Republican hypocrisy in overdrive
Republican alarms about deficit spending and inflation reflect the party’s limitless capacity for hypocrisy. The GOP opposes the Build Back Better Act because it would cost $3.5 trillion and will “bankrupt the country” — conveniently forgetting the important qualifier: “$3.5 trillion spread over 10 years.” Mind you, it’s the same GOP that voted for $9.1 trillion Trump and Bush II tax cuts, spread over one year.
In 2003, VP Dick Cheney urged GOP legislators to approve a $6.2 trillion tax cut, reminding them of one of a Reaganomics miracle: “Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter.. Reagan raised the national debt 186%, behind FDR and Woodrow Wilson who had fought World War II and World War I, respectively. Dubya raised the debt 101% while Obama raised it 74%. Under Reaganomics, the U.S. changed from being a creditor nation to a debtor one. President George H.W. Bush called Reaganomics “Voodoo Economics.”
Contrary to right-wing propaganda, the largest contributor to deficit spending is not welfare, including Medicaid, which accounts only for $1,875 billion, nor Social Security/Medicare, both financed by our contributions, but the military. The Department of Defense’s 2022 budget is $770 billion. Factoring no increases over the next 10 years (a fool’s dream), in 2032 DoD will spend $7.7 trillion, twice the cost of BBB. The Pentagon budget benefits few people beyond the narrow military/industrial complex, while the BBB Act would benefit society at large. This country cannot put its house in order until the runaway military budget is brought under control.
Tom McClintock, and Kevin Kiley, his anointed heir, want to abolish Social Security, Medicare and Obamacare and the funds given to the Pentagon and to obscene tax cuts for the billionaire class. Is this what this district really wants?