Republicans Don't Believe in Tax Cuts

As the world's economic crisis continues to play out there are some crucial questions that the Republicans have not been asked for reasons unknown to me, as they are some of the most obvious and most important questions they need to answer. I believe that asking these questions will so utterly stump Republicans they will shut up and go away and give us a break from all their noise so the rest of us can get to work solving our problems.

If cutting the highest tax rate from thirty nine percent to thirty six percent in 2001helped create fifty-five straight months of economic growth, as the Bush people claim, why did they cut the tax rate to just thirty six percent? Why not cut it down to thirty percent? How much deeper, broader and more stable would our economic expansion have been? Why not go all the way to a one percent tax rate? At what point does lowering tax rates stop growing the economy and increasing revenue? Didn't the GOP have a moral imperative to find out and cut taxes to the lowest point possible?

Republicans are fond of saying the tax based grew larger under Dubya. Great! I'm thrilled! Where is all the money that is supposed to be here after eight years of tax cuts and economic growth?

Ari Fleischer and other Bushmen offer an answer. They say the Prescription Drug Benefits Bill and the Iraq War ate up all the increase in revenue. Probably so, if there ever was an increase in revenue, which has yet to be proved since The Bush Administration was incapable of honest accounting practices. But that completely avoids the most important question: why did Dubya borrow money if deeper tax cuts would have generated even more revenue? Did the Republicans not think the Iraq War was worth a nice, deep tax cut?

Early in Dubya's awful second term it became clear to even the GOP the Federal Budget deficit was getting out of hand, providing the GOP with yet another reason to cut taxes, which invariably increases revenue, right? At the time they had the House and the Senate. They could have done anything they pleased. If cutting taxes is the defining policy of the Grand Old Party, again, why didn't they do so to keep the deficit from spiraling out of control? But wait- isn't cutting taxes worth doing for any reason? Obviously they didn't turn to their Super Duper Economic Tool to handle all these challenges because it doesn't work. If it did they would not have had to borrow trillions of dollars and add well over five trillion dollars to the deficit. If it did we would have no deficit. Did they not go lower because the spineless Democratic Party might have tried to stop them?

Whatever the answer the Republicans give, and we can be sure at this point it will be incoherent and embarrassing to all involved, Republicans did not turn to their most powerful, personally and morally definitive economic tool when the chips were down, and the chips were seriously down like never before. That tells me Republicans don't actually believe in tax cuts and are not conservative. In that case all their posturing about cutting taxes is completely disingenuous and purely political. What does their behavior say they really stand for? Mortgaging our future so they can have what they want right now, or "Teenagerism". If I remember correctly conservatism says nothing about being short sighted, irresponsible and utterly selfish.

Now the GOP says Obama's tax cut is not big enough to cover his stimulus package even though a smaller tax cut was supposedly powerful enough to cover the Great Bush Spending Spree over the last eight years which far and away dwarfs the spending Obama has proposed. But why argue Obama's tax cut is too small when they didn't cut taxes farther when they had the most compelling circumstances to do so in our nation's history?

Republicans are so utterly convoluted and confused and conflicted and lost they sound like the drug-addled freak I recently saw on a reality cop show that had just been caught red handed with a pound of cocaine in the trunk of his car. The cop demands an explanation and the dope says "Those ain't my drugs, man! I stole this car!" There is just no dignity. They are so desperate they are reduced to hoping Americans can't remember all their colossal failings? Sorry. Americans will never forget Bush's Presidency. We will remember everything. Not to be vindictive, all though that is tempting, but so that it never happens again.

Dubya and all he stands for will have to be completely purged from the party if they ever want to win another national election. The best way I can tell to do that is to first and foremost shut up, and I mean completely shut the hell up, until they get their fiscal policies worked out. Tax cuts for the rich coupled with deregulated financial markets plus massive federal spending equals total meltdown. So throw all that out and start at the beginning: tax cuts. Before any Republican dare open his or her mouth to discuss any fiscal policy he or she needs to answer the questions I have posed here, that is, as long as they want to begin what is for them a very long road back to dignity and earn some small measure of national respect. Until these questions are answered I must view any Republican's attempt to lead this country as impertinence, or, in other words, something like Jim Cramer asking to invest my money.

