Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Origins
Via Balloon Juice, this is about the clearest, easiest to understand analysis of the phony debt "crisis," how we got there, and who is responsible.
While preaching the beauty of small government, neoliberals and conservatives redistributed wealth upwards by expanding the government’s reach, paying for tax cuts with mountains of debt. When they were ostensibly booted from power in 2008, it was not only easy and smart to turn quickly and point to the relative size of the government debt as the source of the problem, but also in some sense correct, in that the majority of government debt was looted from the Treasury by the neoconservative regime and its allies. This strategy has been a brilliant success. Having stolen nearly $5 (that is, $4.53 trillion) while in power, despite controlling only the House, the right has recast retirement and healthcare savings as “entitlements,” outlawed tax increases by fiat, and, as recently as two weeks ago, found itself perched on the edge of its greatest victory within a living memory full of them.
That is just one small excerpt. The entire piece is well worth the read.
While preaching the beauty of small government, neoliberals and conservatives redistributed wealth upwards by expanding the government’s reach, paying for tax cuts with mountains of debt. When they were ostensibly booted from power in 2008, it was not only easy and smart to turn quickly and point to the relative size of the government debt as the source of the problem, but also in some sense correct, in that the majority of government debt was looted from the Treasury by the neoconservative regime and its allies. This strategy has been a brilliant success. Having stolen nearly $5 (that is, $4.53 trillion) while in power, despite controlling only the House, the right has recast retirement and healthcare savings as “entitlements,” outlawed tax increases by fiat, and, as recently as two weeks ago, found itself perched on the edge of its greatest victory within a living memory full of them.
That is just one small excerpt. The entire piece is well worth the read.
