On Thursday, House Republicans released their “Pledge to America,” supposedly outlining their policy agenda. In essence, what they say is, “Deficits are a terrible thing. Let’s make them much bigger.” The document repeatedly condemns federal debt — 16 times, by my count. But the main substantive policy proposal is to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, which independent estimates say would add about $3.7 trillion to the debt over the next decade — about $700 billion more than the Obama administration’s tax proposals.
True, the document talks about the need to cut spending. But as far as I can see, there’s only one specific cut proposed — canceling the rest of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which Republicans claim (implausibly) would save $16 billion. That’s less than half of 1 percent of the budget cost of those tax cuts. As for the rest, everything must be cut, in ways not specified — “except for common-sense exceptions for seniors, veterans, and our troops.” In other words, Social Security, Medicare and the defense budget are off-limits.
So what’s left? Howard Gleckman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has done the math. As he points out, the only way to balance the budget by 2020, while simultaneously (a) making the Bush tax cuts permanent and (b) protecting all the programs Republicans say they won’t cut, is to completely abolish the rest of the federal government: “No more national parks, no more Small Business Administration loans, no more export subsidies, no more N.I.H. No more Medicaid (one-third of its budget pays for long-term care for our parents and others with disabilities). No more child health or child nutrition programs. No more highway construction. No more homeland security. Oh, and no more Congress.”
Kroog's right. Republicans are hoping that you'll fall for their same old crap again, the exact same budget-busting deficits created by tax breaks to the wealthy that created our current economic catastrophe. No, President Obama has not been able to fix everything in 20 months. He's laid the groundwork for some serious improvements but getting out of the Bush disaster is going to take years.
Meanwhile the Republicans are trying to sabotage the recovery in every way possible so that voters will get annoyed enough to put them back in charge. Well, this is what awaits us if they are back in charge, straight from the elephant's own mouth, even more economic catastrophe and higher deficit spending than Obama.
It's spelled out right there in this lemon of a pledge. "Vote for us. We think you're stupid enough to put us right back on the Bush economic plan."
"Kroog's right"
ReplyDeleteYou're nothing more than a parrot, you take the words of someone else and add in your own mindless worldly views mixed with an agreement and think you have an opinion. Obama is shaping up to be a worse President than Carter ever was. Good news for Carter.
Paul Krugman's past his time, his still upset that his views are wrong as evidence by the failed stimulus.
I love how Anonymous folks say I have no real opinions of my own.
ReplyDeleteWell they're right, just because it's not a registered name doesn't invalidate the statement and it obviously bothered you hence the response. In your defense you're either to the left, or to the right of any given issue so you'll always fall into the category of one sides talking points. The problem is you take one side 99.99% of the time and if they were always correct, there wouldn't be a 2 party system.
ReplyDeletethe nazis eventually achieved a plurality in the reichstag, ya fuckin' moron. do you ever pop onto the reason site and tell everybody how predictable they are over there? nope. because they're on the side you take 99.99 percent of the time.
ReplyDeletei'll also bet dollars to dimes that you're "anonymous".
"and it obviously bothered you hence the response"
ReplyDeletesays the man who responds to my every jape and who NEVER lets anybody else get the last word.
but it's different when you do it, right?
hahahahaha.
i swear, you are hysterical.