The Fiscally Reckless Mitch Daniels

[marmar]

from Consortium News:



The Fiscally Reckless Mitch Daniels
January 24, 2012

Delivering the GOP rebuttal to President Obama’s State of the Union, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is hailed as a “fiscal conservative,” but his actual record as George W. Bush’s budget director was one of fiscal recklessness, taking America from surpluses to massive deficits, as Robert Parry reports.

By Robert Parry


The Republican Party has tapped Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels to deliver the response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address – and the hearts of Official Washington are aflutter again over this darling “fiscal conservative.”

A New York Times’ article about the choice of Daniels noted that “the sight of Mr. Daniels on national television is sure to raise wistful ‘if onlys’ in a Republican establishment that had put the governor at the top of its wish list for a White House run.” But that article – like others about Daniels – leaves out a salient fact about his alleged “fiscal conservatism”: as President George W. Bush’s original budget director, Mitch Daniels helped create today’s fiscal mess.

Daniels oversaw the federal budget as it was making its historic reversal from a $236 billion surplus – then on a trajectory to eliminate the entire federal debt in a decade – to a $400 billion deficit by the time Daniels left the Office of Management and Budget in June 2003.

Plus, because of proposals developed on Daniels’s watch – such as tax cuts favoring the rich and unpaid-for projects, including the invasion of Iraq and a new prescription drug plan – the fiscal situation of the federal government continued to deteriorate over the ensuing years, becoming a trillion-dollar-plus annual deficit by the time Bush left the White House in 2009. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/01/24/the-fiscally-reckless-mitch-daniels/

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[rurallib]

2. Isn't he also the one who sold highways and public buildings

in Indiana which were really bad deals for the state (eg- don't own the highway, but does maintenance)?

Seems like all that has been hushed up.

[Myrina]

3. Yes, and miraculously, the state just "found" $350M ....

... in accounts it was "unaware" of. How can you misplace $350M?

My hunch is that they took it off the books to justifiy that we really were broke and needed to cut schools and social services and raise taxes (again) ... and then once the measures were passed, Lo and Behold, the money was FOUND!

[caraher]

4. He's certainly among the more accomplished of the Republican looters

That $350 million revelation was pretty mind-boggling. But it's clear that the death sentence against public education in Indiana is among Their Man Mitch's top priorities, and losing money sure helped him plead lack of resources.

I'm amazed that the myth of Republican fiscal prudence still has any legs...

[RussBLib]

5. There he goes again

Robery Parry is forever pointing out the facts behind the distortions and lies.

Frankly, I'd forgotten (as probably most Americans have) Daniels's role in squandering Clinton's budget surplus. Lord, they called the surplus an "overcharge" of the American people! What disgusting deviants.

[Auntie Bush]

6. Mitch Danials = Mr. Personality! Not!

What a sourpuss!

[Rincewind]

7. Having Mitch Daniel lecture

you on fiscal responsibility, is like having the town drunk lecture you on temperance.

[russspeakeasy]

8. I'll be real superficial......he reminds me of a snake. Eyes, skin, etc.