Herman Cain Wants to Abolish the CBO

[Unabogie]

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/11/a-house-not-divided-cain-and-gingrich-debate.php

, “If you’re serious about health care reform, abolish the Congressional Budget Office,”

This really jumped out at me. The CBO is the closest thing we have to a referee in Congress. Certainly the media will only report bills as "one side says...while the other says..." The CBO will run the numbers against what you say the bill does and what it will most likely do in reality. It's pretty much the most scientific model we have for predicting the result of various legislation. Now, I know that the CBO has fallen out of favor since Obama's election, now that they seem to routinely score GOP bills as the phony stunts they are, but prior to 2009, even Republicans turned to the CBO to support their bills.

This reminds me so much of the Climate Change scientists being muzzled, and the skeptics of WMD in Iraq being fired under Bush. If you don't like the message, just eliminate the messenger?

What say you? If not the CBO, then who? Privatize all budgetary analysis to Heritage, the AEI, or Sean Hannity?

 

[Corsair 115]

Perhaps Cain made the statement because he doesn't really know or understand what the CBO does?

 

[BenBurch]

Perhaps Cain made the statement because he doesn't really know or understand what the CBO does?

He is depending on his AUDIENCE being so poorly-educated that THEY don't know.

 

[varwoche]

Perhaps Cain made the statement because he doesn't really know or understand what the <fill in the blank> does?

No matter the topic, this is a safe default assumption.

 

[BenBurch]

No matter the topic, this is a safe default assumption.

I've decided that it is more malicious than that. He knows, but he thinks that the voters are all stooges, and that he can baffle them with BS.

 

[Unabogie]

Perhaps Cain made the statement because he doesn't really know or understand what the CBO does?

He knows. He understands. The problem is that the CBO would score his policies as R (ridiculous) and he knows it. So the new GOP dogma is the CBO is somehow flawed. You will see that argued here in short order by the usual suspects.

 

[TimCallahan]

Cain needs to have certain things clearly pointed out to him, such as, "This is a hole in the ground. It's not part of your anatomy."

 

[MaGZ]

He knows. He understands. The problem is that the CBO would score his policies as R (ridiculous) and he knows it. So the new GOP dogma is the CBO is somehow flawed. You will see that argued here in short order by the usual suspects.

And when they do that, he will say it is only because he is a strong Black conservative.

 

[AlBell]

Perhaps Cain made the statement because he doesn't really know or understand what the CBO does?

He seemed to know exactly what CBO does, and stated their analyses are too often bs in that they often ignore probable savings and use only expenses.

I loved his "What would you do if vice-president?' question to Gingrich.

 

[Unabogie]

He seemed to know exactly what CBO does, and stated their analyses are too often bs in that they often ignore probable savings and use only expenses.

When are their analyses not BS vs when they are? Give us examples of the CBO using what you consider to be correct methods and the bills they scored.

Thanks.

 

[AlBell]

I'll hope Herman does that for us.

 

[Unabogie]

I'll hope Herman does that for us.

He won't. He'll just abolish the CBO. So I take it you have no basis for your assertion that the CBO sometimes doesn't account for "savings" but other times it does? What are the details of those bills and why does it score some differently than others?

 

[AlBell]

I don't have a cite; I just repeated Herman's comments from last night's debate.

Maybe you should email your questions to him.

 

[Unabogie]

I don't have a cite; I just repeated Herman's comments from last night's debate.

Maybe you should email your questions to him.

Evasion noted.

 

[varwoche]

I don't have a cite; I just repeated Herman's comments from last night's debate.

Maybe you should email your questions to him.

Bogus. You claimed that he seems to know exactly that the CBO is doing.

Herman isn't making claims in this thread Al. You are.

 

[AlBell]

And???

 

[Cain]

I loved his "What would you do if vice-president?' question to Gingrich.

That's pretty good.

 

[mikeyx]

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/11/a-house-not-divided-cain-and-gingrich-debate.php



This really jumped out at me. The CBO is the closest thing we have to a referee in Congress. Certainly the media will only report bills as "one side says...while the other says..." The CBO will run the numbers against what you say the bill does and what it will most likely do in reality. It's pretty much the most scientific model we have for predicting the result of various legislation. Now, I know that the CBO has fallen out of favor since Obama's election, now that they seem to routinely score GOP bills as the phony stunts they are, but prior to 2009, even Republicans turned to the CBO to support their bills.

This reminds me so much of the Climate Change scientists being muzzled, and the skeptics of WMD in Iraq being fired under Bush. If you don't like the message, just eliminate the messenger?

What say you? If not the CBO, then who? Privatize all budgetary analysis to Heritage, the AEI, or Sean Hannity?

Cain is a dangerous *******

 

[Unabogie]

And???

Ok, fine, I wouldn't want to defend this either. So do you agree with him? Abolish the CBO?

 

[shemp]

I've decided that it is more malicious than that. He knows, but he thinks that the voters are all stooges, and that he can baffle them with BS.

As a Stooge I resent that remark. I don't want to be associated with Cain or his voters.