Republicans Want A Default

How else can they ensure (or at least hope to) Biden doesn’t get re-elected. If the economy is good, getting better every day, around April of next year, he’s likely to win by similar margins as 2020.

Republicans will never win on inflation complaints if there’s record low unemployment and wages up. People will just be used to some higher prices. The republicans are losing on the economy.
  • Tiny
  • 05-05-2023, 10:56 AM
Some Republicans do too.

The politicians figure if they throw enough money around, it will get them re-elected.
lustylad's Avatar
The republicans are losing on the economy. Originally Posted by 1blackman1
Come again?

Is that why only 32% of Americans approve of Biden's gross mismanagement of the economy, per Gallup?

(For our mathematically challenged posters, 32% means fewer than 1 out of 3!)

https://news.gallup.com/poll/472895/...ackluster.aspx
Some Republicans do too.

The politicians figure if they throw enough money around, it will get them re-elected. Originally Posted by Tiny
Wasn’t it Republicans who said things like “deficits don’t matter”. Why didn’t Republicans shrink spending and lower deficits during Trumps first two years when they controlled all levers of government. I’m sure you can find an answer that explains why they needed to increase the cost of govt.
Wasn’t it Republicans who said things like “deficits don’t matter”. Why didn’t Republicans shrink spending and lower deficits during Trumps first two years when they controlled all levers of government. I’m sure you can find an answer that explains why they needed to increase the cost of govt. Originally Posted by 1blackman1
Some Republicans (Dick Cheney, for instance) indeed said that, and that's unfortunate. And, yes, the Trump administration and Republican congress of 2017-2018 irresponsibly increased spending while cutting taxes. But do you think we should give a pass to Biden and today's Democrats for racking up far higher levels of reckless deficit spending?

Come again?

Is that why only 32% of Americans approve of Biden's gross mismanagement of the economy, per Gallup?

(For our mathematically challenged posters, 32% means fewer than 1 out of 3!)

https://news.gallup.com/poll/472895/...ackluster.aspx Originally Posted by lustylad
Yes, it does indeed appear that Biden's handling of the economy is discomfiting a large majority of the population.

But just be patient! Our intrepid leaders are seeking to trade in the old inflation jalopy for a shiny new recessionmobile. If America's working class and middle class liked the old jalopy, just imagine how thrilled they're going to be with their new ride!
3 bank failures isn't a sign of a healthy economy.
texassapper's Avatar
3 bank failures isn't a sign of a healthy economy. Originally Posted by farmstud60
The libtards know there is a crash coming and they are laying the ground work to blame Republicans and then put in EMERGENCY powers that they can then use to make the situation they caused that mush worse.

It's what they do.... never let a crisis go to waste.
lustylad's Avatar
Wasn’t it Republicans who said things like “deficits don’t matter”. Originally Posted by 1blackman1
Some Republicans (Dick Cheney, for instance) indeed said that, and that's unfortunate. Originally Posted by Texas Contrarian
Yep, Cheney was (and still is) an ass. Nixon was much closer to the truth when he said "We're all Keynesians now". Anyone who has studied economics knows Keynes believed deficits most certainly DO matter. To say they "matter" is not to say they are intrinsically good or bad.

It's good to run a deficit when the economy is in recession.

It's good to run a surplus when the economy is in recovery.

Conversely, it's bad to run a deficit when the economy is booming or overheated.

And it's bad to run a surplus when the economy is slumping.

Those are just general rules of thumb. They don't even begin to address the trickier questions - such as HOW BIG of a deficit/surplus we should incur under any given economic scenario.

Yes, it's unfortunate that Cheney made such a dumb remark. But the real tragedy is the ideological rigidity that has infected both parties on questions of taxes and deficits. Democrats now think all tax cuts are bad, and all tax increases are good. Republicans believe precisely the opposite is true. It's hard to craft intelligent fiscal policy under these circumstances.
lustylad's Avatar
Conversely, it's bad to run a deficit when the economy is booming or overheated. Originally Posted by lustylad
This is where Biden and his spendthrift Democrats screwed up badly.

The economy was already on a solid path to recovery in early 2021. The covid-related stimulus bills enacted during the prior year were already more than what was needed for the economy to bounce back from the covid-induced shutdowns. Under the circumstances, the $1.9 trillion "American Rescue Plan" passed in March 2021 was reckless and unnecessary, goosing the economy to overheat and pushing up inflation to a 40-year high.

As a result, our real GDP grew by an eye-popping 5.9% in 2021, way faster than its potential long-term, non-inflationary rate of expansion. Overheated demand was the chief culprit behind the surge in inflation, which jumped from 1.4% in Jan. 2021 to a peak of 9.1% in June 2022 (12-month CPI increase). CPI inflation has since receded again to 5.0% last month.

Here's a graph showing the recent deficit trends. Without the American Rescue Plan, the deficit would have shrunk dramatically in 2021, the economy would not have overheated, inflation would not have spiked dramatically, the Fed would not have reacted by raising interest rates as much as it did, fewer banks would be at risk of failing, and we wouldn't now be fretting about an imminent recession to come.


lustylad's Avatar
...so they can crash the economy, then use the ensuing financial crisis as AN EXCUSE TO PISS AWAY TRILLIONS & TRILLIONS MORE of your hard-earned tax dollars in utterly wasteful federal spending on all of their ridiculously hare-brained woke crapola!

Debt ceiling be damned!

"Never let a crisis go to waste!"

Instead, use every crisis as a pretext to churn out more & more WASTE in the form of new ill-conceived dim-retard programs that will suck all your tax dollars down yet another bottomless pit!

Rahm Emanuel's Dim-Retard Instruction Manual:

Lesson 1 - 2008/09 Great Recession

Lesson 2 - 2020/21 Covid Shutdown

Lesson 3 - 2023 Debt Default?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KlkYqq2YZk
... Nice to see you lads - so stead-fast and true.

CHINA will come - to your emotional rescue!

#### Salty
Jacuzzme's Avatar
...so they can crash the economy, then use the ensuing financial crisis as AN EXCUSE TO PISS AWAY TRILLIONS & TRILLIONS MORE of your hard-earned tax dollars in utterly wasteful federal spending on all of their ridiculously hare-brained woke Originally Posted by lustylad
It’s not really taxpayers money they’re spending, it’s money that never existed and is created out of thin air with a couple keystrokes. The downside is that “inflates” the money in circulation, reducing everyone’s purchasing power. That’s what inflation actually is, expanding the money supply which, through basic supply and demand, decreases its value across the board.
lustylad's Avatar
It’s not really taxpayers money they’re spending, it’s money that never existed and is created out of thin air with a couple keystrokes. Originally Posted by Jacuzzme
The money has to be either 1) taxed, 2) borrowed or 3) printed. You are partly correct insofar as the feds have turned increasingly to the third option (aka "quantitative easing") in recent years.

I call it "taxpayer money" because the once-almighty dollar is still the "coin of the realm" used by all of us... and however the feds choose to finance their endless boondoggles (tax/borrow/print) we all get stuck with the bill - if not directly via taxes, then indirectly via inflation.
dilbert firestorm's Avatar
default needs to happen anyway.

just so to force spending cut backs.
lustylad's Avatar
default needs to happen anyway.

just so to force spending cut backs. Originally Posted by dilbert firestorm

A part of me actually agrees. The other part says "are you out of your fucking mind? Be careful what you wish for!"

Sorry dilbert, I can't agree. Default means not paying interest and/or principal owed to holders of outstanding US Treasury obligations. Not a good idea. Don't ask me to elaborate.

We have to find a better way to halt the fiscal insanity. This brinkmanship truly sucks.