in their own words
 |
|
|
|
 Joe "Absolutely Tanking" Biden - White House Press Briefing by Tony Fratto 12/22/08 — Monday, December 22, 2008 —  MR. FRATTO: Yes, John. Q Joe Biden said yesterday that -- a couple things on the economy. He said the Obama administration will probably inherit the largest deficit in American history, probably more than a trillion dollars, and that's why we need a second stimulus package in the range of $600 billion to $700 billion -- some people are saying more than $700 billion, as you know. Two questions -- MR. FRATTO: I'm sorry, he said that we need a -- Q He said that's why we need a second stimulus package. MR. FRATTO: Because of the size of the deficit? Q Because in the long run, it would bring the deficit down because -- it's sort of Republican thinking, actually. (Laughter.) Do you agree that by January 20th, the deficit could bust a trillion dollars? And secondly, what's the latest thinking on a second stimulus package -- in the administration? MR. FRATTO: Well, I don't think there's any chance of a second stimulus package at the end of this administration in the days that we have remaining. I know that the next administration and congressional leaders are discussing what they intend to do and what their plans are, but it's not something we'll be doing. Look, the size of the budget deficit, whatever the number is, I can't predict whether it's going to be $1 trillion or something less than that. It's going to be large. And it's going to be a very significant number. And I think it's going to reflect two things. One, is the downturn in the economy, and the slowing of receipts coming into the federal government. It's also going to reflect the large increase in spending over the short term to deal with the financial crisis. And on the front end, the $350 billion that have been committed so far, and other funds for the financial crisis are -- they show up on the books as straight expenditures, money going out the door to financial institutions. As we've said, these funds are actually investments in these institutions. Some of them are equity positions and other ways of holding assets in some form that will return back to the taxpayer. So over time, we believe that if it works, and if the financial institutions are as successful as we hope they'll be over time, that it should be, at worst, a wash for the taxpayers and those deficit numbers will come down. Economy | Press Briefing | Tony Fratto | Vice President-Elect Biden | White House Press Corps Labels: Economy, Press Briefing, Tony Fratto, Vice President-Elect Biden, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 6:21 PM
|
|
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
< whpc home