Stump speeches vs. solutions

Posted at 11:20 AM on July 29, 2011 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

One of the difficulties of covering the debt crisis in Washington is politicians are better at giving stump speeches than providing solutions.

"We need solutions and not deals," Rep. Tim Huelskamp told CNBC this morning.

On the debt he said, "We gotta find a way to bring that down."

Those are exactly the kind of things that a politician would say if he's running for office and giving a speech at the Rotary Club. But they're not (a) a solution or (b) a way to bring that down which are what you're supposed to provide once you're elected to office.

The representative said his solution is "cut, cap, and balance." Cut the spending immediately (he didn't say what), cap future spending (he didn't say where), and pass a balanced-budget amendment (he hasn't filed such a bill, though it's worth noting that Speaker John Boehner has added such an amendment to his solution.).

Huelskamp called his proposal "a compromise."

"How can you say it's a compromise if no one else is going to bite?" a CNBC anchor asked.

"Where's Harry Reid's compromise?" Huelskamp responded, which -- if you look carefully -- doesn't answer the question asked.

And while Huelskamp is a Tea Party member, this method of communication is favored by almost all politicians currently engaged in this "crisis;" allegations rather than answers, stump speeches rather than details.

Give credit to CNBC's David Faber, one of the few CNBC on-air questioners with a spine, who insisted on details to the stump speech, pointing out , for example, that half of the stimulus package that Huelskamp objects to was tax cuts that Huelskamp embrace.

But it was a wasted effort ...

Huelskamp said the problem is Washington's status quo, which he unintentionally demonstrated, though perhaps not in the way he imagined.

You can watch the full interview here or just wait until the next politician is interviewed about the debt crisis.

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Comments (6)

Asssuming that you want long term answers for the DEBT problem not just reducing the deficit and hoping that economic growth and inflation just make the rest go away:

1. Repudiate the debt. Yep, 20-30% of it just goes away. We are very sorry investors but you were wrong to think this didn't carry risk. You bought into a bubble fed entity and just like buying a home in 2007 now you are stuck. Don't get all mad we were going to inflate this much away anyways but at least now we are being honest.

2. Massive military reductions - around the area of about 60%. Our involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya ends today. We close foreign bases and immediately stop all recruiting and cancel defense contracts. Our single mission will be protecting the homeland from within the homeland.

3. Means testing medicare and SS. SS will have a hard cap and medicare will have a larger co-pay and yearly out of pocket as your income increases. Also SS earnings no longer capped at $190k - 12.4% on all wages paid - period.

4. Capital gains taxed at marginal rate. Once the debt is gone (not the deficit...the debt...and not just smaller - gone) capital gains return to a more favorable level.

5. Return to a gold (or other constant) standard. After repudiation we must maintain the confidence of investors until the debt is retired so we will peg the dollar to a standard. Additionally this would prevent congress from passing laws that they could not afford to pay. No inflating it away, no debt without recourse.

6. Allow the Obama (Bush) tax cuts to expire.

7. Work our butts off to erase the greed and avarice of the baby boomers (yeah I am calling you out, the debt is yours and the bulk of the future costs goes to changing your Depends and keeping you hopped up on Lipitor and Prozac...the greatest generation will be waiting to kick your behinds when you arrive in the promised land).

8. Somewhere around 2030 we stop playing catch-up and start living the American Dream again.

Posted by matt | July 29, 2011 1:12 PM

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Um, Matt. SOME boomers are greedy. SOME boomers are avaricious. Just as some
Me-me-me-it's-all-about-me 20- and 30-somethings are greedy and avaricious. I'm sick of people blaming baby boomers for the ills of the world. There are lots and lots of people in their 20s, 30s, and early 40s who make up Wall Street and The Banks and all the institutions that have been wreaking havoc on our economy and everything else. Meanwhile, many, many boomers have been doing GOOD things for the country and the world.

It sounds like you're blaming the boomers for growing old. Do you want us all to kill ourselves? You sound very hateful. We didn't ask to be brought into the world. That was the responsibility of the Greatest Generation you mention. The debt is NOT ours. Everybody has contributed to it in different ways and amounts. YOU have benefitted from it. It has been necessary to spend on many things that make our country great, and much has been spent on wasteful and hurtful things. The nation's spending is not the sole fault of the boomers. YOU and other people under about 48 vote the decision-makers into office just as boomers do.

Posted by Jamie | July 29, 2011 3:14 PM

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Operating under the definition of baby boomer as 1946 to 1964, we can easily note that while the debt may be ours, the people in charge of the budgeting process -- that is, the president -- have not been baby boomers.

There are only three baby boomer presidents: Barack Obama. George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.

In Clinton's case, he balanced the budget.

In terms of the appropriations originating in the House of Representatives, there has never been a Baby Boomer speaker of the house until John Boehner.

The national debt began rising in the 70s and 80s, or when the baby boomers were in the 20s and 30s. They didn't control the government. It came under the greatest generation who are in the promised land, as you said. I assume by that you mean Vermont.

Posted by Bob Collins | July 29, 2011 4:03 PM

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LOL!!! :oD

Posted by Jamie | July 29, 2011 5:08 PM

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It's nice to see the press call out a politician (of either party). I'm so tired of having to accept loud mouthed, hyperbolic sound bites instead of information. And it seems like the more we accept this sort of reporting the more we get of it.

A couple years ago there was a flair-up in the media blogosphere because David Gregory refused to fact check dubious information offered as fact by his guests. Gregory claimed it wasn't his job to question the veracity of information offered by his guests and in effect said fact checking is the viewers responsibility. Just what is he paid to do? Look good?

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2010/04/david-gregory-vs-fact-checking-guests/19878/

Are the press afraid that politicians (you fill in the blank here) will turn down the air time if they get pushed to be more factual, more logical, and more transparent in the way they discuss policy?

Posted by Michele | July 29, 2011 6:30 PM

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@Bob,

A little like blaming handgun makers for homicides. We know when boomers started voting and (not) paying taxes. We can blame partisan politics, cold wars, housing busts, dot com crashes, China or anything else but it doesn't change the fact that the baby boomers en mass have been takers.
The hockey stick of debt doesn't lie. It takes off in 1980, takes one small dip in early 2000's and then continues up.
Somebody now has to pay and as of yet I don't see the boomers standing up and saying that they will take the hit in the entitlement programs...you know the part that is keeping the hockey stick going.
I thought New Hampshire was the promised land...but like most Americans I cannot tell the difference between the New England states (unless I have a block of cabot cheese in front of me...which happens much more often than it should).

Posted by matt | August 2, 2011 8:13 AM

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