Republican conservatives started a fire under the leadership of President Bush and now they insist on watching our house burn to the ground rather than taking the necessary steps to put it out.
President Clinton left Bush a surplus which, he insisted, had to be returned to the people. Instead of paying down the debt, he initiated the ten year tax cut foolishly extended by Obama. A wise leader recognizes when the situation has changed and sadly, 9/11 was the beginning of our odyessy. Two unpaid wars, a new branch of governemnt in Homeland Security, the housing crisis caused by deregulation, and a prescription drug plan that was not paid for, set our house on fire. Republicans ran up the tab under Bush which culminated in The Great Recession. Bailouts, stimulus, and debt ceilings raised routinely were all necessary steps to put out the fire but we continued the same policy of tax reduction.
Now our house is starting to collapse with a downgrade and the fire spread to Europe causing the flames to feed off each other. Yet Republicans continue to act like it is 1999 and we need to return tax dollars to the people. They won't even discuss closing loopholes on major corporations or having the wealthy pay their fair share. They call these people the job creators, but they are sitting on trillions in profits and they are not creating jobs, at least not in this country.
They refuse to raise revenue in any way and insist on cutting our way back to a balanced budget. The polls say we need to raise revenue, the chief economists say we need to raise revenue, Standard and Poor's downgrade happened because we didn't raise revenue, and it's not even on the table because they all took a middle school pledge to Grover not to raise taxes. It's like saying we're not going to use water to put out this fire.
While it may seem noble to some that Republicans refuse to raise taxes on the wealthy and the corporations, most of us who invested in the Stock Market are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars, much more than any tax increase. A tax increase is looking good in comparison to the trillions being lost in the Market! The consequences of a down market also include the loss of jobs, and a loss of consumer confidence which will just pour gasoline on the fire!
This Conservative philosophy of never raising taxes is burning our house to the ground. When the economy is in free fall everyone suffers, even the corporations and the wealthy. It is all heading towards economic armageddon and it is all in the hands of the House Republicans. John Boehner bragged that he got 98% of what he wanted. Look at what has happened since the debt ceiling crisis, is that worth bragging about? Since they got 98%, they now own this problem and must take responsibilty for it. But they won't, they'll just blame Obama. They start the fire and then blame someone else. They are the Pyromaniacs of poitics! Wise leaders have the sense enough to realize when the situation has changed. Wake up America!
grat job
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