Patterico's Pontifications

10/20/2013

L.A. Times Blatantly Misstates Facts Regarding National Debt

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 10:20 am



David Lauter makes a false claim at the L.A. Times about the national debt.

“[T]he U.S. debt burden is starting to decline.”

Utterly false by any measure.

Lauter also tries to claim that, if one measures debt by gauging national debt held by the public as a percentage of GDP, the debt grew rapidly under Bush, and Obama is the guy getting it all under control.

Tom Blumer destroys Lauter here. But a picture is worth a thousand words:

Screen Shot 2013-10-20 at 10.03.37 AM

Blumer demands a correction here. I plan to write an email myself when I get time, and suggest you do the same.

Excellent work by Tom Blumer.

65 Responses to “L.A. Times Blatantly Misstates Facts Regarding National Debt”

  1. L.A. Times Blatantly Misstates Facts Regarding National Debt.

    Fixed it for you, sir.

    notsomsm (04f0de)

  2. Layers and layers of editors.

    JD (dc108d)

  3. Is it any wonder that the only people who still subscribe are those who want to be lied to?

    That doesn’t just go for the LA Slimes.

    Steve57 (022c57)

  4. I canceled the Times when Sandy Banks basically wrote if you don’t vote for Obama you are a racists.

    Daniel (a69d45)

  5. This fits in nicely with the column I sent you, Patt.

    JD (dc108d)

  6. The fact that the Federal Reserve holds $3 trillion in debt “paid for” with inflated dollars is not a good thing.

    SPQR (9c5bd8)

  7. He must mean for those that qualify for subsidies. For them, the debt is less than the cost of a cell phone. Or something.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  8. The cake is a lie (Portal reference).

    felipe (6100bc)

  9. Here is the basis for the lie claim:

    The debt BURDEN is the cost of debt service, which is tied to interest rates. Currently, the vast majority of US debt is in short- and mid-term T-bills, a risky strategy that allows low CURRENT interest rates, but risks having to roll everything into more expensive debt later.

    Our average rate is about 1.9%, or about $250 billion a year.

    Back in Bush’s day the interest rate was more than double that (and more was long-term bonds) so the BURDEN was higher on less debt.

    This is, I believe, the 3rd kind of lie, according to Disraeli.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  10. And of course, when the Fed comes to its senses and/or inflation takes off, that 1.9% will become 5% or 10% or 15% and OMG.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  11. lying liars lie, film at 11.

    who’s running the pool on which troll shows up first to tell us we’re all wrong?

    redc1c4 (abd49e)

  12. redc1c4, the pool closed because no one took the opposite side of the bet that it would be another sock of tye.

    SPQR (9c5bd8)

  13. The trolls that infest Patterico don’t work weekends.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  14. Ag, I think they are too busy trying to sign up for healthcare on that shut-down website.

    Refresh, refresh, refresh….

    Simon Jester (d82c31)

  15. Comment by Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 10/20/2013 @ 11:43 am

    Back in Bush’s day the interest rate was more than double that (and more was long-term bonds) so the BURDEN was higher on less debt.

    This is, I believe, the 3rd kind of lie, according to Disraeli.

    Thank you for explaining it. I knew there had to be some sense to it.

    The linked story isn’t coming up.

    I saw it.

    That may what the people who supplied the LA Times with the claim that the debt burden may have intended, but David Lauter in that case didn’t catch the meaning — he’s talking only about the ratio of debt to GDP, which is almost certainly still going up. I think it’s heading above 100.

    If that’s the explanation, David Lauter got some spin but botched up the article.

    Sammy Finkelman (d28b55)

  16. nice of Sammy to step in and save the day, eh SPQR?

    redc1c4 (abd49e)

  17. The Slimes believes that the government drives the economy. I suppose it’s true if you mean driving it into the ground.

    AZ Bob (c99389)

  18. After using the printed article to line the birdcage, I returned to our breakfast nook 1/2 hour later to find our cockatoo staring off wistfully into space, as if thinking back on the good times in the past when he was proud to sh*t on the LAT, now worth less than squat.

    Colonel Haiku (7d4086)

  19. Never forget: Bush asked for a 3% increase for the FY2013 budget. Democrats in congress did not approve it. Bush NEVER signed the FY2013 budget into law — only 3 CRs. Barkman Obama is the one who signed off on the FY2013 budget in March 2013.

    jb (ef8895)

  20. is he counting chinless nutless kentuckyslut Mitch McConnell’s three billion dollar pork haul?

    i bet he’s not

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  21. jb, and Obama added the bulk of his trillion dollar faux stimulus to FY2013. FY2013 belongs entirely to the Democrats.

    SPQR (768505)

  22. At times like this I wish Tlaloc were here to tell us how Lauter is actually correct and we are just too ignorant to understand him. Uh, never mind.

    Blumer demands a correction here. I plan to write an email myself when I get time, and suggest you do the same.

    I’m too lazy, and I highly doubt the LATimes cares, but I did leave a pretty nasty comment on Lauter’s post.

