I love when and how Republicans lie. Boehner thinks he "struck a nerve" calling for trillions in spending cuts to pay for multi-trillion dollar tax cuts for the rich. And he's right. It does strike a nerve when you cut taxes to the tune of a few trillion dollars, adding an equal amount to the deficit, then suggest that someone else is somehow responsible for the deficit.
Let's revisit yesterday's post about how the Republicans, under John Boehner and George Bush, are responsible for most of the deficit.
The five main causes of the budget deficit are the economic downturn (tax revenues go down), the Bush tax cuts (which quickly become the largest part of the deficit), the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the stimulus plan (which was necessary because of the Bush economic meltdown), though that becomes meaningless in less than two years, as it's being phased out.
So for the rest of this decade, the biggest single factor contributing to the deficit are the Bush era tax cuts that the Republicans say are off the table (meaning, they won't discuss getting rid of them). But just as importantly - guess what? - Obama isn't responsible for the deficit. The GOP is, along with whoever got us into those wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (oh right, that would be the GOP), and whoever was in charge of the government when the economy tanked (right again, George Bush). Oh, and a little of the deficit was caused by TARP (Bush again).
