Republicans Hold U.S. Economy Hostage

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright July 24, 2011
All Rights Reserved.                                         

              Bickering over eventually raising the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion, House Republicans hold the economy hostage, threatening to send the U.S. government into default.  Retirement and investment accounts of ordinary Americans are all threatened by Republican promises to shut down the government and default on U.S. debt.  Republicans claim that high taxes and too much debt hamper economic growth, forcing the government to scale back entitlement programs, especially Medicare and Social Security.  Republicans don’t want to reduce, military spending or government subsidies to publicly-traded corporations, especially the defense industry where government subsidies maintain current employment levels.  Climbing out of the worst recession since the Great Depression, Republicans have decided to tank the economy in hopes getting their candidate elected in 2012.

            Republicans driven by the Tea Party and led by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) insist that only by cutting entitlements can the country prosper.  They insist only by maintaining unrealistically low tax rates will the private sector add jobs.  Their economic model stems from the economic policies of former President Ronald Reagan, whose rhetoric is the mantra of today’s Tea Party:  Government is too big and spends too much.  When Reagan took office from former President Jimmy Carter Jan. 20, 1981, inheriting a $60 billion deficit, he promised a balanced budget by 1983, leaving office Jan. 20, 1989 with a $260 billion deficit.  Reagan’s economic theory known as “Reaganomics,” promised that by cutting taxes of the wealthy they’d create millions of new private sector jobs.  Slashing government spending would dramatically reduce government jobs, driving unemployment into the stratosphere.

            Today’s Republicans offer the same failed formla used by former President George W. Bush, whose economic policies led to what former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan called an “economic panic” or “once in a 100-year economic meltdown.”  Today's Republican approach of slashing government spending comes right out the Reagan playbook.  Before Obama took office, Bush had a $1.4 trillion deficit with the Dow Jones Industrial Average at about 8,000   Today’s DJIA is around 12,700, because of Obama’s slow but steady economic growth.  While many publicly traded companies have been skittish to add jobs, the trend is positive. Republican attempts to shut down the government and default on U.S. debt could send the stock market and U.S. economy into a tailspin.  No patriotic American, no matter how Party-driven, can possibly seek a U.S. government default.  

            Republican strategy of playing up the weak economy has succeeded in driving Obama’s approval ratings down to an aggregate 45%.  GOP election strategy is clearly aimed at inflicting more damage on the economy in hopes to further harming Barack’s declining approval ratings.  Of all the strategies to unseat Obama, none has proved more effective than highlighting the nation’s sick economy.  Today’s debt ceiling debate says more about Tea Party zealots in Congress looking for a strategic advantage before next year’s presidential elections.  Republicans know that Obama’s Achilles’ Heel is the U.S. economy.  Pushing the debt ceiling issue close to a default shows the extremes to which the GOP will go to gain any advantage in next year’s election.  Whether or not Congress gets a debt-ceiling deal before the Aug. 2 deadline, damage has already been done to the U.S. economy.

            Republicans claim they’re holding out to stop profligate Democrat spending.  Those same Republicans had no problem passing Bush’s debt ceiling requests, including funding the whopping Part D or prescription Medicare drug plan.  Washington’s budget- slashing mood hit when Obama signed health care reform into law March 23, 2010.  House Tea Party attempts to slash Medicare and Social Security typify the Party’s disdain for individuals entitlements, having no problem handing over government largesse to corporations, especially oil and defense companies.  Republicans latest proposals reject any tax increases, including on billionaires, whose titular U.S. heads Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have practically begged the government to raise their taxes.  Tea Party zealots still believe Reagan’s fantasy that tax cuts alone stimulate job growth and reduce federal budget deficits.

            Instead of compromising with the White House, Boehner and his House Tea Party gang have inflicted more damage on an already shaky U.S. economy.  No patriot ignores the good of the country to heap damage on the economy to gain political advantage in next year’s presidential contest.  When the deal is finally struck to extend the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion, voters should look carefully at what GOP did to damage their retirement and investment accounts.  Motivated purely by a desire to wreak more damage on Obama’s approval ratings, Republicans selfishly sought political advantage over the good of the country.  No sane elected official believes it’s responsible to seek a default of the U.S. government.  It’s treasonous to let politics interfere with Constitutional duties and sound fiscal policy.  No political ambition or ”trickle-down” theory is worth wreaking havoc on the U.S. economy.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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