Republicans only care about debt when there's a Democrat in the White House

[Soph0571]

Yet Trump is no aberration; nor is he an outlier in his party. The reality is that there has never been any kind of “ideological consistency” in favour of balanced budgets or “loathing” of deficit spending on the part of the GOP. Rather, Republicans cynically scream about debts and deficits when a Democrat is in the White House, only to then run up much bigger debts and deficits once a Republican takes over the top job.

Consider the historical record. Except for Barack Obama, who entered office in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, every single Democratic president of the postwar period (Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton) has reduced the national debt as a proportion of GDP. In stark contrast, none of the Republican presidents since Richard Nixon left office in 1974 – Ford, Reagan, Bush Sr, Bush Jr – have been able to do the same.

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Remember: there is nothing new to this Republican scam. Reagan administration officials back in the 1980s called it “starving the beast”: cut taxes on the rich; increase spending on defence; force up borrowing levels; and then insist on savage cuts to social spending to balance the books. It’s all a big con. They don’t actually care about the deficit; to quote Dick Cheney, speaking in private during the first term of the Bush Jr presidency, “deficits don’t matter”.

[link:https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2018/02/republicans-only-care-about-debt-when-there-s-democrat-white-house|

[dchill]

1. Debt AND Russians.

[Sherman A1]

2. Not really anything new,

they have been at this balderdash for as long as I remember.

The rules don’t apply to Republicans. The sooner that one understands and accepts that as a base point in the discussion, the sooner that one’s Head hurts less.

[Vogon_Glory]

3. Id give Gerald Ford pass

I still believe that Gerald Ford was the last Republican President who was serious about doing something about the deficit. However, I’d point out to both rookies and self-appointed keepers of the liberal flame that Gerald Ford is the sort of Republican who’d be run out of office by today’s Republican Party.

Gerald Ford-style Republicanism is extinct. It was wiped out by Radical Right RINO hunters.

[Wounded Bear]

6. Ford was run out of office...

because he signed a tax increase bill.

[Vogon_Glory]

9. I believe that was Bush the Elder

Gerald Ford was President before Grover Norquist and Company made chanting the “No New Taxes” mantra compulsory for Republicans.

Back to my main point. The 1976 Presidential election was over forty years ago. The next Republican President has advisors who said that “deficits don’t matter.” Gerald Ford-style Republicanism is extinct.

[Wounded Bear]

10. You're right...

[chuckstevens]

4. And thus they should not be given ANY credibility on the economy ever again!

All we heard about during Bill Clinton and Barack Obama's presidency was the deficit (created by their Republican predecessors) had to be brought down or it was the end of America. Remember the tantrums they threw over raising the debt ceiling with President Obama?

For the 3rd time now, they took over, raised the deficit by passing huge tax cuts for the wealthy, and raise the debt ceiling with not a single objection, even from phony Rand Paul.

ZERO CREDIBILITY ON THE ECONOMY SHOULD BE THE DEMOCRATIC MANTRA!

[workinclasszero]

5. Same as it ever was....

Republicans spend like drunken sailors when in power and destroy the economy, every time.

[Guilded Lilly]

7. We are always victims of the big con. It is a driving force

behind Democracy, sadly.

A morally twisted group of cloned men under the cover of a disingenuously patriotic political party agenda step away from the masses going about the battle of daily existence and plot to control the big con.

Lie to the masses, appeal to the ideals, promise the calmest moon and brightest sun, give us just enough hope and opportunity to believe in the dream~ then steal our livelihoods our health our earth ( that was originally and violently stolen under a different big con)
Rinse, repeat.
Rinse, repeat.
Rinse, repeat.
After all, there is always a new generation born, in larger numbers to replace the dying, jaded, worn out, conned-out souls that bought into the cycle of hope previously and were beaten down by the avarice and obsessive self-serving of the men performing the big con. There are always more minds and bodies and wills to con and control by gender, ethnic, educational, civil rights and wrongs.

But therein is the kicker. The newer generation. The real saviors beyond religious hypocrisy. The real warriors of the hope battles. The energy source for the dream, fueled by the experience of the bone-tired, still fiercely kicking older generation but also driven by horrific need for self preservation in a brutally dangerous social environment created by the big con.

The newer generation, once awakened from a combination of youthful complacency or innocence or even ignorance and despair, will see the con for what it is. They’ll be smarter faster. They’ll be braver earlier. They will have the tools and global communications to “see” the con for what it is and “in numbers too big to ignore” they will resist, revolt, rejuvenate the soul of hope.

CORRECTION...they are awakened. They do see. They have the tools. They are sparking new life and purpose into the still existing, beaten down but not out “elders” who have been there done that...but not with the same insane risks.

The combination is awesome.

The big con will be brought down by the very people they played.

As horrific and battering as it is in getting there, I intend on sticking around to experience the end of this rinse cycle. And do my part in preventing the repeat.

[rock]

8. He has no sense

Therefore no ideology. He's brainless.