jonny5
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2012
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- Republic of Florida
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- Libertarian
Whats the alternative?
Funny how for Obama's 8 years the Republicans and their Conservative media allies screamed that the debt and deficit was going to cause future generations terrible pain and destroy the country. But now with Trump they don't care, and the few that do care blame it on Congress.
News Flash!!!! The Republicans control Congress. A Congress that lowered taxes while the economy is doing good and keeps writing the DoD blank checks.
I guess because of their hypocrisy they believe the debt is only bad when there's (D) in the White House.
But what of beyond 2017, with inflation?
Has Revenue Risen in 2018? | Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
Nominal increases below the rate of inflation mean that the value of revenue collection has actually declined in real terms. By our estimate, total revenue over the time period in question has actually fallen by 1.3 percent after accounting for inflation in the last year. Measured relative to GDP – a sensible way to measure since a steady tax system would be expected to capture the same share of the economy year-after-year – we estimate revenue has fallen 3.8 percent. Finally, relative to the increases that had been expected from population growth, inflation, wage growth, structural elements of the tax code, and other factors, tax revenue is down by roughly 5.5 percent.
If the law says they have to run a program, that's what Trump has to do.
If you want to reduce spending, you reduce the number of programs.
Whats the alternative?
<snip> As always, we have a spending problem, and its not going to change</snip>
A lot of programs are not in the law. Look at the recent loan forgiveness program that a court ruled had to go forward. That was not a law, that was something made up by the Education dept. And even the programs that are in law, the Executive has a lot of lattitude on spending.
Raise taxes and make cuts across the board. INCLUDING the DoD. I don't want to hear the usual Republicans nonsense that we have to cut only social safety nets but not Corporate welfare and continue to give the most wasteful Department in the world, the DoD, blank checks every year.
Under Bush 2 there were 2 wars going on, what does he do? Cut taxes. Now our economy is doing good, so the GOP cuts taxes. Both are idiotic times to cut taxes, but that's all the GOP's got, that's their answer to everything, cut taxes.
They don't govern, they don't know how to govern, all they do is start wars, fear-monger and cut taxes.
The Executive doesn't have Billions of dollars in latitude.
When it comes to spending, it's ALWAYS Congress.
The President can only affect what they send him.
Oh...wait...would you rather he threaten to shut down the government if they don't reduce spending? That's really the limit of his "power".
I don't think talk of what income the government has coming in does not mean there is a spending problem. Of course there is, at all levels. But if you are not seeing an income increase, and you spend the same or more, then your deficit continues to remain high and adds to the total debt. Adding to the total debt further increases spending because then we have to pay more on interest.
That said, what has Trump and the GOP done the last two years to reign in spending? Nothing. The Democrats will likely not do so either, but they've never claimed to be the party of fiscal responsibility.
(FYI, this response is not really towards you because you obviously already understand this)
Isn't it Trump who pushed for increased military spending?
Why do we need more military spending when we already spend more than the next 5 (or 8) countries combined? If you're serious about cutting spending then that's a good place to start.
And if the tax cuts don't pay for themselves, that's on Republicans. It's exactly how Bush got us into a hole.
Well the point was that in your OP you seem to be using the usual talking points of being anti conservative/republican/fox/military/spending cuts. When the party and who to blame is irrelevant. Out of control spending is the problem, and it doesnt matter who is in office. Until we move beyond the blame game and using deficits as yet another wedge issue to win elections without every actually doing anything about it, its not going to change.
So the question is what do you actually care about? Using this against Republicans or fixing it?
Fixing it.
That is my point.
Just a few years back, getting our spending under control was a big thing in Republican circles. As a fiscal conservative myself, I supported this. But Trump has taken over the party, and what little was left of fiscal conservatism in the GOP is either in hibernation or completely gone.
You dont want to hear it, but its necessary. The DoD is 1/4 the cost of social spending and has been decreasing relative to the budget for a long time while social spending has kept increasing. Its also a mandated function of the federal govt. Its simply not logical to attack defense spending and say we cant touch unconstitutional spending like social safety nets which cost 4 times as much. Not sure what you mean about corporate welfare though. That cant account for barely any spending. Maybe the farm bill, but Im happy to cut that too.
Taxes are irrelevant. We collect more than enough. If anything we need to cut taxes more.
The point of your op was a rhetorical attack on Republicans. I saw no suggestions for actually solving anything. I still dont see any. What are you willing to cut? And not just defense.
Isn't it Trump who pushed for increased military spending?
Why do we need more military spending when we already spend more than the next 5 (or 8) countries combined? If you're serious about cutting spending then that's a good place to start.
And if the tax cuts don't pay for themselves, that's on Republicans. It's exactly how Bush got us into a hole.
Sure. Trump pushed for increased military spending. But it was Congress that sent him a bill with that spending.
That's on Congress.
You really don't realize how transparent it is when your view of whether or not the President is responsible for legislation depends on the letter next to their name and whether you currently wish to defend whatever it is they did, do you?
I can and will attack the wasteful trillion $ budget of the DoD. There is no more wasteful Dept. in the world. You want cuts in our spending. I 100% agree. But I want cuts across the board. DoD included.
And the economy is doing well. Nows not the time to cut taxes.
I am willing to cut anything that is not a Constitutional responsibility of federal government. But is the rest of America?
And yes, it was an attack on Republicans. They are supposed to be the fiscally responsible ones. I attack them as one who votes with them the majority of the time.
Its always the time to cut taxes until im not having 50% of my earnings taken by various govts. And the Defense budget is 600bn, not a trillion. Heck, its been cut 100bn since 2011. So wheres YOUR side of the board? Ready to cut 100bn from healthcare spending, which is 1.3 trillion?
And until you attack EVERYONE, we arent going to get anywhere. The deficit is not Trumps fault, its not the GOPs fault. Its both, and democrats, and most of all, the citizens who keep encouraging them, the majority of which pay ZERO income tax, and yet demand trillions in social services.
The increase in the deficit these last two years is certainly the fault of Trump and the GOP.
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