The Economy Redeux
It continues to baffle me that many Republicans think they are the fiscal conservatives and better for the economy. Bill Clinton defeated an incumbent Republican then went on to preside over the balancing of the federal budget and handed off a thriving economy to his successor. George W. Bush passed large tax cuts in 2001, presided over the 9/11 terrorist attack and ensuing crisis, then passed MORE tax cuts in 2003! And all the while Republicans worked to deregulate banking and environmental standards to make it easier for businesses to make money, often to the detriment of the average citizen. I remember sounding the alarm in 2004 that Republican actions could be sending us into a financial abyss, but people re-elected Bush anyway. *POOF* – Suddenly I was labeled a “raging liberal” and we cratered into the Great Recession, aka the Global Financial Crisis.
During his eight years as president, Barack Obama reversed Bush tax cuts, bailed out the auto companies, stimulated the economy, and presided over 7 years of economic growth. He didn’t balance the budget, but the Global Financial Crisis had been pretty damaging and Congress was blocking him much of the way. Then the Republicans took charge again, with Trump at the helm. They didn’t waste much time before passing massive tax cuts for the rich to the detriment of the financial stability of our country and deregulating businesses to the detriment of the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the planet we live on. Were they not paying attention during the first part of this millennium?!
When Bush did it, the effects of his tax cuts did nothing to stimulate the economy and eventually led to a financial crisis and trillion-dollar annual deficits. Trump? About the same, only this time the trillion-dollar deficits exploded to multi-trillion-dollar deficits because of a global pandemic. A pandemic that he admittedly downplayed to the American people and is worse than it would have been, in part because he had eliminated the White House pandemic preparedness team. I understand the THEORY of trickle-down-economics, but the THEORY fails to compensate for greed and selfishness at the top. The pandemic may have caused our current recession, but I believe it just hastened the one we were already headed for because of bad policy.
In September, CBS News reported that the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School (Trump’s alma mater) released an analysis that concluded that Joe Biden’s economic proposals would create a faster growing economy, higher wages for American workers and reduce the debt compared to where the U.S. is headed under President Trump.
Last week, MarketWatch published an Opinion article titled “Why Biden is better for the economy than Trump.” The article points out that “Republicans have not even bothered to formulate a policy platform for this election [while] Biden has proposed a suite of fiscal policies designed to boost economic growth.” The article also suggested that “Loose regulatory policies lead to financial crises and recessions” and that “Republicans consistently pursue reckless fiscal policies, spending as much as Democrats do, but refusing to raise taxes to make up for the resulting budget shortfalls.”
So, tell me… how are Republicans better for the economy and the economic strength of our country? As for Trump specifically, last week’s New York Times article about his taxes should give you a sense of how fiscally dangerous he is and has been. I would prefer we not run our country like the casino or the other businesses that he’s bankrupted.