Stevens makes the same point about fealty to tax cuts of the top rates as almost the only thing Republicans were unwilling to compromise on. So forgive me for being unclear. He just says that it didn’t really reflect seriousness about fiscal responsibility because you can’t have massive tax cuts while also increasing spending by somethin…
Stevens makes the same point about fealty to tax cuts of the top rates as almost the only thing Republicans were unwilling to compromise on. So forgive me for being unclear. He just says that it didn’t really reflect seriousness about fiscal responsibility because you can’t have massive tax cuts while also increasing spending by something like 186%. People think of Reagan as some great fiscal conservative but he ranks among the top 4 or 5 Presidents who were responsible for ballooning the federal deficit. In fact, he started that ball rolling! And unlike FDR who was fighting a massive Depression and a World War or Obama who had inherited the worst economic crisis of the time as well as two ongoing wars, Reagan’s main issue was a Cold War. And we can argue whether or not that merited the huge increase in military spending but it has been a feature to increase it ever since - whether in peace time or in war.
The only Republican President after that who was serious about fiscal policy and called Reagan’s trickle down economics “voodoo economics” was George HW Bush who was correct as history would bear out. His biggest sin was compromising with Democrats so he could cut spending by increasing taxes. And he was destroyed for it - by both the right and the left!
Even though because of what he had accomplished, Clinton was able to leave the White House with a budget surplus instead of a deficit! And instead of being praised for that by Republicans who claimed to care about fiscal responsibility, he was constantly maligned by Newt Gingrich for silly things like increasing spending for food stamps by something like an extra $2000/year.
This may sound like I support progressive policies like massive government spending and drenching the rich in taxes which I don’t! I believe in trying to balance budgets and bring down our federal debt to a number my brain has the capacity to conceive. After reading Stevens’ book (which is fantastic and you really should read!) I no longer believe that most Republicans leaders and voters - especially after Reagan ever sincerely believed in actual fiscal responsibility.
They love to raise a hue and cry about entitlement reform or repealing Obamacare or bailing out banks or Covid stimulus checks or student debt relief (much of which they’re justified on) but have they ever proposed a serious plan to curb spending on these of these issues?!?! Even when they controlled the WH and both houses of congress? No! Because these things are not popular with the base.
The only cards they play are cutting taxes while increasing spending, rolling back regulations and petty fights about the debt ceiling.
Then predictably they blame Democrats for being “fiscally irresponsible”, not doing enough to prevent pandemics and train disasters and bank collapses which were are systems that probably should be regulated based on the domino effect their failures cause. And somehow convincing voters that raising the debt ceiling is a “responsible” thing to do instead a fancy term for defaulting on loans, decreasing our credit rating and throwing the markets in to a mass panic.
Sincere belief in fiscal responsibility? Yeah - it was all a lie.
Stevens makes the same point about fealty to tax cuts of the top rates as almost the only thing Republicans were unwilling to compromise on. So forgive me for being unclear. He just says that it didn’t really reflect seriousness about fiscal responsibility because you can’t have massive tax cuts while also increasing spending by something like 186%. People think of Reagan as some great fiscal conservative but he ranks among the top 4 or 5 Presidents who were responsible for ballooning the federal deficit. In fact, he started that ball rolling! And unlike FDR who was fighting a massive Depression and a World War or Obama who had inherited the worst economic crisis of the time as well as two ongoing wars, Reagan’s main issue was a Cold War. And we can argue whether or not that merited the huge increase in military spending but it has been a feature to increase it ever since - whether in peace time or in war.
The only Republican President after that who was serious about fiscal policy and called Reagan’s trickle down economics “voodoo economics” was George HW Bush who was correct as history would bear out. His biggest sin was compromising with Democrats so he could cut spending by increasing taxes. And he was destroyed for it - by both the right and the left!
Even though because of what he had accomplished, Clinton was able to leave the White House with a budget surplus instead of a deficit! And instead of being praised for that by Republicans who claimed to care about fiscal responsibility, he was constantly maligned by Newt Gingrich for silly things like increasing spending for food stamps by something like an extra $2000/year.
This may sound like I support progressive policies like massive government spending and drenching the rich in taxes which I don’t! I believe in trying to balance budgets and bring down our federal debt to a number my brain has the capacity to conceive. After reading Stevens’ book (which is fantastic and you really should read!) I no longer believe that most Republicans leaders and voters - especially after Reagan ever sincerely believed in actual fiscal responsibility.
They love to raise a hue and cry about entitlement reform or repealing Obamacare or bailing out banks or Covid stimulus checks or student debt relief (much of which they’re justified on) but have they ever proposed a serious plan to curb spending on these of these issues?!?! Even when they controlled the WH and both houses of congress? No! Because these things are not popular with the base.
The only cards they play are cutting taxes while increasing spending, rolling back regulations and petty fights about the debt ceiling.
Then predictably they blame Democrats for being “fiscally irresponsible”, not doing enough to prevent pandemics and train disasters and bank collapses which were are systems that probably should be regulated based on the domino effect their failures cause. And somehow convincing voters that raising the debt ceiling is a “responsible” thing to do instead a fancy term for defaulting on loans, decreasing our credit rating and throwing the markets in to a mass panic.
Sincere belief in fiscal responsibility? Yeah - it was all a lie.