The World Economic Forum has downgraded the United States once again in their list of the most competitive nations. Since Barack Obama has been president, the U.S. has slipped from Number One in 2008 to Fifth in 2011. Now, the WEF puts us at Seventh overall. The reasons for the downgrade stems from our national debt, the failure of our political leadership to do anything about it, and the general loss of confidence by the public in our government. As usual, all we need do is look at the Obama administration and the failed policies coming out of the White House for why America is slipping closer to the fiscal cliff.
A key player in all of this is uncertainty. The nation is drifting due to a lack of clear guidance as Obama seems only capable of offering last-minute, bandaid fixes, lasting only one or two years. The heart of this uncertainty lies in our tax policy. The Bush Tax Cuts were successful in reversing the post Dot-Com recession because it laid out a foundation for ten years, giving businesses something to truly plan upon. The end result was 52 consecutive months of excellent job growth, averaging well over 300,000 new jobs per month, and a healthy GDP growth of more than 4% annually. At least 3% GDP growth is required each year for any positive returns. Under Obama, GDP growth has averaged only 0.7% annually.
The expansion of the federal government under Obama, and our national debt, is a primary drag on our ability to compete in the global economy. Businesses are more likely to invest in countries with better tax rates, fewer regulations, and where governments welcome them as opposed to blaming them for all evils. But Obama has gone the opposite direction with threatening to raise taxes on investors, increase regulations on businesses and shows no ability to even conceive of an actual federal budget and tackle deficit spending. Indeed, the White House has missed a deadline this past Friday to detail what military cuts they will recommend should sequestration take effect this coming January.
Equally to blame as Obama is none other than Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid as the U.S. Senate has failed to produce a budget for more than 1,200 days. This is simply unheard of and is a huge stain upon the integrity of the government. Why should we citizens be expected to live in reality and budget our own affairs when the government apparently does not wish to do so? The situation in general is simply just shameless.
Some pundits will attempt to spin the World Economic Forum downgrade of the United States competitiveness as a symptom of GOP obstruction in Washington. But the Republicans in the House have passed budgets and other bills designed to put certainty and confidence back in the equation. Barack Obama and the Senate Democrats, led by Harry Reid, refuse to truly work with Republicans in solving any of our long term economic issues. Under Obama, we have gone from the most competitive nation on Earth to 7th place. How much longer must we suffer?
September 11th, 2012 at 1:50 pm
I wish Obama had failed at his goal turning America into a third world nation. He is accomplishing it. The Media keep screaming that Americans are better off. People know that is a lie. Bush’s economic growth stopped in 2007 when the Democrats took over congress. The useful idiots voted the democrats in power because of media lies about Bush and the economy. It has been down hill ever since. The Saul Alinsky’s training to lie and smear reality to accomplish radical destruction is working. Obama is a Saul Alinsky Disciple.
September 11th, 2012 at 2:04 pm
Wow, Saul still gets more done than I do and he has been dead for 40 years.
September 11th, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Well Sue.
Loser in Chief did say he wanted to level the playing field
September 11th, 2012 at 4:15 pm
Look at it this way . . .
When the America we knew has crashed, the working productive people that made it great, will be the one’s who rebuild it.
Welfare will be for the truly disabled only.
Affirmative Action will be an anachronistic breath abator to the unqualified parasites who are paid to do what they know not.
The God Given Right own the tools of defense of Home and Hearth will be open to No interpretation.
Let’s Roll !
September 11th, 2012 at 5:13 pm
As George Will put it recently: “If the Republican Party cannot win in this environment, it has to get out of politics and find another business.”
September 11th, 2012 at 5:19 pm
Laura Ingrham and Sister Sarah echoed those sentiments.
September 11th, 2012 at 6:17 pm
“As George Will put it recently: “If the Republican Party cannot win in this environment, it has to get out of politics and find another business.””
Damn right…
we should privatize.
