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The GOP was not fiscally conservative before Trump either.

peaseagee 2mo ago
Exactly. I remember hearing "tax and spend Democrats" as a slur back in the 90s/00s, but seeing the GOP spend without taxing during those years showed what it was really all about...
michaelt 2mo ago
Yes, in the 1970s-1980s the GOP came up with the idea of "starve the beast" [1] which allowed them describe unfunded tax cuts and deficit spending as "fiscally conservative", like a parent taking away a child's allowance. Complete nonsense in practice, obviously - but political gold! Voters get all the same public services, lower taxes, and to think they're being responsible with money. And if you're a 65-year-old legislator, you'll be dead and buried before the consequences start to bite. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast
- SmirkingRevenge 2mo ago
  Running up massive debt and deficits is also a way to kill appetite for D priorities that require new spending. The best way to make sense of the GOP is in it's opposition to wealth redistribution. Primarily downward wealth redistribution. That's their north star. Upward redistribution is mostly OK though, they consider it just giving rich people their own money back
bluGill 2mo ago
Before Trump the GOP was fiscally conservative - when the democrats were in power! That explains a large part of why democrats were able to lower the debt - the republicans in congress wouldn't go along with efforts to raise the debt.
- stetrain 2mo ago
  And when Republicans were in power they cut taxes and spent $2T on a war in Iraq. Cutting taxes without cutting spending raises the deficit and seems to be the GOP's most common fiscal policy.
- preg_match 2mo ago
  The GOP is basically universally bad at fiscal policy. They spend big, mostly on warmongering and industry. Not developing industry, no no, siphoning government funds to the private sector, where I assume they have many friends. They increase the deficit because they increase spending and then "cut" taxes. Often they don't effectively "cut" taxes for you and me: the tax burden for many Americans is raised, except for a select few who get tax cuts. This was happening well before Trump, into Reagan. The only reason this works at all is because they get to say "oh we cut taxes!". But tax burden is very complicated, and nobody is analyzing that for the common voter.

Exactly. I remember hearing "tax and spend Democrats" as a slur back in the 90s/00s, but seeing the GOP spend without taxing during those years showed what it was really all about...

michaelt 2mo ago

Yes, in the 1970s-1980s the GOP came up with the idea of "starve the beast" [1] which allowed them describe unfunded tax cuts and deficit spending as "fiscally conservative", like a parent taking away a child's allowance. Complete nonsense in practice, obviously - but political gold! Voters get all the same public services, lower taxes, and to think they're being responsible with money. And if you're a 65-year-old legislator, you'll be dead and buried before the consequences start to bite. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast

SmirkingRevenge 2mo ago
Running up massive debt and deficits is also a way to kill appetite for D priorities that require new spending. The best way to make sense of the GOP is in it's opposition to wealth redistribution. Primarily downward wealth redistribution. That's their north star. Upward redistribution is mostly OK though, they consider it just giving rich people their own money back

bluGill 2mo ago

Before Trump the GOP was fiscally conservative - when the democrats were in power! That explains a large part of why democrats were able to lower the debt - the republicans in congress wouldn't go along with efforts to raise the debt.

stetrain 2mo ago
And when Republicans were in power they cut taxes and spent $2T on a war in Iraq. Cutting taxes without cutting spending raises the deficit and seems to be the GOP's most common fiscal policy.
preg_match 2mo ago
The GOP is basically universally bad at fiscal policy. They spend big, mostly on warmongering and industry. Not developing industry, no no, siphoning government funds to the private sector, where I assume they have many friends. They increase the deficit because they increase spending and then "cut" taxes. Often they don't effectively "cut" taxes for you and me: the tax burden for many Americans is raised, except for a select few who get tax cuts. This was happening well before Trump, into Reagan. The only reason this works at all is because they get to say "oh we cut taxes!". But tax burden is very complicated, and nobody is analyzing that for the common voter.