Instead of doubling the debt in five years, and tripling it in 10, the Republican budget curbs the explosion in spending called for by the president and his party. Our plan halts the borrow-and-spend philosophy that brought about today's economic problems, and puts a stop to heaping ever-growing debt on future generations -- and it does so by controlling spending, not by raising taxes. The greatest difference lies in the size of government our budgets achieve over time.
That's right, it's government spending that screwed the economy. All that stuff about a "housing bubble" and credit default swaps is a bunch of liberal hooey. The economy's tanking because the US government has been pumping way too much money into... well, the economy.
The second shot is just as wide of the mark as the first one. White House Office of Management and Budget communications director Kenneth Baer took a break from slapping his knee over this to make a statement on the GOP proposal.
"If you expected a GOP alternative to the failed policies of the past that got our country into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, then I have two words for you: April Fool’s," he said.
The GOP plan also includes top-heavy tax cuts, would scrap the stimulus entirely, and would institute a five-year spending freeze -- because, remember, all that government spending is what's screwed up the economy. They should call it the Herbert Hoover Memorial Budget Plan.
I've pointed out before that Republicans don't have to produce a viable alternative, because any plan they come up with won't go anywhere anyway. All they need to do is produce something for PR purposes. But you would've expected them to at least try to come up with something that makes some sort of sense.
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It's undoubtedly government spending, under Bush's watch, that's screwed the economy. Remember those ads showing children working off our generation's debt? Those were Democrat ads, and they were one hundred per cent right. Too bad voters didn't listen back in 2004.
But then the economy was booming. When the economy is booming, it's the correct time to raise taxes and cut spending. When the economy's tanking, it's time to do the opposite.
Unfortunately, both parties in the US consider the state of the economy to be a much less important question than "who's in power now?" When in opposition, they'll preach restraint; when in power, they'll spend like a drunken playboy, regardless of the phase of the economic cycle. It just happens that right now, that's the right thing to do.
There's a difference between domestic spending and spending on Iraq. Iraq spending is a problem because we take the money and ship it -- sometimes quite literally -- overseas. It leaves our economy.
What the Republicans are saying is that spending -- of any kind -- is bad for the economy. This is insane.
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