First, let’s start with the obvious:
From January 20, 2001 to January 20, 2009 the national debt increased from $5,727,776,738,304.64 to $10,626,877,048,913.08. For those that still believe in arithmetic this is an 85% increase in the debt over the Bush administration’s term ((10,626,877,048,913.08 / 5,727,776,738,304.64) * 100) = 185% or an 85% increase).
From January 20, 2009 to today July 12, 2011 the national debt increased from $10,626,877,048,913.08 to $14,343,010,710,537.58. This is a 35% increase in debt over President Obama’s term ((14,343,010,710,537.58 / 10,626,877,048,913.08) * 100) = 135% or a 35% increase).
Don’t take my word for it, check it out on the US Treasury Department site at: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np
So, in light of the simple math, why would anyone suggest that President Obama is big government and the Republicans are not? This is patently absurd. President Bush and the 6 year majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate went from the 4 year surplus that President Clinton left to record deficits and an 85% increase in the national debt.
No amount of groveling can erase this FACT so “man up” Repubs.
Myth 1: Republicans do not favor BIG Government.
Myth 2: Republicans favor tax cuts to create jobs.
Myth 3: Deregulation increases jobs
The first part of Myth 2 is true. Bush cut the marginal tax rates across the income spectrum. For those making over 1 million dollars a year the income taxed over $373,650 went from a marginal tax rate of 39.6% to 35%. The lowest income bracket marginal tax rate went from 15% to 10%. What is not true in Myth 2 is that the Bush tax cuts increased jobs. It increased unemployment dramatically 98% as this post documents:
http://mixermuse.com/blog/2011/07/08/the-obama-administration-raises-unemployment-25-really/
The national debt went up 85%. We lost the four years of budget surplus that the Clinton administration gave us AND gained the stock market and mortgage market crashed as this post documents:
The deregulation of the financial industry, oil and gas and product safety (and almost every other government regulatory function) was a disaster. The private sector, unregulated market for credit default swaps went from 900 billion to 30 trillion dollars under President Bush. The financial collapse under President Bush was the result of a 30 trillion dollar unregulated market based on junk mortgages.
Now, after the first African-American president the Republicans deem as “socialist” has actually turned the Republican nightmare of the Bush years around, Republicans are popping out of the the wood work with newly found religion on the national debt. Where were these disciples during the Bush years? Could it be that spending was ok when a Republican was doing it, at least judging from the rhetorical decibel level of their party, and now that Democrats “have the checkbook” they are fuming with moral debt rage? This is two-faced and hypocritical. It is a laughable elitism that was deferred in part by Dick Armey’s creation of the TEA party. It was smart to off-load the most intense Republican anger with the Bush administration with a thinly veiled, far right wing group that will still vastly vote Republican. They can in effect be Republican in their voting habits but fantasize that they are neither Republican nor Democrat.
In any case, I am encouraged by the rising sentiment in the Republican ranks against absurd wars and wish they had joined us during the most costly wars started in the Bush administration.
Across the board, Republican ideology has failed to live up to its essential claims AND historically proven themselves to have opposite consequences. Their counter claims about what Democrats do to the economy have also proven themselves to be fabrications and historically unfound…oh for the days of the budget surplus and the 4.7% unemployment rate of the Clinton administration. ..I would also take the 2% decrease of unemployment under President Obama to the 98% increase under President Bush.
The only way to understand how the Republicans have succeeded in their claims is to understand how “marketing” or better yet “propaganda” can be used effectively to control voters. They are the masters of propaganda, revisionist history and sophistry. Their ideology of “free market based” survival of the fittest gives them the latitude to employ these techniques freely. Democrats are much less adept at these practices. They have more resistance to lying and manipulation built into their ideology and are generally awful at it when they try. If the Republicans succeed, the crony capitalism that results will be disastrous for the masses that gave them the votes to do it and the “middle class” will continue to disappear.
As for me, I still maintain that there are facts that are not private and some statements can be deemed more historically accurate than others. I hope I am not in the minority.