What Greenspan Won't Admit About the Deficit

[MissMillie]

http://www.boston.com:80/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/05/12/what_greenspan_wont_admit_about_deficit


It's one thing to deliberately run a deficit during a recession. It's quite another to deliberately blow a huge hole in the government's revenue structure. Greenspan should surely know the difference. But like Bush, Greenspan uses the immense deficits as a rationale to keep cutting social outlays.

The deficits are now projected at $400 billion this year and at comparably destructive levels for the indefinite future. The tax cuts are responsible for more than $3 trillion in long-term revenue losses over 10 years. And Greenspan hasn't even spoken out against the president's campaign to make the cuts permanent.

Just imagine the outcry from Greenspan, Wall Street, and the Republican Party if these deficits had been the result of social spending rather than tax cuts for America's wealthiest. For half of the cost of the projected deficits -- $200 billion a year -- we could have universal, high-quality child care and health insurance for all Americans. Think of that.

[tabasco]

1. Why do so many support these republican policies??

- I guess plain old ignorance. Most of the people who support these destructive republican policies are those who would benefit the most from national health care and generous social programs.
- I suppose Reagan convinced the repug base that it is all welfare moms sucking up their hard earned money. At the same time, massive subsidies and unsupervised wasteful contracts to giant corporations. The repugs don't have a porblem with corporate welfare, and unearned dollars going to rich folks.
- This country has to turn around now. The damage Bush is doing is enormous. Our people will suffer hard and long if we do not exile this gang of criminals. My greatest hope is that President Kerry can turn this awful mess around, and convince Americans that liberal isn't a bad word.

[indepat]

3. Only the wealthy, the wholly apathetic, the brain-dead and brainwashed

could possibly support these republican policies. Sadly that includes far too close to a majority of voters.

[indepat]

2. What I think is the tax cuts for the relatively-few wealthy are obviously

far more important to almost every Republican in the Congress and the Administration than would be having high-quality child care and health insurance for all Americans. After all, one must keep one's priorities in order.