Progressive Collectivists Use the Reagan Tax Increases to Validate Their Progressive Socialist Agenda

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Birthplace of Independent Conservatism


I simply have to LMAO at the leftist pundits. They are the first to trash the Reagan legacy of pro business growth and the prosperity that it engendered. Yet today they are the first to point out he raised taxes following his initial tax cuts of 1981.

So, what does that really tell you? It says simply that his tax cuts indeed set the stage for increased positive economic activity and growth. Once economic recovery had gained a foothold the Reagan administration raised taxes again. The obvious question is, or at least it should be, why? The answer is this... To fund the ever growing military industrial complex and the Leviathan government.

As much as I loved President Reagan for his patriotism and strong individualist values, he really was not, in all reality, a strong proponent of limited government. His huge defense spending and support of the military industrial complex bears this out. Perhaps just as telling is the fact he was a true Keynesian with regards to deficit spending.

But I digress. The point of this post is that the progressive collectivists are using the Reagan era tax increases to justify the argument we have a revenue problem as opposed to a spending problem. Again the progressive collectivists are wrong. Dead wrong.

Their typical evasion of the truth is not at all surprising. It is predictable however. Some typical nonsensical drivel from the leftist rag Think Progress.

As Washington considers ways to rein in the deficit, Republicans have obstinately demanded that any tax revenue increases be taken off the table, claiming that raising taxes during a down economy would doom the recovery. As evidence, they often point to the presidency of Ronald Reagan, claiming his massive 1981 tax cuts caused that decade’s economic boom. But this anti-tax position makes it almost impossible to do anything serious about the deficit, since — despite GOP talking points — the country has a revenue problem, not a spending problem. On ABC’s This Week today, Reagan’s own budget director, David Stockman, exposed the GOP tax cut “theology” for the ahistorical sham it is. Asked by Reuter’s Chrystia Freeland if the economy could “sustain” a tax increase, Stockman said “absolutely,” noting that the economy only recovered under Reagan once he raised taxes in 1982 after “cut[ting] taxes too much” the year before:

FREELAND: You worked for Ronald Reagan. Do you think the American economy — so you’re, like, a red-blooded capitalist — could it sustain higher taxes than it has now?

STOCKMAN: Absolutely. In 1982, we were looking at the jaws of the worst recession since the 1930s. We overdid it in 1981, cut taxes too much. We came back with a big deficit reduction plan in 1982. Unemployment’s at 10 percent, the economy is in dire shape, and we raise taxes by 1.2 percent of GDP, which would be $150 billion a year right now — not 10 years down the road — but right now.

Watch it:



Stockman also attacked Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) budget plan, noting it “does not cut one dime from the debt” in the next three years. Indeed, in addition to being draconian and regressive, Ryan’s budget fails to acomplish the only thing it sets out to do — solve the deficit — despite claims from Washington journalists that his plan is “serious.”

While I will acknowledge that Stockman has some credibility, he is completely wrong with respect to todays realities. We do indeed have a spending problem. We have acquired the insatiable appetite for profligate spending, both on the order of the MIC and the never ending and always increasing entitlement programs the progressive collectivists are so intent on escalating.

It is time to reign in the MIC, runaway entitlements, foreign welfare, crony capitalism and subsidies for businesses, and wasteful duplicative spending before we address any tax increases. Either for the wealthy or across the board. And make no mistake, the progressives {democrats} will increase taxes across the board irrespective of what they are saying now. The reality is there simply are not enough wealthy people to balance the budget even if we taxed em at 100%. But progressives simply won't let facts stand in their way. They never have.

Cross posted to the Left Coast Rebel

Via: Memeorandum

Comments

  1. OFF TOPIC, but possibly urgent:

    Bib Laden dead, US has body, Obama to make announcement.
    It's burning up Twitter right now. Possibly true.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-speech-to-the-nation-2011-5

    Donald in Bethel, CT

    ReplyDelete
  2. OSAMA BIN LADEN DEAD!!

    Here's what's going to happen next:

    The liberal media will put all the credit on President Obama for being a great leader and competent Commander in Chief who is a great military strategist. All the liberal Congressmen who whined and pissed about us being over there will smile for the cameras and glory in President Obama's victory over evil. Bush will receive no recognition or airtime on this.

    Mark my words. The hypocrisy will flow. Even now, President Obama's speechwriters are scurrying about furiously to make sure he gets all the credit and it will come up again as November 2012 rolls closer. Just watch.

    Donald in Bethel, CT

    The real heroes? The American fighting men who dropped the killing bomb.

    ReplyDelete

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