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linazelle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-15-03 03:04 PM
Original message
The Republican honesty deficit
I found this article on another board inhabited by repubs and, lo and behold, the Bushitas ALL agreed with it!!! We may have something here...read and learn.

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By Matthew Miller, Tribune Media Services
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/sun/30810Miller-GOPfraud.html


<snip>

Just seven programs make up about 75 percent of all federal spending: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, military pensions, civil service pensions, defense and interest on the debt. That's "big government." Republicans aren't trying to cut a dime of it. In fact, they're calling for big increases in every one of these programs. According to the White House, interest on the national debt alone will soar by 66 percent over the next five years thanks to the red ink oozing from President Bush's budget.

<snip>

In other words, if you pay heed to their votes and not their words, the Republican critique of "big government" is a pure charade. Though it hardly seems possible, the GOP position on taxes is even more shocking. Understanding why requires a quick, painless look at a few numbers. Over the next five years, President Bush figures the "big 7" programs will cost, on average, about $1.8 trillion a year. Over the same period, he says, the revenue the government will collect, not counting Social Security taxes (which both parties say shouldn't be used for current spending, though it is), will average about $1.35 trillion a year - or $450 billion a year less than just the "big 7" programs on which Republicans want to spend more. The reduction in income taxes enacted under President Bush accounts for most of this gap.

Since the GOP thinks income tax rates should continually be reduced, they obviously believe we should fund government activities they support in one of two ways. First, we can borrow huge amounts from our children (which is the GOP's present plan). Or, we can at some point raise payroll and other retirement taxes, which means funding government through taxes that impose a greater burden on lower- and middle-income citizens. The income tax, by contrast, is progressive. Mathematically, these are the only options available, given that Republicans, rhetoric aside, aren't interested in cutting government spending.

This, then, is today's spectacle: "Family values" Republicans are sticking the kids with the bill for current spending while railing fraudulently against the "big government" they support. Then they attack Democrats for offering the radical idea that we ought to pay for the spending we all agree we want (and that's before we even begin fighting about other things government might do - like cover the uninsured, or help poor children get better teachers.

<snip>
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RobertSeattle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-15-03 03:16 PM
Response to Original message
1. Republicans are big supporters of the BIRTH TAX
...Otherwise known as passing on OUR debts to our children.

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section321 Donating Member (632 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-15-03 03:31 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. That's it! That's the sound bite Dem's need. The Birth Tax.
People pay attention to catcht little phrases. That's how "the Death Tax" worked.


But this, the Birth Tax is going right back at them.

The Birth Tax
"You were born, so you owe part of the National Debt. Welcome to America."
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meow2u3 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-15-03 03:20 PM
Response to Original message
2. If the Bushies agree, I can only come to one conclusion
I found this article on another board inhabited by repubs and, lo and behold, the Bushitas ALL agreed with it!!! We may have something here...read and learn.


The Bushies are pathological liars and damned proud of it. :scared: :nuke:
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