Discussion for article #222589
There will not be any kind of REAL “tax reform” any time in the near future.
The 0.1% (otherwise known as the “takers”) like things fine just the way they are - with all the complexity and loopholes intact. It helps keep the rubes from figuring out their shell game.
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The state of Kansas is over $1B in debt. Not millions, billions. The legislature of Missouri just voted to emulate Kansas and enact more tax cuts. Which, in turn, will cause more cuts social programs to justify the tax cuts.
There’s an “end game” here, I’m just not clear on where or when…
This article does a good job of showing that barring something really stupid by the Dems like Vietnam or Iraq, the GOP must moderate its economic position if it ever hopes to win the presidency.
The current GOP has no principles only politics. That is not only deficits but also spending does the GOP only try to stop when not in power. When in power, the GOP not only blows up the deficit but also spends like there is no tomorrow.
Students of history know that after promising to balance the budget Ronald Reagan incurred more debt in each of his years as president than Jimmy Carter did in all four of his years combined. That was not just because of tax cuts but also because Reagan greatly increased spending. The same is true about the Jr. Bush who turned Clinton’s historical prosperity and surplus into the biggest debt in history.
The reason the GOP spends and borrows so much when in power is that their economic policies don’t work so they spend on credit to create what Lloyd Benson called “The illusion of prosperity”.
When out of office the GOP tries to stop spending because it will more directly benefit other than the GOP’s top 1% and because government spending is usually good for the economy. That is when out of office the GOP tries to hurt the economy in any way possible thinking it will help them get back into office.
But here is the real problem for the GOP: Many more people benefit from education, roads, health care, social security and equality than benefit from tax cuts for billionaires. So either the GOP must moderate its economic policies so that more than billionaires benefit or it will remain at best a legislative and not a national/executive party.
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Democrats will whine about the deficit, but not very loudly, and then enact all the tax cuts Republicans demand and get nothing in return. In the end, they’ll take it all out of your Social Security.
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If they would cut spending by 10% then everyone could get a very nice tax brake.
There is noting wrong with allowing the people of the state of Kansas to keep the money they earn.
break not brake. And I am all for cutting 10% out of the defense budget and getting rid of corporate welfare.
I do so wish more people would wake up tothe fact that Republicans are not the fiscally responsible party. 75% of our current debt, not deficit, are due directly to Republican policies. They took us from a creditor nation to a debtor nation. Their policies have never, I do mean NEVER, benefitted the economy as a whole. Under their policies the middle class started it precipitous slide into oblivion.
An important difference is that Democrats consistently dismiss warnings of an impending debt crisis, whereas Republicans continue to sound the alarm when it suits their immediate needs and ignore it when it doesn’t.
Hey! It’s that line everyone wants to see, where the “both sides do it” shoehorn narrative is abandoned for a clear judgement based on facts. Still, might be a little generous to the Democrats as a whole.
The state of PA is also in debt for over $1 Billion. Corbett gave way too many tax breaks to corporations, now he is in trouble. Same goes for Christie. These rethugs just love corporate welfare, but clearly have little use for “we the people”.
The GOP has cried wolf on debt so many times, and also demonstrated their utter mendacity on the subject, that if a Republican is saying it, about debt and/or taxes, I am ignoring it.
I don’t think I ever want to know another Republican’s worthless, ignorant, ill-advised, demonstrably wrong bullshit opinion on debt or deficit. Fuck what Republicans think.