The entirety of the federal debt is the consequence of accumulated Republican deficit spending, first under Reagan and Bush and then, following Clintons transformation of then-record deficits into record surpluses, Bush II coming along and turning them back into new record deficits, with two unfunded wars, tax cuts and corporate welfare for the few richest elites and failure to apply executive oversight over regulation of financial and capital markets leading to an economic collapse that Obama came along and rescued from free fall. To the extent possible to work around unprecedented Republican obstruction and filibuster abuse (the president is not a dictator; cant unilaterally act to reverse military and contractual obligations Bush and a RepubliCON CONgress locked us into and obstruct efforts to reverse), Obama has had amazing success in cutting back the size of government. The number of federal employees is DOWN and if Obama had the same number of federal employees as Bush did, unemployment would be below 6%; the difference is that all the employment gains have been PRIVATE SECTOR and GOVERNMENT IS SMALLER under Obama. And even though we have not cut the Bush deficits into surplus territory yet, each year after Obamas first year in office, the deficit, while still in negative territory, has been smaller each year and is currently smaller than when Bush left office. The only two presidents to balance the budget in the last FIFTY YEARS were Lyndon Baines Johnson (FY 1969, passed in Feb 1968, despite the costs of the Vietnam War, Apollo Space program and War on Poverty, while he had a 70% top marginal tax rate) and Bill Clinton, who had four straight surplus budgets after he passed Reinventing Government (REIGO) without one single Republican vote. The CONservatives have a lot of nerve to try to lecture PROgressives on fiscal responsibility. The military, tax and economic commitments that Bush locked us into are still in place, and unprecedented Republican obstruction and filibuster abuse have blocked Obama from instituting extensive systemic remediation to correct the tax policy, reapply executive oversight in financial and capital markets and, most importantly, to reverse the trend of off-shoring (or outsourcing) of jobs from American workers to cheap child labor in Asia, in which Romney was, in the words of the Washington Post, a pioneer. To expand the tax base (and provide economic relief for working people) the Democrats sought every single year to enact legislation that would provide tax breaks for specific, targeted DOMESTIC job creation, eliminate tax exemptions for off-shoring, and provide tax credits tied directly to domestic jobs created, expanding the tax base and reducing the need for remedial spending. Specifically: HR 4213 (2010) American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act S 782 (2011) Economic Development Revitalization Act S 3364 (2012) American Jobs Act, a.k.a.: “Bring Jobs Home Act.” Each of the above was either filibustered by Senate Republicans when Dems controlled the House, or subsequently blocked by House Republicans. When I have examined the specific proposals in these bills, all of which were originally co-sponsored by Republicans (including some who later voted to filibuster), I have never found any Republican who could identify a single specific proposal they objected to. And the most shameful obstruction was for Republicans to filibuster the bill to promote domestic job development for the brave veterans who they sent into war, but whom they discard like so much human detritus upon their return. S 3457 (2012) Veterans Job Corps Act It would be a moral offense against humanity if Republicans could succeed year after year in blocking specific job development proposals and then have the nerve to call themselves the party of “fiscal responsibility.” Well said Mr. Dunn. Thank you for allowing us to share this post.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Dec 2013 15:14:11 +0000