Tom Toles for August 26, 2019

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    Concretionist  over 4 years ago

    Cute. But be fair: It’s been way less than merely empty for way longer than the last couple of years.

    It is also true that the Democrats have traditionally slowed the bleeding, sometimes even to the point of starting to reduce the deficit; and the GOP has traditionally spent like a teenager with his dad’s credit card.

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    DD Wiz Premium Member over 4 years ago

    The basis of Keynesian economics is NOT deficit spending. It is the responsible use of credit. At the individual level, it could be compared to borrowing money to buy a home or to capitalize a business.

    Keynesian economics:

    Borrow and spend in bad times.

    Save for a rainy day in good times.

    .

    Republican voodoo economics:

    Borrow and spend. Period. Never save. Never have a budget surplus.

    At the public level, it is borrowing money during lean times to capitalize investment in putting people back to work, and then saving money and running SURPLUSES when times are good. You can’t compare that, at the individual level, to maxing out all your credit cards to buy fluff consumer junk that has no lasting value or capacity for return on investment which, at the public level, is what the current administration, like his father and Reagan before him, are doing.

    The “feel good” economy of Reagan was based on record deficits that were more than the total of all preceding administrations COMBINED! Then Bush 41 set new records, and Bush 43 even more beyond that.

    The ONLY balanced budgets with surpluses were during the Clinton years, and the last ones before that were LBJ.

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    SHIVA  over 4 years ago

    I already a large cardboard box, and staked out a spot underneath a freeway overpass!!

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    GreggW Premium Member over 4 years ago

    Cut taxes and spend, though not on the unfortunate of course.

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    Jason Allen  over 4 years ago

    And yet every single Republican voter will tell you with all sincerity that the Republican Party is the party of fiscal responsibility and that they want to reduce the deficit.

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    wrd2255  over 4 years ago

    Daddy Dem filled it up. Uh Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.

    Just kidding. Benghazi! Why do you hate America? But her emails!

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    Masterskrain Premium Member over 4 years ago

    Well, they had pay for trump’s tax cuts for the rich SOMEHOW…

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    superposition  over 4 years ago

    The business cycle has taken over and short term profit has become the practice, not long term gain. When labor was represented by unions, the wage earners participated in sharing the fruits of their productivity with the owners. The Fed was not yet effectively balancing the interest rates and stagflation occurred. Keynesian economics was the scapegoat and supply-side became the savior although now wages rather than the economy became stagnant. The growth rate of the GDP slowed under supply-side economics as the wage earners had little disposable income to spend/save with, while the owners’ profits — while a fraction of what they would be under Keyensian — grew exponentially. And we still wait for supply-side to trickle down and cure the debt and raise wages making everyone prosperous. Money makes thing grow if it is spread around, if it is kept in piles out of circulation, it just stinks.

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    William Bednar Premium Member over 4 years ago

    As Mitch McConnell likes to say, about the U.S. debt: “La,la, la, I can’t hear you, la, la, la”.

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    jhayesd31  over 4 years ago

    Democrats believe you Borrow Money when you have to and pay it back when you can. Republicans believe that you borrow money when you CAN and pay it back when you have to.

    The republicans think we NEVER Have to pay it back. ( They Never Have)

    Like • Reply

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    Radish the wordsmith  over 4 years ago

    They gave all the tax dollars to the Republican voter class so they can use the kick back money for reelection.

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    Alberta Oil Premium Member over 4 years ago

    There is an old saying.. “Throwing out the baby with the bath water”. Everything Obama had accomplished was deemed bad.. and out it went.Leaving you with the mess you have today.

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    thelordthygod666  over 4 years ago

    Grover Norquist and the GOP have stated their 2021-22 goal is to further defund Social Security and Medicare by cutting those taxes. Their reasoning is people should be responsible for their own retirement income and medical expenses – not the taxpayer

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    Kip W  over 4 years ago

    The Government is all things to Republicans: It’s a bank account, it’s a virtue club, it’s a stick to beat your enemies with, it’s a scoundrel’s refuge, and they can even use it as a punching bag and pretend to protect voters from it.

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    Godfreydaniel  over 4 years ago

    I said at the time that the Corporate Welfare Queen and National Debt Explosion Act of 2017 was a gonna cause trouble……..

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    Addled Brain  over 4 years ago

    Republicans have become the party of fiscal irresponsibility. They have lost all foundation to complain about Democrats in this regard.

    I, however, blame both parties for our out-of-control deficit spending. Paying only the interest on our debt now takes over 25% of our income. This comes off the top before we can spend the first dollar on government operation, services or military.

    Republicans need to agree to raise taxes and cut spending on the military and Democrats need to, simply, cut spending.

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    Bookworm  over 4 years ago

    The Pachyderm Pandora effect.

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    DonnyTwoScoops  over 4 years ago

    Tax cuts are never an economic or fiscal strategy for Republicans, they are always a political strategy. They get political credit for the tax cuts and the short term economic bump now but when the deficits start piling up they are long gone. They don’t care if it bankrupts the country if it helps them win an election. Short term thinking at its worst.

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    kentmarx36  over 4 years ago

    The biggest problem with the RepubliCON deficit spending is that not of it is for the benefit of the country. It goes into their pockets or “campaign contributions” which are largely the same thing.

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    gopher gofer  over 4 years ago

    looks like a bunch of dooficits to me…

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    bakana  over 4 years ago

    Where is the “Do No Evil” one holding his crotch?

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    ndblackirish97  over 4 years ago

    The GOP love spending on themselves; that being government contracts that results in more big donor money going into their pockets. There’s a reason they use defense spending as their biggest argument for defending massive spending. Only a fraction goes to military O&M and dependent families while the majority goes to RDT&E that means money for defense contracts in weapons production. How else does one explain increased defense budget by billions yet we always here the military needs more money.

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