"Virtually Every Republican" is a Moron

[Lurker]

According to Republican Mitch McConnell, and I agree, "virtually every Republican" is a moron.

Republicans continue to sabotage the recovery by blocking an unemployment benefit extension, claiming that $35 billion over ten years is too much to add to the deficit. $678 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy added to the deficit? That's just fine, apparently. Sen. Jon Kyl said we shouldn't even attempt to offset the $678 billion cost to extend the Bush tax cuts for people earning over 250k per year.

Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wasn't content to be seen as a deficit hypocrite so he went one step further and insisted that there is no cost.

"That's been the majority Republican view for some time," Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told TPMDC this afternoon after the weekly GOP press conference. "That there's no evidence whatsoever that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue, because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy. So I think what Senator Kyl was expressing was the view of virtually every Republican on that subject."

Krugman labeled it "invincible ignorance", and Ezra Klein examined the evidence. Bruce Bartlett had an interesting piece for people smart enough to understand that tax cuts don't pay for themselves about how "starve the beast" theory doesn't work.

It's worth remembering that the Republican Party is still led by the same know-nothings and that they aren't the least bit serious about addressing the nations problems.

[Fallakin Kuvari]

[Partha]

'Virtually'?

[Embar Angylwrath]

Many, if not most, Americans of average intelligence don't buy that statement. Actually, I should say they instinctively reject the notion that reducing revenue increases revenue. However, that's not what the average American is focusing, and the Republicans get onn-message when they talk about the fiscal pachinko game played with economic stimulus arguments, be that unemployment checks, tax cuts, or massive deficit spending.

Most Americans think in much simpler terms... regardless of where the money comes from, can we pay for all the programs? They have seen what happened to people who borrowed money (via credit cards, using the house as an ATM, etc), and the devastation which happens when there is no money left. People go bankrupt, and they see the US fiscal policy in much the same way.

Its all about spending priorities. What happens behind the green curtain is beyond most Americans. Most Americans can't understand basic math, let alone complex and esoteric fiscal arguments on economic stimulus.

Those comments are just as irresponsible as the Dems refusal to take up a budget. Denial of the truth doesn't make the truth go away, but both the Reps AND the Dems are doing things and making statements (or staying silent when they should be making statements) that are untruthful or irresponsible in regards to fiscal responsibility. You really can't call out the Republicans without shining a light on the Democrats reusal to even try to budget (which is the first step to fiscal accountability), and is one of the primary duties of Congress.

As much as the Republicans make stupid and ignorant statements, the Democrats are in power, and have a duty to try and run the country while they still hold office. Ignoring the law and refusing to take up a budget is not the way to go about that, and is a dereliction of duty, in my opinion. And they do it because they are afrai to tell the Americans the truth about the staggering debt they are wracking up.

This fact... the out of control spending and their refusal to be open about it via a budget, coupled with the unemployment rate, and the appearance that all the stimulus spending have done nothing for the economy (note I said "appearance".. it doesn't matter if you think the stimulus did much or not... its easy to poo-poo statements that say.. Well... it would have been much worse if...), will give the Republicans all the ammo they need to take back the House and maybe even the Senate... as long as they don't make stupid statements like this.

[Alarik Zekaiden]

Some of those statistics in the discussion thread of the Ezra Klein article are pretty staggering if true. The tax rate disparity between the top 1% and the bottom of the tax heap, explains a lot of economic issues we are having...provided that it is true. Especially since a lot of that untaxed income is usually used to make more money in ways that are also not taxed (or sent to offshore banks to avoid tax, or just projected as a loss entirely), so it never hits the economy. At least that is what I understand, as I am in no way an accountant or an economist.

I have to admit, I did enjoy the Bush tax cuts for the military. It really helped make it so I didn't have to sink into Star-Card debt every time an IG inspection rolled around.

"If you're rich you're more of a citizen than a poor person. The Supreme court said so, so it must be true!" That made me lol. Once it gets to the point where politicians and judges no longer hide any sort of corruption in politics and the legal system, it will no longer matter, because the whole thing will be too far gone for anyone to do anything about it. But that is something else entirely.

After reading "Invincible Ignorance," it really makes me wonder what exactly made the Clinton years supposedly so economically vibrant? Was it the economic policies themselves, or were there other factors? I know the growth of the Dot.com bubble had to have helped somewhat. Lots of people on campus keep saying that Clinton was the "Best President ever!" When he was president, all I remember hearing about was the Monica Lewinsky thing with the cigar and the dress.

