Matt Stoller thinks he did so in this excerpt:
Now, what is true is that Senator McCain and I have a difference in terms of the need to invest in America and the American people. I mentioned health care earlier.
If we make investments now so that people have coverage, that we are preventing diseases, that will save on Medicare and Medicaid in the future.
If we invest in a serious energy policy, that will save in the amount of money we’re borrowing from China to send to Saudi Arabia.
If we invest now in our young people and their ability to go to college, that will allow them to drive this economy into the 21st century.
But what is absolutely true is that, once we get through this economic crisis and some of the specific proposals to get us out of this slump, that we’re not going to be able to go back to our profligate ways.
Seems like a declaration of a principle that it’s ok to spend money without countervailing cuts or taxes as long as that money is an investment. That’s a partial renunciation of pay-go. I’d also say that relief spending like welfare, food stamps and unemployment benefit extensions should be exempted from pay-go as well, at least until after the crisis. Of course, I think the US has more severe problems than Obama does. Nonetheless, this is good to hear, and Obama deserves praise for it.
The job now is to make sure that he doesn’t change his mind.
Related posts:
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- We Hold These Truths to be Not-So-Evident
- Obama Team Outlines GM Bankruptcy, Declares US a Socialist Country
- Obama Graduation Speech Punch Line has Glenn Reynolds Clutching Pearls over Presidential Power
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zed
Pay-go would be insane at this stage of the business cycle. Ds need to give it up.
Obama!!!
Enhancing the shredded Safety Net is imperative…!
Digg it!
THUMBS DOWN for Joe the Plumber!~ HA HA~
Yep. And economic stimulus. Even if you can get banks to start lending, demand for credit is dead, so Keynesian govt buyer of last resort must be the A.
Doubling LIHEAP and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as Food Stamps) would go far…!
my hubby and I both went to college and he has two advanced degrees. We don’t know what profligate means. :P
that was funny. joe sixpack happy with that maybe.
Bottom line – 19 days to go, and Gramps just blew his last big chance.
And with that, I am….
out.
Nite all.
nite jayt
Aloha, Jay!
Nite jayt.
Dugg
Hey, Suz, do you or ES have the late, late honors tonite?
BTW, neuro, zed is not dead…! 8-P
es
Heresy!
Kewl, I want his reaction to my latest post at M&C…! Some serious f*ckery!
Thanks CT! I didn’t hear about any dam funeral for ZED either!!
just watched the third teaser ad for the local news about a murder of an inmate at Sheriff Joe’s jail AND the video contradicts the report submitted by the Sheriff’s office…….
I know that was for me…! ;-)
School him, nahant…! *g*
But the R’s think that if you’re born poor (brown, female), you should die that way. Any social investment is a “hand out” and needs to be eliminated – WIC, TANF, Section 8, Medicaid (Medicare is alright, they need the votes), SCHIPS, Shelter+Care, LIHEAP, LITAP. Did I miss any?
I watched the “debate” but was in another room from my puter so did not get to read the live-blogging live.
Do I want to go back and read about 1200 comments?
Nah.
boa noite, pups
peaceful rest to all
due to the debate coverage, late late nite will be up about 10 minutes late tonight.
But Eli rocks!
Damn, that echoes my post at M&C…
Oh NOZIES!!
Who the hayall has any money, to pay as we go?
Where does the money come from, if a family with two adult workers are both out of work, to pay for medical coverage if they have a family, much less coverage for the two of them?
Where does the money come from, if only ONE person in the family has a job, and it’s a minimum wage job, and the job doesn’t offer free HC bennies for even the worker, much less the spouse of the kids?
I mean, who the %uck is living a dream where they CAN take hits and pay for their own healthcare?
You talk to a trucker making $30K annual which is crap and he’s working 70 hours a week on the job, cuz he’s on shift pay or load pay or stop pay, and shifts are cut, and the employer don’t GIVE out HC benefits?
I’m sorry, Ian, there’s some fuckin outrage from those of us at the admin levels of life who can’t find jobs, who are in fear of our spouses losing THEIR jobs and the benefits package for HC.
We’re the next level on the streets, Ian, we are the next homeless.
Unless I’m missing something about Pay Go, which none of US can afford, you just shit all over us . . . .
