Borrow + Spend: Neocon Cowardice

[bountyhunter]

It truly is the ultimate in hypocritical cowardice: borrow and spend, or as it is more commonly known: "deficits don't matter". Neocons have always bashed dems for being "tax and spend"... there maybe some truth in that, but there is an inherent accountability in "tax and spend": if you can't convince the voters the tax you just imposed on them was necessary, they vote you out of office.

But, in 1980, Reaganomics was born and the era of "borrow and spend" began. You see, according to Reagan, cutting taxes stimulates the economy and generates more tax revenue.... so if you just cut taxes enough, the deficits are wiped out and the national debt will disappear.

Of course, that is rubbish and deficits went through the roof under Reagan. But "borrow and spend" was embraced by Washington and won't leave.... because it's like free money and it dumps the problem on the next schmuck who inherits the problem.... no accountability, the coward's ultimate refuge.

ENTER SCHWARZENEGGER.......

He takes office by claiming California has PLENTY of money and Gray Davis is "wasting" it all...... so, we elect him, and the first thing he says is we DON'T have any money and are about $10 Billion in debt. Now, kali has a law that says the annual budget MUST BE BALANCED... but it doesn't say how.

So, Ahnie "balances" the budget by selling a ton of JUNK BONDS at high ineterest rates to raise cash. That's balanced? If you had to borrow $1000 every month from your Mom to pay your rent, would your budget be BALANCED? hell, no..... but Ahnie Neocon would NEVER consider raising taxes, he just borrows money and pretends that means everything is fine. Gee... I wonder where he learned that?

Anyway, as we said at the time, it's irresponsible and expensive to run on bond cash because DEBT COSTS A LOT OF MONEY! But, like all neocons, Ahnie's fiscal policies are built on the concept of ATAMO:

And
Then
A
Miracle
Occurs

Under Reagan, the miracle was when his tax cut would generate so much "stimulation" that washington was flooded with new tax revenue (never happened).... Funny, Bush has been singing the same tune (it's the only tune a neocon knows about how to "fix" an economy)... and look how well it's working for him. As they say, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and believeing it will give you a different result.

In Ahnie's case, the "miracle" was always going to be that the economy NEXT YEAR would come BOOMING back and generate enough tax revenue to pay the debt he was racking up... sound familiar sports fans?

But, Ahnie has gone that next step beyond:

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > State -- Schwarzenegger's lottery bond ...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is hoping to raise $15 billion to jump-start a rainy day budget reserve by borrowing against future state lottery revenue, ...
www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080514-1847-ca-statebudget-lotteryplan.html - 17 hours ago - Similar pages

Let's look at that again, folks:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is hoping to raise $15 billion to jump-start a rainy day budget reserve by borrowing against future state lottery revenue

What he doesn't mention is that revenue is already spoken for: lottery revenue supports schools and other functions for public safety. So, Ahnie is not only borrowing from the future (as always), he's hijacking money already going someplace else.

Neocon fiscal management at it's best.... from the article:

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is hoping to raise $15 billion to jump-start a rainy day budget reserve by borrowing against future state lottery revenue, although administration officials bristle at the notion that the plan amounts to borrowing.

“The governor's proposal is not to borrow from the lottery,” Schwarzenegger press secretary Aaron McLear said Wednesday. “The proposal is to sell, outright, a portion of future lottery profits. This is a big difference.”

Really? A BIG DIFFERENCE? You are generating cash NOW against future earnings which you have no way of predicting... and that's not borrwing? And what about schools and public safety that need to be funded from the profits he is "selling"?

Seriously... has anybody ever heard such a pile of double-talking mumbo jumbo BS from an elected official who is desperate to do ANYTHING to avoid admitting the only way to actually balance the budget is to cut spending and raise taxes?

[mpak87]

Sounds like a bloody mess to me. You would think that the logic here would be simple. Keep the taxes the same, stop blowing the money on pork barrel earmarks for stupid $%@#, and use the extra revenue to pay down the debt.

I know people who buy a lot of crap that they don't need on credit cards and blow the small amount of money that they actually do make on more stupid crap. When people do this, they get bad credit and it messes them up. What happens to a nation when that does this?

[jmichna]

Schwarzenegger is a Republican Neocon?

Yeah, like Maria Shriver would sleep with a Republican Neocon.

I don't believe it.

Must be embarrassing to live in California.

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by jmichna

Schwarzenegger is a Republican Neocon?

Yeah, like Maria Shriver would sleep with a Republican Neocon.

I don't believe it.

Must be embarrassing to live in California.

He's a Republican only in Kali.

[AZXD]

A Californian Republican ... Now if that don't beat all

[tmorr37]

Since 1984 the JEC has provided factual information about the impact of the tax cuts of the 1980s. For example, for many years the JEC has published IRS data on federal tax payments of the top 1 percent, top 5 percent, top 10 percent, and other taxpayers. These data show that after the high marginal tax rates of 1981 were cut, tax payments and the share of the tax burden borne by the top 1 percent climbed sharply. For example, in 1981 the top 1 percent paid 17.6 percent of all personal income taxes, but by 1988 their share had jumped to 27.5 percent, a 10 percentage point increase. The graph below illustrates changes in the tax burden during this period.

Click here to see Figure 1.
The share of the income tax burden borne by the top 10 percent of taxpayers increased from 48.0 percent in 1981 to 57.2 percent in 1988. Meanwhile, the share of income taxes paid by the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers dropped from 7.5 percent in 1981 to 5.7 percent in 1988.

[tmorr37]

Tax rate reductions increase tax revenues. This truth has been proved at both state and federal levels, including by President Bush's 2003 tax cuts on income, capital gains and dividends. Those reductions have raised federal tax receipts by $785 billion, the largest four-year revenue increase in U.S. history. In fiscal 2007, which ended last month, the government took in 6.7% more tax revenues than in 2006.

[tmorr37]

Income Tax Cut. JFK Hopes To Spur Economy 1962/08/13 (1962)

[tmorr37]

Funny things is, the Media and the Left say tax cuts don't work yet they just gave us a economic stimulus package which were?
TAX CUTS

[AZXD]

Admit it!
You're on the payroll