My appearance on Fox News earlier today regarding Economy, Deficit Etc. vs Eric Bolling

[stevenleser]

&feature=youtu.be

[MannyGoldstein]

1. We have both a spending problem and a revenue problem

The only way out of this depression is to spend more.

And the wealthiest are still paying taxes at rates near historic lows.

Good job. Bolling is a dimwitted bully.

Thank you for acknowledging Paul Krugman.

[stevenleser]

5. Thanks Manny, I definitely wanted to mention Krugman after seeing who was on before me.

Right before me, speaking on the same topic, they had Art Laffer on with Eric.

I actually got the chance to spend some time with him in the waiting room (called in TV land the "Green Room&quot . He's actually a really nice guy, but I flat out told him that I thought he was wrong.

[hfojvt]

35. I noticed you rhymed Krug with rug

which is the way I always say it in my head, but he seems to say it like Kroogman.

Or at least many others in the media do, witness the recent appearance on Joe Scar.

Also, since you mentioned Laffer. Do you people get paid for being on these shows?

[hfojvt]

33. I would have jumped on the revenue problem

we had ten years of the Bush tax cuts, before that we had the Reagan and Clinton tax cuts. Then we extended the Bush tax cuts for two more years and threw in two years of payroll tax cuts. Now we just extended 85% of the Bush tax cuts forever - costing $3.7 trillion over the next decade. With 65% of that money going to the richest 20%. Between 1986 and 2006 the tax cuts for just the richest 1% were $2 trillion. Not to mention the rest of the top 5% or the top 20%.

And for spending? How much did we spend to invade Iraq?

[MannyGoldstein]

34. Many Democrats are sensitive to admitting that we have an enormous revenue problem

Even though 2/3rds of Americans are in favor of large tax increases on the wealthy.

[hfojvt]

36. possible that the host would jump at the chance to say

"aha, you want to increase taxes"

and I would just fire back "for the top 20%. Most people, you know, 80% of us, are not in the top 20%"

[hfojvt]

37. it would be nice to see the spending broken down

looking at SAUS only goes up to 2011 with an estimate.

Comparing 2008 to 2011 shows a $900 billion increase in spending over three years - a 30% increase

Defense accounts for $152 billion of it.
healthcare services are up by $100 billion
so was medicare
unemployment insurance was up by $80 billion
food stamps by $40 billion - both of thse related to high unemployment
social security payments up by $131 bilion
veteran's benefits up by $57 billion
interest expense was actually down by $46 billion in spite of the increasing debt

anyway, that is about 73% of the increase in federal spending

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. Good job. I don't know how you can stomach those people

Their graphs are always intentionally distorted and they will rarely admit a Democrat did anything good.

Glad you post here.

Keep up the good work.

Can you mention to the Prez that my power just went out?



LOL

[stevenleser]

6. Thank you! LOL

I actually havent met the President yet. But if I do, I will tell him!

[A HERETIC I AM]

20. Well, it's apparently back on again, as the coffee maker is working! Have a great day. n/t

[freshwest]

3. Thanks for going on there, you have such patience. They never give you long enough.

But at least this wasn't the 'talking over' routine of Cavuto. Do you feel any change is taking place there?

[stevenleser]

21. Hmmm, I think each of the Fox folks has a different style. I think this is typical of my one on ones

with Eric Bolling.

[blm]

27. Steve's patience is amazing.

It would be tough for me to keep my hands from reaching for RW necks.

[pacalo]

4. Good job, Steven.

Fixed News is so afraid to give Democrats more than a sentence or two to speak before they cut them off. You did well despite that.

[Left Coast2020]

8. I was just going to say that.

Cluster Faux always cuts Dems short when confronted with a "logical" answer.

[pacalo]

10. A Heretic I Am made a good point about the distorted graphs they use, too.

[stevenleser]

22. Thank you!!!!!

[mountain grammy]

7. Yes, good job. They need a dose of reality.

[stevenleser]

23. Thank you grammy!

[rhett o rick]

9. You did very well. It must not be easy. nm

[stevenleser]

24. The biggest challenge for me is the pressure I put on myself to do well.

I want to represent Democrats/Liberals/Progressives well. I always fear doing a disservice to the cause if I have a bad outing.

[Demo_Chris]

11. Nicely done, yoou let him slide with a HUGE lie though

President Obama is not responsible for debt incurred before he took office. According to the January 2009 CBO report -- prior to Obama even taking office -- he was looking at 1.2T debts going forward. This number represents his baseline, and not the 2008 spending numbers as this host stated. This changes the entire question of spending versus jobs created.

Here's a link:

http://www.cbo.gov/publication/41753

http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9957/_selected-tables.2009.0406.pdf

At the same time I understand why something like this is difficult to counter in the seconds you have available.

