Sen. Conrad says he could fix fiscal cliff in about 20 minutes
December 7, 2012 at 1:10 am in Grand Forks Herald
Retiring Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., says he could fix the fiscal cliff in about 20 minutes. “It’s amazing at how easy it is to do, actually, if you have no one that you have to persuade but yourself,” the retiring senator quipped in a Forum Editorial Board meeting Thursday. Continue Reading
If he wants to know how we got to this cliff, he should look in the mirror, as he is one of the many that got us here. Go enjoy your taxpayer funded retirement!
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Senator Conrad is from the dying breed of fiscally conservative democrats that used to be very common in the now red fly-over states. Problem is, his political party has abandoned him and his way of thinking. I thought he and the debt commission presented a very well thought out plan to get the federal government back on the path to reasonable spending and economic policy. President Obama thanked the commission for their work and summarily dismissed all of their findings . . . . and here we are.
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” Problem is, his political party has abandoned him and his way of thinking.”
Sort of the same way for three years he abandoned his responsibility of producing a budget in the Senate.
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Agree. The scorched earth win at all costs ideologues on both ends of the political spectrum are responsible for the problems and Conrad was one of the few moderates who tried again and again to solve the problems for years. Sorry to see him go as he was one of the few voices of sanity in an insane Washington.
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Fisherperson, I think it would be hard to find a congressional member from either party that has a voting record in its entirety that doesn’t net out increase spending over their stay in congress.
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He had 6 years to “fix it”, but now he thinks he can do it in 20 minutes?
Wow — delusion on parade.
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He could fix it if he did it himself, but then you throw in a bunch of the other clueless politicians that mess everything up. Should never have allowed the country to run in the red in first place.
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He had 26 years to fix it. We incorrectly hear for years about his and Dorgan’s clout, they are nobodies. Conrad always said one thing and did another when it came to spending.
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At least this article mentioned spending cuts. The obsession with increasing taxes and the amount of print spent on that issue is disproportionate to the impact on the budget deficit. The budget deficit for 2012 was 1.1 trillion dollars. To put that into perspective, the total budget was approximately 3.5 million dollars; the Federal Government is borrowing to cover a third of the budget. Even if every tax increase proposed by President Obama is implemented, only 10% of the budget deficit will be resolved (that’s based on the President’s own numbers). Every day we are bombarded with articles about increasing the tax rate. While I oppose further increases I will gladly call every member of the congressional delegation and encourage them to vote for increases as long as the other 90% of the budget deficit is resolved now. Keep in mind that will only eliminate the annual budget deficit, it won’t even begin to touch the federal debt. In my opinion too many people have been convinced that the budget deficit can be magically resolved if we just “tax the rich.” “Taxing the rich” will resolve about 10% of the problem which means the next step is to start taxing the not-so-rich or spending cuts.
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Gaylord has been a political hack his whole career. He survived on a quid pro quo with voters and the ND media: bring home the pork, get reelected, and never see a negative story about him published. Even though he called a flophouse apartment in Bismarck his official residence, in which he never spent a day, and owned a Georgetown brownstone and Delaware beach house (both financed trhough sweetheart deals), the Forum, Herald, Tribune never brought that up. He was christened “Budget Hawk,” even though his votes always ballooned the deficit. While Tom Dennis urged him to stay on the Senate Budget Committee because he was “irreplaceable,” he abrogated his responsibliity by not producing a budget in three years. His only devotion was to his dog, which was minded by government paid aides when he had to be on the Senate floor. Yes, a most admirable man. Maybe Grand Forks will name its new elementary school after him.
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He grew up collecting a government check all the way through college. He became so addicted to it, he quickly found ways to collect both a state and federal check for the rest of his life!
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Yeah, oh, Okay…
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It’s not a fiscal cliff. It is a fiscal slope.
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