Comments

[kathy001]

Great article!! Thank you!

[bsazur]

Republicans went to Washington with the promise of small government, balanced budgets, and low taxes. Okay, some (the rich) got lower taxes but they increased the size of government and ran staggering deficits, so they deserve the moniker borrow and spend Republicans. But some of the harshest critics of Republicans were Republicans. Jeff Flake, Ron Paul, Walter Jones come to mind, there may be a few more. Are they to shut up? Though you may disagree with them, they seem to have their fiscal policies "worked out."

[DianneinCA]

Perfect. Thank you so much for putting it out there. I will be quoting you. I am so grateful for the thoughtful and intelligent posts on this site. It is a breath of fresh air.

[LeftRight]

Hey WAIT a minute!!! If tax cuts will INCREASE revenue for the government, doesn't that mean that if I ask my boss for a CUT in my pay, I will have MORE money?????

[Dystopic]

That's Bushonomics, which is based on Voodoo Economics, which is Reaganomics.

Less education makes you smarter

The more fat you eat, the skinnier you will become

Africa is a country

[LeftRight]

And you can see Russia from Sarah's front porch!!

And Dick Cheney shooting a man in the face is cause for that man to apologize to Dick.

And don't ever talk about s-e-x because a child might hear you and INSTANTLY be turned into a lustful beast!!!

[MonroeMagic]

LMAO This is great!

[iluvsam]

Mr. Cusack, you're absolutely correct. Now, let's actually see one of the spineless journalists who interview these people everyday actually ASK the questions that you pose. I want to see Chris Matthews or Wolf Blitzer ask these questions to Eric Cantor and his ilk. The problem is, no one has the courage to ask the hard questions. For the life of me, I do not understand why every journalist that has a national forum is afraid to call Republicans out....

[twofish]

You deeply underestimate Rethuglicans' ability to ignore logic, reason and elementary laws like cause and effect. Words are not conveyers of meaning for them. They are blunt objects with which to bludgeon their opponents and manipulate the emotions of the masses. It worked for a long time and it will have to fail for a long time before they might give it up. If they can.

I, too, wish they would shut up about matters fiscal. It just isn't going to happen.

[Dystopic]

lets not get into a temporal mechanics discussion about cause and effect.

[AngelaRising]

Once again, you have validated my deep appreciation of your writing skills. I really look forward to your posts so I can give my soapbox a break and go around quoting you. Thanks for putting the passion back into politics.

[MonroeMagic]

Now you them republicans aint answering nothin. LOL I can't even disagree with you today *grin

[MonroeMagic]

The above was meant to read: Now you "Know" them republicans aint answering nothin. It sounded like I was calling you a republican.

[Fireflies68]

Woo hoo! Go get 'em tiger! Great piece!

[Gidster]

Outstanding article!

Right on the money!

[RedneckDem]

There is an Elisberg article here that complements this article and are must reads. Good stuff!

[LeftisBetter]

Well said! Unfortunately, no Republican can answer the questions posed because the reasons lack any logic or comprehension for the 98% of Americans they are oblivious to...

[Trishyann]

Right on! Its hypocrisy at its best. The GOP needs to stop drinking the hateraide and be a part of the solution or get the %^&^*&% out of the way!

[phillyphil1963]

Great post, Bill! In the words that Jim Cramer stole from ESPN,

"BOOYAH!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!"

Now, if the GOP can just run Jindal-Pal­in/Bachman­n on their next ticket....­I'm sorry, that's horror beyond belief. Your points should be easy for the major networks to follow, but we know they won't.

[mitsu63]

Very pointed, excellent questions! Thanks for putting the whole "tax cuts, the panacea" thing into perspective. I have a feeling I'm going to be quoting you.