So the Republican-right’s story (and they’re sticking to it!) is that it is the Democrats and President Obama who are responsible for our country’s deficits. Well, go ahead, just forget the facts: Bill Clinton not only lowered deficits, but actually left a SURPLUS for George Bush’s administration.
The last time the fiscal picture looked really good was under Democrat Bill Clinton — and that surplus was from an increase of taxes on the wealthiest citizens. Did the “fiscally responsible” W. use that surplus to shore up Social Security or to pay down the debt? Naw, he gave it all away (and more) in tax cuts that didn’t boost the economy at all, just left enormous deficits. In fact, the most tepid economic growth and employment growth occurred after all W.’s tax breaks that mainly benefited the upper classes.
And, let us not forget the infamous statement by ‘President’ Cheney: “Deficits don’t matter.” The right is really good at re-writing history. They’re so good at it because they have SO much practice!
We do have a long-term problem with our deficit spending and our debt. The current meme from the far-right is that “America is going to be just like Greece if we don’t immediately cut the size of government.” But we are not Greece (which is close to bankruptcy) or anywhere near it. However, that does not seem to stop the far-right from trying to make the comparison.
Liz Cheney, right-wing attack pooch, actually asserts that the USA should adopt Greece’s austerity program! This would devastate our fledgling economic recovery and throw us right back into a severe recession, as it will Greece. It will be decades before Greece works its way out of this disaster. But Greece has no choice, unless it wants to pull out of the eurozone and try to inflate its way out of this economic pickle. Our country DID have a choice, and the administration chose the right path with its bold action early in President Obama’s term.
The right’s comparison between Greece and our nation falls apart when faced with the facts: Greece’s economy is contracting and our economy is growing. And (due to fears over the Euro) the value of the dollar is actually going up. Greece is in danger of defaulting because it is unable to service their debt — because it doesn’t control its currency (the Euro). The United States is no longer in danger of defaulting, thanks to the TARP, maneuvers by the Fed, and the stimulus.
What we see unwinding in Europe is the reality of what would have happened in our country if Republicans had been in charge. Germany’s leadership in Europe has been ultra-conservative in its approach to the worldwide economic crisis. They resisted both economic stimulus and providing economic support to other European countries — while our nation provided a jolt to our economy early in the crisis with a healthy stimulus and support to the states.
The US survived the crisis and has a growing economy; Europe has gotten worse and now the crisis threatens to spread, putting the Euro and the entire global economy at risk. Germany has finally gotten the wake-up call and, better-late-than-never, acted by agreeing to a massive bailout for Greece. If Merkel had been willing to act earlier, as the Obama Administration advised, the bailout would have been much smaller.
But conservatives aren’t even close to letting go of their failed economic ideology, despite all the evidence that their old ideas just don’t work. So, get ready to hear a lot about how America is heading toward becoming the new Greece.
Republican ideas to bring the deficit under control do not meet the test of creating a country with widely shared economic growth — which is the only goal that will ensure a healthy, prosperous economy for all. The economy we’ve had for the last 30 years (created by Ronald Reagan and the conservative movement) has left our middle and working classes behind, while rewarding the top 1-2%. And today, the wrong-headed fiscal hawks on Wall Street want to cut the deficit by cutting payments to Social Security recipients, or by cutting important programs like education.
This is no long-term plan for a healthy economy – in fact, we need to increase (not decrease) our investment in education across the board in order to really turbo-charge our economic growth for the future. And cutting Social Security payments only diminishes the wide distribution of income that is necessary to ensure long-term growth.
The right tells us that we can’t afford our social safety-net. But the fact is this: it isn’t that we can’t afford it, it is that the wealthiest among us have taken for themselves the largest portion of the income gains. The system is not fair, and it has been rigged by the conservative movement over the last 30 years.
It’s really pretty disgusting to watch the bonus-babies on Wall Street pocket their ill-gotten gains (after causing this crisis) and then turn around and tell those on Social Security that they have to take cuts on their fixed-incomes for the good of the country! Hey, where’s your patriotism and sacrifice for country?
In fact, one way to help get the long-term deficit under control is to impose big increases in taxes on what speculators like the Wall Street bankers and Paris Hilton pay to live in the country that has been sooo good to them.
And, Social Security can be made solvent by simply increasing the cap on incomes that must pay Social Security taxes to include the top 1-2%. Currently, Social Security taxes are only paid on the first $100,000 — the rest of their millions and billions do NOT get taxed for the program.
We need to protect Medicare and our new Health Care program. And we have to double efforts to keep a handle on rising costs for both programs, but we need to also ensure that these programs are strong.
It was the policies of Wall Street, the Republicans, and the Chamber of Commerce that exploded the deficits and paved the way for the economic crisis we are just now coming out of. Cutting taxes for the wealthy, removing regulations on businesses, and saber-rattling around the world has almost destroyed our nation. And they have the nerve to point the finger at Democrats!
We tried it their way, and look where it got us. The right is wrong, wrong, wrong. It is their short-term vision that has back-fired so badly. We need to look to the long-term for our economic path, to ensure that our nation is fiscally responsible while it stimulates across the board economic growth for all — not just the few at the top.
The ideas being proposed by Republicans can sound so logical: we have debt and deficit-spending, therefore we must cut spending to the bone. Sounds right, right? Actually, the opposite is right: to tackle our debt and deficits we need to grow our economy and create jobs, which will provide more income in taxes, which will be used to reduce the deficits!
We do also need to have a holistic approach to reducing deficits. We need to restructure our tax system, reduce healthcare expenditures, and, yes, make some fixes to Social Security and Medicaid — without leaving our aging generations adrift and on their own. For those of us blessed to have faith that government can work for the American people, there is still HOPE.
“right-wing attack pooch” LOL