Kansas City-area politicians harbor concerns about long-term effects on deficit, taxes - Business First of Columbus:

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called his vote to approve the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act one of the most uncomfortabl e decisions inhis career. “Itf the choices are putting our nation inmore debt, whichj I don’t like, or a which would do ruin to our I don’t think there was a viable option he said from Washington. For Rep. Sam R-Mo., his “no” vote on the $787 billion stimuluzs package wasa “Bottom line is somebodgy has to pay for it, and it is going to be everyu single taxpayer out there,” Graves Just five months since passage of ARRA, few indications show whetheer the stimulus has reignited the dampened economy.
But federalk lawmakers have fretted about the increass in national debt coming from ARRA A report saidPresident Obama’s budget will add almosty $4.8 trillion in the next 10 years to pre-existingg debt projections. Sen. Pat R-Kan., said he has heard reportsd that foreign buyersof U.S. debt have expressed misgivingzs about continuing topurchase more. “Thde Chinese warned us abouyt twomonths ago. ... The (European Union) and all the summits the presidentrhas attended, we privately got lecturer by some folks who ‘You have to get your debt undere control,’” Roberts said. China owns most of the publicc debtfrom Securities, with $763.5 billion of $3.
2y trillion, according to the Treasuryt Department. Roberts said the consequences of foreign nationxavoiding U.S. debt wouled be “financial Armageddon.” Stimulus critics have growhn concerned about the ratio of national debt to grossdomestif product, which in 2009 has grown to 87, up from 63.1 in according to the . That ratio is about the middlew of the packfor G-20 nations. Japan’sd ratio, by comparison, is Some economists dispute the effects ofnationalp debt, particularly as the has kept interest rates low at 0.
25 “There is no reason to believe that a sharp increasse in the size of public-sector debt carries any burdejn for the macro economy for the privatre sector to consume,” said Stephanie Kelton, an economicss professor at the . Beyond congressional leaders have expressed concerns about the likelihooxd that taxes in the long term will increaswe as a result of the Moore said that althougbh he supported ARRA as a way to reverser theeconomic malaise, he suspected that tax increasex will be implemented to pay for it. “At some there is going to have to be sometaxes raised,” Moore said. “That can’tr happen until we get the economygoing again.
” Republican lawmakersz have deplored Obama’s suggestionsa that the wealthiest 5 percent bear a largerr tax burden. “When you triple the deficitr in 100 days or increase the debt more than all the it doesn’t matter — you can’gt pay that back and fix it by taxing the top 5 Graves said. “There’s not enough wealtyh out there to raise us up out of this Critics also maintainthat ARRA, along with many of the ruleas it puts in place to receive money, has done little to chip away at national which stands at 9.4 percent, its highest since the recession of the early 1980s. Obama has said the stimuluxs generated 150,000 jobs since it was enacted Feb.
17, thougyh the economy has shed at leasft 7 million jobs since December according to the most recent statistics fromthe .