Fool Us Again: 30 Years of Bait and Switch Budget Politics

commondreams.org — Once again we go to the cliff. Once again Republicans are threatening brinksmanship. Once again, Democrats are practicing preemptive capitulation. Once again, the media is missing the real story. You’re going to be hearing a lot from Republicans about the horrors of debt and deficits in the next couple of weeks. The last time they cranked up their fear machine prior to a vote on the debt ceiling, it caused a downgrading of the US credit rating and cost us some $90 billion. You know, crashing the economy in order to save it. Let’s be clear: Republicans don’t give a damn about debt and deficits. In fact, the bulk of our current and projected deficit is a direct result of Republican policies. And Republicans watched in silence as Reagan tripled the deficit and Bush doubled it. Both Cheney and Reagan claimed deficits don’t matter, and again, conservatives nodded in agreement. So what’s going on?

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