towards default and recession. This comic is SO TRUE...
So what would happen if they fail to act like responsible adults who pay the bills they previously passed?
I mean the GOP and Trump cut taxes, raised spending, did nothing about entitlements, handed out Trillions of dollars of bailouts, encouraged the FED to print money, etc. Which of course increased the annual deficits... And drove us to hit the debt ceiling even sooner...
And now the GOP politicians choose to play chicken with DEMs?
Republicans campaign on an implicit threat that if we don't elect them, they will wreck the economy. This threat is never as effective as they would like it to be because invariably when Republicans do win, they wreck the economy themselves. It is one of the curious ironies of our politics that the nominally pro business party is so bad for business.
ReplyDelete--Hiram
Oh come now. Usually GOPers are good for business.
ReplyDeleteThey reduce taxes and increase spending, the only people who lose are future generations.
Republicans are good for managers of businesses, but not for the businesses themselves. Republicans think they understand business, but it turns out, their idea of a businessman is Donald Trump.
ReplyDeleteRepublican economic policy consists of giving tax breaks to campaign contributors. It just has no bearing on the economy itself. Since their party doesn't believe in economic intervention, they are largely unable to deal with financial crises. That's why they always leave the economy in bad shape.
--Hiram
Sources please.
ReplyDeleteI think you are incorrect
Hey I found a kindred spirit...
ReplyDelete"To a degree, the fault lies within us all. Ask yourself: when was the last time you have voted against an incumbent legislator because of his behavior during the appropriations process? When was the last time you voted against a majority party when it enacted fiscally reckless policy? As it happens, polls show Americans want the government to spend more and more - although few of them plead to be taxed commensurately.
The Budget Wreck
ReplyDeleteIs it fiscally wreckless to vote for a candidate who supports global warming?
Money is fine, but it doesn't stop hurricanes. And it doesn't prevent the transmission of disease unless you hold it up in front of your face. There are all kinds of way of being wreckless. Financially is just one of them.
--Hiram
Republicans used to tell us that they were the party of business, the party of fiscal responsibility, the party that lived in the real world and understood how things work. They had to give that up in 2016 when they said to the world that the guy who embodied that vision of themselves was Donald Trump. In doing that, they revealed themselves as they really are, fantasists with neckties.
ReplyDeleteWith the poignant lack of self awareness of a king walking down the street while not wearing clothes, Republicans have made an effort to revive, their self image of themselves and offer it once again to others. The vehicle they have chosen for that, strangely enough, demonstrates the kind of financial ineptitude, compbined with naivete that characterizes what little economic policy they have. Republicans, as we have always known, have no problem at all spending money. What they object to, with a considerable affect of fiscal rectitude is paying for that spending when the bills arrived. Like so many Micawbers, their strategy for dealing with debt is evading their creditors. That, as much as anything, is what makes the financial disasters that end all Republican administrations, so predictable.
--Hiram
Hiram,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in many ways. However this is still silliness.
"the financial disasters that end all Republican administrations"
And they do not try to evade the creditors, they just blame the DEMs. Which is pretty easy since the DEMs are always happy to increase spending.
Republicans as Tthe party of personal responsibility, always do try to hold some other person else responsible.
ReplyDeleteAs for ending in financial disasters, that is always what happens after Republican administrations. Cleaning up Republican financial messes is what Democratic administrations do. That was true for both Bush administrations and it was certainly true of the Trump administration.
==Hiram
Well I can agree that the Bush II tax cuts, wars, etc did make a mess.
ReplyDeleteThat certainly is not always...
And the COVID disaster could have happened to anyone.
There is always an excuse.
ReplyDelete--Hiram
COVID = Dog Ate My Homework?
ReplyDeleteRepublicans don't handle crises well. Fortunately for them, crises don't happen all that often but when they do, they can be doozies.
ReplyDeleteIt's the joke that has been an expression of the Republican world view since the presidency of Ronald Reagan: "What are the most frightening words in the English language?" "I am from the government and I am here to help." Republicanism works, or at least gives the appearance of working when people don't need help. They don't notice that government isn't willing to provide it. What happens is that Democrats leave office, leaving things in pretty good shape and the economy bumps along pretty well, sometimes for a long time. But when the crises do come, Republicans are simply unable to manage them. They can't get beyond the joke. And what is already bad manages to become so much worse.
I am looking forward to reading the insider account of how brilliantly Trump handled the pandemic. I am quite frankly addicted to Trump books. But to the best of my knowledge, none are in the pipeline, all we are getting one that tells us how his staff played show tunes in order to sooth him in his moods.
--Hiram
As noted in the post, the GOP handled things last year like DEMs.
ReplyDeleteThey spent a TON and raised the DEBT in order to hand out free money to people.
Many who did not need it.