Record Federal Spending...

Hey, Look at Me, I'm a Conservative Dupe or, What Part of Massive Increases in Federal Spending Don't You Understand?

"It's Bush's spending policies - recall that he increased inflation-adjusted outlays by 104 percent! - that were his major contribution to deficits, not his tax cuts."

Something to bear in mind in the current tax-lapse debate...

Did the Bush Tax Cuts add to the deficit? Yes, but the larger contribution came from increased spending, something libertarians have been and at this point the far right are also lambasting the Republicans from the last 10 yrs about. At least they're starting to get that has to change, that "Fiscal Responsibility" aren't just words, they have meaning

But the other side of the debate seems only to want to focus on the tax cuts. To them, it is anathema that you might keep taxes low for everyone so that the economy has the ability to grow and function so that most of us get the chance to lift our own boats with the rising tide, and that rising tide gives us the means with which to help lift those who can not do so on their own.

The left often likes to sneer at "trickle down" economics as some form of voodoo, but the alternative they embrace is trickle up poverty. Government spending can stimulate the economy, and there are legitimate discussions on whether there are multiplier effects involved or not, but taxing also depresses an economy and you need to pay for spending somehow. When you depress the means by which small businesses and the most productive aspects of the economy can function, or threaten to and force them to function in fear of an uncertain future, things will not go well.