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Judd Gregg, Deficit Concern Troll

by: Jennifer Daler

Mon Dec 07, 2009 at 22:14:36 PM EST
This can't be emphasized enough: as Senator, Judd Gregg voted for irresponsible tax cuts for the rich, while approving and funding a war adventure based on lies. He didn't once demand a financial accounting of it, either, no-bid contracts and all.

Now that there is talk of using paid back TARP loans to create jobs for the unemployed, Deficit Concern Troll Gregg springs into action as defender of the US Treasury.

New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said Monday that the law explicitly blocks using the TARP for infrastructure or other nonfinancial industry projects.

"Everybody agreed that this money -- as it came back in -- was going to go back to reducing the deficit and the debt," said Gregg, who was one of the chief negotiators in writing the law.

Using taxpayer money to benefit the rich is okay. For the unemployed, let them eat cake. Just make sure it's not from a fancy bakery.
Jennifer Daler :: Judd Gregg, Deficit Concern Troll
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Judd Gregg, Deficit Concern Troll | 11 comments
Republicans are subtle. (4.00 / 2)
A moment ago, I clicked an RNC web ad and was brought to this fundraising page, which has a subtle but incisive message about the Republican Party's commitment to fiscal responsibility:



--
"Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you." -Aaron Sorkin

(Get it? It's like a credit card!) (0.00 / 0)


--
"Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you." -Aaron Sorkin
[ Parent ]
Are they serious? (4.00 / 3)
Do they know this makes blatantly obvious their fiscal reckless ideology: "Charge it! Let the next group pick up the tab!"  What a bunch of assclowns.
[ Parent ]
I think we have one too (0.00 / 0)
It's not symbolic. It's intended to raise cash.
[ Parent ]
That doesn't bother me. (4.00 / 1)
An actual credit card that gives the Democratic party a boost instead of giving you air miles doesn't bother me.  What bothers me is the hypocrisy of a party that has made its crusade against spending the centerpiece of its agenda now that it's in the minority, ignoring decades of reckless deficit ballooning whenever they've been in power.

--
"Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you." -Aaron Sorkin
[ Parent ]
And of course, (0.00 / 0)
The second they're out of power, "ZOMG STOP THE SPENDING".

--
"Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you." -Aaron Sorkin
[ Parent ]
I'll repeat the answer I gave (4.00 / 3)
to the Nat'l Journal weekly poll question,

"Which is the bigger political imperative for Congress next year, creating jobs or reducing the deficit?"

"People who have jobs worry about the deficit. People without jobs, or in fear of losing their jobs, worry about housing and clothing and feeding their family."

100% of lefty bloggers, and almost half of righty bloggers, agree with "jobs."

And 62% of Republican Villagers agree with jobs over deficit too!

So Judd is really alone on this.

It's a superficial question. (0.00 / 0)
Lower unemployment is a true indicator of a healthy economy, with more businesses and more people paying more taxes on more commerce, and that's when you tackle the deficit.

--
"Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you." -Aaron Sorkin
[ Parent ]
Republicans are good at what I call "triangulation"-- (0.00 / 0)
i.e. they aim at one thing to affect another, sort of like playing pool.  In this instance, the real target is the distribution of public money directly into public projects, by-passing the financial community and depriving them of their customary trickle of dividends.  From the perspective of the financial community, the public sector is supposed to provide them with a dedicated stream of income as their due.  Why do they have that perspective?  Because that's how it's always been.  From the perspective of the elite, government has two functions: to keep the rabble in check and to dole out protected access to natural resources to the deserving elite.
How did railroad magnates get control over millions of acres of land?  They were given rights of way.  How did airlines gain control of the skies?  They were given landing rights. And the banks in the Federal Reserve System were given the right to control currency.  See?  That's how it's always been.
Also, debts or a deficit are bad because they represent an (0.00 / 0)
obligation and our heritage elite are all about evading obligations.  I use the word "heritage" advisedly because the elite social status that's being relied on is inherited, rather than earned.  Republicans, regardless of material assets, perceive themselves as descendants of "good" families, people who are "well bred" and whose breeding entitles them to deference.  Which is why federal entitlements are perceived as such an insult.  Human rights, when you come right down to it, are in conflict with the principle of inherited social status.

That's also why whom people mate with is so important.  The whole concept of a well-bred elite is threatened by people mating with "Tom, Dick or Harry." The possibility of contracting a venereal disease is just like the deficit--an excuse to deny personal obligations and impose them on others, because that's what being elite entitles one to do.
Accumulating wealth is nice, but giving orders is better.

Deficit Reduction Helps Social Programs Too!!! (4.00 / 1)
What you say about Judd Gregg is true.  But it really is way too bad that we are spending so much on interest on the debt, too.  All that money could have been put into social programs instead.  And we could have easily financed real health care on our projected interest expense.

While caring for the unemployed certainly should fall in the economic stimulus category, and the stimulus policy itself was initiated and ratified by ALL the Bush Republicans including Judd Gregg at the end of the Bush term, caring about the deficit and paying down the debt, along with the interest expense, makes sense as soon as the economy stabilizes.

Everyone should commit to that.  It's good for social programs in the long term.

Judd Gregg, Deficit Concern Troll | 11 comments
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