Obama Says Recovery Efforts Come Before Deficit Reduction

[laughingliberal]

Source: huffington post

resident Barack Obama on Thursday disputed the notion that he is overly concerned about the budget deficit -- and as a result, is under-reacting to the jobs crisis.

Obama said he believes that the best way to reduce the deficit is through economic growth, and that by contrast, cutting back on government stimulus too early could stifle the recovery.

"Now, if we can't grow our economy, then it is going to be that much harder for us to reduce the deficit," Obama said. "The single most important thing we could do right now for deficit reduction is to spark strong economic growth, which means that people who've got jobs are paying taxes and businesses that are making profits have taxes -- are paying taxes. That's the most important thing we can do."

Obama's answer came in response to a question from Bob Kuttner, an editor of The American Prospect and a Huffington Post contributor, during the White House jobs summit. It received little attention from a mainstream media that prefers driving the storyline that the deficit is the greatest threat facing the economy.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/04/obama-says-recovery-effor_n_380513.html

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There is a glimmer of hope in this. Now, can we appoint some progressives to the economic team?

[Arctic Dave]

1. This is good news but until we do something to change the rules of business

we will see crisis after crisis.

If people are never held accountable, why would they change their behavior.

[midnight]

2. Words like economic growth mean little when the banks sit on all the bailout money.

Economic growth comes when people have money to purchase, build, etc....

[notesdev]

3. And bankers' bonuses come before all of that n/t

[msongs]

4. sorry Obama, the single most important thing we can do is slash military expenses nt

[laughingliberal]

5. Here's why I thought there was good news in this

The reporting that Obama's SOFU address would focus on deficit reduction added to the remarks, during yesterday's jobs forum, that we have limited resources, I feared we would see a steep reduction in spending before we saw any real recovery in the jobs department. This, IMHO, would have been a disaster. I do think we are in real danger of a "double dip." This one article does not mean I'm ready to get my pom poms out but it is the first reporting I've seen that suggests President Obama places job creation above deficit reduction. Like I said in the OP, a 'glimmer' of hope.