If Reagan were in charge now (and still alive), he would raise taxes, which is exactly what he did when he was president. As Politico points out, Obama’s proposed increases in revenues are smaller than the ones that Reagan proposed, and Republicans approved, in order to decrease deficits.
And contrary to what the reality-challenged Republicans say, most Americans are in favor of raising at least some taxes.
UPDATE: Ezra Klein points out that Republicans are not only rejecting what Reagan would have done, but they are rejecting their own deficit reduction proposal from March 2011. The GOP plan for reducing the deficit included around $400 billion in revenue increases. But when the Obama administration agreed to that, the Republicans suddenly changed their tune and insisted that there be absolutely no revenue increases. It sure looks like they are just jerking us around and have absolutely no interest in fixing the deficit.
And this isn’t the first time they have blocked what used to be their own proposals, just to jerk us around. Nor the second time, or third, or fourth.
7 Comments
If I was Obama, I would bring Reagans tax doings everytime a republican mentions his name.
Remember the 1993 health care proposal the Republicans came up with to counter Hilary Clinton? And Romney’s health care? The party of “no” continues.
If the Republicans stop the subsidies to the oil companies, where will they get all the money to run for election? The oil companies give it right back.
Someone contacted me to say he was going to run for Supervisor of our town of 1500. He was running on the Republican ticket because there are more Republicans in this town. And it means nothing he promised me, just a better chance to be elected. I sent him Wikipedia articles on all my relatives implying principles mean something to me. I haven’t heard from him. I did tell him in this life time I won’t vote for a Republican.
Yeah,they are wrong in this topic, but it’s nice to see how the system and the media goes crazy.
Democrats like tax…tax them.
Sorry my english, i´m no american.
Heaven forbid that a party’s goals should take precedence over “fixing” a fake problem.
What rock did you all just crawl out from under or did you all get some bad dope? Remember, socialism has a nasty way of running out of other people’s money.
Apparently a more logical rock than the one under which you are still.
Taxes are the lowest they have been in 50 years, and yet somehow our economy isn’t doing as well as it was back when we were what you apparently (wrongly) consider to be socialist.
The Republican Party’s actions have everything to do with their long term plan to dismantle the social programs they do not like and win back the White House and the Senate so they can implement their conservative ideology. It has NOTHING AT ALL to do with the deficit, the debt, or fixing the economy. And from various polls and postings it seems like many independents are waking up to these facts.
Confidence in the Democratic Party’s ability to govern responsibly is at an all-time low. And the Republican Party’s ability is lower than THAT. If there was ever a time for a real third party this is it. The only risk is that a third party would divide the Democrats and Independents but not touch the conservatives and so thanks to our FPTP voting system the country would go to the dogs – er – the Republicans.
I am coming around to the belief that a third party is the wrong answer. The right answer is changing the rules of the game so that it will play differently. Alternative Voting, Open Primaries, Federal term limits, etc. seem like the better course. The only problem is that the Congress has to make those changes and the have a vested interest (on both sides) to prevent it.
Is there a solution? Maybe we can sneak in the idea of a Federal Initiative process that lets the people put specific things up for a vote that bypasses the Congress? Fellow commenters, any thoughts? Because if we don’t find some way to change the game, the only move would be a neutron warhead in Washington which is really messy.