Eric Cantor, Republicans in General, still in denial over Reagan raising taxes

[fskimospy]

If Clinton was running surpluses, how did the national debt go up every year?

It depends on how you count it. Total US debt includes intragovernmental holdings, essentially money the government owes itself. Under Clinton the debt held by the public did in fact decrease in the latter years of his presidency. Intragovernmental debt is something very different however, and that did continue to increase. Intragovernmental debt is not as big an issue as debt held by the public however since the government owes money to itself, and therefore doesn't need to repay any external entity.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

I don't think you understood the OP very well then.

He extrapolated from one man's comments to conclude "Everything Republicans believe in is a lie." Somehow I'm not surprised that this kind of "logic" makes sense to you.

 

[fskimospy]

He extrapolated from one man's comments to conclude "Everything Republicans believe in is a lie." Somehow I'm not surprised that this kind of "logic" makes sense to you.

I meant the larger thrust of the OP, not one dumb sentence in it. Somehow I'm not surprised that you would try to avoid the actual point of the OP to harp after some sort of false equivalence again. It's sort of your thing.

 

[Ausm]

Are we really gonna argue 30 year old shit?

Why not, because his trickle down policies are still affecting us today.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Gotta love the hardcore partisans that still can't admit that Reagan raised taxes many times, and will fight to the death any attempt when you point out the facts. Just more evidence that people like being ignorant I guess.

All they have left are the usual trolls and misdirections to ignore the OP since they can't provide any facts themselves. But the fact remains that Reagan raised taxes many times, and Cantor's CoS is 100% wrong and full of shit. Deny it if you want, but those are the facts.

 

[Ausm]

A link for Rabid RightWinger Ronnie Raygun lovers....

5 Reagan Myths debunked...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/04/AR2011020403104.html

10 Reagan myths debunked:

http://bluevirginia.us/diary/3025/top-10-ronald-reagan-myths

Oh excellent read for the Rabid Right too who are into Reagan revisionism....

"Tear down this myth!"

http://www.amazon.com/Tear-Down-This.../dp/141659762X

I am not sure why the Rightists in here defend this man when he would NEVER come close to passing a today's Republican purity test.

 

[soundforbjt]

Ahh, the Great Ronnie. He signed the largest corporate tax increase in history as well.

Guess he really knew what the "job creators" needed to start producing. Let's do what Ronnie would do and raise corporate taxes.

 

[Jaskalas]

Why not, because his trickle down policies are still affecting us today.

It ALL trickles down from job creators. You just seem to think the government is one of them and it should trickle down from there.

 

[fskimospy]

It ALL trickles down from job creators. You just seem to think the government is one of them and it should trickle down from there.

Who are these job creators? Related to Reagan's tax policies and the ones that Cantor espouses, you do realize that there is absolutely no correlation between tax rates on the rich and job growth, right?

 

[Atreus21]

You have a strange definition of facts:
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1990_2000USp_13s1li011mcn_H0f_US_Federal_Debt

So too, apparently, does the source which that website cites:


FY1993 $4.411488 trillion
FY1994 $4.692749 trillion
FY1995 $4.973982 trillion
FY1996 $5.224810 trillion
FY1997 $5.413146 trillion
FY1998 $5.526193 trillion
FY1999 $5.656270 trillion
FY2000 $5.674178 trillion
FY2001 $5.807463 trillion

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

 

[dank69]

So too, apparently, does the source which that website cites:


FY1993 $4.411488 trillion
FY1994 $4.692749 trillion
FY1995 $4.973982 trillion
FY1996 $5.224810 trillion
FY1997 $5.413146 trillion
FY1998 $5.526193 trillion
FY1999 $5.656270 trillion
FY2000 $5.674178 trillion
FY2001 $5.807463 trillion

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

% of GDP is what matters

 

[Atreus21]

It depends on how you count it. Total US debt includes intragovernmental holdings, essentially money the government owes itself. Under Clinton the debt held by the public did in fact decrease in the latter years of his presidency. Intragovernmental debt is something very different however, and that did continue to increase. Intragovernmental debt is not as big an issue as debt held by the public however since the government owes money to itself, and therefore doesn't need to repay any external entity.

How I count it is to call debt debt. Money "owed to yourself" means it has to be paid back one way or another. Whether the entity is external or not makes little difference to me.

 

[Atreus21]

% of GDP is what matters

In Clinton's years the national debt increased every year. That means spending eclipsed income, which means a deficit. If Clinton and his supporters wish to claim that the national debt as a percentage of GDP dropped from 1995 to 2000, I have no issue with that. But he wasn't running surpluses, and the actual debt increased.

 

[First]

How I count it is to call debt debt. Money "owed to yourself" means it has to be paid back one way or another. Whether the entity is external or not makes little difference to me.

Huh? Why would money owed to China be the same as money owed to the U.S. gov't from the perspective of the U.S. gov't? Are you serious?

 

[Atreus21]

Huh? Why would money owed to China be the same as money owed to the U.S. gov't from the perspective of the U.S. gov't? Are you serious?

Can the government write off this type of debt? If it does that, other US agencies (the ones which expect the debt repaid) will fail.

The money has to be paid back just like any other debt.