Thursday, October 3, 2013

Republicans on Fiscal Policy; or Why I Hate Political Messaging.

Republicans are only the party for fiscal responsibility when they don't control the Executive branch. Before Reagan, the national debt was less than one trillion. Under Reagan, it ballooned to over four trillion, despite a general economic boom in the US and no wars. George H. W. Bush managed to ratchet it up to around seven, though, in his defense, he did have a war in a foreign country and a recession, and, in fairness, he had to pay interest on Reagan's four trillion, which, over four years, at six percent is more than an additional trillion dollars right there.

Despite the debt Clinton had been left by his two Republican predecessors, he ran a budget surplus over all, and actually left the national debt smaller than he found it, both as a percentage of GDP and in overall dollars. George W. Bush took less than 180 days to blow the surplus. He then added even more to the national debt than Reagan did. W. couldn't even blame the Democrats, because, for six of his eight years, the Dems didn't have control of either house of congress, nor did the liberals have control of the Supreme Court.

But the same party, often the same people, Mr. Boehner who racked up those massive debts, are now claiming to be fiscal hawks. It isn't about spending, debt, or money. It is about opposition to the Democratic President, regardless of reason. The Affordable Care Act will save money over the next twenty years, and likely also increase the tax base, but the Republicans don't want that.

They're liars. They lie because they don't have a real argument and they don't have a real plan. So they use deceit and misinformation. I'm not permitting it anymore. I'm going to tell the truth about something the Republicans are lying about. Because someone has to. If, at some point, the Republican party becomes less of a national embarrassment, I'll start talking about something else.

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