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A leading House Republican recently proclaimed recently that policymakers should be focusing on “the drivers of our debt.”
GOP officials ought to hope that doesn’t happen. Bloomberg News has a piece today reminding folks of a point that’s too often forgotten in Washington: the biggest drivers of our debt are Republican policies.
House Speaker John Boehner often attacks the spendthrift ways of Washington.
“In Washington, more spending and more debt is business as usual,” the Republican leader from Ohio said in a televised address yesterday amid debate over the U.S. debt. “I’ve got news for Washington — those days are over.”
Yet the speaker, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all voted for major drivers of the nation’s debt during the past decade: Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts and Medicare prescription drug benefits. They also voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, that rescued financial institutions and the auto industry.
Together, a Bloomberg News analysis shows, these initiatives added $3.4 trillion to the nation’s accumulated debt and to its current annual budget deficit of $1.5 trillion.
It’d be amusing if it weren’t so ridiculous. Literally the exact same people whose fiscal irresponsibility created the deficit mess are the ones whining constantly about the problem they’re responsible for. Worse, they keep blaming everyone but themselves. Worse still, they’re prepared to crash the economy on purpose unless the solution to their own fiasco meets their approval.
This isn’t in the realm of spin or opinion. The numbers are unambiguous: Republicans took a large surplus, turned it into massive deficit. Republicans could have paid off the debt within a decade, but they instead chose to pursue an ambitious agenda without paying for it.
And now they don’t want the nation to pay the bills.
I suspect there’s a school of thought that says none of this matters right now. We’re a week from a catastrophe, and finding a solution is more important than assigning blame. I can appreciate why this sentiment sounds appealing.
But it’s mistaken. Accountability and credibility matter a great deal. Policymakers must find a resolution to a pressing crisis very quickly, and those who know what they’re talking about deserve to be taken more seriously than those who don’t.
So, when Republicans call for us to focus on “the drivers of our debt,” I’d suggest taking them up on the idea.
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c u n d gulag on July 26, 2011 10:52 AM:
If the accusation's correct, at least Democrats 'tax' before they spend.
With Republicans, it's "SPEND, BABY, SPEND!!!"
And then want the Democrats to pay for their spree's.
And stand on the sidelines bitching about how much all of this is costing us.
But of course, the people are told, "Both sides do it!"
Danp on July 26, 2011 10:56 AM:
Obama is the same kind of spendthrift as the guy who takes his grandma to the hospital when she breaks her hip. Boehner calling him that is like the guy who pushed Grandma down the stairs.
Rip on July 26, 2011 11:01 AM:
A Republican is someone who would come into your house, shit on the rug and then complain that the place is stinks and demand you clean it up.
DisgustedWithItAll on July 26, 2011 11:01 AM:
I've been trying to get this around for months. Doesn't matter. Nobody pays attention. Here's all anybody needs to understand the situation and who's to blame:
"http://www.offthechartsblog.org/what’s-driving-projected-debt/"
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3490
An earlier version of that study with some information not in the later version"
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3036
http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/misleading-mantra-tax-and-spend-version/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JaredBernstein+(Jared+Bernstein)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/opinion/sunday/24sun4.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
SYSPROG on July 26, 2011 11:02 AM:
They are banking on the fact they they can lie with impunity and the media will be complicit in it.
T2 on July 26, 2011 11:04 AM:
I think there is a "school of thought" that says the GOP doesn't give a sh*t about any charts or blame or whatever. They want what they want and don't care 1) how they get it and, 2) what ramifications economically or otherwise result.
When one of the two "major" parties take this kind of slash and burn mentality, all the scolding and cajoleing possible make no difference whatsoever. We are stuck with this situation until the next national elections, and damn well better not sit home griping about how slow Obama was to repeal DADT or why he didn't fight for Single Payer.
kevo on July 26, 2011 11:04 AM:
Yeah, I agree, Boehner, Cantor and McConnell sure picked a fine time to stop sniffing glue! -Kevo
walt on July 26, 2011 11:05 AM:
Republicans are the Lucy Party, Democrats, Charlie Brown. They do what they do because they're "winners" and pretty much shameless. I know people who are unemployed and broke who still vote Republican because they think selfishness is a virtue. Yes, they still take unemployment benefits but at least they're not Mexicans stealing our Social Security and having anchor babies.
The Republican propaganda machine is relentless. It creates a vortex of disinformation so strong that ordinary citizens simply abandon any effort to figure out what's real. Pundits do the same thing. We're left with a few blogs, MSNBC, and some occasional fact checking from the Times.
The Republican alternative reality is itself a drug. It alters moods, shifts perception, and replaces doubt with certitude. Democrats can explain complex reality better but we can't compete with the Republicans' Total Explanation. It's too powerful a drug.
boatboy_srq on July 26, 2011 11:06 AM:
My father, an old-school Republican who (unfortunately) absorbed a little of the neocon perspective, once discussed with me the (then) disconnect between public policy and public finance. He quoted me the now-infamous GOP meme: "A Democrat looks at $1 in public revenue and says, 'What can we do with this $1.75?'" My response at the time was: "Perhaps - but a Republican, looking at the same $1, will turn to the taxpayer and say 'Next year, we'll make sure you only pay 50¢ of this.' How is that any different?"
That was 1992.
Now it seems a Republican looks at that $1, shrinks back and says, "We can't touch that - that's the taxpayers' money. Send it back." And that's right after going off about how great this country is, and how we should "honor" our servicepeople, and how we're "at war" with Islamofascists, terrorists, drugs, or whatever it is that's on the tip of his/her tongue.
