Trump’s real legacy
I can hear the whataboutisms now - and it’s true that I didn’t complain about deficits during the Obama years. That’s because it was recovery time, and I’m a Keynesian. And deficits shrank in his last years, as the recovery continued.
Now...jeez.
Key paragraph: “According to Keynes, governments should be accumulating surpluses during economic boom times to help counteract business cycle contractions—not expand government spending, regardless of season. The latter is a recipe for fiscal collapse.”
Link: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/23-trillion-us-national-debt-already-exceeds-size-us-economy-118416
Replies to: Trump’s real legacy
Agreed. I'm really frustrated that we aren't attacking the deficit vigorously.
It drives me nuts that, of the last 4 ugly hits to the national debt, 3 of them occurred under Republican presidents. We're supposed to be the party that avoids this.
Trump is the asshole who would leave his trash at a picnic site.
Zero concern for the next family who occupies that picnic spot.
Trump is the type of asshole who would guzzle down a canteen of water, and not share with his fellow soldiers.
Trump is the type of asshole who would blow through family savings rather than save some for his younger siblings.
The deficit is a huge problem on the horizon.
Leadership requires confronting the facts in an honest and constructive manner. Never going to happen on Trump's watch.
Type casting is the foundation on which racism and other vile traits are founded.
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Your life consumed with every detail, nothing can fix the hole in your life because HRC lost
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This is a good topic. I assume that you are against Medicare for All, Free Tuition, & Reparations?
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I am against all three, yes.
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I like talking to reasonable Dems. I seriously hope Biden can win D nom though obviously,
I hope he loses in the general. The others D candidates will be easier for Trump to beat, but they come with too high of a risk imo should they pull off an upset.
Smooth segue. Interesting that you don’t mention the Congress.
I happen to agree with you that the deficit is Trump’s only economic failing, but I also remember why.
The Dems have never seen a deficit that they didn’t like, and even with the GOP having a majority in the House and a razor thin majority in the Senate in his first two years, Trumps initial proposals for a tax cut with deficit reduction were torpedoed (as was his repeal of Obamacare).
Trump literally said, “Fine. I can’t do anything about fixing you, so screw it. I’m not going to go down after one term because of you”. He gave up on it.
One could argue that charging the economy first was a good plan, and that the deficit could be attacked with increased revenue I suppose. Either way, this is an issue that I do think will need to be addressed in the next four years quite seriously, and I doubt either candidate will run on it this election.
I will say that it is an issue whose fix is far more suited to a president in his second term given the impact that it will have on potential re election.
The budget is written in the White House
I agree that the Democratic House is part of the problem here, though.
Someone needs fiscal sanity. Nobody currently has it.
Someday there will be a recession...and deficits will be truly breathtaking.
What is written is predicated on what will pass. But I agree it needs attention. As I said, it is a
second term issue (I suppose Biden would also count here along with Trump since he won’t be doing another term after 2020 election). Nobody hoping for a second term will touch this.
With 70% of budget being entitlements and the other party ready to pounce it won’t be solved
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Well, we always can tax the rich to unseen levels. What could go wrong? BTW, it's interesting how
you've jumped on this train while paying no attention to it while Obama was in office.
Weren’t we still recovering when Trump came into office?
I’m no fan of large deficits, but I’m not ready to hit the panic button. Admittedly, I’m not following closely, but I haven’t seen any decrease in investments or confidence of investors. I’ll wait and see what Trump does in the next 4 years. Maybe he’ll slow deficit spending? I don’t know yet.
Funny how you globalists don’t understand how it has changed economic theories.
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Your life consumed with every detail, nothing can fix the hole in your life because HRC lost
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Our "collective" legacy
We are all responsible because we refuse to reform retirement entitlements to reflect the tremendous increase in our longevity since they were passed. There is no politician in the country who dares to touch this subject. The tax cuts were a drop in the bucket and arguably have resulted in increased revenues because of the economic expansion. And finally, not only are very few complaining about the cuts, but most look forward to even more.
Link: https://www.thebalance.com/current-u-s-federal-government-tax-revenue-3305762
Where’s the Tea Party?
I thought that was all about principle and patriotism and not at all just partisanship and racism.
I’ll tell you where they are: they’ve traded their tri-cornered hats for red baseball ones.
Hiding away out of fear of a government audit most likely.
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Let’s repeat yesterday’s point: that didn’t happen
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Come on Chris, the facts are laid out. The administration gave itself a self clearance. Why do you
Suppose Lerner took the 5th and “retired”?
It was the Inspector General of the Treasury Dept. who cleared them. Not the administration.
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The movement was killed by the likes of you.
But you're free to start your own movement. I'll join.
I concur... where the hell did they go when we actually need them?
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We are going to have to hope that your boy JKG Jr is correct
Because we are heading to debt levels that will dwarf multiples of GDP.
Yep.
Though it’s hard to find too many economists who think deficit spending in boom times makes sense.