Thread

1. dabinat · 1789588567 · focus · HN ↗

   Prediction: this causes a recession in two years, right after a Democrat wins the White House, who will be blamed for it. The economy will turn around after a few years, just in time for a Republican to win and claim they fixed it.

   This is how Republicans have a reputation for being economically savvy despite actual evidence to the contrary, because the general population doesn’t understand that economics runs on a time delay.

   1. jameslk · 1789589453 · focus · HN ↗

      Both parties are responsible for the inflation and debt. Fiscal policy is largely driven by congress, not the president

      1. matteoraso · 1789590079 · focus · HN ↗

         And which party controls congress? I'll give you a hint: It's the party that spent decades advocating for irresponsible tax cuts without cutting spending[0].

         [0] Yes, I know that the Republicans said that they were going to cut spending to match the tax cuts, but that never ends up happening.

         1. jameslk · 1789590474 · focus · HN ↗

            The high inflation since Covid and $40 trillion in debt didn’t happen under one party

            1. atmavatar · 1789591785 · focus · HN ↗

               The (vast?) majority of the debt happened as the result of the Republican party both increasing spending and cutting taxes every time it lands someone in the White House and before midterms flip the House back to Democrats.

               There's a fair argument to be made that the Democrats could/should have reversed these disastrous fiscal policies when they gained power, but it's important to be wary of Murc's Law while also acknowledging doing so would also burn a lot of political capital Democrats never seem to have much of.

               The American electorate is a grade school child constantly evaluating which parent it likes the most. One tells you that you can eat as much candy as you like and play video games all night (neither of which hit you until the following day), while the other occasionally tells you to eat your vegetables, do your homework, and clean your room.

               1. jameslk · 1789594167 · focus · HN ↗

                  > The (vast?) majority of the debt happened as the result of the Republican party both increasing spending and cutting taxes every time it lands someone in the White House and before midterms flip the House back to Democrats.

                  Both parties have run an increasing deficit, with the only outlier being a small amount of time in the late 90s. The deficit is largely caused by social security outlays, medicare/medicaid outlays, and military spending, none of which are going to meaningfully change under either party

                  1. carefree-bob · 1789602011 · focus · HN ↗

                     Under Bill Clinton, in 2000 we ran a (small) surplus, but even then, the shock of running a surplus hid the fact that the debt increased during his term overall. That was the last president in which there was even one year of the debt decreasing, all other presidents increased the debt. Here is data:

                     <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.macrotrends.net&#x2F;2496&#x2F;national-debt-growth-by-year" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.macrotrends.net&#x2F;2496&#x2F;national-debt-growth-by-yea...

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