Deficit Falls to $205 Billion
Another favorite political talking point of Democrats is the federal deficit, which they scream about as if it has been getting worse by the minute. Never mind the fact that the country does have serious fiscal issues, specifically an unsustainable social security program, that the Democratic Party has been in blatant denial of since George W Bush decided to boldly embrace the issue following his 2004 re-election. Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and other party leaders instead find it more constructive to hammer away at an issue that clearly is not the greatest evidence of George Bush's mismanagement of anything, and in fact should end up being one of his parties strongest arguments that his tax cuts and economic growth plan is moving in the right direction.
Part of the reason the Left gets away with such gross distortion of fiscal facts is that people fail to understand that higher taxes does not automatically equal high government revenues. The Right has done an absolutely horrendous job building a buzz around Bush's wildly successful economic policies, and instead rely on subtle defections on the issue of Iraq to make headlines, which leaves the larger party in a precarious position going into the 2008 campaign. If the Republicans are duped into making Iraq and foreign policy the central issue of the campaign, in my opinion they will lose. Any successful Republican candidacy must embrace the economy, particularly the unprecedented success of the stock market, to convince voters that they are better off because of Republican economic priorities. As long as the Democrats are going to make healthcare the major domestic issue, which all of the major candidates seem intent on, any Republican armed with a coherent explanation of why this would be a disaster for the economy and stock market should be able to whether any disadvantage due to the war.
Part of the reason the Left gets away with such gross distortion of fiscal facts is that people fail to understand that higher taxes does not automatically equal high government revenues. The Right has done an absolutely horrendous job building a buzz around Bush's wildly successful economic policies, and instead rely on subtle defections on the issue of Iraq to make headlines, which leaves the larger party in a precarious position going into the 2008 campaign. If the Republicans are duped into making Iraq and foreign policy the central issue of the campaign, in my opinion they will lose. Any successful Republican candidacy must embrace the economy, particularly the unprecedented success of the stock market, to convince voters that they are better off because of Republican economic priorities. As long as the Democrats are going to make healthcare the major domestic issue, which all of the major candidates seem intent on, any Republican armed with a coherent explanation of why this would be a disaster for the economy and stock market should be able to whether any disadvantage due to the war.
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5 comments:
Debt and deficit are not the same. This means the federal debt is going to increase by $205 billion this year.
Never m ind the fact that we are spending 12 Billion + a month on war....without any way of paying for it...the Deficit is down....
Never mind that people are dying in this country from no medical care every day....the deficit is down...
never mind that when Bush got elected to office there was a surplus.....he was able to 'cut it in half' down to only 205 Billion owed.....
@Anonymous:
The headline on this article is correct. It says "deficit", not "debt". Perhaps you are thinking of the headline on the Reddit post of this article, which incorrectly stated that the "debt" had been halved.
Does that include the off-balance sheet spending on the war? Include that spending and you'll see the federal deficit exploding even more under Bush.
That is a fair point, and I understand that the war is expensive. However, that money is in large part driving the economy, just as all previous wars have.
I suppose it would be better to elect a Democrat based on a Euro-styled universal health care platform? Tax receipts are at an all-time high because of Bush's policies, and huge entitlement programs like those proposed by every Dem candidate are the best way to kill that, when coupled with tax hikes on rich. Rich are actually paying more now because their wealth is increasing, hence more money to pay taxes on.
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