September 11th, 2012 at 6:47 pm
BTW…
…happy 9/11 everyone
September 12th, 2012 at 5:36 am
As usual, Andrew’s Obama bash is more of a delusional wishful thinking divorced from reality rather than an argument of substance. According to Andrew, Bush saved a crashing economy by extending tax cuts for 10 years, the economy exploded and everyone basked in wealth, and along came Obama and promptly ruined everything. But I’ll give Andrew some credit here. Unlike his previous claims that the economy went down in flames because Obama beat Hillary in the primaries or that it’s all because voters ousted the GOP and replaced them with Dems in 06 (which he has failed to come up with a single legislation to support that), he has now found fault because Obama didn’t give long term extensions to Bush’s policies, which in the real world are arguably what brought us the crises.
Andrew’s rhetoric, spin, and jaw dropping recreation of history aside, he points at President Obama as the culprit because of high taxes and regulations. So to what extent should we lower taxes and deregulate? Corporations have enjoyed the lowest taxes in over 65 years and have for over a decade. Around 30 of the top Fortune 500 companies paid NEGATIVE taxes last year while many paid less than 1%. So it’s really unclear what Andrew is suggesting. It’s as if he’s saying we should lower taxes more than negative (increase corporate welfare) and make it permanent. And where exactly will this corporate welfare funding come from? And about those pesky regulations. To what extent should we deregulate? Get rid of the EPA altogether? End OSHA? Abolish child labor laws? Mandatory overtime without overtime pay? Minimum wage? I seriously challenge Andrew to answer these questions while explaining how the Romney team can sell that to voters.
Much like blaming the economy on Obama’s mere existence as a political leader, Andrew’s empty suit talking points and nonsensical ad hominem rant has no legs to stand on in any real conversation.
And this is likely why we’re seeing the Romney/Ryan team failing. The GOP’s attacks towards Obama have had little merit while their plan coddles the wealthy at the expense of the working class. They cannot sell a plan that offers zero or less taxes for the top 1%, VoucherCare, turns over SSI to Wall Street, raises taxes on the middle class, promotes lower wages and benefits for middle class workers, increase the deficit, ends most safety nets, gives corporations free reign to dump toxic waste at will, and pushes a Plutocracy and Social Darwinism all while chanting “Obama bad” while tossing in an occasional “birther/Muslim/terrorist/communist” jab. And to compliment that snake oil salesmanship, they rewrite history, pretend the Bush failures never happened, all while blaming Obama and Dems for their very own shortcomings. People are wanting answers that they’re not getting. Andrew parrots the Obama bashing, etch-a-sketch/flip-flop speeches, and like today’s GOP, runs when asked to respond. It’s as if changing dialog to diatribe somehow gives you credence. People aren’t buying it simply because it doesn’t stand up to rational scrutiny.
September 12th, 2012 at 6:09 am
The essential point you miss, Ronald, is that the S&P downgrade of our credit rating, Moody’s threat to do so likewise, and our continuing slide on competitiveness are all clearly linked to Obama and the Democrats failing to pass a budget.
Even Bob Woodward’s new book shows how Obama blew the deal last year when he went back to Boehner and demanded another $400 Billion in revenues on top of the $800 Billion Boehner had already agreed to. The Obama solution, as his solutions always are, was to kick the can down the road for one year. Just enough to get past the election cycle.
You can say what you want about GW Bush but the reason a whole lot of Conservatives got mad at Bush’43 was his willingness to compromise with Democrats. Even the MediCare Advantage doughnut-hole fix, which Democrats like to complain about as being unfunded, turned out to be the ONLY federal health program that came in UNDER projected costs by about 40%, since it involved some free market incentives.
As for the 2006 Congressional elections, one only need look at how the budget deficits were starting to decline until the Dems won both the House and the Senate. So there is your piece of legislation.
September 12th, 2012 at 6:28 am
While somewhat off topic, today’s news brings us another example of how dishonest today’s GOP has become. It validates my previous post. It goes further than rewriting history as it rewrites present facts. Romney needs to attack Obama on foreign policy so he misleadingly exploits the attack on the Libyan consulate.
President Obama:
And the Romney response is
Mitt Romney:
Got that? Read it again. That’s what the President is up against. Dishonesty is fair game in every shape and form. Reality doesn’t matter.
September 12th, 2012 at 7:04 am
Dishonest as usual, Ronald. Here is the statement that Mitt Romney was referring to…
“The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims—as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions,” it said in a statement. “Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.”
Even after we learned that at least one consulate staffer was killed in Benghazi, here is what Hillary Clinton said, “”The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.”
