Wednesday, May 31, 2023

1993 Deficit Reduction Plan without a Single Republican Vote.

 September 1993


The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 has made a substantial dent in the annual budget deficits and in the accumulation of federal debt. Last winter, CBO projected that the deficit would grow from $290 billion to $360 billion over the 1992-1998 period, and that debt held by the public would swell from 51 percent to 62 percent of GDP. Now, the deficit is projected to fall to $200 billion over those years, and the debt is expected to reach only 55 percent of GDP.

...The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 capped discretionary budget authority and outlays through fiscal year 1995, and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 extended the caps through 1998. Under these caps, nominal discretionary outlays in 1998 would be no higher than in 1993; in real terms, discretionary outlays would be cut by 14 percent over this period.


https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/f...3-1994/reports/09-1993-outlookentirerpt_0.pdf

THAT'S PAY-GO (NO INCREASE IN SPENDING WITHOUT CUTS OR REVENUES) THE GOP GOT RID OF UNDER DUBYA AND DONNIE!!!!

PAYGO, which stands for “pay as you go,” is a budget rule requiring that tax cuts and mandatory spending increases must be offset (i.e., “paid for”) by tax increases or cuts in mandatory spending.



To Establish Fiscal Discipline, President Clinton:

  • Enacted the 1993 Deficit Reduction Plan without a Single Republican Vote.
The plan included more than $500 billion in deficit reduction.

"The deficit has come down, and I give the Clinton Administration and President Clinton himself a lot of credit for that. [He] did something about it, fast. And I think we are seeing some benefits."
— Paul Volcker, Federal Reserve Board Chairman (1979-1987), in Audacity, Fall 1994

"Clinton's 1993 budget cuts, which reduced projected red ink by more than $400 billion over five years, sparked a major drop in interest rates that helped boost investment in all the equipment and systems that brought forth the New Age economy of technological innovation and rising productivity."
— Business Week, May 19, 1997

No, the true heroes of deficit reduction were, first, President Clinton, whose 1993 budget—passed without a single Republican vote—raised taxes on the wealthy and dramatically altered the nation’s fiscal path, and second, a steadily improving economy. Those two factors, and particularly the interaction between them, account for virtually the entire fiscal improvement. Contrary to the Gingrich assertion, legislation passed by the Republican-led Congress of 1995 through 1997 combined to actually worsen the fiscal situation—albeit slightly.

...OBRA, which mainly raised taxes on wealthy people but also raised the gas tax, extended limits on discretionary spending and cut back on some mandatory spending, was signed into law on August 10, 1993. Just five months prior, the Congressional Budget Office projected a 1998 deficit of $360 billion. One month after the bill passed, the CBO’s new estimate of the 1988 deficit was down to $200 billion. The CBO explained the dramatic improvement this way: “For the first time in two and one-half years, the deficit projections have taken a decided turn for the better… The reconciliation act deserves most of the credit for the improvement over the long run.” Indeed, of the $160 billion improvement from March to September of that year, CBO directly credited OBRA with $143 billion. In fact, OBRA turns out to have been the single largest contributor to the 1998 surplus.

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/not-so-fast-newt/

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

James Kennedy and Alan Greenspan, on the effect of mortgage equity withdrawals (MEWs) on the growth of the US economy.



Notice that in both 2001 and 2002, the US economy continued to grow on an annual basis (the "technical" recession was just a few quarters). Their work suggests that this growth was entirely due to MEWs. In fact, MEWs contributed over 3% to GDP growth in 2004 and 2005, and 2% in 2006. Without US homeowners using their homes as an ATM, the economy would have been very sluggish indeed, averaging much less than 1% for the six years of the Bush presidency. Indeed, as a side observation, without home equity withdrawals the economy would have been so bad it would have been almost impossible for Bush to have won a second term.

The Economic Blue Screen of Death - Thoughts From The Frontline - Investment Strategies Analysis Intelligence for Seasoned Investors.


https://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/the-economic-blue-screen-of-death-mwo101708

 RIGHT WING BS, LOOK AT LOAN PERFORMANCE BUBS


GSE Critics Ignore Loan Performance


TIMEFRAME:

Q When did the Bush Mortgage Bubble start?

A The general timeframe is it started late 2004.

From Bush's President's Working Group on Financial Markets MARCH 2008

The Presidents Working Group's March policy statement acknowledged that turmoil in financial markets clearly was triggered by a dramatic weakening of underwriting standards for U.S. subprime mortgages, beginning in late 2004 and extending into 2007



Q Did the Community Reinvestment Act under Carter/Clinton caused it?


