The 'Stache Tells Readers that "Compromise" Is Not a 4-Letter Word, Readers Tell Him to do homework

Sunday, 05 January 2014 15:32

Thomas Friedman once again pronounces a pox on both their houses, demanding that Republicans and Democrats compromise and embrace his agenda for moving the country forward. The big problem is that because Thomas Friedman apparently doesn't believe in doing homework, he doesn't actually have an agenda that would move the country forward.

Taking his items in turn, he calls for an investment agenda, with the qualification:

"But this near-term investment should be paired with long-term entitlement reductions, defense cuts and tax reform that would be phased in gradually as the economy improves, so we do not add to the already heavy fiscal burden on our children, deprive them of future investment resources or leave our economy vulnerable to unforeseen shocks, future recessions or the stresses that are sure to come when all the baby boomers retire."

Now the folks who have done their homework know that projections for Medicare and Medicaid spending have been sharply reduced in the last five years as the Congressional Budget Office and other forecasters have incorporated part of the slowdown in cost growth that we have seen over this period. This means that the deficit projections for 10-15 years out don't look nearly as scary as they did in the recent past. The reduction in projected cost growth exceeds the savings from almost any remotely feasible cut that might have been proposed five years ago.

more

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/thomas-friedman-tells-readers-that-qcompromiseq-is-not-a-4-letter-word-readers-tell-thomas-friedman-that-qhomeworkq-is-not-either
Well worth reading. The 'stache always has the same, tired, wrong ideas to peddle.