 133 B deficits.

The Republicans tried to take credit for the reductions because they were in control of Congress. Neither could claim to have left a surplus.

All numbers are from the US Treasury.

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

Sorry for the long post, but it is really hard to abbreviate that info.

I am interested in your evidence of a Clinton "surplus".

Unknown said...

one other point about the "humming" economy, we were officially entering recession at the end of Clintons term.

Across the board spending cuts were sent by the Congress, so they can claim partial credit there, except that Federal spending, whether discretionary or non-discretionary, did not shrink so I can't call it across the board.

Clinton had many positives in his Presidency, but the econimic myths are just amazing.