A "Since 1995 there has been essentially no change in the basic CRA rules or enforcement process that can be reasonably linked to the subprime lending activity. This fact weakens the link between the CRA and the current crisis since the crisis is rooted in poor performance of mortgage loans made between 2004 and 2007. "

http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/20081203_analysis.pdf


FACTS on Dubya's great recession


https://www.usmessageboard.com/threads/facts-on-dubyas-great-recession.362889/



https://www.usmessageboard.com/threads/president-trump-crushes-obama-in-first-four-months-comparison.594112/page-8#post-17258248

Friday, December 9, 2016

Compared to Ronnie?


The Iran-contra scandal as it became known, did serious damage to the Reagan presidency. <b>The investigations were effectively halted when President George H. W. Bush (Reagan's vice president) pardoned Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger before his trial began.></b>


Iran-Contra Affair

Elliott Abrams (R) , CONVICTED
Robert C. McFarlane, (R) , CONVICTED
Alan D. Fiers (R), CONVICTED
Richard R. Miller (R), CONVICTED
Clair George (R), CONVICTED
Richard Secord (R), CONVICTED
Thomas G. Clines (R), CONVICTED
Carl R. Channel (R), CONVICTED
John Poindexter, (R), CONVICTED
Oliver North (R), CONVICTED


Department of Housing and Urban Development grant rigging

James Watt, (R), CONVICTED
Phillip D. Winn (R), CONVICTED
Thomas Demery (R), CONVICTED
Deborah Gore Dean (R), CONVICTED
Joseph A. Strauss, (R), CONVICTED
Silvio D. DeBartolomeis (R), CONVICTED
Lobbying scandal
Michael Deaver, (R), CONVICTED
Lyn Nofziger (R), CONVICTED


EPA scandals

<b>Over twenty high-level EPA employees were removed from office during Reagan's first three years as president.</b>

Rita Lavelle, (R) an administrator at the EPA, misused Superfund monies and was convicted of perjury.

Anne Gorsuch Burford, (R) the controversial head of the EPA. Burford, citing "Executive Privilege," refused to turn over Superfund records to Congress. She was found in Contempt, whereupon she resigned.


Inslaw Affair

Inslaw Affair (1985-1994+); a protracted legal case that alleged that top-level officials of President Ronald Reagan's (R) Department of Justice were involved in copyright violation of the Promis program from Inslaw Inc. forcing it into bankruptcy and then failed to appoint an independent counsel to investigate it.


D. Lowell Jensen, (D) Deputy Attorney General was held in Contempt of Congress.

C. Madison Brewer A high ranking Justice Department official was held in Contempt of Congress.

Attorney General Edwin Meese (R) refused to investigate the matter. His successor Attorney General Dick Thornburgh (R) also refused to investigate.

They were succeeded by Attorney General William P. Barr (R) who also refused to investigate the matter. No charges were ever filed


Savings & loan crisis

"The theft from the taxpayer by the community that fattened on the growth of the savings and loan (S&L) industry in the 1980s is the worst public scandal in American history. Teapot Dome in the Harding administration and the Credit Mobilier in the times of Ulysses S. Grant have been taken as the ultimate horror stories of capitalist democracy gone to seed. Measuring by money, [or] by the misallocation of national resources... the S&L outrage makes Teapot Dome and Credit Mobilier seem minor episodes."


Operation Ill Wind

Operation Ill Wind was a three-year investigation launched in 1986 by the FBI into corruption by U.S. government and military officials, and private defense contractors.


<b>FIFTY CONVICTIONS IN THIS SCANDAL ALONE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_administration_scandals



Monday, July 25, 2016

National Bureau of Economic Research:
The top 0.1 percent was composed of 160,000 families with average 
wealth of $72.8 million. All told, they owned 22 percent of the nation’s
wealth.
Meanwhile, the bottom 90 percent -- 144 million families with average
wealth of $84,000 -- owned only 22.8 percent of the wealth.
In other words, the top 0.1 percent and the bottom 90 percent of U.S.
households own virtually the same share of all the nation's wealth. Is there a problem with this number?



Non-Partisan Congressional Tax Report Debunks Core Conservative Economic Theory


The conclusion?

Lowering the tax rates on the wealthy and top earners in America donot appear to have any impact on the nation’s economic growth.


This paragraph from the report says it all—


“The reduction in the top tax rates appears to be uncorrelated with saving, investment and productivity growth. The top tax rates appear to have little or no relation to the size of the economic pie. However, the top tax rate reductions appear to be associated with the increasing concentration of income at the top of the income distribution.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/11/02/non-partisan-congressional-tax-report-debunks-core-conservative-economic-theory-gop-suppresses-study/#2839b7ac431b