As far as Republicans being morons, I really have no opinion whatsoever. Both sides spew a lot of rhetoric and party dogma, much of which either doesn't make sense (trickle-down economics), or are focused on issues that, while important, aren't issues that we need to be fighting at the moment (gun control vs. social security and retirement). Some days it is like we're re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic while the iceberg looms ahead.

[Lurker]

'Virtually'?

I didn't want to engage in hyperbole so I used McConnell's framing.

====

Embar,
I said everything I had to say about your complaints about the "budget" in this post.

On the rest...

Republican's don't care about the deficit - they created most of the current deficit - and they are now on record saying they want to make it worse. When they regain power they will pursue the same reckless fiscal policies that lead to massive deficits. During our current fiscal crisis, at every turn, they've made suggestions that would have made things worse. They've blocked legislation that you said was critically important. They have harmed millions because they think it gives them political advantage.

And yet, judging by your posts, you seem more concerned with how things appear and whether things can be spun to Republican advantage than you do about what's actually being done. Why is that?

====

I have to admit, I did enjoy the Bush tax cuts for the military. It really helped make it so I didn't have to sink into Star-Card debt every time an IG inspection rolled around.

Not all of Bush's tax cuts were reckless and nobody is saying we should let them all expire.

[Embar Angylwrath]

And yet, judging by your posts, you seem more concerned with how things appear and whether things can be spun to Republican advantage than you do about what's actually being done. Why is that?

.

You judge incorrectly.

As I said in the post, Dems and Reps both do and say things that are out of whack... its all politics. Dems are flipping the bird at the law and refusing to perform the basic function of the Congress... controlling the purse strings because they fear the political fallout of revealing the crushing debt they'll propose. And in this particular case with the Reps... they are making statements no credible economist would make, not even the economists working for the Bush administration, to try and score political points.

My point was, that if this is all just politics and posturing on both sides, the Reps don't have to engage in outright fabrication to gain political points, since the Dems are giving them all the ammo they need with the rampant spending, the high unemployment, and thier refusal to even bring a budget to the floor for discussion. In other words, Reps need do nothing more than focus on the failures of the party in power. Its just an observation of political fact notihing more.

[Lurker]

In other words, Reps need do nothing more than focus on the failures of the party in power.

The Republicans are blocking attempts to deal with the countries problems and are harming Americans for political gain. The policy proposals they have articulated would make things worse. They've telegraphed that their one signature issue - deficits- is nothing but a sham. That's the reality. It's sad that a misinformed public will only see that the "party in power" didn't help them, and it's even more sad that people who do know what's happening spend their time talking about how things "appear" or who has political advantage. Real people are being hurt.

[Partha]

Real people are being hurt.

You'll never never never make them admit it. Either it never happened, or they deserved it. Or at their most honest, it's 'those people'.

Remember Bush with the woman who worked three jobs? 'How marvelous!'

I'm always reminded when I hear about Republican voters of this quote from Balloon Juice.

“The salient fact of American politics is that there are fifty to seventy million voters each of whom will volunteer to live, with his family, in a cardboard box under an overpass, and cook sparrows on an old curtain rod, if someone would only guarantee that the black, gay, Hispanic, liberal, whatever, in the next box over doesn’t even have a curtain rod, or a sparrow to put on it.”

[Embar Angylwrath]

In other words, Reps need do nothing more than focus on the failures of the party in power.

The Republicans are blocking attempts to deal with the countries problems and are harming Americans for political gain. The policy proposals they have articulated would make things worse. They've telegraphed that their one signature issue - deficits- is nothing but a sham. That's the reality. It's sad that a misinformed public will only see that the "party in power" didn't help them, and it's even more sad that people who do know what's happening spend their time talking about how things "appear" or who has political advantage. Real people are being hurt.

No argument there. And frankly, I think the Reps are concerned they actually might take the majorities, because then they'll be accountable and have to come up with solutions-based positions instead of political-based ones, otherwise they'll only last two years and ensure that Obama gets another 4 years.

That said, the Dems share a lot of the blame for Republican advances in the polls. As I said many months ago, the American people were concerned about jobs and the economy, not healthcare reform. Healthcare reform could have waited until until he got the economy sorted out. Had Obama and his administration been able to prevent 10% persistant unemployment (and a whole lot more when you count the people that have just given up looking for work), and prevented the forclosure nightmare (making primary residences fair game in bankruptcy proceedings is easiest and most elegant solution to that... but the administration resisted it... why, I don't know... everyone shares the pain with that solution, and it has the same economic effect of short sales, which the banks are largely moving to because of what the effect of a foreclosure does to asset column on a balance sheet).

The Dems had the power to ram any legislation through they wanted. But they, as usual, couldn't come together and take advantage of the situation. Now they're paying for it.