    JVW (709bc7)

  23. Once in a while I’ve seen this meme from the left about debt going down on Obama’s watch. It’s absolutely crazy and I am in awe that the argument would be attempted. It’s just a lie, a knowing lie, meant to assist in generational theft.

    Dustin (e1a368)

  24. Once in a while I’ve seen this meme from the left about debt going down on Obama’s watch. It’s absolutely crazy and I am in awe that the argument would be attempted. It’s just a lie, a knowing lie, meant to assist in generational theft.

    Kind of reminds one of Ronald Reagan’s old quip: It’s not that our friends on the left are ignorant, it’s just that so much of what they know simply isn’t true. [I am undoubtedly paraphrasing here.]

    JVW (709bc7)

  25. See, this is the type of dissent that you evil bloggers are always trying to drum up against our heroic President. Or whatever.

    Elephant Stone (108847)

  26. By the way, wasn’t it just a few days ago when the statists and their cheerleaders in the media were constructing a potential “the sky will fall” argument in favor of having to raise the debt ceiling ?

    Now that that crisis is over, they’ve resorted to telling us that the debt is decreasing. Or something.

    Elephant Stone (108847)

  27. Our friend Sammy may continue to falsely assert that Lee Harvey Oswald was not a communist, but nobody can argue against the fact that the LA Times is staffed by a bunch of commies !

    Elephant Stone (108847)

  28. Frankly, ES, I would be more accepting if they were commies, because I would then just figure they were sinister and evil. As it is, I just think they are clueless and easy-to-manipulate liberals.

    JVW (709bc7)

  29. This planet is damned lucky to be rotating, praise be to Dear Leader, Teh Won.

    Colonel Haiku (689832)

  30. Notice how we hear nothing out of idiots like Janeane Garofulo anymore? There’s a reason…

    http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples_resource/image/10263

    Colonel Haiku (689832)

  31. An analogy:

    You are a passenger in a car hurtling toward a concrete abutment at 120 MPH. The driver, up to now has had the accelerator floored, but now, to appease you incessant whining, he releases the gas pedal and says, don’t worry, pointing to the speedometer which says 100, we’re slowing.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  32. Pat, I quit this piece of fishwrap years ago because of its continuous, blatant hackery. Thanks for keeping me informed as to the latest hackery.

    Dirty Old Man (4bf1c0)

  33. This is a more civil version of that Horsey column, in my fishwrap;

    http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/19/3697899/andres-oppenheimer-us-badly-needs.html

    the energy reforms include a carbon tax

    narciso (3fec35)

  34. Now that that crisis is over, they’ve resorted to telling us that the debt is decreasing. Or something.

    “How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?”

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  35. Our national debt assploded this week.

    JD (5c1832)

  36. In regards to the OP, this kind of crap really bothers me.

    What is the point of being a journalist when you really play for one side?

    Way back in the day, when I was a practicing journalist, and a liberal, I at least made an effort to be objective. I went after politicians regardless of affiliation. All it got me was fired.

    Hey, wait a second.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  37. The national debt only assploded this week because the government had to keep it below the threshold of the previous CR until a new one was enacted.

    A real budget would be nice, but that will not happen until the nation’s undertaker Harry Reid allows it.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  38. Yeah, Ag80. It hadn’t changed in over 150 days then BAM! an all time single day record.

    JD (5c1832)

  39. Coincidences are funny things, JD. They just happen out of the clear blue sky.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  40. Remember when Obambi was lying to people and saying how raising the debt limit does not mean the debt will increase?

    JD (5c1832)

  41. JD/Ag80, I’m still of the opinion that the Fed Reserve was illegally floating the Treasury off the books and that they just put it all on the books – brazenly – as a “screw you” gesture.

    SPQR (768505)

  42. SPQR: I think JD and I agree with you.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  43. 43. Of course we all do, we’re his cabal.

    They sure didn’t sell $330 Billion in Treasuries overnight. Usually an auction is 1/10 that, and anything in the three month range is going unbid or uncovered.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  44. 28. You throw that word ‘friend’ around rather loosely, eh?

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  45. 28. Comment by Elephant Stone (108847) — 10/20/2013 @ 4:22 pm

    Our friend Sammy may continue to falsely assert that Lee Harvey Oswald was not a communist,

    Lee harvey Oswald was not a communits, because there is no such thing as a communist with a small c – he maybe thought he could become a Communist by just declaring himself so, but that was not tha case. He wanted to be a member, and he did things that he thought would prove that he was valuable.

    but nobody can argue against the fact that the LA Times is staffed by a bunch of commies !

    No, they are a bunch of Democrats, and some of them are idiots.

    The article is nonsense, because the writer botched up the talking point he was trying to pass on.

    Sammy Finkelman (86c6e0)

  46. 38. Comment by Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 10/20/2013 @ 7:40 pm

    The national debt only assploded this week because the government had to keep it below the threshold of the previous CR until a new one was enacted.

    Not the continuing resolution – the debt ceiling. Both were raised in the same bill, or at the ame time anyway, but they are quite different thimngs.

