CNBC's Rick Santelli's Economics Lesson: "ALL KIDS LEFT BEHIND"

CNBC TV "Santelli Exchange" | January 7, 2013 | Graewoulf

[Graewoulf]

At 9:45 AM CST today Rick Santelli white-boarded the total debt that our children are currently charged with. The amount is $ 3.5 MILLION per baby born today!

Rick named this economics lesson "All Kids Left Behind," and encouraged all to use this term often.

[The_Reader_David]

That's a charming turn of phrase (it simultaneously makes the point against the left and snipes at one of Bush's less well-considered policies).

Of course, I actually think it's worse than that, and at the risk of confirming (or violating, depending on the version one believes in) Godwin's Law, the analogy,

Democrats : unborn children :: Nazis : Jews

comes to mind. (Supported by the further analogies

deficit spending : unborn children :: appropriation of property : Jews

and

abortion : unborn children :: gas chambers : Jews.)

[kosciusko51]

Listen, they were not tax cuts, but tax RATE cuts. The two are not the same. Also,the tax RATE doesn't significantly affect tax revenue. US Tax Revenue has been between 15 and 22% of the GDP for the last 50 years REGARDLESS of tax rates (see below). What this means is that Federal government spending should be between 15 and 22% of the GDP, not the 25+% it is now.

The problem is spending, not taxation. 50+ years of our revenue show that no more than 20% of the GDP can be wrung out of the hands of the people in any one year. Once you get spending below that number, perhaps we can talk about tax rates again.

Total US Tax Revenue as a Percentage of GDP

[kosciusko51]

Two corrections: 50 years should be 50+ years, and 22% should be 20%. Sorry for the confusion, if any.

[kabar]

Obama and the Dems didn’t want the Bush tax cuts for the middle class to lapse. More of them voted in the House and Senate to keep them than did Reps.

[Graewoulf]

” - - - - this needs to go viral!—–”

I agree. Santelli appealed to Mothers with their babies.

Maybe a catchy phrase might be helpful. My entry is a follows: “Federal Assigned Birth Debt.”

[Graewoulf]

PING for sign ideas.