austerity measure that resulted in in $1.2 trillion in cuts over the next ten years. the effect of that was so low down recovery and prolong the misery of millions of americans needlessly. back then, republicans went on and on and on about the debts and the deficits and our children and our grandchildren. they would get weepy at the very thought of all the debt that the grand children would have. we would be here for a month straight if we played all the tape but there was the general idea of the refrain. a budget which spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much from our kids and our grandkids. you re going to hear three words or three phrases. spends too much, borrows too much, taxes too much. their hostage taking resulted in the first ever downgrade of the u.s. economy. fast forward, well, six years. the economy s approaching something that looks like full employment thankfully.
wealthy, cut the budget for the epa, we re seeing crazy climate shifts right now and weather shifts in the midwest and on the east coast, that concerns me. if he s talking about maintaining social security, that s good. but it s not great because those folks who receive social security have yet to receive a cost of living adjustment. so democrats like myself and others will be pushing president trump to not fall into the rhetoric of imposing some european-style austerity measure that my republican colleagues are pushing, but to make sure we re having the right investments in infrastructure, making sure we re putting americans back to work, investsing in our educational system and we should have a greater vision about some of these trade proposals and trade deals. i can t wait to hear what he has to say tomorrow about all these things. congressman, do you understand how the math works? with a significant increase in military spending, as well as what you say and what the
let s say when you start talking tough and talking austere it can get very tough. across the country, not only here in new york, and going to erupt across the country, students demanding loan forgiveness, debt forgiveness, free college, free tuition in london and greece where such proposals have been melt with violence, bottom line i any austerity measure or any criticism the rich have it all and the poor do not or this chasism that is growing. you risk losing the very folks you re trying to reach out to. two simples questions. are these benefits a right or privilege? 15 years ago healthcare ward a privilege by 60%, 70%, now the same percentage believe that healthcare benefiters a right.
financial crisis in greece. germany is holding firm on demands for reforms in greece but other countries may be more lenient. greece s new finance minister appears more ready to compromise than his predecessor. despite sunday s no vote on austerity measure. most banks there remain closed and could run out of cash tomorrow. the uncertainty about greece and iran is unsettling the financial markets but that could be good news. crude oil prices are low, which means we may see very low gas prices later this year. and the u.s. stock market fell slightly yesterday after the rejection of the greek vote, but financial institutions have had years to distance themselves from the greek economy. south carolina s one step closer to removing the confederate flag from the grounds of the state capitol. state senators voted 367-3 to take down the flag.
especially in parts of the country where the defense industry is big. virginia, maryland. exactly. and it was supposed to be so politically unpalatable it would never go into effect and they d have to cut a deal. so it s not just poor people getting hit. there are a lot of people in washington on the republican side who would be perfectly happy to slash programs for the poor, but everything has something in the sequester for everybody to hate. it s per sifing because nobody can come up with something that they find more politically palatable. that said, the size of the sequester is about half a percent of gdp so it s a significant austerity measure but it s not enormous. you can compare it to bigger measures that we did on purpose. the expiration of the payroll tax cuts and expiration of part of the bush tax cuts. those are about twice as big as its sequester and we seem to be weathering this fiscal austerity much better than europe. and the deficit is coming down. this is the ot