The Bush fiscal policy
Charge and Spend policy of the conservatives
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One of the most distructive policies of President Bush and his conservatives in Congress is the fiscal policy we are following. This policy is to drastically cut tax revenue while increasing spending. The result is a structural deficit. This began for real in 1980 with the Reagan tax cuts and spending increases. It is true, tax rates prior to 1980 were too high and some reduction was needed to stimulate the economy. However, the extent of the cuts and the size of the spending increases started the United States on a path that will produce catastrophic financial problems. George W. has reinstated these same policies.
Let's review some facts. To save a question as to the data I will use, I will provide the source as I go.
Source: Dept of the US Trearury, bureau of public debt via the Web:
Debt at 1980 was $909 Billion and the interest in the Federal Budget was $90 Billion in FY 1980.
By the end of the Reagan term the debt was $4 Trillion
By the time George W. took office the debt was $5.7Trillion
Today the debt is $7.5 Trillion. The interest on that debt is about $340 Billion.
Since 1980 the Federal Government ran a sizeable deficit in 21 of the past 24 years since we began the Supply side Economics of Reagan - VooDoo Economics
During the past 24 years the American taxpayer has paid $6.5 Trillion in interest and over 40% is paid to foreign individuals or corporations.
Per the budget projection of George W. Bush which is found at the OMB website, by 2008, if President Bush is reelected in November and continues his fiscal policy, he predicts the national debt will stand at just under $10 Trillion in FY 2008 and we will be running an annual deficit in 2008 of $250 Billion.
Now the Bush supporters say this is all managable. They also blame the deficit on 9/11, the Iraq war and corporate misconduct. The truth is that the deficit began for real in 1980, a few years before 9/11/2001 and the largest contributor this year, about $270 Billion of the $450 billion, is from his tax cuts per the Congressional Budget Office. Now George W. wants to make all his tax cuts permanant which per a study by the Brookings Institute will add yet another $2.4 Trillion to the deficit by 2014. Why should Americans care about the size of our Debt?
The debt creates a mandated expendature in the federal budget. The reason why Bush and his conservatives have been able to get away with taking the national debt from, less than a trillion to 7.5 Trillion is because the interest rates have been at a 45 year low. That enabled the treasury to finance the growing national debt without a large increase in the annual interest. That is about to come to an end. As interest rates return to historic norms, the ability to pay the interest each year will become impossible. If interest rates return to their historic norms by 2008 when Bush predicts the National Debt will be about $10 Trillion, we could have an annual interest obligation of $500 Billion each and every year. That is more than George W. projects we will be spending on national Defense or on all other non military discretionary expendatures. Every cent of that 1/2 Trillion in interest buys us NOTHING! It does not pay for our defense, education, health care, transportation - NOTHING. What that interest pays for is the past when we spent more then we taxed.
If that is not bad enough, at no time does the Bush fiscal policy ever create a balanced budget. If he is successful in making the tax cuts permenant, the situation gets even worse and by 2014 the Brookings Institute study shows we could have a National debt in excess on $13 Trillion. Even if we come to our senses today, it will take a herculean effort to balance the budget and generate the Trillions in surplus to repay the national debt to significantly lower the annual interest required!
I 've been a moderate Republican for over 40 years, I believe we must be willing to pay for what we want or want less. That is not what George W. and his conservates are about. That is why I will vote for Senator Kerry to break the hold the conservatives have on the purse strings. Bush tells us that will bring just more spending - Not so as long as the Republicans hold control of either house of Congress. We need a moderate policy. one that does not create more spending but does not make the current tax cuts permenant. By 2011, the tax rates will return to the levels they were in the 1990's. That was the period of the greatest sustained growth in our history and when the wealthiest Americans did better than any other economic group! When I hear the conservatives say that the tax rates in the 1990's were opressive, I ask how then did the wealthy and the middle income Americans do so well under those tax rates?