    Obama’s been trying to confuse people, and it looks like he succeeded even with you. The damage to the world economy was only supposed to come from not raising the debt ceiling, not from the partial government shutdown.

    Sammy Finkelman (86c6e0)

  47. A real budget would be nice, but that will not happen until the nation’s undertaker Harry Reid allows it.

    They are now supposed to agree on a 10-year budget plan by December 13.

    First problem, as Ronald Reagan said, 10-year budget projections are unreal.

    But everybody in Washington ignores that. They all swear by the CBO, because otehrwise they;d have nothing to talk about.

    Second problem: Paul Ryan wants to trade breaches in the sequester (which Harry Reid wants very much and Republicans also want as far as Defense is concerned) for entitlement cuts.

    Ryan is willing to choose the particular (bad) entitlement cuts Barack Obama out in his budget.

    Obama, however, only wants them if he also gets various tax increases which he describes as closing tax loopholes.

    Republicans are willing to consider these tax increases, but they want other taxes reduced, so as to keep the percentage of GDP collected by the federal government unchanged.

    Obama, however wants to gain revenue from “tax reform.”

    Result: No deal.

    Sammy Finkelman (86c6e0)

  48. Ryan is willing to choose the particular (bad) entitlement cuts Barack Obama put in his budget.

    I think they are basically:

    1) Changing the calculation of the Cost of Living index for Social Security (which the CBO projects would reduce benefits in the long run)

    2) Means testing of Medicare.

    3) Gradually raising the eleigibility age fdr Medicare above 65.

    Sammy Finkelman (86c6e0)

  49. Comment by gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 10/20/2013 @ 8:14 pm

    They sure didn’t sell $330 Billion in Treasuries overnight. Usually an auction is 1/10 that, and anything in the three month range is going unbid or uncovered.

    It had to come from all the money Treasury Secretary Jack Lew returned to Exchange Stablization and other funds since May 17.

    Sammy Finkelman (86c6e0)

  50. Sammy is doing the anti-Occam dance again.

    JD (5c1832)

  51. Sammy, you are a hard-working man for posting here. I admire your perseverance. Actually, no I don’t.

    If the government used the same rules they require for business, all of your useless posts might matter.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  52. … but it’s Bush’s fault; Obama didn’t do anything

    Therein lies the problem … Obama didn’t do anything .. useful

    Neo (d1c681)

  53. Lee harvey Oswald was not a communits

    Furthermore, Obama isn’t a very, very liberal person, and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s attitudes could be traced to his upbringing in Dixie.

    Mark (58ea35)

  54. This is DC speak. A drop in the rate of growth or debt is touted as a drop in debt. They crow about that while assuring it never really stops getting larger.

    {^_^}

    JDow (d8539e)

  55. They sure didn’t sell $330 Billion in Treasuries overnight. Usually an auction is 1/10 that, and anything in the three month range is going unbid or uncovered.

    The guy who does the books got behind because of the shutdown. It’s Cruz’ fault.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  56. debt for nothing, even worse, most of Bushes debt was for hard things like weapons, infrastructure

    Obamas seem to be mainly wealth redistribution which didn’t have the effect he claimed it would have

    The democrats have owned the government since late 2006…..

    EPWJ (ac08e9)

  57. The fetus killing party is clicking on all cylinders.
    Team r is thinking about joining them.

    mg (31009b)

  58. Never forget: Bush asked for a 3% increase for the FY2013 budget. Democrats in congress did not approve it. Bush NEVER signed the FY2013 budget into law — only 3 CRs. Barkman Obama is the one who signed off on the FY2013 budget in March 2013.

    2013? You mean 2009, right?

    Chuck Bartowski (11fb31)

  59. 50. I fail to see…

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange_Stabilization_Fund

    Oh, never mind.

    Kimmy’s enormous azz is the cause, obviously.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  60. 57. Comment by EPWJ (ac08e9) — 10/21/2013 @ 3:34 am

    debt for nothing,

    That’s why it doesn’t add to the deficit.

    I know you mean it is just transfer payments. But that has nothing to do with cash balances.

    Sammy Finkelman (86c6e0)

  61. Also Jack Lew reduced State and Local Government Series (SLGS) Treasury securities, debt held by the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF); and the Government Securities Investment Fund (G Fund)

    That was in 2011. This thing has become routine now.

    Sammy Finkelman (86c6e0)

  62. I like this graph much better for illustrating the dire straits we’re in.

    askeptic (b8ab92)

  63. David Lauter makes a false claim at the L.A. Times about the national debt.

    He’s gotta protect his team members in any way he can…

    Blacque Jacques Shellacque (425cbf)

  64. 2009 budget was not Bush’s although in the normal course of things It would have been. The 2009 budget was written by democrat majorities in both houses after Bush left office and was signed into law by Obama. Bush never even saw the budget. Yet liar democrats claim it was Bush’s like they lie about everything.

    Steve In Tulsa (b3a1f5)


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