13 September 2011

Workout notes Yoga with Ms. Vickie (Theresa was there) and then 6 miles of running. Jogged from the parking lot to the gooseloop and did 9 laps; 4 x .5 (1/4 to 3/4) with .22 mile recoveries (to the 1/4 mark) then one .36 mile loop. 29:18 was my time (9:33, 10:13, 9:32) the middle 1.08 mile was slow because it contained .64 miles of harder running; the other two 1.08 mile segments contained .86 miles of harder running). Last week it took 29:24 to do this but that was 7 x .36 = 2.52 miles of harder running; this time it was 4 x .5 + .36 = 2.36 miles of “on”. Rough calculation: 8:58 mpm for the “faster” segments, 10:10 for the slower. the spread felt greater.

Post
From yesterday’s Republican debate:

“Let me say I helped balance the budget for four straight years, so this is not a theory”

— Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.)

Gingrich at least indicates there was a president — Bill Clinton — when the nation briefly began to run budget surpluses. And certainly the Republican Congress led by Gingrich prodded Clinton to move to the right and embrace such conservative notions as a balanced budget.

But the budget was balanced in part because of a gusher of tax revenues from Clinton’s 1993 deficit-reduction package, which raised taxes on the wealthy and which Gingrich vehemently opposed. The budget was also balanced because the Democratic White House and Republican Congress were in absolute legislative stalemate, so neither side could implement grand plans to increase spending or cut taxes.

Gingrich is wrong to suggest there were four years of balanced budgets when he was speaker. He left in January 1999; the budget ran a surplus in the fiscal years 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001. So he can at best claim two years.

During the surplus years, moreover, the gross debt (including bonds issued to Social Security and Medicare) rose by $400 billion. Gross debt is the figure that conservatives tend to use. During Gingrich’s time as speaker, the public debt was essentially flat and the gross debt rose $700 billion.

Obama “had $800 billion worth of stimulus in the first round of stimulus. It created zero jobs.”

— Perry

Perry is wrong. The surplus created jobs; it also saved jobs. But there has not been a net gain in jobs because so many jobs were lost early in Obama’s presidency. Since the stimulus bill was signed, the number of overall jobs in the United has declined by about 1.9 million.

Economists differ on the effectiveness of the stimulus, but most say it has at least some effect (ie, created at least some jobs.) A recent review of nine different studies on the stimulus bill found that six studies concluded the stimulus had “a significant, positive effect on employment and growth,” and three said the effect was “either quite small or impossible to detect.”

There is more there including Bachmann’s false claim that Obamacare hurt Medicare.

Advertisement