Deficit already doubles under Trump

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

C

[JeffreyS]

The act of assigning blame for the deficit to specific presidents or administrations without considering other factors is due to:

I get that the 50k foot view doesn't have all the details but it has trouble lying as well.  You can go back with the pattern of the deficit shrinking under Democrat Administrations and growing under Republicans Administrations at least 50 years.  I suspect there is more than coincidence at play.  At the very least the idea that a GOP Presidents can claim to be more fiscally responsible than Democrats (or at all) is flawed.

I still find it hard to believe it came down to 1.5% of GDP by the end of Obama's run. If we had put some strings on the bail out money for the banks we might have made it all the way to surplus.

[MusicMan]

The problem with our deficit is that it has not bought anything. If our roads, bridges, damns, airports and other large infrastructures were in great shape I would mind a lot less. Unfortunately they are not. The money has been spent on unnecessary tax cuts for super wealthy corporations and people, pointless wars, a bloated military. 

In the not too distant past we were running surpluses and paying down the debt. And in fact the economy was doing pretty well at this time. It was a result of bipartisan work in the late 1990's.

Bush ("W") came in and threw all that out the window.  Another reason for concern is that while the economy is supposedly doing well, we are not using these "good times" to pay down the debt.  Most responsible people set aside funds for a "rainy day." As a nation we should be doing just that, taking advantage of the boom times to pay down the debt. We are doing the opposite, and any reasonable person should conclude that is a cause for concern.

The term "deficit hawk" is exclusively a Republican term, and describes so called fiscal conservatives who rail against excess spending. You will also notice you only hear from them when Democrats are in office. (Former) Speaker of the House  Paul Ryan is a perfect example.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

E

Damn. 

Can I get partial credit?

[BridgeTroll]

My point is that I believe Republican voters care about deficits and by in large GOP politicians don't. I think lots of people vote single issue abortion , climate change and immigration come to mind. However I am just wondering how the GOP wins on this issue.  ( IMO they do) I think Matt makes a good point on the what the money is spent on may be more of f a factor and conservatives say debt but mean something else. I also think  bit of wishful thinking about tax cuts and the belief in markets in general tend to out weigh the evidence. I should say those are not long held beliefs but where this examination I have been pondering is leading me.  Now obviously you are correct that right now more people vote party over everything else. Do yo think the GOP wins on this issue BT and if so why?

Clearly no one is "winning" on the issue.  GOP pols pay lip service to the deficit issue and Dem pols don't care at all about it or believe it can simply be overcome by "taxing the rich" which plays to their base but has its own flavor of warts.  The parties are irreparably broken and I have little faith in any of the clowns we elect...

[bl8jaxnative]

We've known this would happen for years.  Not because of the yammers of tribal ideologues blaming so-n-so but because huge spending increases are back in the federal system via Social Security and Medicare.   This isn't about politics, it's about reality.   

The bipartisan Policy Center - and every other economist and think tank - has been talking about this forever.  Long ago they were project that in these years with the baby boomers retiring in droves  -- as we quickly approach the single biggest generation having more people retired than working --- that we would see Federal deficits and, worse, Federal debt explode.

The finger pointing is knuckle-dragging tribalism that's about as constructive as siblings trying to blame each other for farting.   


https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/cbo-issues-stark-warning-deficits/

[JeffreyS]

This was the corporate tax scam passed last year.

[BridgeTroll]

All you need to know...    This breaks down your wages and where your tax dollars go...

https://www.wheredomytaxesgo.co/