Okay, this is one where you have to read the links too… either than or accept that I have read the links and drawn the appropriate conclusions, but seriously, read stuff! I do. Its why I will not vote for a republican.
History shows us that their “plan” for the economy doesn’t work. In fact, it shows us that their plan makes things a lot, lot worse very quickly. Facts and Figures also show us that Republicans are in office when the debt really jumps up higher. The Republicans controlled a majority of all branches of government for five and a half years of Bush II’s reign and it led to an economic recession that had people making comparisons to the Great Depression.
Lets look at the real numbers, shall we?
Lets look at the Great Depression, shall we?
Five top causes of the depression are generally agreed upon.
1. 1929 Stock Market Crash. This can be attributed to rampant speculation, risky loans and the political environment around passing a trade tariff. Much the same way as rampant speculation and risky fiscal hijinks led to the recent recession. The Republicans risked an even worse stock market collapse when they held the debt ceiling hostage, leading to a downgrade in the U.S. Credit ranking. Now, they are threatening it again!
2. Bank Failures. The banks had loaned people money to buy stocks. When the stock market crashed, people lost their investments and couldn’t repay the loans. The Glass-Steagall Act
was passed to make sure that nothing like the Great Depression happened
again… but congress repealed it and banks again did the risky things
it had prohibited, leading right back down the same path with very
similar consequences. (Republicans introduced the repeal bill, both chambers had a Republican
majority, Senate was divided along party lines with only 1 Democrat
voting for it, the House had a more bipartisan vote in favor of it and
Democrat Bill Clinton signed the bill into law.)
3. Spending Stopped. People feared losing money so they stopped spending, which caused job losses, which reduced spending, which caused more job losses. Now, when we are still on the brink of recession, slowly pulling ourselves up, Republicans want to stop spending, which will cause job losses, which will reduce spending, which will plunge us into another depression. Bad Idea.
4 and 5 are a tariff and a drought. I don’t think Republicans can get a drought going, but I’m sure they would try if they thought it would cause Obama’s defeat. They would blame it on Obama even though they brought it about. Sadly, some people would believe them.
The European recession was battled with severe austerity measures – which only made things much, much worse for the people and the economy. Realizing their mistake, they are now moving toward a more balanced approach modeled on what the U.S. has done under Obama. Republicans still say austerity is the way to go… even after noted, public, historic failures of that method.
“FDR ran into trouble only when he moved away from fiscal expansion toward austerity in 1937.”
If we look at history, the economy thrives under democratic presidents, but somehow people are still unhappy, so they wind up electing a republican and the economy tanks, debt piles up and we wind up back in recession. Then people put democrats back in charge to fix things, but quickly forget the damage the last republican did… like they way they forget George W. Bush and the total republican control led to recession and debt.
Republican policies make things worse – and their plans are designed to make things worse for average Citizens!
They want debt paid down. Which, yeah, its pretty high right now. However, some can argue that all depressions have been preceded by a large pay-down in national debt… because that is true.
There was a “take-down” on a chart that showed debt increases by president. What politifact failed to realize is that a president doesn’t control the purse strings on the day he is inaugurated. The fiscal year is controlled by the past president’s budget. The economic facts and figures hold true: Republicans cause debt increases and recessions.
There are just TOO MANY things the Republicans lie about to try and cover in one post… I really want to… but… its too much.
Like Education – the Republicans keep saying that cutting funding is okay, because two-parent households should be doing most of the educating. So, children with only one parent don’t deserve an education? What did the kid do to be so undeserving? What about the fact that Republican policies have driven wages down over the past thirty years so that a family now pretty much MUST have both parents working just to get by? Are they going to correct that? Are they going to get us back to a point where a construction worker could provide for his stay-at-home wife and their two kids AND afford a car and food and clothing for them all?