3 Californias

[Starbuck1975]

European govts function on much higher tax rates, particularly wrt the wealthy.

You are correct. European societies are also far less materialistic and do not obsess over celebrity.

And if you want to talk in terms of fiscal responsibility Dems are willing to do that.

Jerry Brown certainly was willing to, which is why California has a healthy budget. He is also an atypical Democrat.

The GOP has obviously been bought by the right wing lootocracy.

The party of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Reagan is dead

Your concerns are duly noted, however.

I appreciate your diligant note taking of my concerns

 

[fskimospy]

You are correct. European societies are also far less materialistic and do not obsess over celebrity.

Jerry Brown certainly was willing to, which is why California has a healthy budget. He is also an atypical Democrat.

The party of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Reagan is dead

I appreciate your diligant note taking of my concerns

Brown isn’t an atypical democrat, they have been generally far more fiscally responsible than Republicans for a long time now.

Also I’m not sure why Reagan should be looked on favorably as he’s the one that really got the ‘mass fiscal irresponsibility’ train going.

 

[Jhhnn]

Brown isn’t an atypical democrat, they have been generally far more fiscally responsible than Republicans for a long time now.

Also I’m not sure why Reagan should be looked on favorably as he’s the one that really got the ‘mass fiscal irresponsibility’ train going.

RR/GHWB quadrupled the debt. The rate of increase was nearly nothing by the end of Clinton's term. GWB doubled it again. Obama had little choice but to run deficits in the face of the greatest financial catastrophe since 1929.

The recent tax cut/ borrowing to feed the Rich plan from the GOP puts the lie to the notion that they care at all about fiscal responsibility. They care more about the trickle down from their mega-rich right wing donors than they do about the rest of America.

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo5.htm

 

[fskimospy]

RR/GHWB quadrupled the debt. The rate of increase was nearly nothing by the end of Clinton's term. GWB doubled it again. Obama had little choice but to run deficits in the face of the greatest financial catastrophe since 1929.

The recent tax cut/ borrowing to feed the Rich plan from the GOP puts the lie to the notion that they care at all about fiscal responsibility. They care more about the trickle down from their mega-rich right wing donors than they do about the rest of America.

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo5.htm

The thing that annoys me is that despite at least four decades of Republicans clearly demonstrating massive fiscal irresponsibility whenever a Democrat is next in power they will go right back to lying about it and the media will pretend to believe them. All they have to say is ‘we lost our way (again) but this time we really mean it.’

 

[Pipeline 1010]

The thing that annoys me is that despite at least four decades of Republicans clearly demonstrating massive fiscal irresponsibility whenever a Democrat is next in power they will go right back to lying about it and the media will pretend to believe them. All they have to say is ‘we lost our way (again) but this time we really mean it.’

I often wonder why Republicans maintain their reputation of being fiscally responsible. I feel that the whole "first impressions are everything" plays a major role in this. They sold themselves as fiscally conservative and people accepted it and ever since then we believe that they really are, despite some "minor, one-off aberrations". Despite the fact that their spending is neither one-off nor an aberration.

The best analogy I have is that when I was a kid, I remember the first time I ever ate Taco Bell. It was delicious. I don't know if they used better ingredients back then or what. I decided at that point that Taco Bell is good. Every time I have Taco Bell now, I am disappointed. But I write it off to things like "it was just an off day, next time it will be good like I remember it." It doesn't matter if it was ever actually good or not, I believe that it was, and that it can be again. It can't.

 

[Starbuck1975]

The thing that annoys me is that despite at least four decades of Republicans clearly demonstrating massive fiscal irresponsibility whenever a Democrat is next in power they will go right back to lying about it and the media will pretend to believe them. All they have to say is ‘we lost our way (again) but this time we really mean it.’

Perhaps it is because that is a misrepresentation of the truth. Take NYC for example. 1970s NY was a dystopia of Democrat corruption, incompetence and fiscal irresponsibility. Giuliani is a POS now, but he was a tough mayor, and Bloomberg is who brought NY back from the brink. Romney was a great governor to a blue state, as is Charlie Baker today. You complain about cults, yet that is how I would classify the Cuomo regime over Albany.

The GOP went sideways with the NEOCON movement of Bush and the Tea Party under Obama, but that is more like a 20 year time horizon, not 40.

 

[Jhhnn]

Perhaps it is because that is a misrepresentation of the truth. Take NYC for example. 1970s NY was a dystopia of Democrat corruption, incompetence and fiscal irresponsibility. Giuliani is a POS now, but he was a tough mayor, and Bloomberg is who brought NY back from the brink. Romney was a great governor to a blue state, as is Charlie Baker today. You complain about cults, yet that is how I would classify the Cuomo regime over Albany.

The GOP went sideways with the NEOCON movement of Bush and the Tea Party under Obama, but that is more like a 20 year time horizon, not 40.

The precise number of years is 37 and began when Reagan was elected. That's when middle class fortunes declined as the success of the financial elite headed for the stratosphere & beyond. It's become outright predatory in recent years culminating in fiscal fiascos like Kansas, Louisiana & their latest federal tax plan. It's a form of looting.

 

[fskimospy]

Perhaps it is because that is a misrepresentation of the truth. Take NYC for example. 1970s NY was a dystopia of Democrat corruption, incompetence and fiscal irresponsibility. Giuliani is a POS now, but he was a tough mayor, and Bloomberg is who brought NY back from the brink. Romney was a great governor to a blue state, as is Charlie Baker today. You complain about cults, yet that is how I would classify the Cuomo regime over Albany.

The GOP went sideways with the NEOCON movement of Bush and the Tea Party under Obama, but that is more like a 20 year time horizon, not 40.

It’s a pretty accurate representation. Reagan pioneered the extreme fiscal irresponsibility that has been the hallmark of Republicans ever since when they are in power. They ‘rediscover’ fiscal responsibility when Democrats are in power. Not because they actually believe it but because they think it’s a good way to argue against social safety net spending.

As for NYC the crime decrease in NYC under Giuliani mirrored the decrease happening nationally. There’s no particular reason to attribute it to him. While I liked Bloomberg he didn’t bring the city back from the brink, it was fine and it stayed fine.