Our Budget and Finances are Exactly Where Republicans Wanted Them To Be

I’m amazed at how little has been mentioned about the real reason that our state and federal budgets are where they are. When I am saying that, I’m not talking about the details of spending or revenue, I am talking about one party’s MOTIVATION for keeping the spending and revenue in the general trajectory they have been for the last 30 years.

As we can see from the graph, the modern practice of out of control deficit spending started with Ronald Reagan, continued under George H. W. Bush, was reversed by President Clinton, and then re-initiated with wild abandon by George W. Bush. President Obama and his fiscal policies are a separate case that I will discuss in future articles, but in the 28-year period between January 1981 and January 2009, all three Republican Presidents were guilty of financial irresponsibility and the one Democratic President was fiscally responsible.

What is it about these Republican Presidents that caused them to act this way? Is there a philosophy and strategy behind it?

The answer is YES. As I talked about in the link below in my appearance today on Peter Lavelle’s CrossTalk show on the Russia Today network, Republicans have been operating under a strategy called “Starve the Beast” since Reagan’s days in office.

Link to appearance on RT: http://rt.com/programs/crosstalk/american-demos-wisconsin-protest/

Wikipedia defines “Starve the Beast” as:

“…a fiscal-political strategy of some American conservatives to create or increase existing budget deficits via tax cuts to force future reductions in the size of government. The term “beast” refers to the government and the programs it funds, particularly social programs such as welfare, Social Security, Medicare and public schools.”

Read more at http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2011/03/07/our-budget-and-finances-are-exactly-where-republicans-wanted-them-to-be/#more-2243

like most of the voters in America.

I think if people had been paying attention, you would have 85 Democratic Senators and 300 Democrats in the House.

repukes are concerned.

they are advocating for war in Libya. Money well spent....oh hell no!

K&R

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/84371/wisconsin-walker-republicans-shutdown

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has used his state’s budget deficit as an excuse to attack collective-bargaining rights. He argues that Wisconsin simply can’t afford collective bargaining. Nevertheless, as has widely been reported, his claimed $137 million deficit could be addressed without touching these rights. Indeed, it’s simply false to argue that eliminating collective bargaining has really anything to do with the budget deficit, especially since unions have already offered pay concessions.

But what is most surprising about Walker’s attack on collective bargaining is its speed. Walker was sworn in on January 3. He announced his proposal to strip collective-bargaining rights for public employees barely a month later, on February 11. (Despite his statements to the contrary, Walker did not campaign on this in his election.) A mere five days after the proposal was unveiled, the Wisconsin Senate Finance Committee held a markup and public hearing of the bill, and voted to pass it, on a party-line vote, in the dead of night. The bill also passed the Assembly with only Republican votes. Only because Democrats have fled to deny it a quorum has the bill been stopped in the Senate.

Remember when national Republicans claimed that the health care reform bill, which had been deliberated for a full year before it passed, was being “rammed through”? Senate Republicans, even some of the moderates, argued that the bill needed more time for consideration. They claimed Democrats were moving too fast, not listening to the American people, and misreading their mandate, even though President Obama campaigned on health care for two years. But now that Walker, one of their own, is actually doing the exact things they once criticized, Republicans in Washington don’t seem to care. Even the local Chamber of Commerce in Wisconsin, typically a more conservative body, has been repelled by Walker’s speedy tactics, saying, “Given this state’s long history of collective bargaining, policy changes of this magnitude should be thoroughly debated for an adequate period of time, in good faith by both sides, with all potential consequences considered. Currently, that is not happening.” But the national GOP, again, is silent.

Perhaps this is because national Republicans are using Walker-like tactics in Washington. With the deficit as an excuse, they have used the threat of a government shutdown as a cudgel to try to force the president to accept their deep cuts in programs that help our economy grow and help the neediest amongst us. Indeed, House Republicans have tried to attach $100 billion in cuts to a continuing resolution that would allow the government to continue functioning for the last seven months of this fiscal year. Those cuts would devastate children, taking $1 billion from Head Start and more than $1.7 billion from children’s health and nutrition programs. It also would include cuts to poison control centers and food safety, including eliminating many food inspectors. But not only do these cuts hurt people, they also hurt economic growth. A new report from Goldman Sachs found that the GOP’s cuts could slash growth for the rest of 2011 in half, and Mark Zandi, McCain’s economist during the 2008 campaign, found that it would cost the country 700,000 jobs.

nonsense from the Republicans...

There is no comeback for this. We can beat them to death with their own words if we decide to do it.