Newt: Fiscal Cliff 'Artificial Invention'

Breitbart TV - Greta VanSusteren ^ | 11/30/2012

[GVnana]

Newt Gingrich: "Well, I think there are a lot worse things than going over a man-made cliff that I think is entirely artificial. And I think the reality is, the President of the United States has not come forward with any serious spending cuts. What the Democrats are proposing is to take the tax increase now, and then sometime next year, eventually, possibly, we might have some kind of entitlement reform. That's a really bad deal for the American people."

Greta Van Sustern: "Well, I don't know if it's also a deal that anyone expects could be realistically kept. I mean, any deal that's made today in Washington is amended next week and the week after, or not kept. So I mean, it's, like, you know, you make your deal right now, and you hope that it even can last -- last through the year. Am I right?"

Newt Gingrich: "Well, the only way you guarantee deals is you actually pass them into law. Then it's a lot harder to change them. And my only point is, you know, if we had a game, and every time the term fiscal cliff came up, people had to donate a dollar to something, you'd be amazed in the course of a week or two how often this has been repeated like a mantra. I compared to a great essay by Tom Wolfe called "Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers" in which people chanted and made noise in order to get their way.

[FReepaholic]

I’m not saying there’s no fiscal crisis, it’s just puzzling why all of a sudden on one day all the left wing media started bleating about it. I don’t trust them. They’re trying to set up the Republicans somehow.

[PieterCasparzen]

	OASI	DI	OASDI
Assets at the end of 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	$2,429.0	$179.9	$2,609.0
Total income in 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	698.8	106.3	805.1
Net payroll tax contributions . . . . . . . . . . . .	482.4	81.9	564.2
Reimbursements from General Fund of the Treasury .	87.8	14.9	102.7
Taxation of benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	22.2	1.6	23.8
Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	106.5	7.9	114.4
Total expenditures in 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	603.8	132.3	736.1
Benefit payments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	596.2	128.9	725.1
Railroad Retirement financial interchange . . . . . .	4.1	.5	4.6
Administrative expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	3.5	2.9	6.4
Net increase in assets in 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . .	95.0	-26.1	69.0
Assets at the end of 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	2,524.1	153.9	2,677.9

Note:

The 102.7 reimbursements are for the revenue not collected because of the corrupt bread and circuses "tax holiday", so that should be added into the calculation as it equates to expected revenue from payroll deductions.

Politicians like to make it sound like the 114.4 interest earnings are a #$##$%^^ GIFT. When, as a 10-year-old would understand, that is interest on the treasury bonds - and that is EARNED and DUE.

Congress is pissed that the plan is now USING the interest to pay benefits; there is no longer any SURPLUS for Congress to SPEND.

From the Trustees report:

The Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program makes monthly income available to insured workers and their families at retirement, death, or disability.

...

The Social Security Act established the Board of Trustees to oversee the financial operations of the OASI and DI Trust Funds.

...

The Social Security Act requires that the Board, among other duties, report annually to the Congress on the actuarial status and financial operations of the OASI and DI Trust Funds. The 2012 report is the 72nd such report.

...

See ? It's supposed to be (well, if you're all concerned about details like the Rule of Law) a separate Fund. It's just at a point where Congress can't steal from it any more, and they have to actually pay the interest on the $2.677 trillion they Borrowed.

[drbuzzard]

Apparently my post was pointless. I acknowledged that the money is due. I also pointed out that even with it SS goes broke eventually. Medicare has barely any funds and is about broke already.

Anyone who is capable of watching trends sees that they are unsustainable.

But let’s ask this question- where will that $2.5T come from? The money tree out back? The deficit is already over $1T. You want a $4.5T deficit? This doesn’t say anything about the $16T in debt (of which the $2.5T is but a small portion).

If they aren’t looking to pay back that $16T as a whole, I don’t much see why the part will do any better. Yes, they are a bunch of crooks. No, there’s not much we can do to get blood from a stone, or money from a broke country.

[PieterCasparzen]

The only answer is GROWTH.

If we only have growth, without a radical reformation of Congress, growth will be eaten up by taxes that will be required to pay ballooning debt service and the insane Conressional spending that would ensue.

[Fightin Whitey]

That it’s ‘spending cliff’ is a great point and a terrific battle cry.

Any chance of getting that in front of your congressman John Boehner?

[xzins]

Boehner is next door in the 1st. I’m in the 2nd with new guy brad wenstrup (sp?)

I agree, though. Calling it “spending cliff” in all public and private comments would put the issue in focus.

Any father who thinks giving more credit cards to his spend-addict college son is ignorant. “We just need to give him more money to keep up with his spending addiction. I know. Let’s get him a credit card for every one of those in-the-mail offers that the credit companies send us. That’s the answer!”