The Republican Party is famous, or rather infamous, for creating a vast majority of the national debt, and yet they keep on acting as if the Democratic Party are the villains in this regard!
George H. W. Bush, competing for the GOP Presidential nomination in 1980, attacked candidate Ronald Reagan’s claim that tax cuts would NOT cause an increase in the national debt! Bush called it “voodoo economics”! Of course, that is exactly what happened under Reagan, with a tripling of the national debt from one to three trillion dollars!
The first President Bush was more cautious on tax cuts, and actually increased taxes and was bitterly criticized by conservatives, which helped to cause his defeat in 1992!
His son, George W. Bush, managed to almost double the national debt from 5 to 10 trillion dollars, meaning just Reagan and the second Bush created nearly a 7 trillion dollar increase in the debt, much of it because of Reaganomics and Bushonomics, meaning tax cuts for the wealthy who had no need for it, as many themselves would admit!
Meanwhile, the national debt went up much more slowly under Jimmy Carter, often considered stingy in his desire to cut government spending and avoid major tax cuts! Under Bill Clinton, there was also a rise in taxes on the wealthy, and a more careful handling of the budget so as to add far less debt!
So under the first Bush, Carter and Clinton, only about 2 trillion dollars was added to the national debt, which was one trillion when Carter left office!
So the two Democratic Presidents were better at managing the national budget and avoiding major debt growth, while the two Republican Presidents added most of it, and father Bush added more than Carter and Clinton, but also kept the idea of “voodoo economics” in mind during his Presidency!
But now, in the midst of propaganda that giving the unemployed extra months of compensation in the worst economic climate since the 1930s will bust the budget and add to the debt, leading conservatives in the GOP argue that major tax cuts must continue to the wealthy!
Are these Republicans living in the real world, or are they just so lacking in concern about what they claim to be a major problem only when it affects average Americans? 🙁
Is this country to be run for the top two or three percent, or for the American people at large? 🙁
This is what Americans must consider as they go and vote this November in the midterm elections! Will they vote out of ignorance and fear, and allow name calling to determine their decision; or out of reality, common sense, and realization that they are being fed propaganda to manipulate them?
The future of this country, and getting out of this economic mess we call the Great Recession, is up for grabs, a terrifying scenario! 🙁