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I do worry about the national debt. But I've heard much of it was caused by both large tax cuts (including for the wealthy) and large spending bills (favored b

I do worry about the national debt. But I've heard much of it was caused by both large tax cuts (including for the wealthy) and large spending bills (favored by liberals). And here's how (Republican) congressman David Schweikert voted... https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/106387/david-schweikert/111/taxes https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/106387/d... I see cynical political bloggers arguing that congressmen only care about the deficit when the opposite party is in power. I haven't actually gone through his voting record to see whether or not that's true. But here's a chart showing the growth of the national debt -- fairly steady from Obama through Trump and Biden. (Other than a spike during the pandemic, which was inevitable...) https://www.statista.com/chart/28393/us-public-debt/ https://www.statista.com/chart/28393/us-public-debt/

cebert 2y ago
If you watch the video, the argument is made that receipts/revenue is up, but spending is increasing faster. The government needs to budget better. I wish Democrats and Republicans could find some way to course correct by reducing spending and possibly increasing taxes.
- MilnerRoute 2y ago
  What's frustrating is these are simple numerical questions. I feel like there must be an obvious solution which either one side or the other is intentionally obfuscating to advance their agenda. I tried a quick Google search, which tells me that about 25 years ago 19.5% of America's GDP was collected to offset that national debt. But Bush's tax cut (and a later one about 8 years ago) has lowered that to just 16.3%. That coincides with the steeper slope in the Statista graph. https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/the-2017-trump-tax-law-was-skewed-to-the-rich-expensive-and-failed-to-deliver https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/the-2017-trump-tax...

cebert 2y ago

If you watch the video, the argument is made that receipts/revenue is up, but spending is increasing faster. The government needs to budget better. I wish Democrats and Republicans could find some way to course correct by reducing spending and possibly increasing taxes.

MilnerRoute 2y ago
What's frustrating is these are simple numerical questions. I feel like there must be an obvious solution which either one side or the other is intentionally obfuscating to advance their agenda. I tried a quick Google search, which tells me that about 25 years ago 19.5% of America's GDP was collected to offset that national debt. But Bush's tax cut (and a later one about 8 years ago) has lowered that to just 16.3%. That coincides with the steeper slope in the Statista graph. https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/the-2017-trump-tax-law-was-skewed-to-the-rich-expensive-and-failed-to-deliver https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/the-2017-trump-tax...