Republicans are fond of labeling opponents as "Tax and Spend" democrats. Of course, nothing is ever said about the "Borrow and Spend" Republicans who are in control of the White House and both houses of Congress. W made a major speach from Jackson Square in New Orleans the other night in which he promised to rebuild the Gulf Coast. Before Katrina hit, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the 2006 budget deficit at $314 billion, down from $331 billion for the current fiscal year. Those annual deficits add to the historic federal deficit which now totals a mind boggling 7.9 trillion dollars! Analysts estimate reconstruction costs will be at least $200 billion. But two top White House officials, during a briefing with reporters Friday, refused to estimate the total cost of Bush's proposals so no one really knows for sure what the total will be for this unprecedented domestic rebuilding.
Now our "I will not raise your taxes" president was quoted as saying, "We should not raise taxes." Of course, what this means is an ever exploding federal deficit the majority of which was accumulated under Reagan and W. This is a debt that we pass on to future generations to pay off, a debt that will increase interest rates for current generations, a debt that will largely be held by and payable to foreigners and just flat out poor policy. One would think that given the facts that we are at war (albeit an illegal, immoral one), that our country has suffered a historic natural disaster that requires rebuilding whole cities and caring for hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens and that prudence dictates increased spending on homeland security, that the top 1% of income earners could give up their very lucrative tax cuts to pay for these necessities. But W would rather just borrow the money and add to the debt.
And so it goes.
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