President Obama presses European countries to spend in the face of increasing debt.......
June 26th 2010 13:47
The headline should tell us something about President Obama’s approach to solving America’s financial woes - ignore the growing debt and increase spending. Or as many people would say concerning their personal finances, “spend the money today, worry about the debt later.”
The president is preparing to speak to the Group of 8 in Canada with the purpose of persuading European leaders that “public stimulus spending” is needed in order to restore the economy. The speech comes at a time when Europe is facing increased debt and our Congress is blocking the requests of the president for new deficit spending in order to stimulate our own economy.
With Democrats facing a very tough time in the November elections, Congress has approved only 25% of the $266 billion in "temporary recovery measures" which the president asked for in his February budget request. Further, the Senate has blocked a jobs bill that would have extended unemployment benefits and provided aid to cash-strapped states. As usual, the White House blamed the Republicans, calling the defeat, "Republican obstruction at a time of great economic challenge for our nation's families."
Obama’s message has far greater opposition than the Republicans at home; it is in contrast with some of his allies like French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, both of whom have recently announced cost cutting measures in their own countries.
Before leaving for Canada, President Obama said, "We need to act in concert for a simple reason: This crisis proved, and events continue to affirm, that our national economies are inextricably linked. I'll work with other nations not only to coordinate our financial reform efforts, but to promote global economic growth while ensuring that each nation can pursue a path that is sustainable for its own public finances."
The presidents underlying message seems to be that of working with other nations who are “willing to spend more money even though they are falling deeper into debt.” This is a message that Europe is reluctant to embrace because they are more concerned with increased debt levels than they are with increased stimulus spending at this point.
The president is preparing to speak to the Group of 8 in Canada with the purpose of persuading European leaders that “public stimulus spending” is needed in order to restore the economy. The speech comes at a time when Europe is facing increased debt and our Congress is blocking the requests of the president for new deficit spending in order to stimulate our own economy.
With Democrats facing a very tough time in the November elections, Congress has approved only 25% of the $266 billion in "temporary recovery measures" which the president asked for in his February budget request. Further, the Senate has blocked a jobs bill that would have extended unemployment benefits and provided aid to cash-strapped states. As usual, the White House blamed the Republicans, calling the defeat, "Republican obstruction at a time of great economic challenge for our nation's families."
Obama’s message has far greater opposition than the Republicans at home; it is in contrast with some of his allies like French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, both of whom have recently announced cost cutting measures in their own countries.
Before leaving for Canada, President Obama said, "We need to act in concert for a simple reason: This crisis proved, and events continue to affirm, that our national economies are inextricably linked. I'll work with other nations not only to coordinate our financial reform efforts, but to promote global economic growth while ensuring that each nation can pursue a path that is sustainable for its own public finances."
The presidents underlying message seems to be that of working with other nations who are “willing to spend more money even though they are falling deeper into debt.” This is a message that Europe is reluctant to embrace because they are more concerned with increased debt levels than they are with increased stimulus spending at this point.
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