The disastrous Bush Tax cuts explained so clearly even a republican caveman can understand it

We have a debt and revenue problem.  Only republican politicians receiving enormous sums from private donors are immune to the truth:  that the Bush tax cuts are killing our economy, values, unity and future. 

Outstanding article from American Progress written by Michael Linden and Michael Ettlinger

"Bear in mind that President Bush inherited perhaps the strongest federal balance sheet in postwar history. There were record-high surpluses, debt was at around 30 percent of GDP and falling, and the Congressional Budget Office projected that the federal government would be debt free by 2009. The country was in great fiscal shape to deal with any crises or emergencies coming down the road, and it was even ready to deal with the coming retirement of the baby boom generation.
But rather than follow President Bill Clinton’s successful lead, President Bush handed out gigantic tax cuts, with people at the top of the income ladder getting the biggest breaks. Those “supply-side” tax cuts were a complete failure as economic policy, and now, instead of being debt free and well prepared to care for an aging population, our debt-to-GDP ratio is almost 70 percent. If those tax cuts are extended—instead of being allowed to expire on schedule at the end of 2012—it will approach 100 percent by 2021." 

 

Related articles

• Bush tax cuts 10th anniversary: They've been a failure in every conceivable way. (slate.com)
• Bush Tax Cuts, Wars Major Drivers of Projected Government Debt (economistsview.typepad.com)
• The Bush Tax cuts after 10 years (ablazeofbrightblue.blogspot.com)
• Bush's biggest lie of all: tax breaks create jobs (ablazeofbrightblue.blogspot.com)

Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz details the Consequences of the Republican Plan to End Medicare

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DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz rakes the republicans over the coals in this careful account of Paul Ryan's plan to end medicare so the wealthy can pay less in taxes.






 Chair and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz:

"The Republican plan for balancing the budget on the backs of America’s elderly, poor, and vulnerable has been whole-heartedly embraced by Republicans in Congress. But their plan is more than wrong-thinking, it’s just plain wrong.  And you don’t have to dig too deeply to see why: it would end Medicare as we know it. The Republican plan would ‘save’ money not by reducing costs but by passing them along to seniors in Florida and across the country. That’s not just me talking – the independent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has said that seniors would end up paying 68% of their premiums and out-of-pocket medical costs under the Republican plan. In fact, a decade from now their   plan would add $6,400 to the average senior’s annual medical bill. That means more elderly Americans would face an awful dilemma: purchasing the basic goods they need to live or the health care they need to stay well.  And what would be accomplished through the additional suffering the Republican plan would impose on seniors? More tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans because the Republican plan would direct that money into the pockets of the wealthiest Americans with tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. I won’t have such a plan on my voting record or my conscience, and America can’t afford to put such a plan on the books.

The Paul Ryan Medicare plan:  Seniors need to fight with insurance companies and pay lots more for their medical care, so billionaires and millionaires can have more tax breaks.