Sins of the fathers
When the laughter at Trump's bragging to the UN General Assembly died down, a faint droning began - deficit...deficit...deficit - it got louder and louder than faded into silence as profound as Paul Ryan on the subject. Where are the deficit hawks now? Where were they when the tax cuts were voted into law? If the states are supposed to be laboratories for policy experiments, what happened to the results of the Kansas experiment? In the Kansas experiment, once again, massive tax cuts caused no massive increase in business but an implosion of school and public service funding. Every time tax cuts have been tried as a stimulus to the economy, it has failed. Reagan was the biggest example until Trump. Reagan, like all decent Republicans, couldn't bring himself to make any spending cuts that would harm anyone.
This year the interest on America's debt will be $390 billion. The deficit this year will be close to a trillion dollars. Once again the national debt and the annual budget deficit have increased with a Republican president. Just to review:
If you average it out the Democratic president have averaged a $3.42 trillion increase in the national debt and the Republicans have averaged $4.39 trillion. This is somewhat misleading because Obama's administration needed to deal with the massive bailout of the international banking establishment after the housing bubble burst and he was handed a recession by the preceding Republican president. Without that, and giving Obama a deficit increase like his predecessors ($1.5 trillion) the Democrat presidential average addition to the national debt would be $1.06 trillion versus $4.39 for the Republican; a 400 percent difference.
Republicans are supposed to be fiscally conservative and Democrats fiscally liberal. What is going on? Why does Paul Ryan shout DEFICIT! when medicaid and social security are under scrutiny and is silent when tax cuts for the wealthy are on the table?
The easy answer is: the desire of the white tribe to stay in power. Without big tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans there is little reason for these donors to contribute to the Republican party. Major donors to the Republican Candidates are benefiting from tax cuts. They contribute more to the Republicans than Democrats. People who exist on social security sure as hell don't donate to political candidates so why give then anything.
The cynical answer is that the Republicans playing the 'starve the beast' strategy? Very few Republican would vote to close public schools, un-fund social security or medicare, reduce military spending or default on the national debt. Instead, we are continuing to borrow money to fund these essential services. We are putting the funding of essential services on a credit card, a card with our kids name on it. Hence the title of this essay, The Sins of the Fathers. We need tax increases not tax cuts.
The real answer to the Republican contradiction of shouting deficit and building national debt is an ignorance of economics. Paul Ryan's budgets were jokes, according to analyses by a number of prominent economists. Anyone who lived through the 2008 recession or was raised by the parents of the 1930 depression and is in a position of making decision about America's economic future, should know some fundamental economics beyond those proposed by Ann Rand.
Trump said to CNN, "I'm the king of debt. I love debt." His solution to debt is BANKRUPTCY. His six bankruptcies should have been enough to keep him from being elected because all the working folks who voted for him know what it means to not get paid for the work you have done. What will be the outcome of a president who solves his economic problems by refusing to pay his bills and congress that is building the national debt.
Unless we elect economically prudent legislators, our children's economic future will be difficult. We need to elect Democrats because they have a track record of lower national debt and lower annual budget deficits. We need to elect people who know how to pay their bills.
This year the interest on America's debt will be $390 billion. The deficit this year will be close to a trillion dollars. Once again the national debt and the annual budget deficit have increased with a Republican president. Just to review:
- Carter added $299 billion to the national debt
- Reagan added 1.86 trillion
- George H.W. Bush added $1.55 trillion
- Clinton added $1.39 trillion
- George W. Bush added $5.85 trillion
- Obama added $8.59 trillion (he also inherited the 2008 recession from Bush)
- Trump is projected to add $8.28 trillion
If you average it out the Democratic president have averaged a $3.42 trillion increase in the national debt and the Republicans have averaged $4.39 trillion. This is somewhat misleading because Obama's administration needed to deal with the massive bailout of the international banking establishment after the housing bubble burst and he was handed a recession by the preceding Republican president. Without that, and giving Obama a deficit increase like his predecessors ($1.5 trillion) the Democrat presidential average addition to the national debt would be $1.06 trillion versus $4.39 for the Republican; a 400 percent difference.
Republicans are supposed to be fiscally conservative and Democrats fiscally liberal. What is going on? Why does Paul Ryan shout DEFICIT! when medicaid and social security are under scrutiny and is silent when tax cuts for the wealthy are on the table?
The easy answer is: the desire of the white tribe to stay in power. Without big tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans there is little reason for these donors to contribute to the Republican party. Major donors to the Republican Candidates are benefiting from tax cuts. They contribute more to the Republicans than Democrats. People who exist on social security sure as hell don't donate to political candidates so why give then anything.
The cynical answer is that the Republicans playing the 'starve the beast' strategy? Very few Republican would vote to close public schools, un-fund social security or medicare, reduce military spending or default on the national debt. Instead, we are continuing to borrow money to fund these essential services. We are putting the funding of essential services on a credit card, a card with our kids name on it. Hence the title of this essay, The Sins of the Fathers. We need tax increases not tax cuts.
The real answer to the Republican contradiction of shouting deficit and building national debt is an ignorance of economics. Paul Ryan's budgets were jokes, according to analyses by a number of prominent economists. Anyone who lived through the 2008 recession or was raised by the parents of the 1930 depression and is in a position of making decision about America's economic future, should know some fundamental economics beyond those proposed by Ann Rand.
Trump said to CNN, "I'm the king of debt. I love debt." His solution to debt is BANKRUPTCY. His six bankruptcies should have been enough to keep him from being elected because all the working folks who voted for him know what it means to not get paid for the work you have done. What will be the outcome of a president who solves his economic problems by refusing to pay his bills and congress that is building the national debt.
Unless we elect economically prudent legislators, our children's economic future will be difficult. We need to elect Democrats because they have a track record of lower national debt and lower annual budget deficits. We need to elect people who know how to pay their bills.
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