JohnEngelman
Virgin
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2022
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In “The Limits of Power” Andrew J. Bacevich reveals that he is a true conservative, one who believes in balanced budgets, bills paid on time, and living within our means. I am old enough to remember when most conservatives agreed. Beginning with Ronald Reagan those have become heretical views among the GOP.
On page 36 he writes the best and most succinct critique of Reagan I have ever encountered:
“Reagan portrayed himself as a conservative. He was in fact, the modern prophet of profligacy…
“Balance the books, pay as you go, save for a rainy day – Reagan’s abrogation of these ancient bits of wisdom did as much to recast America’s moral constitution as did sex, drugs, and rock and roll.”
President George W. Bush was just as bad. On page 60 Bacevich writes:
“Barely two weeks after the world Trade Center had collapsed, the president was prodding his fellow citizens to ‘get on board. Do your business around the country. Fly and enjoy America’s great destination spots. Get down to Disney World in Florida’.”
When someone suggested that the beginning of a war was not a good time to cut taxes, Vice President Cheney replied, “Reagan proved that tax cuts don’t matter.” They do not matter to Republicans any more.
When the United States entered World War II the government began rationing. President Franklin Roosevelt raised the top tax rate to 88.0%. By the end of the War it was 94.0%. That is the difference between the fiscal responsibility of the Democrats and the fantasy economics of the Republican Party.
If you do a Google Search for “How the Debt Compares to GDP, Plus Major” you will get a chart that shows how the national debt in absolute terms, and as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) from 1929 to 2022 has fluctuated When the Second World War ended in 1945 the national debt as a percentage of GDP was 114%. By the end of President Carter’s last full year in office this had declined to 32%. The national debt as a percentage of GDP declined every year under Democrat and Republican administrations. It declined during the Korean war and the War in Vietnam. After eight years of the presidency of Reagan this had grown to 50%. Toward the end of President Bill Clinton’s administration it declined from 64% in 1996 to 55% in 2000. Then President George W. Bush cut taxes. By the calculations of Paul Krugman, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2008, 41% of Bush’s tax cuts went to the richest one percent of the United States.
During Donald Trump’s last full year in office, in 2000, the national debt as a percentage of GDP had risen to 129%. After two years of Joe Biden’s presidency it had declined to 123%.
Edmund Burke is the father of modern Anglo American conservatism. In his “Reflections on the French Revolution,” he wrote:
“Society is indeed a contract…
“It becomes a partnership, not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.”
The Republican Party has become an organization that lives off of previous achievements and borrows from the future.
On page 36 he writes the best and most succinct critique of Reagan I have ever encountered:
“Reagan portrayed himself as a conservative. He was in fact, the modern prophet of profligacy…
“Balance the books, pay as you go, save for a rainy day – Reagan’s abrogation of these ancient bits of wisdom did as much to recast America’s moral constitution as did sex, drugs, and rock and roll.”
President George W. Bush was just as bad. On page 60 Bacevich writes:
“Barely two weeks after the world Trade Center had collapsed, the president was prodding his fellow citizens to ‘get on board. Do your business around the country. Fly and enjoy America’s great destination spots. Get down to Disney World in Florida’.”
When someone suggested that the beginning of a war was not a good time to cut taxes, Vice President Cheney replied, “Reagan proved that tax cuts don’t matter.” They do not matter to Republicans any more.
When the United States entered World War II the government began rationing. President Franklin Roosevelt raised the top tax rate to 88.0%. By the end of the War it was 94.0%. That is the difference between the fiscal responsibility of the Democrats and the fantasy economics of the Republican Party.
If you do a Google Search for “How the Debt Compares to GDP, Plus Major” you will get a chart that shows how the national debt in absolute terms, and as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) from 1929 to 2022 has fluctuated When the Second World War ended in 1945 the national debt as a percentage of GDP was 114%. By the end of President Carter’s last full year in office this had declined to 32%. The national debt as a percentage of GDP declined every year under Democrat and Republican administrations. It declined during the Korean war and the War in Vietnam. After eight years of the presidency of Reagan this had grown to 50%. Toward the end of President Bill Clinton’s administration it declined from 64% in 1996 to 55% in 2000. Then President George W. Bush cut taxes. By the calculations of Paul Krugman, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2008, 41% of Bush’s tax cuts went to the richest one percent of the United States.
During Donald Trump’s last full year in office, in 2000, the national debt as a percentage of GDP had risen to 129%. After two years of Joe Biden’s presidency it had declined to 123%.
Edmund Burke is the father of modern Anglo American conservatism. In his “Reflections on the French Revolution,” he wrote:
“Society is indeed a contract…
“It becomes a partnership, not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.”
The Republican Party has become an organization that lives off of previous achievements and borrows from the future.
