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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wayners who wrote (768607)	2/18/2009 11:50:06 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769667

(Why not tell me something that I don't already know?) PS, Wayne... 36% of the new stimulus bill consists of tax reductions, (so that's... what? About $282 Billion out of the $786 Billion total, right). Now... it's true (with static analysis, not a dynamic analysis which would assume that some portion of the lost revenue from lowered taxes would be recaptured down-the-line from higher baseline growth rates...) that that $282 Billion in tax cuts gets marked-up as a 'direct addition' to the federal national debt, insofar as the government must then borrow exactly that much more to cover ongoing expenses.... But that is exactly the same argument that can be made about Bush's tax cuts.... Now, the spending portion of the stimulus bill... about $504 Billion gets marked-down as an addition to national debt (because it is borrowed)... but that too is exactly the same as the HALF TRILLION that bush borrowed to spend on the war in Iraq. With one really significant difference --- the Stimulus money is all spent right here in America, (instead of pouring some large portion of it out into the sands of 'Mess-o-potamia'), benefiting the economy of America... instead of the Middle East. ALSO --- (back to that Laffer Curve 'dynamic analysis' thing...) spending money TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY WHEN YOU ARE IN A TERRIBLE DOWN-RUSHING RECESSION is generally considered to be very smart fiscal policy (especially if the money is wisely spent on useful projects such as - dare I suggest it? - needed upgrades to a decrepit electric grid, encouragement of energy independence, highways bridges and rail improvements, Internet, etc., not to mention education --- all important to future competitiveness and profits) BECAUSE BY INCREASING GROWTH IN THE ECONOMY, AND SLOWING THE DECLINE, MITIGATING IT'S WORST EFFECTS... the stimulus GENERATES MORE REVENUES (by increasing GNP by up to a point and a half, by most analysis). This --- as the Laffer Curve also argues --- actually saves money and wealth. (Though it is certainly TRUE that, when the economy is righted and resumes growth, that structural deficit spending MUST be pared back... so that in the long-run the HARMS of excessive borrowing do not OVER-WHELM the benefits from the initial higher growth rates produced by the spending and tax cuts.) EXACTLY what never happened under the woe-be-gone mismanagement of President Bush --- who increased the federal debt by a massive $4.9 Trillion in just eight short years... nearly doubling the nation's debt: