GOP WARNED ON BALANCED BUDGET PLEDGE

[Panich52]

Leading deficit hawk warns GOP balanced budget in 10 years means unrealistic cuts. Politico:

“‘It will be about $5.5 trillion to get us to balance in 10 years,’ Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget told the [Senate Budget Committee]. ‘Just to put that in perspective that’s eight times the size of the [2012] fiscal cliff deal and it’s 65 times the size of the [2013] Ryan Murray deal which you recall we didn’t stick to for very long.’ … a second witness, Mark Blyth of the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University, warned that Republicans must learn from the experience in Europe where he said too much austerity worsened budget problems by stifling growth … ‘You don’t really have a spending problem. You have a revenue problem,’ Blyth said.”

More
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/senate-budget-committee-gop-deficit-115992.html?hp=r2_4



“Republicans Vie Over Who Can Cut Taxes Most as Deficit Shrinks” reports Bloomberg:

“Senator Marco Rubio of Florida kicked off the competition with his plan to boost economic growth by slashing taxes on investments, wages and business income. Even the plan’s proponents concede it would reduce tax collections by at least $1.7 trillion in the first decade, largely favoring the top 1 percent of Americans over the middle class … Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky says he will propose the biggest tax cut in U.S. history. Rick Perry and Rick Santorum, both considering repeat presidential campaigns, ran on reducing taxes four years ago and would be expected to do so again.”

More
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-03-12/republicans-vie-over-who-can-cut-taxes-most-as-deficit-shrinks

[tosh]

1. "'You have a revenue problem,’ Blyth said."

Word.

[Gman]

2. Exactly

[maxrandb]

3. This "Tax-cut" thing is a broken record

but it's like a drug to them. After being irrelevant and in the wilderness for pretty much the entire early part of the 20TH century, including being beaten in 6 consecutive Presidential Elections (4 Times by the same guy!), along came this "grandfatherly, Hollywood trained - awwshucks" guy who sold Tax Cuts as the panacea to all ills.

They absolutely can't let go of this, or give even an inch, because that would require them to admit that they may have been wrong. That's why the only proposal that you ever hear from these folks is more tax cuts.

- Running a deficit? Tax Cut
- Running a surplus? Tax Cut
- Peace? Tax Cut
- War? Tax Cut
- Boom? Tax Cut
- Bust? Tax Cut

Of course, they wouldn't do this if it weren't effective...and it is. They've discovered that telling Americans that you are "for" tax cuts, is like telling them they can eat all the pizza they want and never have to eat a vegetable.

Want to know why Repukes win? It's because a majority of Americans are like children, and Republicans have convinced them that they will give them Ice Cream and candy (Tax Cuts), and Democrats will give them Brussels Sprouts and Spinach (Reality...and better for you).

How the fuck hard is it to sell tax cuts? Everyone either hates them, or looks at them as a necessary "evil". All you have to do is remove the "necessary" part, and they become just plain evil.

[mmonk]

4. They balanced a budget?