Little Acorns

The pulp edition of this story in The Times, regarding potential higher interest rates on U.S. debt, had this sub-headline:

At $700 Billion a Year, Cost Will Top Budgets for 2 Wars, Education and Energy

Fascinating, but a couple of things:

1. Isn't the budgets for Education and Energy dwarfed by the budget for 2 wars?
2. Isn't the budget for 2 wars (and massive Bush tax cuts -- not to mention prescription drug benefits that didn't require drug companies to negotiate or allow seniors to purchase their drugs from other countries, i.e., free trade) the significant source of our current U.S. debt?

Just sayin'.

And then there's this little bit of folksy wisdom from Bill Gross, all-around genius:

“What a good country or a good squirrel should be doing is stashing away nuts for the winter,” said William H. Gross, managing director of the Pimco Group, the giant bond-management firm. “The United States is not only not saving nuts, it’s eating the ones left over from the last winter.”

There haven't been any "nuts" to save since George W. Bush took a projected budget surplus and drove it into the basement, taking out the water heater and the sump pump. And no mention by Gross of how he and his funds benefited from TARP, or how he has tried to influence Treasury in the lackluster idea of the "Public-Private Investment Fund."

But remember, Gross seems to be saying, the problem lies in your curls.



The headline of one of the NYT stories linked to above has as its headline, "Bill Gross of Pimco Is on Treasury's Speed Dial." He seems to be on NYT reporters' speed dial as well.

But beyond that, the shoddiness of this story is exemplified by this, the implication that the U.S. has been a sub-prime borrower:

“The government is on teaser rates,” said Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan group that advocates lower deficits. “We’re taking out a huge mortgage right now, but we won’t feel the pain until later.”

Please. Dean Baker, reliably, has more.