Tag Archives: sequester

What Happens Now?

Posted on October 19, 2013 by Joe Firestone | 19 comments

In the aftermath of the great 2013 government shutdown/debt ceiling crisis, and the kicking of the can down the road while maintaining austerity once more, the subject on many minds is where do negotiations over fiscal policy go from here? Will the new “budget committee” produce more austerity and do a grand bargain including the “chained CPI”? Will Congress finally turn towards economic growth and job creation, or will we continue to have more shutdowns and debt ceiling crises in 2014?

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Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged Alex Wagner, austerity, budget committee, chained CPI, debt ceiling, debt ceiling crisis, entitlements, Government shutdown, grand bargain, Greg Walden, Harry Reid, Joan McCarter, Nancy Pelosi, Patty Murray, paul ryan, President Obama, Richard Eskow, sectoral financial balances model, sequester, SFB, Social Security, tea party, The Long Depression

Federal cuts put women and children last

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Devin Smith | 4 comments

IN forcing the sequester, House Republicans have ensured cuts to programs that fund breast and cervical cancer screenings, child-care assistance and more.

By Susan Feiner, Posted in Maine Sunday Telegram

The congressional GOP, like the captain of the Titanic, put women and children first.

The Titanic’s captain was trying to save people’s lives. In contrast, House Republicans, having contrived the sequester — $85 billion in federal budget cuts — are steering straight for that iceberg. And when the economy hits it, when the sequester cuts are fully implemented, women and children will go down first.

Read the rest of the article in the Maine Sunday Telegram.

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Posted in Guest Blogger

Tagged sequester

Representative Conyers needs our Support to Kill the Sequestration’s Austerity

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Devin Smith | 27 comments

By William K. Black

We have been strangling the economic recovery through economic incompetence – and worse is in store because President Obama continues to embrace (1) the self-inflicted wound of austerity, (2) austerity primarily through cuts in vital social programs that are already under-funded, and (3) attacking the safety net by reducing Social Security and Medicare benefits. The latest insanity is the Sequester – the fourth act of austerity in the last 20 months. The August 2011 budget deal caused large cuts to social spending. The January 2013 “fiscal cliff” deal increased taxes on the wealthy and ended the moratorium on collecting the full payroll tax. The Sequester will be the fourth assault on our already weak economic recovery. We have a jobs crisis in America – not a government spending crisis and the cumulative effect of these four acts of austerity has caused a certainty of weak growth and a serious risk that we will throw our economy back into recession. The Eurozone’s recession – caused by austerity – greatly adds to the risk to our economy because Europe remains our leading trading partner.

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Posted in William K. Black

Tagged austerity, Conyers, sequester

Why Obama Refuses to Kill the Sequester

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Devin Smith | 27 comments

By William K. Black
(Cross posted at Benzinga.com)

We are in the midst of the blame game about the “Sequester.” I wrote last year about the fact that President Obama had twice blocked Republican efforts to remove the Sequester. President Obama went so far as to issue a veto threat to block the second effort. I found contemporaneous reportage on the President’s efforts to preserve the Sequester – and the articles were not critical of those efforts. I found no contemporaneous rebuttal by the administration of these reports.

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