The Average Joe

As the GOP pushes ahead with their tax plan, clearing both Houses in Congress, we seem to be going down a familiar, yet dangerous path. There are two economic ideas that have come to dominate Republican economic policy. They are that tax cuts pay for themselves and that the theory of “starve the beast” actually works. The “starve the beast” theory states that by lowering taxes, this forcefully reduces spending, as there is less revenue coming in. If anyone follows Bruce Bartlett, former economic advisor to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, it is easy to see how starving the beast does not work and leads to higher spending. The truth of the matter is that neither one of these ideas have worked. In fact, a recent study done by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), has found that lowering tax rates on the top 2 percent does not spur any kind of economic growth. To add to that point, just looking back on history will also demonstrate that tax cuts do not pay for thems...

It appears that the United States defaulting on its loans has been averted after a deal has been made between Congress and the White house in regards to a debt ceiling increase.   However, there are still very important questions regarding America’s stability and growth as we move passed the debt deal.   To be direct, the path we are on as a nation is unsustainable! The United States has a national debt of over $14 trillion and for every dollar it spends, forty cents of that is borrowed.    On the right side of the debt negotiations, Tea Party Republicans and Conservatives were outright opposed to tax increases and closing tax loopholes that allow those to avoid paying taxes at their tax rate; while Democrats were deeply opposed to spending cuts that would impact Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. If one thing has been demonstrated, it is that this government can be highly dysfunctional when it comes time to do something that will help the United State...

As the United States has now hit the debt ceiling of $14 Trillion Dollars…That’s $14 TRILLION DOLLARS, the United States Government is now deciding on if it should be increased, and if so, by how much.  I cannot speak for all Americans, but I feel that instead of taking so much time and effort in trying to come to a compromise on increasing it, why am I not seeing serious talk on trying to decrease the size of the debt. Before we go any further, lets discuss some of the recent history of the national debt of the United States.  On September 15, 1981, President Ronald Reagan had signed the legislation that passed in Congress that allowed the debt ceiling increase to $1 Trillion Dollars.  Throughout the 1980’s, Reaganomics had led to increases in the national debt.  In simple terms, his policies of cutting taxes for the top tax rate, raising taxes for the middle tax rate; which had been done 8 times during his presidency, proved to be a major blow to Main Stre...