Philadelphia- Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick payed a visit to St. Joseph’s University students on Tuesday night in a discussion spanning topics of sustainable energy, foreign policy, immigration and Medicare to name a few.
Fitzpatrick’s 8th District encompasses Bucks County, part of Montgomery County and part of Northeastern Philadelphia County, areas which many St. Joseph’s students call home.
Speaking to a Global Business Management class, the Representative began his discussion explaining the transformation Congress has gone through in the past few years between his term in the 109th Congress, when the main issue on the floor was foreign policy, and today, where the main concern is a topic that is on every American’s mind: the Federal deficit.
Fitzpatrick’s discussion hit home for students, a generation who will be not only shouldering the national debt but also is nervously preparing to enter the workforce in an unstable economy.
He stressed that the key to turning America around is by strengthening the business sector.
“We need the the business community now more than ever,” Fitzpatrick said. “We need more people back in the system paying taxes to afford our economy.”
Managing our country’s finances, Fitzpatrick emphasized, is the key to ensuring domestic economic success and national security. The Congressman emphasized that without proper management, America’s financial situation will continue to spiral downward until it reaches the point where the country becomes unmanageable. Using the euro zone as an example, Fitzpatrick warned that America’s national debt poses a huge threat to maintaining national security.
“We need to deal with crisis before we’re dealing with riots like there are in Athens and Lisbon,” Fitzpatrick said. “Imagine if what happened in Greece and Europe happened [in the US]…if you can’t prevent conflict in your own country, how are you going to support national defense efforts?”
Fitzpatrick proposed that a structural spending program would be the best way to alleviate America’s financial woes.
“If we don’t make changes, everything will collapse,” he said. “Washington needs to cut back on spending – that would be the most effective.”
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9 Responses
Wow, I have a little more faith in PoliticsPA to not just post press releases. This was clearly not reported and just posted. Terrible fluff.
Also, hyperbole is saying we are the next Greece when interest rates on our ability to borrow are incredibly low, and most credit rating agencies rate us between AAA and AA+. What I am doing is making arguments based on reality. So, there’s that.
Way to misconstrue my argument. I never said that the USD is controlled by our government. I said it was controlled by the Fed, which is our central bank. Think what you will about the Fed, but don’t put words in my mouth.
In this instance, the difference between fiat currency and gold-backed currency is irrelevant. My point is that the MAJOR difference between the US and Greece is that the US has its own currency, whereas Greece is on the shared euro currency. The Fed can devalue the dollar by expansionist monetary policy — drive down interest rates, for example — which spurs some economic growth by making American goods cheaper relative to our trade partners. Greece *cannot* do this. Whether or not you think it’s a good idea is also irrelevant. The US has economic options that Greece simply does not have by virtue of the fact that they have no control over the value of their own currency.
The USD is not controled by our government. This demonstrates a clear lack of knowledge about our currency. The Federal Reserve Bank controls the currency and the interest rates in the US. They are a privately owned bank that is in no way controled or regulated by the US Treasury.
Greece is a mini US in that they have a Fiat currency, excessive debt and a lack of sufficient revenue to pay down that debt. The point Fitzpatrick was making was not only valid but accurate. For TNardi to argue any other way is merely hyperbole and a feable attampt to knock the congressman. Too bad Fitzpatrick will cruise to re-election against Bookevar.
Also, I didn’t say anything about being protected by the ‘Almighty Dollar’. My point is that the value of the US dollar is controlled by US monetary policy because we have a central bank. Greece has no such luxury, since it shares a currency with other nations.
Read this article by Paul Krugman. I’m sure you don’t believe that the NYT publishes anything but vicious lies, but Krugman does kind of have a Nobel Prize in Economics, meaning he knows some things.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/opinion/14krugman.html
I guess a fringe benefit of opposing everything the President proposes is you can say you opposed anything that was unpopular. That doesn’t mean it is how your should govern. And as for being based in reality, I’m going to quote from S&P’s decision to downgrade US debt. (I made a mistake; the downgrade I was referring to was S&P, not Moodys).
http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/articles/en/us/?assetID=1245316529563
“More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges to a degree more than we envisioned when we assigned a negative outlook to the rating on April 18, 2011.”
Shorter version? ‘We understand that the US has long-term problems with its economy, but the reason for the downgrade is not a sudden realization thereof but rather that we realized the Republicans are crazy enough to default voluntarily.’
These two above-comments are not reality-based.
“The reason Greece is at risk of a sovereign default — as are countries like Portugal and Italy — is because they are on the euro. The reason that countries like the US and the UK are not is because they control the value of their own currency. For Rep. Fitzpatrick to compare the US to Greece, in this instance, shows either a lack of understanding of the problem or a lack of respect for the intelligence of his audience. Or both.”
We are NOT protected by the [previously-]Almighty Dollar, unlike the Greeks [because other Europeans find it to be in THEIR interests to help Athens]. Thus, if America defaults, triggered by ANYONE calling-in our grossly-excessive borrowing [such as China], a crisis will ensue.
*
“The reason we got downgraded by Moody’s was *explicitly* because of the political situation in Congress, of which Mr. Fitzpatrick is a part.”
We were downgraded – per Moody’s – because of excess-spending, with the $5T bloated deficits totally due to BHO’s largess [to his contributors]; the GOP-House has tried to oppose such irresponsibility, while the D-Senate has been complicit.
The reason we got downgraded by Moody’s was *explicitly* because of the political situation in Congress, of which Mr. Fitzpatrick is a part.
The reason Greece is at risk of a sovereign default — as are countries like Portugal and Italy — is because they are on the euro. The reason that countries like the US and the UK are not is because they control the value of their own currency.
The only foreseeable reason that the US would default on its loans is if it A) decided to stop borrowing to cover debts or B) decided to stop printing money. For Rep. Fitzpatrick to compare the US to Greece, in this instance, shows either a lack of understanding of the problem or a lack of respect for the intelligence of his audience. Or both.