The rightwingnutjobs like nothing more than to promote the outlandish myth of conservatives as the guardians of fiscal restraint. That it's an outright lie doesn't trouble them because lies are the only thing that can hold their preposterous narrative together.The chart above shows, administration by administration, how American presidents have tackled America's debt. Debt is shown as a percentage of GDP represented by the lines - blue for periods of debt reduction, red for periods when debt was allowed to skyrocket.
Suffice to say the red line for George w. Bush will spike sharply upward this year as federal debt (exclusive of enormous unfunded liabilities) begins to approach 80% of GDP. ...And where it stops, Nobody Knows!
Show any "head-in-@ss" conservative this graphic, and they'll cry those stats are "twisted", or some line about "damned lies and statistics". They feed on ignorance, and hope a dumbed down populace will buy their story (as their media and minions attempt to dumb down more of the pop). Thing is, the chart here indicates some very simple stats which are not "theoretical", but based on cold hard facts going back decades. Real measures from past and current economic growth in America.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at Canada's similar graphic, the results are similar.
What's the biggest factor? Conservatives like to lower taxes for the richest - and sometimes the middle class - which results in tax loss (or, just call it debt). They also like to make some of the biggest capital expenditures around - military. Lot's of it. Military expenditures typically rock the bank book. Add tax cuts to the blend, and you have trouble... lots of trouble.
It appears conservatives never learn from their follies. Government NEEDS to exist. Regulation IS required. The US is learning their lesson right now - while countries which avoided excessive deregulation and tax cuts, and maintained a social safety net, will better survive the coming economic storm.
Of course, a "liberal" government will have to come along and sort out the mess - as usual.
Great Post!
ReplyDeleteThat should be plastered everywhere, and displayed anytime a Democrat has to debate one of the Republicans blabbering about tax and spend liberals.
Thanks Joseph. This goes a long way toward explaining why the right constantly distorts their narrative. They work overtime to avoid their own record, to replace it with distortion and utter myth. It's how they've come to revere Reagan, the president who threw America headlong down the fiscal well.
ReplyDeleteWG nails a couple of points right on the head. This graph begins with the massive debt load Truman inherited from WWII. The ratio even kept shrinking during the Johnson and Nixon administrations with all the costs of Vietnam.
Then along came Reagan and it was a blind, stinking drunk wastrels' Mardi Gras for the right - and it has been ever since.
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