So it is okay to mock Jesus and Christians, photograph crucifixes in urine, etc., but just raise a few facts about some of the more outrageous aspects of Islam and its just fine for mobs to attack our embassies. What a bunch of hooey!
September 12th, 2012 at 7:43 am
Sometimes after reading your responses Andy, I get this urge to go and wash the stupid off of me.
Assigning blame to Obama for the S&P downgrade is the intellectually insulting norm that’s come to be expected. You may recall that the S&P report actually stated:
It’s also an indisputable reality that the GOP held up raising the debt ceiling while demanding legislation which they knew they’d never push through any other way.
Your last paragraph speaks for itself. You can point and blame but when asked to explain you come up empty. While ignoring the reality that the American voters soundly rejected the path that the GOP was leading us on in 06, you blame the Dems for the destruction they were left to deal with. When asked for evidence that they’re to blame(what bills did they pass, what legislation, what policies), you childishly reply with “uh, well, they were just there so take that! There’s your legislation.” And in your diversion, you cowardly run from the questions that brings your arguments to reality. How much more than negative taxes due we need to go for the top 1%? How far do we need to go in deregulating corporations? You won’t answer because it exposes how profoundly unhinged the results would be.
I’ve said before that debunking your arguments are like shooting fish in a barrel. It’s as if you’re intentionally making yourself look foolish, not even trying, just typing any non sequitur gibberish perhaps hoping for the thread to role off the page?. Perhaps that’s all you have?
September 12th, 2012 at 8:13 am
So Andy, your saying: Here is the statement that Mitt Romney was referring to…
The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims—as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions,” it said in a statement. “Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.
So referring to statements made by the Embassy in Cairo, statements that the White House explained “was not cleared by Washington and does not reflect the views of the United States government”, Romney is justified in calling President Obama a sympathizer of the attackers? And you invoke mocking Jesus, Christians, and urine on crucifixes as something to blame on our President for statements he never said and has openly said he does not support.
September 12th, 2012 at 8:19 am
“According to Andrew, Bush saved a crashing economy by extending tax cuts for 10 years, the economy exploded and everyone basked in wealth, and along came Obama and promptly ruined everything.”
Seems like you werent around after 911 to witness the measures Bush took to save us from an attack that would of had a profound impact on our economy.
You can say whatever you want. Todays numbers clearly reflect what a horrible job Barry did in fixing whatever the hell he thinks he inherited.
“I’ve said before that debunking your arguments are like shooting fish in a barrel. It’s as if you’re intentionally making yourself look foolish, not even trying, just typing any non sequitur gibberish perhaps hoping for the thread to role off the page?. Perhaps that’s all you have?”
Hes got me.
You’re just being arrogant with feigned pride and victory.
You’re being excessively wordy makes you you’re so astute but when all the peac0ck feathers come off your posts you look like an obstinate pidgeon.
“American voters soundly rejected the path that the GOP was leading us on in 06, you blame the Dems for the destruction they were left to deal with. When asked for evidence that they’re to blame(what bills did they pass, what legislation, what policies), you childishly reply with “uh, well, they were just there so take that! ”
Wrong again. Looks like you were MIA there as well.
Both Bush and McCain went to the 111th congress begging them to stop the democrats inducing of sub-prime lending to prevent the inevitable real estate collapse. Which ended up being the major factor in the collapse we saw.
Barney Frank told them both to screw off and dont worry.
Try again
September 12th, 2012 at 8:22 am
“American voters soundly rejected the path that the GOP was leading us on in 06,”
And so your asses were handed to you on a bent silver platter in 2010
September 12th, 2012 at 11:44 am
Ronald, you would have a better point if Obama track record in denigrating America was not already well documented. This is the leader who bows to Islamic kings and tossed Winston Churchill out of the White House. No getting around that he is, after all, the guy who appointed the anti-American embassy staff who made that outrageous statement. He appointed them because, presumably, they share his world view that Judeo-Christian nations like the United States are (at best) morally equivalent to Islamic nations. America-last iberals like Obama believe that, and so you get knee-jerk responses that sympathize with indefensible people. And even in attempting to clean up the damage, they couldn’t help themselves but to reiterate that the “United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.” Ask yourself why the sympathy for terrorists.