Screw Pay Go . . . we got nothing to pay it with!!!
Gimme a job, gimme state sponsored HC. Works for Britain and Canada.
PayGo and employee paid HC is a loser . . . for the have nots.
Anything other than state sponsored HC is a rip and dig and dagger in the heart of the rest of us who can’t afford any healthcare.
These current clime’s are nothing other than the clime’s of the Robber Baron’s, or the Fat Cat’s of the 30’s, or what’s happened under the 1% owning and controlling the government, the banking, and the lives of the middle class since we once had it good . . . . .
What have I missed Ian? The 1% has NO interest in keeping us working, covered for healthcare, or owning stuff . . . .
Please, tell me how to save the masses, and not the 1%.
Or our world is history and will be a plague of a few decades or more of abject poverty, and population losses from lack of resources and healthcare.
Harumph.
Aloha, wobbs!
making it late late late nite
I can hardly wait. Still wired from the non-debate.
SNAP as I mentioned above, but, otherwise you summed it out beautifully…! ;-)
over 1400 comments during the 90 minute debate
patience is a virtue
Dugg.
Thanks for the link.
Thanks Ian.
FWIW
Governor Doyle (D-WI) warned today of a potential gap of $3 billion or more between tax collections and state spending in the two-year budget cycle that begins July 1.
Just got my first email from Obama, courtesy of D party.
*sigh* ’summed it up beautifully…’
Ya’ll have fun on late late night…… Good Night everyone…..
nite katymine
Aloha, Katy!
up is good, but I like being out, personally
I don’t know if Obama actually changed his pay-go position, but I could see smoke coming out of McCain’s ears as he listened. Then McC started dropping some “g’s” at the ends of words.
g’nite katymine waving g’nite to any leaving sleepy pups i missed earlier
Joe the plumber is responsible for several McFlameout campaign leaks.
Heh, true… Btw, I’ve not seen you on the threads here… Aloha! I apologize if my memory has failed me…! *g*
Not all D’s… just Blue Dogs.
Just pay-go…? I coulda sworn I saw smoke throughout…! ;-)
Hey Suz you guys did a bang up job of keeping everything going!! Kudos to everyone in the BACK Room(:>))
ES, take a gander at my latest post at M&C! I’m furious about the blatant cover-up from the get-go…!
Well, McCain did GET smoked throughout the debate. It was the only one I was able to watch live.
I was here obssesivly during the Libby trial (I was unemployed, and Jane gave me kudos for blowing off an interview to wait for the verdict. Been away for a while due to technical problems – had to hock my laptop. Glad to be back
Just read it CT, Coverups SUCK!! When will they ever learn that the truth is ALWAYS the best policy??
Dedication! Glad you’re back.
707
the a team of moderators was on the job nahant – they kept it smooth as can be
I’ve told people how to save the bottom 90%. People keep telling me it’s politically impossible and can’t be done. Things like single payor healthcare (guaranteed to save 1/3 cost), strongly progressive taxation, transaction taxes on all derivatives, reducing monetary flows, reducing speed limits, doing a massive conservation buildout, etc.. are apparently politically impossible in the US. So, unfortunately, there’s nothing to to be done for folks, I guess.
If those people are right.
It’s not complicated to fix America for ordinary people. It’s well known how to do it. But it will require hard work and giving up BS beliefs like “taxes are always bad” and “the government never helps”. You can’t have Reaganism and a healthy middle class. It just isn’t possible. So far people keep choosing Reaganism.
Great to have ya back! I’ve had to hock my ‘puter before, too…! :-(
I was watching the debate with several Frenchies who did a collective jaw-drop when McSame took umbrage about French people. turns out it was actually “fringe people”.
Hope you’re employed again.
my fav moment was the very confused blinking from mccain when barack answered ‘zero fine – joe would be a small business and small businesses are exempt’ – i was hoping for a meltdown then :(
Like I said Kudos to all!!
I’ve had to hock my ‘puter before, too
did it get pawn3d? :~)
Well, what they didn’t talk about tonight, is the fact we have a mother of a DEPRESSION coming.
Ian, I know you may not agree but I really think we’re going back to bread lines and They Shoot Horses, don’t they?
