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MAGA's And The Invertebrate Conservative [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-11-22

The spinless Republicans in congress seem to be responding to the unpopular and uncultured war conducted by the MAGA's by downplaying those issues on this holiday and giving us the usual enrich the rich crap of the party of the Grand Old Plutocrats. At least that is what the newsletter by Congressman Obernolte (R. Cal) seems to indicate. He wrote:

“Recently, Moody's outlook on the credit rating of the United States was downgraded from 'stable' to negative.” The federal government's deficit spending continues to cause inflation, rising interest rates, and an out-of-control national debt. Congress must work to balance the federal budget and return to responsible levels of spending.”

Olbernolte cited a New York times article of November 10, 2023. But Moody's was not the first, Fitch downgraded the US credit rating on August 1, 2023:

“In their risk assessment, Fitch cited the expected fiscal deterioration of the US government over the next three years, growing national debt, and the erosion in standards of governance over the last 20 years as reasons behind the downgrade.” (emphasis added)

Isn't it funny how the two downgrades of U.S. Credit (2011 and 2023 ) happened when there was a Democrat in the white house and a Republican congress that threatened the full faith and credit of the United States by not raising the debt ceiling. And the major reason cited was deficit spending and out of control national debt! So lets take a look at this issue. In an American For Progress article entitled “Tax Cuts Are Primarily Responsible For-Increasing Debt Ratio” Bobby Kogan states in part that:

“In the past few decades,12 there has been considerable discussion and rethinking of what constitutes an appropriate level of national debt. At this point, many experts argue 13 that the focus should be on whether debt as a percentage of the economy is increasing or is stable over the long run, not on the amount of debt per se. Snip Debt ratio stability is driven by four components: 1) the size of the primary deficit—the deficit exclusive of interest costs—as a percentage of GDP; 2) the starting ratio of debt to GDP (the debt ratio); 3) the rate of economic growth; and 4) the prevailing interest rate on new Treasury securities.14 The cause of the upward trajectory of the debt ratio—a series of massive tax cuts that have been extended with bipartisan support—are largely responsible for recent budget shortfalls. Snip ...the Bush and Trump tax cuts—are responsible for more than 90 percent of the change in the trajectory of the debt ratio to date (see Figure 3) and will grow to be responsible for more than 100 percent of the debt ratio increase in the future. They are thus entirely responsible for the fiscal gap—the magnitude of the reduction in the primary deficit needed to stabilize the debt ratio over the long run. 29”

Mr. Kogan conclusion:

“A series of massive, permanent tax cuts have created large federal budget primary shortfalls and continue to exert upward pressure on the debt ratio. In other words, the current fiscal gap—the growing debt as a percentage of the economy—stems from legislation that cut taxes, disproportionately for the very rich. While it is true that the Great Recession and legislation to fight it, along with the costs of responding to the health and economic effects of COVID-19, pushed the level of debt higher, these costs were temporary and did not change the trajectory of the debt ratio. If Congress wants to decrease deficits, it should look first toward reversing tax cuts that largely benefited the wealthy, which were responsible for the United States’ current fiscal outlook.”

Interesting, I just checked Olbernolte's news letter again, and he has replaced his statement about the credit rating with some babble about “Burdensome prices this Thanksgiving.” How typical of him! Good Lord! He just discovered a holiday he can pervert for political purposes. In private he is probably saying “let them eat crow!” Trying to pin him down is like trying to nail Jello to the wall. He may try to avoid controversial issues by not talking about them, but his votes in congress speak volumes about his extremism. He voted to make the extreme MAGA, Jim Jordan, the speaker of the house, and when Jordan finally withdrew, Olbernolte voted to make the fascist theocrat, MAGA Mike Johnson the speaker of the house.

Enough of the unpleasant stuff for now. Lets enjoy the holiday. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/22/2207522/-MAGA-s-And-The-Invertebrate-Conservative?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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