For Your Doorknocking: Eight False Things The Public “Knows”

[kpete]

For Your Doorknocking

by digby

Eight False Things The Public “Knows” Prior To Election Day:


1) President Obama tripled the deficit.
Reality: Bush's last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama's first reduced that to $1.29 trillion.

2) President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the economy.
Reality: Obama cut taxes. 40% of the "stimulus" was wasted on tax cuts which only create debt, which is why it was so much less effective than it could have been.

3) President Obama bailed out the banks.
Reality: While many people conflate the "stimulus" with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson. (Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be "non-reviewable by any court or any agency.") The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.

4) The stimulus didn't work.
Reality: The stimulus worked, but was not enough. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs.

5) Businesses will hire if they get tax cuts.
Reality: A business hires the right number of employees to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will find the money to hire. Businesses want customers, not tax cuts.

6) Health care reform costs $1 trillion.
Reality: The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion.

7) Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is "going broke," people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc.
Reality: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit (compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to.

8) Government spending takes money out of the economy.
Reality: Government is We, the People and the money it spends is on We, the People. Many people do not know that it is government that builds the roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that all government spending is on "welfare" and "foreign aid" when that is only a small part of the government's budget.

more: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/for-your-doorknocking-dave-johnsons.html

[gateley]

1. K&R - good ammo! nt

[Qutzupalotl]

2. Good stuff. One clarification that's sure to come up:

Bush's last budget did indeed have a deficit, largely caused by TARP, but included spending on auto bailouts (most of which was recouped) and the stimulus. The fiscal years run Oct. 1-Sept. 30, so that last year includes emergency spending by both presidents. Still, it's important to point out that Obama is reducing the deficit.

[hedgehog]

3. I wish people studied their American history more. The Erie Canal

was an example of early government spending, and it was a boon to New York State and the Upper Midwest. I suspect the New South owes more than we will ever know to the interstate system of highways.


Edit: I live on the bank of the Oswego River, part of the Erie Canal system. For bonus points, guess which inventor of the steamboat my city is named for.

[SheilaT]

4. Fulton, NY.

[hedgehog]

8. You got it!

[kpete]

5. just a guess?

Fulton?
peace and thanks for the brain tease, kpete

[Champion Jack]

6. K & R

[mkultra]

7. there is also a lie going around the bailout cost 11 trillion

which was calculated by a couple of people as the maximum RISK that could occur but of course, the returns have been very different.

[jimlup]

9. Thank you for this useful list

[bertman]

10. Excellent! Thank you, kpete. Rec. nt

[underpants]

11. Outstanding information

thanks

[tomp]

12. obama supported the bank bailout.

yes. people may confuse the stimulus and the bailout. obama was involved with both.

let's not be disingenuous.

[BeFree]

13. CALL OBAMA, NOW!!

Tell him these 8 facts. So he can spread the message.

[progressoid]

14. Rec with one caveat.

3) President Obama bailed out the banks.
Reality: While many people conflate the "stimulus" with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson. (Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be "non-reviewable by any court or any agency.") The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.

Yes, requested by Bush but gleefully passed by a Democratic Congress including then Senators Obama, Clinton etc. Our team even got chummy with Paulson to announce their success at passing this legislation.

[calimary]

15. Kicked and highly recommended!

I'm printing out my own copy!

[Cognitive_Resonance]

16. K&R nt

[Bluzmann57]

17. Great points.

Thanks for posting.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

18. Maybe the DNC could put this in a TV ad?

[bindelh]

19. This stuff really matters.

This stuff really does matter.

If the public votes in a new Congress because a majority of voters think this one tripled the deficit, and as a result the new people follow the policies that actually tripled the deficit, the country could go broke.

If the public votes in a new Congress that rejects the idea of helping to create demand in the economy because they think it didn't work, then the new Congress could do things that cause a depression.

If the public votes in a new Congress because they think the health care reform will increase the deficit when it is actually projected to reduce the deficit, then the new Congress could repeal health care reform and thereby make the deficit worse. And on it goes.