The Feld-Blog

People think Conservatives are for smaller government and less federal spending. They are wrong. People think Democrats spend the hell out of the government. They are wrong. Historically and even today, Republicans have jacked up the charges on the Federal credit card without producing any real or lasting benefits.

I am not sure where this misconception came from... Republicans have always claimed to be "strong on the economy," but over the last 50 years or so, they seem to have done more harm than good. Reaganomics was a failure.

See Reagan wanted to try what FDR did - spend your way out of a recession. The problem is that Reagan's 'conservative' tack he used ballooned the federal debt, and only served as a band-aid for the gushing wound that was the federal deficit. See FDR created governmental programs that gave money to the 'little guys' of America - the ones who truly had it tough during the depression. Because they needed the money, they spent it, and it stayed in the economy. True to flawed Republican values, Reagan whipped out the Federal credit card and tried to spend his way into an economic boom, but unlike FDR, he gave all the money to large corperations and those who were already rich. He vainly hoped that this money would eventually "trickle down" to the people who actually needed it. Unfortunately, since these rich companies and individuals already had the money they needed to spend, this additional money was invested in stocks or kept in savings accounts and did not ever really reach the people it needed to help.

If you look at George W. Bush's record, he campaigned on decreasing federal spending, but today, the federal debt is larger than it has ever been - in real dollars or today's dollars or however you want to measure it. By any rubric, he's spend the most. In 1999, he said he would “oppose and veto any increase in individual or corporate marginal income tax rates or individual or corporate income tax hikes.” But Guess what? He did just that this week. He raised a variety of taxes on Americans oversees anTRIPLEDED taxes on students with college savings accounts.

Whatever you think about the policy itself, Bush violated a campaign promise. Not that I am surprised, but maybe those of you who think "Dems are good on social issues and Republicans are good on the economy" need to reevaluate.

Democrats know how to run the economy - Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton both oversaw booming economies and both reduced the federal debt and the federal deficitThroughgh his hard work, Clinton created a federal surplus by the end of his term (that was quickly squanderebybu George W.) Democrats are good for the economy. Period. Maybe we should start to vote like it.