This is not a way to form public policy.
... and Captcha says "erefea historians." Perhaps that explains the likes of David Barton.
Ronald on July 26, 2011 11:08 AM:
Another day, another example that Republicans hate Americans and want to destroy democracy.
DisgustedWithItAll on July 26, 2011 11:10 AM:
Again, the truth doesn't matter. Good public policy doesn't matter. Intentionally mislead the public to get what you want. This is Machiavelli. And they're going to win because Democrats are spineless.
golack on July 26, 2011 11:13 AM:
BALANCE BUDGET AMENDMENT (but we don't count war on terror....) So how is that balanced??? It's not like they follow the constitution anyway...
Mimikatz on July 26, 2011 11:14 AM:
The GOP doesn't care about the deficit, about solving problems, about the truth. In fact, they benefit by NOT solving problems because they can continue to whine about things and scare their base and the low-information voters. Policy-wise they just want to facilitate the most predatory sectors of our economy fleecing the unsuspecting populace to keep the campaign cash coming into their coffers. They know the media will never hold them accountable because they are lazy and ignorant on policy issues too for the most part.
America is in declie because e incentives are skewed against doing anything big, anything constructive, anything to help anyone but the rich. The future will continue to be bleak until people really start to rise up and demand their fair share and demand action on our problems.
Ron Byers on July 26, 2011 11:14 AM:
I have tried to tell my Republican friends and family the very same things. My Republican friends and family are all Fox Republicans. That means they are invicibly ignorant. The truth is lost on them. I even sent the famous graph to my brother, who promptly told me that it had to be liberal propaganda.
The invincible ignorance is strong with Fox Republicans.
Bolan on July 26, 2011 11:21 AM:
The NY Times had a couple great graphs showing just this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/opinion/sunday/24sun4.html?scp=1&sq=obama%20v%20bush%20spending%20graph&st=Search
Objective Dem on July 26, 2011 11:32 AM:
There is a need for some of the sensible moderate Republicans and business leaders to step up and do what is right for the country. They need to publicly reject the tea party and house nonsense. It is a "Profiles in Courage" moment.
Ron Byers on July 26, 2011 11:39 AM:
Sadly Objective Dem we are not dealing with members of the greatest generation. We are dealing with people who are content watching America decline into third world status as long as they can remain safe in their gated communities. America is in decline because America's people no longer aspire to greatness. We have become a country of little people getting smaller by the day.
Romans must have felt this way in the last decades of the empire.
Objective Dem on July 26, 2011 12:00 PM:
Unfortunately I largely agree with you Ron.
I also think some of the Tea Party members view themselves as Mr. Smith from "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." When they are actually closer to John Doe being played for a fool by D.B. Norton in "Meet John Doe."
tolkien on July 26, 2011 12:58 PM:
I agree that assigning blame is very important. In fact, assigning blame, and acting on it, might have fixed most of this mess. If, for example, Nixon hadn't been pardoned it might have provided more of an abject lesson to future lawbreakers. If they had gone after Reagan more aggressively during the Iran-Contra business the same might have been true.
For that matter, if Democrats had insisted, based on the uncounted votes in Florida, that Bush was an illegitimate president, and continued to insist that, we might have had a total deadlock in congress and we could have avoided both wars, the Bush tax cuts, and several other truly insane Bush-era policies.
If only Obama had gone after the republicans generally and the Bush administration in particular for war crimes we might have set a clear example for others eager to do the same. Moreover, it would have set a clear precedent that Obama was not a pushover and, perhaps, if the Republicans believed that Obama was not willing to give them the store when they played the current game of chicken with our economy they wouldn't have started the game in the first place (they would have had to be convinced that Obama was just as willing to crash the economy as they were, and that they would have ended up with the blame for it, but is that all that unrealistic if Obama had been a lot more aggressive?).
I could go on and on, but, at base, assigning blame is an important factor in determining blame, at least as far as the public is concerned (and clearly public opinion is a major driver of politics). By continually refusing to show who is responsible for the problems the public has no idea and that allows the Republican party to get away with murder.
FloridaCPA on July 26, 2011 3:51 PM:
Points of contention with Author above.
a) Convenient how the author grouped TARP with Fannie and Freddie in the graph above. TARP has been almost completely repaid back to the Gov. Fannie and Freddie on the other hand, well thats a different story altogether and they have nothing to do with TARP, but they have plenty to do with the economic downturn.
b) The "Bush Tax Cuts" that he references went mostly to low and middle income earners. Naturally Obama only wants to do away with the 20% that went to the high income earners who pay 80% of fed income taxes.
c) "Recovery Measures"????? What the heck is that anyway? Again the Author conveniently tucks this little item into a vague spot on his graph with no explanation of the fact that we spent more money on Obama's stimulus plan than we owe China. And as far as "recovery", not really the correct term, wouldn't you agree?
Look, both parties are to blame for this mess, however, if it were not for the tea party, then no one would be debating on how to fix the terrible fiscal crises that our country is in. Without them, both parties would continue to kick the can down the road until we have no future for our children. It's already bleak enough, the current generations have got to stop robbing from the future generations. And if that means cuts in services and higher taxes for all, then thats what it means. At this point our only hope is a balanced budget amendment that forces our federal government to live by the same rules that everyone else has too.
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MERCEDESBENSON27 on December 22, 2011 12:59 PM:
This is understandable that money makes people disembarrass. But how to act if someone does not have cash? The only one way is to try to get the personal loans or just student loan.