Elections have consequences. At least that is one of the right's most repeated refrains since the election of Barack Obama in fall 2008. By 2008, Republicans have been in control of all three arms of government (yes, all three including the Judiciary, the houses of congress and the Presidency) for more than 4 years (2002-2006), and in control of the house of representatives for 14 years (1993 -2007), and the Presidency for the better part of the decade. Indeed, looking back to the last 40 years prior to 2009, Republicans had control of the Presidency for 28 years (Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush, Bush), they maintained control of the Senate for 16 years (1981-1987, 1995-2001, 2003-2007), and controlled the house for 12 years (1995 -2007).
During the same 40 years period, America's deficit gradually inched up, under successive administrations and congresses. Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Bush increased the nation's debt (during their terms) by a collective total of $9.99 trillion! By the end of Clinton's second term, the US was on track to pay off all its debts within a decade! Bush ensured that never happened.
One interesting factor in the debt/deficit conversation is the fact that most of the deficit / debt were ran up when Republicans have total or near total control of the government. Reagan's total contribution to the debt was almost $2 trillion at a time when the US GDP was between $2.5 and $5 trillion. For Bush 43rd, the total was over $6 trillion!!! Surely the economy grew during those years, but only at the behest of a growing debt.
In 40 years, Democratic Presidents have been more restrained in their contribution to the national debt. Indeed, one Democratic President , Jimmy Carter decreased the debt as a percentage of GDP by more than 3% over his single term. Bill Clinton turned a surplus budget while reducing the deficit by 9.7% as a percentage of the nation's GDP. But elections have consequences.
By 2008, the nation was in a hole. Republican approach to governing has sunk the nation into a debt spiral like never before. George Bush junior had reversed a projected $5 trillion surplus into more than $10 trillion deficit by the time he handed over to George Bush. But you will hardly hear that in any of the analysis by right wingers, or even many on the left. Republican governance has proven ruinous to the nation's fiscal future - as it always seems to have in the last 40 years.
One key weakness of the US economy in 2008 was the out of control health care cost, and its diminishing value (forget all the self congratulations by the ostrich in the press). US health out come rank well bellow that of other developed and even many developing nations. US companies could hardly compete with their local labor, despite a huge productivity gain (there must be some lie to that narrative too). American companies preferred to ship jobs to wherever they labor cost was cheapest. And total labor cost had to factor in benefits costs, for which health care and pension were leading contributors. US auto makers were crying out for help. So the general consensus was that a fix to the health care economics will begin to heal what ailed the nation.
Between 2009 and the Spring of 2010, Barak Obama and the Democratic congress set out on a course to correct a clear national defect. By the end of the period, after a hailstorm of sabotage by the right (yes, every one on the right can share in this blame), the nation ended with a severely flawed health care legislation - but a start nonetheless. And the electorate punished the Democrats and the President for trying. And now here we are.
In the aftermath of the Fall 2010 shellacking at the polls, Obama had no choice but accept the narrative that Republicans have won the argument at the polls. He signed off on a deal that extended Bush's ruinous economic plans. A plan that led to a $15 trillion reversal of fortune for the nation!!!
Since Winter of 2011, newly empowered Republicans have set out to undo whatever progress the nation was making in the face of a near catastrophic economic malaise, like an alcoholic whose fis is more beer after a hangover, the Republicans' legislative response has been to gradually chip away at any real solution to the nation's problem. So much so that they openly flirted with letting the nation default on its debt and thus face a potential economic apocalypse. All for a clearly stated goal of "wanting the President to fail".
The "deal" reached on Sunday to raise the debt ceiling is not a win for the nation. The deal marked the end of a Republican inflicted crises (forget about those who claim the blame is shared), a sad end to an unnecessary crises that made the nation the but of international joke, but it also marks a terrible beginning for the nation. The Republican extremist (they all seem to be these days) have hijacked the nation - to only one end! In 2000, a stolen election led to a most ruinous 8 years in the nation's history. The tea-bagging farce of 2010 is leading to a return to even more perilous times, if sane minds do not prevail in the coming months.
In 2010, Americans rewarded a sabotaging party with power. 2012 is another election year, and the nation better get it right this time. The message in 2008 was that the nation was ready for adult moments. In 2010, the reverse was true. If Republicans should retain what little power they now have or perhaps, extend that to the Senate and even the Presidency, the nation better brace up for its ultimate decline....
This looks like a terrible beginning.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Presidents_and_control_of_Congress
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms
http://www.bea.gov/
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