In any case, well done.

[stevenleser]

25. You are right. That is one of the things I thought about the moment the segment ended.

I always do a personal post mortem after every appearance and list good and bad points and that is definitely a bad on this one. I guess balanced by that is the fact that I refocused the segment on Obama creating 5 million jobs and when I received back the typical talking point that blames Obama for the trajectory Bush gave him that continued for 1-3 months that it is a completely unreasonable assertion.

[Demo_Chris]

29. Yeah, not a lot you can do in a few seconds anyway. I was impressed.

[Jamastiene]

12. I wish they had given you more time.

You did a good job refuting them.

[stevenleser]

26. Thank you my friend!

[KT2000]

13. that was great!

You brought some sanity to the dark halls of faux news.
Doesn't hurt that you're a handsome fella too!

[stevenleser]

28. Awww, thank you!

[nightscanner59]

14. Yes, excellent job not letting him totally steamroll the subject, you stayed on track.

All Faux's attempts to make any subject a referendum on the present administration's job, ignoring the actual discussion issue, upsets me with every clip I see. Interviewer still attempted to frame the "spending too much" argument and downplay revenue collection and results of spent dollars. The critical viewer saw you keep on track. The "conservative" viewers probably only heard him lament Obama.

[stevenleser]

38. Thank you...

Hopefully conservative viewers saw the 5 million jobs assertion and that it could not be refuted. But you are right, most people see and hear only what they want to see/hear.

[kwolf68]

15. Im going to punch myself in the head

Take a look at the Faux graphic...most of the increase is in 2009....SET by the 2008 BUSH budget.

Spending goes from 2.9 to 3.5 in 2009...Obama was NOT sworn in until JANUARY 2009...in 2010...spending goes to 3.4, then 3.6 to 3.7 to 3.8...so increasing under Obama, but the big hit was the last Bush year.

[greymattermom]

16. life style issue

As a country we have a certain life style in mind, a certain level of living, health care, infrastructure. If we agree first on what that is, then figure out how much it costs, we know how much revenue we need. If those don't match, we need to have a serious discussion about our life style. I think the sequester discussion should include a lot of facts. How much will it cost to repair the infrastructure? Which roads and bridges do we want to abandon? Would it be better to close some highways to keep building expensive military items? Go down the list and choose and figure out what comes first. If your house has issues, it's better to repair the roof and foundation before replacing the white fridge with stainless steel.

[ErikJ]

17. Increased spending from increased unemployment benefits and food stamps etc due to high unemployment

If we get unemployment down, we get increased revenue AND less govt spending.

[arthritisR_US]

18. Bushes yrs on spending sure look low

especially sinc he didn't put his illegal wars on the books!

[renate]

19. on a superficial note

My gosh, are you good-looking. Um... also, good job.

[stevenleser]

39. Thank you renate!

[RussBLib]

30. very impressive

I wonder, was the spending that Bolling noted including the "off the budget" spending on the Iraq/Afghanistan wars? And did it include the Medicare Rx drug benefit that people often state was not on Bush's books?

My understanding was that, when Obama came into office, this spending was then placed on the books, making it appear that Obama was spending extravagantly.

Thanks for going into the lion's den and doing so well!

[stevenleser]

40. I dont think it did. Like I responded above, this is something I thought about after the

segment was over. Wish I had thought of it in real time!

[RockaFowler]

31. Great job Steven

Why do they always interrupt you when you're trying to make your point?? Oh right. They don't want to hear the truth!!

[stevenleser]

41. Thank you very much!

[Motown_Johnny]

32. It is a revenue problem! Corporate taxes are a big part of it.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/08/tax-base-as-of-gdp/

^snip^







-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://seekingalpha.com/article/290195-corporate-profits-are-fantastic-what-s-wrong-with-equity-prices

^snip^







Corporate profits could still be ~8% of GDP if their share of taxes were ~4% of GDP.


GDP is now ~$600 billion. 2% of that would equal ~$12 Billion per year.




The simple truth is that we need the line in that top chart to be above 20. Federal spending is going to remain above 20% of GDP no matter what we do. We would need to essentially shut down the government to get it down below that. Even getting it to 20% is a pipe dream at this point. As long as we can get revenues close enough that the increase in GDP for the year is larger than the annual deficit we can stabilize our debt. That needs to be the first goal.

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-02-08/news/31036457_1_government-spending-answer-gdp

^snip^

[quinnox]

42. definitely have talent

in front of the camera. That is neat, you possibly could become a huge political tv celebrity/pundit and you are a dedicated DUer!

[RedCappedBandit]

43. Good stuff!

[duhneece]

44. I love a DUer be so smart, eloquent

Good job!