Democrats, Republicans, and the Battle of the Economy

Here we are, at the brink of war between two arch rivals, two nemeses fighting for the same goal, they both want one thing and only one can have it.

No, this isn’t a war between England and France, those ended a looong time ago.

It’s not a Lakers, Celtics championship series.

And it isn’t a Redskins, Cowboys game.

No, it’s the economic crisis.

“How could that possibly be a ‘war’?,” one might ask, “Don’t we all want the economy to pick up?”

Well, by conventional wisdom, that would be that case, but when we talk about the economic crisis, Republicans are involved, and that changes everything.

All Republicans and even some (conservative) Democrats think that what we need to do now is not spend at all and cut the deficit.

However, that wouldn’t do anything for the economy, in fact it would probably stifle it.

Republicans have been hypocritical in calling for a balanced budget and an extension of the Bush tax cuts, which benefit the richest 2% of the country more than anyone else, without paying for them, which would add to the deficit significantly.

In other words, Republicans want to do it all; cut the deficit and lower taxes, which is like telling someone with credit card debt to save their money and quit their job, it makes no sense, you just can't do both.

The only thing I can deduct from what Republicans are doing, saying they want to balance the budget yet want to keep the Bush tax cuts without paying for them, is that they actually want the economy to suffer. I mean, tactically, that’s not a bad idea. They can blame everything on the Democrats while, in truth, they are the ones to blame.

So the battle looks something like this: liberal and moderate Dems who want to fix the economy vs. Republicans who want to destroy the economy and long for Obama to fail.

Caught in the middle are conservative Democrats who seem to do whatever they can to stay in office and attempt to stay on the positive side of the right-wing media.

What I really don’t get is what next? What if the Republicans win? What if they keep winning all the way into 2012 and take back the White House?

I can’t imagine the damage that could be done by hypocritical, power thirsty politicians who have done all they can to damage the economy when they actually have the ability to make law.

I guess it couldn't be so bad.

I mean it’s not like they would lie to us and lead us into an unnecessary war during which thousands of American soldiers would die or cut taxes for the rich or inherit a great economy and run it into the ground causing the worst recession since the Great Depression through lack of regulation.

That would just be crazy, not even an idiot would do that.

Wait, they already did that?

Wow.

Let's take a break from Conservative pandering and take a look at some ideas that actually make sense.

What should be done is what actual economists, not Fox News correspondents and economically illiterate Republicans, have been asking congress to do for a while - let the Bush tax cuts expire, extend unemployment benfits (yes, again), and create another, larger, stimulus package.

My ideas are so crazy that Paul Krugman, Alan Greenspan (who initially supported the Bush tax cuts), Fareed Zakaria, Timothy Geithner, Thomas Gais, and Warren Buffet all support them; not to mention these ideas inspired one of the most fervent speeches on the House floor this year by Rep. Alan Grayson [D-FL].

Studies have shown that the most useful way to stimulate the market is through extended unemployment benefits.

Why?

Because those are the people that actually spend the money they get, they need to in order to buy food and pay for shelter, just check out the Washington Post’s Five myths about unemployment.

Further stimulus money, while less direct than unemployment insurance benefits, benefit the economy by providing states the adequate funding to take on more projects (and they need to, considering the conditions of the roads in my neighborhood), keep many government workers employed, and create more jobs.

Paul Krugman wrote a great piece about why the stimulus package passed last year was not large enough.

If the Bush tax cuts are extended, only a select few reap the benefits, the rich who will get richer, and Congress would add to the deficit for no good reason. According to Zakaria, letting the tax cuts expire decrease the deficit by more than $300 billion, and Greenspan, testifying before Congress, said that extending the Bush tax cuts would be “disastrous.”

The only people that would really lose a little money if the Bush tax cuts expire are those making over $250,000 a year, and I think those people can probably spare a little cash.

Since Republicans have been perpetuating the idea that the high deficit is in dire need of being cut, why wouldn’t they want to cut it the easiest way they can by letting the cuts expire?

And why wouldn’t they want to help those who are unemployed?

Why do they seem to oppose everything that Democrats have tried to do?

It’s not because they truly believe that they are right, it is because they want to win the battle with Democrats. And if they do, the economy and the American people lose.