Are Republicans the real deficit builders?
Let's look at the deficit history since Clinton was elected with his party in control of both houses of Congress: 1992 290.4 Billion Dollar Deficit - Record 1993 255.1 Billion Dollar Deficit 1994 203.2 Billion Dollar Deficit (GOP takes control of both houses, watch the deficit decrease) 1995 164 Billion Dollar Deficit 1996 107.5 Billion Dollar Deficit 1997 22 Billion Dollar Deficit 1998 69.2 Billion Dollar Surplus 1999 125.6 Billion Dollar Surplus 2000 236.4 Billion Dollar Surplus (Bush elected with both houses still in GOP control) 2001 127.3 Billion Dollar Surplus 2002 157.8 Billion Dollar Deficit (Dems take Senate, post 9-11 bills start piling up) 2003 374 Billion Dollar Deficit - Record 2004 413 Billion Dollar Deficit - Record (GOP back in control of both houses; deficits going down again) 2005 319 Billion Dollar Deficit 2006 248 Billion Dollar Deficit (Dems take both houses and retain them through FY 2010) 2007 162 Billion Dollar Deficit 2008 455 Billion Dollar Deficit - Record (Obama's first year; both houses have larger Democrat majorities) 2009 1400 Billion Dollar Deficit <<== WTF? Record x 3!!!!!!! 2010 1350 Billion Dollar Deficit ... why do Republicans get blamed for such deficits, when the trend clearly illustrates the reverse is true? Republicans are always lowering deficits, except when there is a war on -- and even then, they keep budgets at lower % of GDP than their Democrat predecessors when they had wars on their watch.
How do Democrats and Republicans differ in how they plan to reduce the US national debt?
Different groups in each party want to do different things. Liberal Democrats: For the most part, liberal democrats want to cut military spending, keep spending or even raise spending in other departments, and raise taxes on the wealthy to eventually create a surplus that will lower the national debt over time. Liberal Democrats don't want to cut things like education, food stamps, healthcare, etc., because it would hurt the country and why pay off national debt by making the country suffer when you can do it without making the underprivileged suffer?Well-known politicians that support this plan are democratic presidential candidate and Senator Bernie Sanders(I-Vermont) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts).Centrist(moderate) Democrats:Their plan is similar to the liberals' plan, except centrists believe that military cuts will threaten our national security, therefore they believe in tax increases on the wealthy, and no spending cuts, only increases, in all departments. Their belief is that the increase in tax revenue will take care of the debt.Politicians who support this plan are US President Barack Obama, and former secy. of state and democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.Independents: Independents have varying views on how to tackle the national debt.Moderate Republicans: These people want to cut taxes on the rich, and limit all programs except that they want to raise the military budget. Many moderates want to limit, but not abolish welfare. They believe spending cuts will get rid of the national debt. Examples include no one, because the Republican party has moved so far to the right allowing nothing to get done:http://www.washingtonpost.com/ne...Tea Party Republicans: They also want to cut taxes on the wealthy and raise military spending. The difference between the Tea Party and the moderates is the Tea Party wants to abolish all welfare. Examples include the billionaire Koch Brothers, Senator Ted Cruz(R-Texas), and again, 90 percent of house republicans(click on above link).
Can the government borrow and spend our way to prosperity?
The weird thing is, the "National Debt" is a chimera, because the way 'money' is created is by borrowing it into existence, at interest. Yup, to understand how our money system works will take a lot of duct tape to prevent your head from exploding. Under our Federal Reserve, fractional, fractal, fraudulent banking system, money pops into and out of existence like subatomic waves in quantum physics. But the banksters have arranged the system such that they get paid interest by Uncle Sugar for borrowing their notes into existence and they are evaporating in your pocket at a predictable rate. Let's suppose we somehow paid off the national debt. That would mean all the notes would be paid off and retired out of existence. What would you use for money? Read the dollar bill in your pocket. Says right on it that it is a note, an instrument of debt. If those notes were paid off, they would cease to exist. What we have here is a faith-based monetary system. Any man who can't get his mind right spends a night in the box.
What is President Obama's immigration reform plan?
He supports comprehensive immigration reform. He supports the DREAM Act. I believe he supported the McCain-Kennedy immigration reform bill when he was a US Senator from Illinois. President Obama does not, however, have enough political support in Congress to pass the DREAM Act. Instead, Republicans have blocked all efforts to pass the DREAM Act without offering any alternative. So President Obama issued an Executive Order which is carefully tailored to protect approximately 800,000 young men and women whose parents brought them to America unlawfully and, as a result, know no home country other than America. President Obama Is trying to ensure that those 800,000 young men and women know that they can remain in America until real immigration reform gets hammered out. The President's Executive Order may not survive past January, 2013, if Mitt Romney is elected President. If he's elected President and the Senate and House are Republican-controlled he can rescind Obama's Executive Order without any adverse political consequences. If the Republicans do not control the House and Senate and Mitt is elected President, then Mitt will use the Executive Order as a bargaining chip tI get more tax cuts and defense spending from Democrats in Congress in exchange not for comprehensive immigration reform, but simply not to repeal Obama's Executive Order and the swift deportation of 800,000 honest, hard-working, decent young men and women who are part and parcel of hundreds of American communities as much as any other young American.