It's the media's fault...

[kentuck]

Our country is in dangerous waters right now with our huge deficits and debt. Ronald Reagan tried the experiment in the 1980s and it failed. Cut taxes and then, all the extra revenues from the growth will more than make up for whatever deficits that might appear. But it didn't work out that way. It ended up with the working people paying more in taxes to make up for what was given to the wealthy - even taxed unemployment benefits.

Then along came Dubya in 2000 and he revived the failed policies of Reagan and cutting taxes - with the intent of making government smaller. The media should have reminded people that it had been tried and failed. Even Reagan knew it had failed. The Social Security Commission that raised FICA taxes on working people was primarily the reason the deficits were brought under some control in the 1980's. Dubya thinks "big government" is still too big. He's still trying to wrestle it into the bathtub so he can drown it.

When Poppa Bush left office, he had the largest deficits in history, at that time. "Read my lips" became his siren song. But Bill Clinton came along with fiscally responsible ideas, with the assistance of the technological revolution, and was able to get the deficits under control, and in fact, was running a huge surplus when he left office.

But the media said nothing when Dubya got the old ideas of supply side out of the mothballs. And we are where we are today. If they had only reported the danger of his policies???

[dbt]

1. I hope America lasts long enough

for scholarly analysis of how the mass media rolled over for bu$hler about the time he announced for the presidency--and how they've been doing it 24/7 since. The media's treatment of Clinton vs. its absolute and unashamed whoring for bu$h should consume several chapters in a small type face.

(The aforementioned analysis should only occur after public flogging of every talking head on every network, BTW.)

[Skidmore]

2. You are so right. What this thread bring to mind is

a portion of an interview Chris Mathews did last week with someone whose face I didn't recognize. Mathews was screaming at this man who was trying to make the point that he believed the media was complicit in covering for the Swift Boat guys. Mathews looked stunned for a second and said "Oh my God, you are blaming us." and then started screeching. Did any one else see this? It was very revealing. Mathews had that "deer in the headlights" look for a brief instant before he regrouped.

[cestpaspossible]

3. I hope everytime anyone here consumes any corporate media product

they don't forget they are reading corporate propoganda, not journalism.

[Vinca]

4. They were too busy reporting on MJ's jammies. n/t

[seabeyond]

5. a year and then two years after tax cut, reagan

implemented tax increases, so didnt even work immediately after reagans little experiment, just as it isnt working for bushie boy

[BlueManDude]

7. there are times for tax cuts

reagan was right to look at some regulations and some tax cuts. many of the deregulatory moves were bad and the tax cuts created defecits. that said a different direction was probably best for the country at that point.

trouble with the gop on the fed level is that it's all tax cuts all the time. that's the only play in their playbook and it ain't working now.

[BlueManDude]

6. yet the myth of the gop as the "fiscally responsible party" persists.

the media is indeed the problem.