It’s a lazy trope to say that “Republicans repeatedly passed tax cuts when they controlled the White House over the last 20 years. Democrats have expanded spending programs that have often not been fully offset by tax increases.” The last President to produce a budget surplus was a Democrat, Bill Clinton.Then, between Bush’s unpaid for wars, unpaid for Medicare Part D, and tax cuts, Bush DOUBLED the national debt during an economic expansion, when Keynesian economics argue for cutting debt. Inheriting Bush’s economic calamity, Obama spent through the crisis (what governments are supposed to do) then cut the deficit through the rest of his presidency. Indeed, Obama spent too little on getting us out of the crisis, leading to years of sluggish growth.Then trump arrived and the Republics proceeded to explode the debt AGAIN, during an economic expansion. And after COVID hit, Republics were all in on pandemic spending, at least until they realized that supporting workers through the pandemic could make workers demand better conditions ALL THE TIME.The fact is, Democrats have actually tried to control the debt- tried too hard, in my opinion. On the other hand, Republics yawp loudly about the debt when out of office, going as far as to trash the US credit rating and shut down the government, and then do their best to expand debt when in office.And too many journalists just let Republics get away with this nonsense, relying on lazy tropes that were out of date by 1996.

It’s a lazy trope to say that “Republicans repeatedly passed tax cuts when they controlled the White House over the last 20 years. Democrats have expanded spending programs that have often not been fully offset by tax increases.” The last President to produce a budget surplus was a Democrat, Bill Clinton.Then, between Bush’s unpaid for wars, unpaid for Medicare Part D, and tax cuts, Bush DOUBLED the national debt during an economic expansion, when Keynesian economics argue for cutting debt. Inheriting Bush’s economic calamity, Obama spent through the crisis (what governments are supposed to do) then cut the deficit through the rest of his presidency. Indeed, Obama spent too little on getting us out of the crisis, leading to years of sluggish growth.Then trump arrived and the Republics proceeded to explode the debt AGAIN, during an economic expansion. And after COVID hit, Republics were all in on pandemic spending, at least until they realized that supporting workers through the pandemic could make workers demand better conditions ALL THE TIME.The fact is, Democrats have actually tried to control the debt- tried too hard, in my opinion. On the other hand, Republics yawp loudly about the debt when out of office, going as far as to trash the US credit rating and shut down the government, and then do their best to expand debt when in office.And too many journalists just let Republics get away with this nonsense, relying on lazy tropes that were out of date by 1996.

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