September 12th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
Presumptions Patrick, which you build your argument on, are the basic building blocks of bigotry. Your 1st sentence indicates that my point would have validity had you not been able to dig up some dirt that you admitted to presume to be true albeit irrelevant to the issue we’re discussing. Understandably, keeping the “apologize for America” mantra alive (like Matt Romney’s suggestion of keeping the birther issue alive) can help the Romney campaign, regardless of its credibility. It looks like this one kinda left egg on Romney’s face.
September 12th, 2012 at 1:57 pm
And an inability to critically think is the building block of ignorance. Again tho, Obama’s track record on supporting American values is pretty pathetic. Liberals have a difficult time believing that western values are superior to Islamic values. What is your own view about that idea?
September 12th, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Barry stands behind the statement, but removes it from the internet?
“Presumptions Patrick, which you build your argument on, are the basic building blocks of bigotry.”
Thats a load of steaming crap.
The doctrine of The Muslim Brotherhood was drawn from and is heavily rooted in the N@zi doctrine which calls for the elimination of all Jews.
Yes, during WW2 there were thousands of N@zi Muslims in Europe taking notes on the most efficient means of extermination.
The Brotherhood has been banned from Egypt as far back as 1951 for an assassination attempt on a head of Egyptian state, until Obama made his worldwide apology from Cairo.
Period, no presumption
September 12th, 2012 at 4:08 pm
Patrick, critical thinking relies more on one’s ability to deduce the situation, troubleshoot the problem, and arrive at a logical conclusion where as ignorance is a case where informative data was never acquired to make that decision. But that really is an aside.
Considering your demands to stay on topic, your evasiveness of responding to relevant questions, and your inability to make a statement without somehow bashing liberals or President Obama, I find it audacious of you to expect me to respond to your rhetorical question of my views of “Liberals have a difficult time believing that western values are superior to Islamic values”, particularity at a time when Romney’s playing politics with Libya killings blew up in his face.
You seriously are a coward when it comes to constructive debate, aren’t you?
September 12th, 2012 at 4:28 pm
“Patrick, critical thinking relies more on one’s ability to deduce the situation, troubleshoot the problem, and arrive at a logical conclusion where as ignorance is a case where informative data was never acquired to make that decision.”
You ignore the many certifiable facts presented to you.
We havent seen this amount of turmoil in the mid east since Carters days.
Is it a coincidence that two apologetic anti Semites were in office both times we’ve reached this level of turmoil ?
September 12th, 2012 at 8:35 pm
Ronald, critical thinking is an ability to understand relationships and consequences of stimulus even in situations that you have not been told an answer before. If you thought more, rather than reacted, then you too might understand the relationship between Obama’s typically liberal view of Americas role in the world and the statements from his administration on the latest terrorist attack. You can try now.
So let’s try my question again since it is the crux of the matter. Do you believe America has a superior culture to that of Islamic nations, say Egypt or Libya, or are they morally equivalent? Most liberals are embarrassed to answer questions like that because deep down they believe like Obama does that America is morally equivalent to all other nations which is how you get statements like the ones made about this attack. Where do you fall on that question?
September 12th, 2012 at 9:37 pm
Mr Ward’s game seems to be garrulous verbosity as a pretense for substantive gravitas.
Perlocution is just a cheesy substitute for defending this upstart Boy King, who is in over his head.
The events of the next few days should prove to the world that Barrack Hussein Obama is all style with heavy elements of BS.
This man is about to cost us dearly.
September 13th, 2012 at 5:02 am
As usual, Ronald, who counter with half-truths, half-lies and plenty of omissions…
http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/articles/en/us/?assetID=1245316529563
“The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan
that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of
what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government’s
medium-term debt dynamics.”
Not enough? Here is more…
“More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness,
stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political
institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic
challenges to a degree more than we envisioned when we assigned a
negative outlook to the rating on April 18, 2011.
“Since then, we have changed our view of the difficulties in bridging the
gulf between the political parties over fiscal policy, which makes us
pessimistic about the capacity of Congress and the Administration to be
able to leverage their agreement this week into a broader fiscal
consolidation plan that stabilizes the government’s debt dynamics any
time soon.”
