Comments on: Obama helps re-frame the deficit debate

By: Mike Cooper

Mike Cooper — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 08:00:07 +0000

Obama’s speech on fiscal policy can be seen at He is planning to reduce the US deficit by $4 trillion over 12 years, without compromising protection for older people and the middle class.

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:41:58 +0000

no needs for cuts………..just keep printing, quantitative easing baby.

Obama is an idiot and it will all end in hyper-inflationary tears

By: Stephen W

Stephen W — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 17:18:16 +0000

Where do you get this figure that Obama is cutting his deficit at a 1/3rd of the rate of Osbourne?

Obama is planning to cut the US’ deficit from 9.5 in 2011 to 2.5 in 2015, i.e, 7% in 4 years.
Osbourne is planning to cut our deficit from 9.9 in 2011 to 2.5% in 2015, or 7.4%.

Obama plans to have debt falling as a % of GDP by 2015.
Osbourne plans to have debt falling as a % of GDP by 2015.

I could go on but basically it seems that Obama’s plan looks very similar to Osbourne’s in time span and scale.

The only difference is that Osbourne plans to push that final little bit further to balance the (cyclically adjusted, current) budget and Obama is not going to bother. Seriously, what are you basing this article on? It looks like a total load of rubbish.

By: Love Everyone Often 04/15/2011 « Joshua Oakley – Peace Love Understanding – Dreams Poetry Visions Imagination Beauty

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 09:31:28 +0000

[…] https://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/04/president-barack-obama-deficit-debate/ http://bit.ly/eiqNZv 17 hours ago […]

By: Natan

Natan — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 07:48:04 +0000

Well spotted, apologies for that. It’s a small error but one which further highlights how ludicrous such a debt-o-meter is. The national debt expressed in real terms and not as a % of GDP is bound to look scary. The chart from this excellent piece helps put things into perspective: http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/10/12/fact-our-debt-ratio-was-higher-tory-years-than-it-is-now/

By: WHAT!

WHAT! — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 07:27:06 +0000

The ‘Debt clock’ shows the total national debt, not the current spending deficit – http://www.debt-clock.org/. There is a crucial and vast difference.

By: links for 2011-04-14 « Joshua Oakley – Peace Love Understanding – Dreams Poetry Visions Imagination Beauty

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 03:03:17 +0000

[…] https://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/04/president-barack-obama-deficit-debate/ http://bit.ly/eiqNZv 11 hours ago […]

By: Jit Deh

Jit Deh — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 19:10:38 +0000

Obama helps re-frame the deficit debate http://bit.ly/g05m2n

By: lewmerdler

lewmerdler — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:55:04 +0000

RT @natandoron: My piece for @leftfootfwd on the big deficit debate, public discourse and Obama's contribution http://bit.ly/f2d6cg @Nat …

By: Owen Jones

Owen Jones — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:31:11 +0000

Interesting article by my friend @natandoron looking partly at how the right got the initiative over financial crisis http://t.co/fSswDTu