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发帖数: 10335 | 1 Aspen, Colorado (CNN) -- Former President Bill Clinton urged the Obama White
House to remain steadfast over its pledge to increase the federal debt
ceiling by August 2.
"This is the political equivalent of the government shutdown when I was
president..." Clinton said.
Clinton did not know how Obama could avoid a repeat shutdown, but insisted
that the president stand his ground. "First, the White House could blink,"
Clinton said. "I hope that won't happen. I don't think they should blink."
Clinton made his argument in front of a large crowd at the left-leaning
Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado Saturday. Should the United States default
on its payments, the country's credit ratings will decline, Clinton said,
and interest rates could rise.
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Bill Clinton
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Economic Policy
Growing anti-government forces like the Tea Party are truly affecting
healthy government reform, Clinton said. "It's astonishingly good politics,"
he admitted, "but poor economic policy."
An economic recovery will require both a healthy private sector and an
effective government, Clinton said.
To prove that point, President Barack Obama and the Democrats should
immediately accept previously agreed-upon spending cuts with Republicans
that would allow the government to continue to run for another six to eight
months. Then both parties must work together toward serious budget reform,
which cannot possibly happen by August 2, he added.
Republicans have done the right thing by conceding on defense cuts and
reducing ethanol subsidies, Clinton said. Still, both parties must accept
many of the recommendations of a bipartisan commission led by former
Republican Senator Alan Simpson and former Clinton Administration Budget
Director Erskine Bowles. Among these proposals, tax loopholes would be
eliminated and Medicare reformed.
Clinton went a step further and proposed that corporate tax rates be reduced
to 25% from the current range of 35%-23%, depending on filing. Then, with
tax loopholes eliminated, revenues could rise $1 trillion, as indicated by
the Bowles-Simpson report.
Still, no budget plan can be passed without focusing on rising health care
premiums in the private sector, Clinton said. Republican Congressman Paul
Ryan's proposal is serious, he said, but it's wrong because it blames
government for rising health care costs.
Medicare premiums are based the costs of private-industry premiums, Clinton
explained. Thus, the Ryan plan could actually increase Medicare expenditures
. "This country cannot afford to mess up this debate," Clinton passionately
said. "There's a lot of stuff out there that is pure bull."
Clinton also handicapped the upcoming 2012 Republican contest, lauding
former Utah governors Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney. Minnesota Congresswoman
Michele Bachmann is "a much better candidate than I thought," Clinton
admitted. "I don't agree with anything she says, but she's got a lot of
juice and she appeals to the anti-government crowd."
Regardless of the Republican field, however, Clinton believes Obama will be
re-elected in 2012. Under Obama's leadership, Wall Street has been salvaged,
and the automotive industry has been saved, Clinton said. Also,
manufacturing jobs have increased with the United States now building 20% of
the solar batteries globally -- up from 2%. That could go up as high as 40%
by 2014, the former president added.
Obama has also delivered on national security with the killing of Osama bin
Laden and increased drone activity in terrorist countries, Clinton said.
Domestically, he has offered laudable education and health care reforms, as
well as student loan reforms that allow borrowers longer time to pay back
their debts, Clinton said.
Clinton also said Obama has been very good on gay rights -- a serious
sticking point for the Clinton presidency, which created the "Don't Ask, Don
't Tell" policy.
And, at a time when European multiculturalism is apparently failing, Obama's
been able to speak to the diverse sectors of the U.S. population, Clinton
said. |
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