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Guns Guns Guns
Guest
Who’s Mike Lofgren, and why should I care, you may be wondering?
Why, he’s a retired congressional staffer.
In fact, he’s a Republican.
He worked in both the House and Senate Budget Committees.
In his piece, Lofgren the Republican discusses the budget deficit, and explains (as very few do on the Tee Vee Machine) that raising the debt ceiling is not about more spending. It’s about paying back what we already owe, and that we must pay “for past congressional decisions on taxes and spending, and those decisions were made primarily when Republicans were in charge.”
He should know.
He also points out that the GOP, while heaping the blame on Democrats, hasn’t exactly come up with any ideas of their own.
Here's what he says:
The failure of our leaders to offer realistic budget proposals was a major reason I decided to retire after 28 years in Congress, most of them as a professional staff member on the Republican side of both the House and Senate Budget Committees.
My party talks a good game, railing about the immorality of passing debt on to our children.
But the same Congressional Budget Office that punctured Obama's budget also concluded that the major policies that swung the budget from a projected 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion in 2001 to the present 10-year deficit of $6.2 trillion were Republican in origin.
Consider the two signature GOP policies of George W. Bush's presidency: the wars and the tax cuts. Including debt service costs, Bush's wars have cost about $1.7 trillion to date. Additionally, as part of being "a nation at war," the Pentagon has spent about $1 trillion more than was expected in the last decade on things other than direct war costs, which has been a bonanza for military contractors but a disaster for the federal budget.
And finally, there has been another trillion dollars spent domestically in response to 9/11, including spending on such things as establishing the Homeland Security Department and increasing the budgets for the State Department and the Veterans Administration.
The Bush tax cuts have added another $3 trillion in red ink.
While Republican leaders wail that Americans — particularly their rich contributors — are overtaxed, the facts say otherwise: U.S. taxpayers, particularly the wealthiest, pay far less in taxes than they would in most other developed countries.
Today, the 400 wealthiest Americans have as much wealth as the bottom 125 million. The GOP insists that those wealthy people use their money to create jobs, and that taxing them more heavily would ultimately hurt the economy.
But, if that's so, why was the rate of job creation in the decade after the Bush tax cuts the poorest in any decade since before World War II?
Like a drunk swearing off hooch for the hundredth time, Republicans are now trying to show they are serious about controlling the deficit by saying they won't raise the debt ceiling unless they get through some of their cost-saving projects, like privatizing Medicare.
Meanwhile, they want revenue increases "off the table," even though, at 14.8% of GDP, revenues are at their lowest level in 60 years.
And the budget passed by the Republican-controlled House further cuts taxes on the wealthy, a fact it glosses over with optimistic growth forecasts.
Raising the debt ceiling isn't, as the GOP tries to say, Congress giving itself permission to continue excessive spending: It's something that's necessary to pay for past congressional decisions on taxes and spending, and those decisions were made primarily when Republicans were in charge.
No one wants to have to raise the debt ceiling..
The policy of full faith and credit, constructed by Alexander Hamilton more than two centuries ago, has served us well. We shouldn't abandon it to a misplaced ideology.
Polarization based on juvenile talk radio sloganeering is dragging this country to the cliff's edge.
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2011/06/26/retired-gop-congressional-staffer-bush-tax-cuts-didnt-create-jobs-budget-deficits-were-republican-in-origin/
Why, he’s a retired congressional staffer.
In fact, he’s a Republican.
He worked in both the House and Senate Budget Committees.
In his piece, Lofgren the Republican discusses the budget deficit, and explains (as very few do on the Tee Vee Machine) that raising the debt ceiling is not about more spending. It’s about paying back what we already owe, and that we must pay “for past congressional decisions on taxes and spending, and those decisions were made primarily when Republicans were in charge.”
He should know.
He also points out that the GOP, while heaping the blame on Democrats, hasn’t exactly come up with any ideas of their own.
Here's what he says:
The failure of our leaders to offer realistic budget proposals was a major reason I decided to retire after 28 years in Congress, most of them as a professional staff member on the Republican side of both the House and Senate Budget Committees.
My party talks a good game, railing about the immorality of passing debt on to our children.
But the same Congressional Budget Office that punctured Obama's budget also concluded that the major policies that swung the budget from a projected 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion in 2001 to the present 10-year deficit of $6.2 trillion were Republican in origin.
Consider the two signature GOP policies of George W. Bush's presidency: the wars and the tax cuts. Including debt service costs, Bush's wars have cost about $1.7 trillion to date. Additionally, as part of being "a nation at war," the Pentagon has spent about $1 trillion more than was expected in the last decade on things other than direct war costs, which has been a bonanza for military contractors but a disaster for the federal budget.
And finally, there has been another trillion dollars spent domestically in response to 9/11, including spending on such things as establishing the Homeland Security Department and increasing the budgets for the State Department and the Veterans Administration.
The Bush tax cuts have added another $3 trillion in red ink.
While Republican leaders wail that Americans — particularly their rich contributors — are overtaxed, the facts say otherwise: U.S. taxpayers, particularly the wealthiest, pay far less in taxes than they would in most other developed countries.
Today, the 400 wealthiest Americans have as much wealth as the bottom 125 million. The GOP insists that those wealthy people use their money to create jobs, and that taxing them more heavily would ultimately hurt the economy.
But, if that's so, why was the rate of job creation in the decade after the Bush tax cuts the poorest in any decade since before World War II?
Like a drunk swearing off hooch for the hundredth time, Republicans are now trying to show they are serious about controlling the deficit by saying they won't raise the debt ceiling unless they get through some of their cost-saving projects, like privatizing Medicare.
Meanwhile, they want revenue increases "off the table," even though, at 14.8% of GDP, revenues are at their lowest level in 60 years.
And the budget passed by the Republican-controlled House further cuts taxes on the wealthy, a fact it glosses over with optimistic growth forecasts.
Raising the debt ceiling isn't, as the GOP tries to say, Congress giving itself permission to continue excessive spending: It's something that's necessary to pay for past congressional decisions on taxes and spending, and those decisions were made primarily when Republicans were in charge.
No one wants to have to raise the debt ceiling..
The policy of full faith and credit, constructed by Alexander Hamilton more than two centuries ago, has served us well. We shouldn't abandon it to a misplaced ideology.
Polarization based on juvenile talk radio sloganeering is dragging this country to the cliff's edge.
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2011/06/26/retired-gop-congressional-staffer-bush-tax-cuts-didnt-create-jobs-budget-deficits-were-republican-in-origin/