Stangled By Debt
Strangled By Debt
Junious Ricardo Stanton
“One of the most damaging effects of rising debt is
rapidly growing interest costs. Under current law, CBO projects that interest
payments on the debt will triple over the next 30 years, climbing from 1.8
percent of GDP in 2019 to 5.7 percent in 2049. In 30 years, CBO projects that
interest costs alone could be more than twice what the federal government has
historically spent on R&D, nondefense infrastructure, and education combined.” The Fiscal and Economic Challenge https://www.pgpf.org/the-fiscal-and-economic-challenge
While
the media and the Democrats hyperventilate, shriek and scream about Trump’s
phone calls to Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky, the US US
Americans
are conditioned and programmed to have short memories so we’ve forgotten how
inept George W. Bu$h was, how the worst handling and responses to a criminal
event (9-11) happened on his watch. During his time as president there were no
serious investigations of what happened (the 9-11 Commission Report was a sham
and a whitewash), no firings or demotions of any military or civilian personnel
who were in a position to know or thwart the “attacks”, nothing.
Let’s
not forget Bu$h’s reckless fiscal policies, his bone headed tax cuts based on
the bogus notion of a trickle down theory and his handling of the Wall Street
caused financial implosion. Bu$h and Trump like Ronald Reagan were able to use
the US
Reagan’s blunders created massive government revenue
shortages which cost George H.W. Bu$h his shot at a second term because he was
forced to raise taxes to offset the damage done by Ronald Reagan’s economic
policies. Ironically Bu$h called Reagan’s ideas “Voodoo economics” when he ran
against him in the Republican presidential primary. Republican and right wing historiography
tout Reagan as a hero, and economic genius, but in reality he was a dim witted ideologue.
“As
projections for the deficit worsened, it became clear that the 1981 tax cut was
too big. So with Reagan’s signature, Congress undid a good chunk of the 1981
tax cut by raising taxes a lot in 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1987. George H.W. Bush
signed another tax increase in 1990 and Bill Clinton did the same in 1993. One
lesson from that history: When tax cuts are really too big to be sustainable,
they’re often followed by tax increases.” https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2017/12/08/what-we-learned-from-reagans-tax-cuts/
Even though Bu$h and his successor
Bill Clinton were forced to raise taxes to undo Reagan’s damage, the dye was
cast. Trickle down economics would become a rallying cry for the Republicans and
the 1% ers for years to come.
What Republicans failed to do in
conjunction with their massive tax cuts was cut government spending. You can’t
diminish revenues while increasing your spending and think you will balance your
budget or gain a surplus; its impossible! Regardless of the reasons for increased
government spending: unnecessary wars, emergencies like floods and hurricane
relief or just plain cronyism and corruption, when you do this after cutting a
main source of government revenue (taxes) you are courting disaster.
Today the United States
The ruling class finds itself in a bind
but we also share responsibility for this mess. Their unhinged fiscal policies
and our own foolishness for spending beyond our means, falling for their pervasive
spend, buy, consume media campaigns and their promotion of crass materialism
and hedonism are the reasons we are in this predicament. Only by reversing these trends can we avoid
the consequences our actions are creating.
-30-
posted by Junious Ricardo Stanton @ 8:19 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home