The problem is, government should spend when times are bad, and save when times are good. But (1) no one is every willing to admit that times are good enough to start saving; and (2) even when things are undoubtedly good, as when Bush took office, the “fiscally responsible” party then in office did not spend the surplus paying down the debt, but squandered it on tax cuts for those who did not need them thus failing on two counts to prepare for the next I (and predicted) downturn by reducing the revenue (under the silly and disproven fantasy that “tax cuts pay for themselves”) while allowing the debt to continue to expand. Now there is fine talk about closing loopholes to raise revenue, but no specific loophole is targeted. And the GOP have largely pledged to do nothing to increase revenue. What do call a man, deeply in debt, who refused to do anything than will earn him more money, and, when he has a little extra cash, doesn’t use it to pay down his credit card bill, but just wants to add to his gun collection, or buy a new car, and rails at his creditors for wanting to “take HIS money” while his wife pleads with him to give her something to buy food for the children with, or at least do something to prevent the house being foreclosed upon?
The problem is, government should spend when times are bad, and save when times are good. But (1) no one is every willing to admit that times are good enough to start saving; and (2) even when things are undoubtedly good, as when Bush took office, the “fiscally responsible” party then in office did not spend the surplus paying down the debt, but squandered it on tax cuts for those who did not need them thus failing on two counts to prepare for the next I (and predicted) downturn by reducing the revenue (under the silly and disproven fantasy that “tax cuts pay for themselves”) while allowing the debt to continue to expand. Now there is fine talk about closing loopholes to raise revenue, but no specific loophole is targeted. And the GOP have largely pledged to do nothing to increase revenue. What do call a man, deeply in debt, who refused to do anything than will earn him more money, and, when he has a little extra cash, doesn’t use it to pay down his credit card bill, but just wants to add to his gun collection, or buy a new car, and rails at his creditors for wanting to “take HIS money” while his wife pleads with him to give her something to buy food for the children with, or at least do something to prevent the house being foreclosed upon?