Sunday, September 21, 2014

Guess What? Republican Tax Cuts Don't Work, And The Only Thing That Trickles Down Is Deficits!


Guess What? Republican tax cuts don't work, and the only thing that trickles down is deficits. In the 2010 mid-term elections, the Republican Party had a field day. Due to lack of involvement the Democratic Party took the election off and will pay dividends for years because of it. Not only has it allowed for stalemate in our national and state-wide governance it has created a helpless state of gerrymandered safe-zones for Republicans.

It was about this time last year, when the GOP was ranting and raving about the unemployment, the ill effects of Obamacare, and how it was ruining our economy. And, of course, the deficit. Quite frankly, with a politically uneducated American electorate the GOP was salivating with talking points for the now nearing 2014 mid-term elections. What a difference a couple of good financial reports, in the last several months has had on erasing those aforementioned talking points. See, time is a revealer of the truth. As reported earlier this month, in a historically right-wing financial Bible for lack of term, "Forbes," it was indicated that, in fact, Obama has out-performed Reagan on jobs, growth, 


There is an example after example of how Republican ideology fails not just in the social arena but in the financial realm as well. Cases in point. In 2010, Kansas voted Republican Sam Brownback as its governor. He got right to work cutting taxes. One of the biggest realities that the Republican Party and its adherents tend to overlook is that when you cut taxes-"taxes get cut." Subsequently, revenue could not keep up with expenses that will create a shortfall of about $900 million by fiscal year 2019. [Source: Bloomberg Business Week] This action by the so-called Tea Party favorite Brownback got the states credit rating downgraded by Moody's Investment Services which stated it was the states tax plan that was the main reason for the downgrade.[Source: Washington Post

In 2010, a Republican Governor took over in the state of New Jersey. Chris Christie. You know the one-time Republican front-runner for president before." Bridgegate."[See Article] One of the first things Christie did once in office was to cut taxes. Once again, seemly shocked to realize that by cutting taxes you cut revenue the state had a whopping $807 million revenue shortfall which added yet another self-imposed misery on the  wonder-boy of the Republicans.[Source: NJ.Com


What is apparent to this writer is this is a trend. These are not isolated occurrences. In 2010, North Carolina elected Republican Pat McCory to be governor of that state. In step, with his republican ideology he gives the wealthy a tax cut which in turn blows up the state's budget. These tax cuts created a deficit to the tune of $445 million. [Source: WRAL.com] Once again, its like a reoccurring nightmare that will not go away. Tax cuts wreck economies, slowdown growth, and wipe-out job creation. In fact, as I reported back last year in a Liberal America article  the good Governor raised taxes on the poor and middle-class to attempt to soften the blow, which in practice gave many of the very people who voted for him in that state a tax hike.[See Article] What were the reasons for these failures? According, to these governors, it was Obama's fault. Right, blame it on the black guy. 

While these Republican Governors were busy blaming Obama for their failures, a report was released on a budget that Obama was the overseer of " The Federal Budget." which indicated a 107 billion dollar surplus.

“Compared to the size of the economy, the deficit in 2013 is much lower than in 2009, when Obama took office. The deficit will be 5.3 percent of gross domestic product this year, nearly half the 10.1 percent of GDP in 2009.” [Source: Forbes]

 Republican's, Have Tried To Focus Their Media Echo Chambers On False Scandals To Avoid The Reality Of Falling Deficits Under The Obama Administration. 

Deficits Have Lowered At A Historic Rate Under President Obama's Term.


Republicans have purposely ignored these historic reductions in our nations deficit under Obama. Over the course, of the last two years and the entire Obama term Washington has been eaten up with fake scandals and left field conspiracy theories. To be honest, it would be hard for the most dedicated political study to keep up with them all much-less a causal follower of politics. While the Republican Party was blowing our tax dollars trying to repeal Obamacare a law that the majority of Americans are in favor of and voted for in the last two elections. Is it not clear that the Republicans are suffering from a new form of political dysfunction called the ' Deficit Attention Disorder." In English,what this means is that the GOP does not want to face the music that the deficits are falling at a historic rate under Obama. This drop has been unexpected. And, the truth is it has caught the Republicans off-guard. One of their most relied talking points for the 2014 mid-terms has evaporated. In a Washington Post report, the Congressional Budget Office[CBO] claims the deficit problem has been solved for the next 10 years.  

The conundrum for the Tea Party, Republican Party, and Libertarian's is their mantra of public discourse, they're tried and true rallying cry, of how liberal and progressive policies,  are unsound  has been discredited by facts and empirical data. It's as if the. "carpet has been jerked from underneath their feet." All we have heard from the right from politicians like Sen. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is how Obama refuses to do anything about the debt crisis. A picture of the egg in the face comes to this writer's mind. Where are the Republicans celebrations? Where are the front page headlines? Where is Fox News telling us what a great day it is to be an American. Any logical person would think this economic upturn would draw praise from the right. But, the realities of this polarized world we live in comes into focus. All we have heard from the right is Benghazi-Benghazi-Benghazi.

As a writer, my goal is to make one think and ask questions. What were Republicans doing when all this good news about our nations economy hit? Trying to repeal Obamacare for the umpteen thousand time at a dastardly cost  of millions to We The People. We The People voted overwhelmingly for Obamacare, and to see it start to pay dividends and be a positive influence on these very deficit reductions brings the ole ' please pass the jelly," commercial to mind.

What is Obamacare?


One of the biggest determinants to our debt as a nation has been health care. With the implementation of Obamcare between 2009 and 2011, total health care spending grew at the slowest rate in the last five decades, at just 3.9 percent per year.[Source; New York Times]  Health care cost are coming down which was one of the goals of Obamacare. Where is the " that a boy,'" from the Republicans? As a student of politics all my life, this writer has insights on this question. When politicians in Washington are talking about deficits, in fact, they are not. Truth is republicans don't care about the deficit and haven't for a long time especially since Reagan. The reason the republicans are not lauding the president for lowering the deficit is that they don't care.

There Has Been One Person In Washington For Sure Who Cares About Deficits And He Now Has The Stats To Back It Up. 





What the Republican Party has done for decades now is use the deficit as a cloaking issue. As the House of Public Discourse reported just last month, the Republican Party relies heavily on  poor, uneducated white people for votes. They use this issue to get the base all riled up knowing that most of their constituents don't know or care that they the Republicans have been the biggest villains in terms of driving up our nations debt. George Bush, Jr ring a bell. If not, do a Google search on the growth of our nations debt under Reagan. What the Republican Party is sayings is they want to cut spending on social safety net programs and  first-step help initiatives to compensate for their giving the wealthiest members of our society tax cuts. These are the very tax cuts that have driven downgrades and revenue short- falls in mostly red states.

What is paramount in the now, is that the Republican Party once thought to be a shoe-in to take back the Senate and House and pick up more Governor seats is in serious jeopardy. With these vanishing talking points, the only real hope for  Republican's is a low voter turnout like in 2010. Many are predicting that to be the case. As a liberal progressive writer, I harken back to the ole baseball saying " say it isn't so, Joe." We will see if these predictors hold true. But, this writer is an optimist and Guess what? Republican tax cuts don't work, and the only thing that trickles down is deficits.

     

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