I just read the comment of a Democratic friend who is shocked, shocked that Pres. Trump’s tax proposals will increase the US budget deficit.
Factually, he’s right. So say all the static projections I’ve seen.
But, as Paul Harvey used to say, here’s the rest of the story.
My comment: US debt is a serious issue, but the political sparring is utterly hypocritical. It’s not just my Democratic friend. The Republicans are filling the air with their own false platitudes.
Under Pres. Obama, US government debt doubled. We were not in a recession, as measured by economists, though we were coming out of a scary one. During the Obama presidency, the economy was growing, albeit slowly.
While Pres. Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi were busy blowing up the budget, the Dems had only praise for “government investments” and “the stimulus effect.” As for the spiraling national debt, they were deaf, dumb, and blind. But they sure played a mean pinball.
Here is the data from the (truly) non-partisan Center for a Responsibility Federal Budget, which does not lay all the blame on Pres. Obama.
Not only were the totals substantially higher, they were substantially higher as a percentage of US GDP.
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The Sky Is Falling . . . or not
At the time, Republicans strenuously complained, “The sky is falling.”
Now, the shoe is on the other foot–and it is the other party complaining.
And the rebuttals are coming from Republicans, not Democrats.
It is the “party of fiscal responsibility” that is downplaying the impact of the tax cuts on national debt.
Their main claim: “It’s all about growth.”
The Democrats, who have never met a deficit they didn’t like, are complaining, “The sky is falling.”
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Democratic Complaints about Republican Deficits
The Democrats’ complaints center on two issues.
- First, the plan is Republican and the government is controlled by Republicans, not their own party. In this Congress, with this President, the Democrats’ attitude echoes Groucho Marx’s song, “Whatever it is, I’m against it.”
- Second, the deficit will be caused by the government taking less money from citizens rather than the Democrats’ preferred way of running deficits: excess government spending.
