GOP: Debt? What Debt? We Only Care About NEW Bills.
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I've been having a conversation on Facebook that spurred this podcast.
Here is an excerpt from one of my posts:
Deficit reduction as a solution to our problem is a fairy tale. Congress needs to talk about DEBT reduction.
We would have to cut all -- ALL -- deficit spending PLUS $400 billion to match our interest on the debt just to BREAK EVEN and carry that 14 trillion debt FOREVER. If we cut our spending by a whopping 1.5 trillion every year PLUS another $400 billion for good measure, We'd NEVER pay down the debt.
Cutting a billion here and there is nothing but posturing. Republicans aren't even HINTING about cutting a TENTH of that. YOU HAVE TO RAISE TAXES.
I think that instead of TALKING about paying down the debt, we SHOULD pay down the damned debt. It takes MONEY. The last time in your life that we paid down the debt was after Clinton raised the taxes AND we lowered spending. It's a 1-2 punch.
I want to send the government LESS money. You have money to burn AFTER you pay your bills. AFTER you work overtime. AFTER pain. Republicans aren't talking about paying the bills on the kitchen table. They are talking about spending a tiny bit less next week on paper towels. Spending $3 less next week on McDonald's doesn't get you out of your $20,000 debt from the past ten years EVER. The debt grows faster than you spending $3 less per week.
The interest on our debt is $400 billion per year, probably $500 billion soon. No matter how much we cut, unless we cut all ALL deficit spending PLUS $400 billion, our debt grows. PLUS probably at least another good $500 billion surplus, payment, We will NEVER pay down the debt.
We can cut our taxes in half AFTER we get rid of the debt. It's not good to have bills, but it IS good to spend money and GET RID of debt, which Clinton's tax rate would have done by 2009. You DON'T get rid of debt by spending less. You get rid of debt by PAYING it. You don't do that without money.
Read this next line carefully:
Without raising taxes, the only way to reduce outlay enough to end the deficit is to COMPLETELY end military and COMPLETELY end ALL OTHER discretionary spending.
ALL!
I'm not talking about merely cutting 100 million dollars from public radio and $4 million from Planned Parenthood. I'm talking about cutting ALL welfare. ALL Medicaid. ALL homeland security. ALL federal offices. ALL parks. ALL highways. ALL infrastructure. Cutting all that doesn't even add up to a trillion. We need to cut 1.9 trillion JUST TO BREAK EVEN.
We need to cut $1.5 trillion. That's 1500 billion dollars PER YEAR. PLUS $400 billion to pay all that interest to rich people. That's 1.9 trillion to break even. Every YEAR, not over ten years like they are talking.
In ten years we will overspend by another 20 trillion. Republicans squabble about 2 billion here and 40 million there. Things that will NEVER add up to a dent in these astronomical numbers. It's just lip service for social issues. They are only RAISING CAMPAIGN FUNDS by talking about cutting those things. They aren't trying to reduce the deficit.
Conservatives aren't helping the issue. You have your head in the sand. Like I said, America wants to live in a big house but is taking a voluntary pay cut. If you want to be a country that lives on McDonald's wages, America needs to live out of it's car, not at the Ritz.
Sure, you spend LESS on NEW stuff, and Obama is willing to do that. But you ALSO spend MORE on OLD stuff. You get a second job and earn more money and you pay ALL of your current bills, PLUS the bills of the past.
The Republican party only has a third of the formula. They have the spending a little, and I mean a LITTLE less part right. But NONE of the paying the bills of the past, and NONE of the getting more money to pay down the debt, thus reducing interest so that it snowballs faster.
Getting the deficit to $0 is less than half of what we need. THEN we have to pay ALL of the $400, which we actually do faithfully, because the rich don't wait. And then we have to pay down PAST DEBT. It would take 28 years if we paid half a trillion dollars per year. That's more than a 2.4 trillion dollar per year spending swing just to get out of debt in 30 years with $500,000,000,000 per year payments. If we are going to do this by cuts alone, that means we'd need to cut 2400 billion dollars per year FOR 30 years. STEADFAST. NO DEVIATION. THIRTY YEARS.
