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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (115385)	8/31/2008 8:48:18 PM
From: Freedom Fighter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

skeeter, >when has this occurred within the last 60 years?< Well yes, it has been impossible to reduce the growth rate of spending because democrats want to accelerate it and republicans (prior to the Bush era when they also went on a drunken spending spree) have not had the courage to take a political hit by doing it. In theory it can be done though. We actually came close (or maybe even achieved it for awhile) when Gingrich had a ton of power in congress. Clinton was highly unpopular in the first couple of years of his presidency. So a lot of real conservative republicans came to power in congress. They kept spending (and Clinton) in check while he raised taxes. The combination was quite effective when coupled with the bubble. But even without the bubble, Gingrich did a great job. That's why the dems did such a hatchet job on him. He was actually forcing sensible welfare reform, holding the line on spending etc... on Clinton. So they had to get rid of him. I'm not saying he was a saint or anything, but that was a very effective period. The deficit and debt are what they are. They are very manageable now. The 40 trillion number (or whatever it actually is) is the unfunded promises from SS and medicare that were promised to us by government expansionists. They are "promises". Promises can be broken. And if they aren't, that's when we get into massive tax increases, inflation etc... IMO, the bottom line is that given the long term fiscal realities, anyone that is promising more government is either insane or an idiot.