Suze, thanks for the tips. Costco here I come. Gotta get some sealable containers for the staples to keep the bugs and the rodents out.
welcome back wwroda
I am, and it was thanks to the folks here, even though IANAL, that I started looking at law firms, and landed a sweet job as an accountant
What did you do for your birthday? Rum cake with rum ice cream with rum topping?
McFromage says mon ami,…
nevermind
I think the US has more severe problems than Obama does.
Obama can’t be totally direct.
Pay Go can be done. Harold Wilson’s way. Marginal Tax rate of 105%.
Has anyone seen this ad yet? I’m tempted to post it at my place, but don’t know what I should call it….
late late late nite is upstairs
Thanks much. I think I used to be “Wil”. BTW, what happened to TRex?
They never learn! I truly feel sorry for the families…! The mother of PFC. Nelson was a retired cop that only wanted the truth about her son’s death, and, the f*cking weasels can’t give it! I still want answers about the three shots to Tillman’s forehead…! F*cking asswipes…!
Hi Ian. The only part of your prescription that I think is not currently feasible is the 55-mph speed limit. All the rest of it, I think could be explained to the average guy in a way that he would accept and support, and I’d be thrilled to see it.
Thank you for all the fine work you do here.
Racy to the White House?
off to watch the comedy shows……..
Jumpin back in to say Hey! McFlame lost the debate because he forgot his lucky lapel pin. Obama wore his new one.
I am TRex
A falling out of sorts, he does have his own site…
cool, I’ve missed late nights with you…
Just saw a clip of Joe the Plumberbutt with Legz Couric, and he sounds like a Lush Limpbaugh/Pox Newz drone.
I had heard the unedited clip of Obama talking to him for 5 minutes straight in detail and to the point about his question, and Joe is still saying Obama “tap dances as well as Sammy Davis Jr”?!?!? After hearing the unedited clip I thought, “Wow, what a great answer and Obama probably won this guy’s vote.” Now, he’s out there still ragging on Obama and talking up McInsane?!?!
Seriously, I’m so tired of these self-proclaimed hard-working Joe NASCAR’s saying they represent the average American. Joe, buddy, I’ve worked my ass off to come from nothing and own a business and raise a family also, just as you claim to have done. If my personal income goes above $250K, I’ll gladly spend 3% more in income tax, as Obama explained to you in detail, which you seem to have ignored completely. You do not speak for this average American (won’t even get into the Sammy Davis bit).
This “Liberals tax and spend” bullshit is so tiresome and so false. Go ahead Joe and vote Repub up and down the ticket, since you seem so satisfied with how things have gone over the last eight years. Please don’t give me the “Dems have controlled the last two years” line when Bush vetoes anything they try to pass of substance. Yes, go ahead my friend. People with your mentality are losing out now, and we’ll take it from here and clean up your mess, loser.
This was one of the big ones I noticed. I didn’t take it as a renunciation of pay-go so much as an embrace of Keynes. Which I found very satisfying, except we shouldn’t have this kind of debt built up at the beginning of the spend, but there’s nothing Obama can do about that.
The other big one was when McCain said that having an exception in an anti-abortion law for the health of the woman was a form of far left pro-abortion extremism. He was going nearly hysterical when he said it.
I have perhaps misplaced faith that Obama actually understands some elementary economics, but this is just my interpretation of his various scattered statements on policy. They all fit together if he actually understands some basic macro.
So, I was not surprised.
I also read, when Obama is behind, that behind his friendly facade, that Obama was an arrogant SOB. (Maybe that is why he picked Biden, birds of a feather flock together!) I hope so, because that means he will stick with what he knows to be true.
Ian Welsh:
What did you think would happen? Obama is skilled enough as a politician to communicate this to you, while pundits won’t tsk-tsk him for the admission, or even realize he’s made it. Obama knows he has to placate these little pissants for the moment, and that circumstances will render them more irrelevant than they already are; he doesn’t live for them and therefore won’t “change his mind”. His mind is clearly attuned to events more than them.
Hi, Ian,
Wanted to thank you for this post, and tell you that I was out of line on a couple of previous comments – sorry. I am overzealous, and the tone of my disagreement with you wasn’t constructive. I really want a change in government, and feel threatened at this time by anything that might dissuade people from working hard for something that’s finally in reach.
Best, Gloria.