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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RMF who wrote (8931)	12/10/2006 11:58:12 AM
From: American Spirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224724

The GOP has a problem on fiscal discipline. The problem is that it believes the myth that if you lower taxes it increases revenue. That is simply doltish and against the laws of gravity. It is true that sometimes infusions of cash into the private sector (rather than the public sector) spur more growth, but clearly the government would be getting fewer revenues 90% of the time. The exception is when there is a particularly major boost in capital gains taxes collected. But CLinton raised taxes and did even better, on all fronts. The other myth is that raising taxes kills the economy. We al hate taxes but guess what, the markets love balanced books and budget surpluses. So when Clinton (and GHW Bush) raised taxes, the economy gradually took off, and in a much more sustainable manner. The problem with GW and Reagan's growth spurts was that it was all largely deficit driven, and at some point the tab has to be paid off. Which the next presdient and congress will face. Plus the war spending boost the economy but is really a negative, especially since it's all borrowed money. Finally, the GOP has a problem because they'd love to abolish Social Security and Medcicare but they can't, because the programs are popular, because people have already paid into them and deserve returns, and because dammit, those "socialistic" programs actually work. And they'd work even better if we got the private sector even more out of them. Like being able to negotiate for the lowest possible drug prices. Huge huge budget-busting item right there. democrats have a problem because the GOP is running up huge deficits then daring them to raise taxes, which can hurt Dems politically. But hopefully voters start seeing through that old GOP trick. Paying off debts is not a bad thing. In fact it needs to be done.