Everyone Needs a Strong Economy

During the recession of 2001 (during the presidency of the Republican George W. Bush) and thereafter the federal government employed more and more people. Did the Republican politicians argue this was hurting the economy by crowding out public investments and employment? Did they say the people needed to keep more of their hard-earned money instead of wasting it on government workers? No. But, when President Obama was facing a much worse recession they insisted on shrinking the federal government -- the sequester!

Today I heard Congressman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) talking about how the economy was doing much better because government spending was much smaller. I hear Republicans say such things and I'm amazed. Do their voters really believe that a bigger government when Bush was president is good and when Obama is president it's bad? Don't the voters deserve more honesty than that?

All economists say the sequester (spending cuts) has dragged down the GDP output of the country, by perhaps 2.5 - 3.0 percentage points. Instead of our current 2.5% annual GDP growth we might have had 5.0 - 5.5 % growth without the sequester. But, Sessions says the opposite, that reducing government spending has made it easier for the private sector to grow. It's no wonder the Republicans drive the economy into the ground when they're in charge. They see the world upside down.

My question is this: if we're borrowing 30 - 40% of all money the federal government spends, does reducing that spending somehow free that borrowed money to be used by American corporations? American corporations already have trillions of dollars in the bank and can invest it any time they want. Some are using their savings to buy back their outstanding shares of stock. Why on Earth would they borrow money? No, it's money and government employees just sitting idle and reducing GDP.

Similarly...

Republican politicians have argued against the Affordable Care Act (the ACA or Obamacare) because they say it's destroying the economy. But, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scored the legislation when it was first being considered as saving the government money. It pushes for more and more people to have healthcare insurance and to be able to receive healthcare more easily. How would more people seeing the doctor lower the GDP?

Contrary to that, the Republicans support wars as a driver of the economy. Yes, Mitt Romney, in 2012, said that increased military spending was their economic plan. Can you imagine starting a war just to increase spending (on war materiel and personnel)? How immoral can you be?

Democrats set the economy on an upward path and the Republicans have done everything they could to stop that, saying the Democratic changes would destroy the economy. It's been growing at a fairly steady 2.5% annually. The recession Republicans gave us drove hundred-year-old companies into bankruptcy and the unemployment rate over 10%. Today the unemployment rate is back down to near-normal levels and we're still growing and employing more people every month.

The facts are obvious: Democrats can grow the economy and get people working and the Republicans are terribly confused about economics.

Finally...

It may be incredible, but of all the politicians in Congress today, all the Democrats were elected with about 20 million more votes than all the Republicans. Yet, the Republicans control Congress. They have the majority in both the House and the Senate. This indicates something terribly strange and wrong. The Republicans have said we must return control to the voters, yet the 20 million more Democratic voters won't have their say.

The Republicans need to listen more to Democratic voters and their representatives in Congress on the economy and stop serving the very narrow interests of a few rich billionaires.