So, as we can see, S&P was blaming all of the government, including your beloved Obama administration. Of course, they did not have the information we have today about Obama blowing the deal with Boehner.
September 13th, 2012 at 7:34 am
Andrew, Patrick mentioned something about calling a commenter a liar as being a banning offense. Perhaps he was being, well, less than truthful.
I’m unsure how you conclude your post or Woodward’s book to lay blame on Obama. As mentioned, an area that was paramount to the downgrade was the refusal to raise taxes. Your argument points to S&P citing an inability of cooperation in our government. Stay with me now as I may lose you but consider that Boehner, as mentioned by Woodward and other sources stated “I’ve never voted to raise taxes and I don’t intend to”.
Patrick, I thought you also said something about staying on topic yet you insist on going off topic about asking my views on foreign cultures. The reason I brought up the Libya ordeal was an example of how facts or reality have no merit here. This thread blames Obama for the downgrade. It doesn’t matter that refusing to raise taxes and revenue, a GOP policy, was clearly laid out by the S&P as the culprit. It doesn’t matter how many times the GOP voted to raise the debt limit under previous Presidents. It doesn’t matter that the GOP was using this as a tool to push their agenda through that they never could under other legislative maneuvers. It doesn’t matter that the GOP were making numerous demands yet refusing to negotiate anything, even things they previously wanted with Democrats. It doesn’t matter that they did all this against the advise of credible economist of their own party. And it doesn’t matter that did all this with a clear admission of “insuring Obama to be a 1 term President”. Why does none of that matter? Its because you have a deep seated hatred towards Liberals, Democrats, and your President and your mission is to discredit them. Facts be damned. You want to blame the economy on the man and party you hate so badly that you can’t face reality. This is why you nor Andrew will address my questions to you.
Now, you may disagree with parts or all of that but let’s take another look at Romney’s blunder on Libya. A Titter feed came from the Embassy prior to the attack, possibly as an attempt to prevent it. Yet Romney made a statement that the tweet was an official first response from the White House which was utterly false. Now you know this is true yet you still won’t disavow it. As a matter of fact, you seem to endorse it. Why? Because again, your hatred is so intense that you reject reality. Rational debate or discussion cannot happen as your mission is to depict Obama as a sympathizer or being apologetic towards America, even using arguments that are completely false. You want to build a case that he hates America and reality is just so inconvenient.
Your question Patrick, reminds me of a young lad who wanted to prove his elder wrong. The child catches a bird, couples it in his hands, and ask the elder if it’s dead or alive. If the response is alive, the boy can simply crush the bird. If the answer is dead, the child can open his hand and the bird flies off.
September 13th, 2012 at 8:13 am
I have to say Ron, if you’re good at anything, its talking much and saying nothing.
You hoard BS. Its amazing you can even function with all the crap in your house.
Streamline your thought process and stop trying to sound like some equation to relativity.
2007 America was number one.
2008 Exit Bush, enter Obama.
2012 America is number seven.
Now, try to take responsibility before you open your yap again. At least wait til our next downgrade
September 13th, 2012 at 10:43 am
Micky, against my better judgment of humoring you, it’s realistic to say that:
2007 GWB and the GOP had a #1 bus running out of control headlong to the cliff.
2008 Obama took the seat of that #1 bus as it left the cliff.
2012 Despite intentional and admitted efforts of the GOP to sabotage the repair of that bus at all cost (no spending, no stimulus, no jobs bill, more austerity, filibuster all jobs bills, hell, filibuster everything, etc) Obama was able to pull that bus back to the highway although there’s still damage from the previous administration and GOP obstruction.
September 13th, 2012 at 11:24 am
“GOP obstruction”
Take some responsibility.
Your garbage renditions of our financial plight ring hollow.
Our debt and all thats came with it has been a work in progress for decades now starting with Carter.
BUT !
No administration has ever pi$$ed away so much money in so little time with less per buck to show for it than this Loser in chief.
Americans are dying.
More embassies are being attacked.
I have no tolerance today for your crap
September 13th, 2012 at 2:15 pm
#26 and #27, yes that is an amazing commentary on how to say nothing in 1000 words or more. LOL
Let’s try again. The Obama administration issued inappropriate statements that sympathized with a radical Islamic view while our embassy staff were under attack. And my view is that is not surprising given Obama’s typically liberal view that equates all countries and cultures as moral equals. Ronald won’t answer to the question so I’m guessing he agrees with Obama. Most liberals do.