The Fiscal policy we are following is passing a debt to our children and grandchildren. That debt and the interest it will require, added to the financial burdens of the Baby Boomer generation retirement is a disaster in the making. As large as our economy is, it can only handle so many multi-Trillion dollar problems. We need to restore the fiscal sanity of the old GOP, the one that wanted a balanced budget ammendment. We can not survive much more of the so called Republican conservatives if we are to remain strong and FREE!
Let's review some facts. To save a question as to the data I will use, I will provide the source as I go.
Source: Dept of the US Trearury, bureau of public debt via the Web:
Debt at 1980 was $909 Billion and the interest in the Federal Budget was $90 Billion in FY 1980.
By the end of the Reagan term the debt was $4 Trillion
By the time George W. took office the debt was $5.7Trillion
Today the debt is $7.5 Trillion. The interest on that debt is about $340 Billion.
Since 1980 the Federal Government ran a sizeable deficit in 21 of the past 24 years since we began the Supply side Economics of Reagan - VooDoo Economics
During the past 24 years the American taxpayer has paid $6.5 Trillion in interest and over 40% is paid to foreign individuals or corporations.
Per the budget projection of George W. Bush which is found at the OMB website, by 2008, if President Bush is reelected in November and continues his fiscal policy, he predicts the national debt will stand at just under $10 Trillion in FY 2008 and we will be running an annual deficit in 2008 of $250 Billion.
Now the Bush supporters say this is all managable. They also blame the deficit on 9/11, the Iraq war and corporate misconduct. The truth is that the deficit began for real in 1980, a few years before 9/11/2001 and the largest contributor this year, about $270 Billion of the $450 billion, is from his tax cuts per the Congressional Budget Office. Now George W. wants to make all his tax cuts permanant which per a study by the Brookings Institute will add yet another $2.4 Trillion to the deficit by 2014. Why should Americans care about the size of our Debt?
The debt creates a mandated expendature in the federal budget. The reason why Bush and his conservatives have been able to get away with taking the national debt from, less than a trillion to 7.5 Trillion is because the interest rates have been at a 45 year low. That enabled the treasury to finance the growing national debt without a large increase in the annual interest. That is about to come to an end. As interest rates return to historic norms, the ability to pay the interest each year will become impossible. If interest rates return to their historic norms by 2008 when Bush predicts the National Debt will be about $10 Trillion, we could have an annual interest obligation of $500 Billion each and every year. That is more than George W. projects we will be spending on national Defense or on all other non military discretionary expendatures. Every cent of that 1/2 Trillion in interest buys us NOTHING! It does not pay for our defense, education, health care, transportation - NOTHING. What that interest pays for is the past when we spent more then we taxed.
If that is not bad enough, at no time does the Bush fiscal policy ever create a balanced budget. If he is successful in making the tax cuts permenant, the situation gets even worse and by 2014 the Brookings Institute study shows we could have a National debt in excess on $13 Trillion. Even if we come to our senses today, it will take a herculean effort to balance the budget and generate the Trillions in surplus to repay the national debt to significantly lower the annual interest required!
I 've been a moderate Republican for over 40 years, I believe we must be willing to pay for what we want or want less. That is not what George W. and his conservates are about. That is why I will vote for Senator Kerry to break the hold the conservatives have on the purse strings. Bush tells us that will bring just more spending - Not so as long as the Republicans hold control of either house of Congress. We need a moderate policy. one that does not create more spending but does not make the current tax cuts permenant. By 2011, the tax rates will return to the levels they were in the 1990's. That was the period of the greatest sustained growth in our history and when the wealthiest Americans did better than any other economic group! When I hear the conservatives say that the tax rates in the 1990's were opressive, I ask how then did the wealthy and the middle income Americans do so well under those tax rates?
The Fiscal policy we are following is passing a debt to our children and grandchildren. That debt and the interest it will require, added to the financial burdens of the Baby Boomer generation retirement is a disaster in the making. As large as our economy is, it can only handle so many multi-Trillion dollar problems. We need to restore the fiscal sanity of the old GOP, the one that wanted a balanced budget ammendment. We can not survive much more of the so called Republican conservatives if we are to remain strong and FREE!
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