Honestly, are republicans even in the same solar system with a TENTH of that? Even the most draconian Republican asshole doesn't want to cut that much. The ONLY path to debt reduction (not mere deficit reduction) is raising taxes.
Another excellent podcast in the tank. I hope you don't throw in the towel and continue to produce podcasts- though I can definitely understand how frustrating it is to constantly have to deal with Republicans and their bizarre unreality. I can only imagine what it is like for President Obama to have to deal with (in his face no less). I once thought about starting up a podcast but sometimes what the Republicans do- here in Indiana- as well as in Washington DC frequently renders me incoherent and reduced to ranting in gibberish. At any rate, I do enjoy your podcast and hope it still continues. Maybe I'll get around to doing something myself. We need more voices like you on the left to keep spreading truth (aka reality) to those whom might be open to it. I keep hoping that this long political right-wing nightmare we've had, particularly since the 80's will one day end.
LOL! You feel exactly what I feel. You watch the news and you have that blank look on your face that Keith Olbermann has after listening to Sarah Palin -- but it's hard to come back against BS when it's not your real job.
Jeff,
I am a recent listener. I stumbled across your podcasts in the wilderness. Not to inflate your head much but I appreciate your style. You speak from the head and the heart. I listen mostly at work while loading trucks. It is podcasts as yours that help me make it through the day without losing it or my sense of humor. You know what they say, if you lose your sense of humor, your nothing more than a serial killer.
You are correct and I agree that taxes must be raised along with cuts. If only cuts are done then it is making certain people in the economic levels pay for Medicare part D, the Iraq war, the Afghanistan war.
Then there was the $900 billion Bush waved in our face from the front door of the Fed reserve as $3.2 Trillion went out the Fed back door drive through to corporation as Verison, Harley/Davidson, and the likes of GE. (they weren’t banks).
Now we learn $16 trillion is the latest number.
Cut taxes and trickle down will bring in more money to the Government. Right..
Reagan’s Trickle Down was previously “Horse and Sparrow” (google it if your not aware).
Yet, if cutting taxes will bring in more revenue, isn’t this against the T-GOP’s ideology of small Government?
I mean, if lowering taxes as their misguided mantra continues. Then cutting taxes to reel in more revenue to fund the Government is like feeding the Gov’t and if you feed the Gov’t (like feeding anything) it grows.
So therefore If Reagan believed his theory that lowering taxes will raise more revenue for the Gov’t (although it didn’t), then growing Gov’t was his objective. That makes him a Big Gov’t spender. He is their Conservative Father?
Can you shed any light on why this President, during these economic times has not had hiscommerce Secretary Confirmed by the Senate?
Does any of your conservative pals happen to know of any U.S. President, has gone three (3) years without a confirmedcommerce Secretary? Any president? Especially during these economic times.?
To change up just a bit and hopefully not too personal, in this podcast you sounded weary of heart. You mentioned in prior podcasts you listen to Alan Colmes and Mark Levine. I listen to Levine on podcasts as well and heard your call that you mentioned in a prior p-cast. Do you think Alan Colmes would let others (GOP ideologues) weigh down his heart? Have you heard Mark Levine grow weary of his belief in democracy and justice?
The hard republicans are relentless. How else could they get away with torture? Falsely attacking Iraq? Duh, torturing Cue Ball 187 times in ONE month just to make sure he is telling the truth, so not to send them on another wild goose chase to waste time and money. One guy 187 times to make sure? To make sure of what? The info we never got that was worth the money of the bucketof water they water boarded him with.
Hang on Jeff, Cheer up-it gets a lot worse than this.
Here is something that made me very, very proud. It is a Iraq v
Thanks for the kind words. You have a point that if we "don't have a revenue problem" then why tout that lowering taxes raises revenue? Republicans clearly have a policy of not paying our bills anyway.