Deficit and Debt Limit Talks — Republican Tax Cut Mantra
In the ongoing deficit talks, the White House has opened the door to the GOP to discuss the Democrats’ sacred programs, Social Security and Medicare. Or is it a ploy? We really don’t know. What we do know, and in no uncertain terms, is that the GOP is not interested in discussing tax rate increases on those who can best afford it. It’s not politics, it’s a religious conviction, you see . . . Please read on for a bit more and a video of the House Majority Leader in full mantra . . .
Neither A Taxer Nor A Taxpayer Be. The deficit/debt ceiling standoff continues. I wrote yesterday (in White House Debt Summit Tomorrow — Will Obama Cave Or Pave?) of my hope that President Obama’s reported “willingness” to put Social Security and Medicare on the table was nothing more than a political ploy to maneuver Republicans into a corner. Highlighting their resistance to discussing any of their own “sacred cows” seems a good way to influence the American people outside the top 10% of earners. Yet, we don’t really know what the President has in mind. Will the summiteers “talk about” cuts to Medicare benefits? Raising the retirement age? Increasing the income threshold for payroll taxes? Is it all, any, or nothing at all. At a time when we’d like something more than a smidgen of clarity, we’re left holding the bag, and an empty one at that. . .
That’s a mouthful of a mantra. Among the Republican/Tea party, though, we have clarity, doctrinaire certainty. In buckets. Their mantra is clearer than ever –
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| Moola Moola, Rama Rama, Moola Moola |
”no taxes in bad times; no taxes in good times; no taxes in mediocre times; no taxes in any times.”
And they are unanimous in that. As we saw in the video above, at today’s press briefing, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is utterly unanimous.
Believing In Less. The Laffer religion – that’s what a fact-free cult belief is – maintains that less taxes lead to more government revenue. It’s like we all know, less breathing leads to more living. So tax cuts, obviously, pay for themselves without the need for further thought that . . . perhaps . . . they may increase deficits.
Another result of the laughable Laffer in GOP hands – the fact that the so-called Bush “expansion.” Again, facts intrude GOP cult beliefs. If an expansion existed at all it existed almost exclusively in corporate profits and among the already very wealthy, while the working class suffered with stagnating incomes, and, oh yes, that housing thing. In all, the legislation enacted since 2001 added about $3.0 trillion to deficits between 2001 and 2007, with nearly half of this deterioration in the budget due to the tax cuts (about a third was due to increases in security spending, and about a sixth to increases in domestic spending). That’s right, only one-sixth due to dreaded “domestic spending.”