Did poor Ronald have a question for me as he claims? They normally end in question marks. Someone find it for me LOL.
September 13th, 2012 at 2:33 pm
While you’re chuckling Patrick, I seriously doubt that the Romney campaign, in their hour of going down in flames, are.
September 13th, 2012 at 3:08 pm
Ronald, the only thing going up in flames are Obamas foreign policies.
Literally
September 14th, 2012 at 2:46 am
@ Ronald #26,
First, as the author, I can call you dishonest or a liar so long as I can substantiate it, which I did. I accused you of half lies and half truths. The S&P downgrade was NOT the sole fault of House Republicans. In fact, one could argue that even in their statement mentioning Congress, they could easily be referring more so to the Senate, which has not passed a budget in over 1,200 days, than the House. Only in your drab, framed-out way of thinking do you automatically assume that any reference to Congress means ‘big bad Republicans.’
Secondly, nowhere in the S&P statement do they mention raising taxes, nor even revenues. But they mention debt multiple times. The only real way to deal with the debt is to stop spending as much as we do. Otherwise, you would have to increase all taxes, fees, etc., by 50% just to balance Obama’s spending spree. BTW, Boehner agreed to $800 Billion in closing tax loopholes, a better option than raising taxes.
September 14th, 2012 at 5:58 am
Andy, I challenge you to read the blockquote in post #13. Go ahead, take your time, and I’ll wait. Now, we could play some verbal gymnastics I suppose but it’s been the battle cry of the right that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire equates to a tax increase. If you read post # 13 and agree that it came from the S&P report yet still stand by your writings in post #33, that has to mean you’re either an outright liar or profoundly stupid. I’m not sure how to interpret it any other way. It was Republicans that played politics with the entire matter, a game of mad elephant at the expense of the economy.
Your Boehner deal omits that that over ten years, it includes $1.7 trillion in spending cuts, mainly concessions from Democrats on entitlements such as raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 and other cuts to benefits. It omits that the revenue increases were questionable during the entire debate and that it got derailed after the Gang of Six released its plan and Obama asked Boehner for more revenue. It also omits that it was Boehner that refused to accept Obama’s offer to go back to the original deal.
And you still run from how much of a lower tax rate and deregulation for corpoations we need, something you built your agrument for this thread on.
September 14th, 2012 at 9:05 am
Andy, dont bother with Brians clone. The man is so immersed in his own ideology that hes trying to make the case claiming everything in the last 12 years thats wrong in his bigoted partisan world, is the fault of the right.
Hes the worst kind of junkie, his drug of choice is himself and hatred.
If his brain were actually a substance or had any, he’d be dead.
September 14th, 2012 at 8:31 pm
Is it true we got downgraded again under Obama’s watch?
September 15th, 2012 at 4:44 am
Yes, Rivera,
We were downgraded again, this time by Egan Jones from AA to AA-. Oh, and BTW, it was NOT because of Bush Tax Cuts or Republicans obstructing Obama. They cited Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his QE3. This third round of quantitative easing will do nothing to help the economy, other than inflate Wall Street a bit, and will only add to our overall sovereign debt problems.
September 15th, 2012 at 4:49 am
Ronald, ‘block #13′ is pointless as it is NOT one of the primary reasons for the downgrade. Look for yourself…
http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/articles/en/us/?assetID=1245316529563
I might add…
“Standard & Poor’s takes no position on the mix of spending and revenue
measures that Congress and the Administration might conclude is appropriate
for putting the U.S.’s finances on a sustainable footing.”
So there you have it. S&P is not concerned with the formula of a budget, just that an actual budget is developed. Something which Obama and Senate Democrats refuse to do.
September 15th, 2012 at 4:53 am
Oh, BTW, Ronald,
In your ‘block #13′ quote, you conveniently left out the next sentence…
“Key
macroeconomic assumptions in the base case scenario include trend real GDP growth of 3% and consumer price inflation near 2% annually over the decade.”
Obviously their projection is in error as GDP growth is nowhere near 3% and inflation on consumer prices is well above 2%, mostly from energy and food price increases.