Debt and deficits now "secondary concern" to economic growth - Pence

[Howel]

Right after it arrives in Kansas.

Or...they already raised their taxes because their budgets had been gutted after, surprisingly, tax revenue declined following a broad tax cut. Nobody could have ever predicted that.

Don't remind me. Already a ton of economic papers being written on just how absolutely monsterously bad that entire tax cut plan was... And politicians will wipe their ass with it, because running on a literal sure fire to fail plan is okay these days.

[Nellise]

They're not going to grow the economy with what they are doing.

Suddenly the debt is going to be a massive concern as soon as democrats are in charge and they will forget that they are almost entirely responsible for it.

If they had done literally nothing, the economy would probably be the same or better (no tariffs) and there would be higher tax revenues.

[GreenJesus]

If they had done literally nothing, the economy would probably be the same or better (no tariffs) and there would be higher tax revenues.

"But but.. I got an extra $75 last year!" (that probably went into paying more for healthcare)

[D Luniz]

"But but.. I got an extra $75 last year!" (that probably went into paying more for healthcare)

And higher prices on goods due to the tariffs.

[Brubear]

But democrats would have you believe that rising debt is a non-issue. That was the rallying cry when Obama was spending like crazy.

For the record, both sides have never cared. I thought maybe with a non-politician in office this might change, but no.

Which is why you don't see Dems using a platform featuring reducing deficits or making high deficits a main point in their campaigns.

This is as silly as asking why people don't freak out when a Dem is caught cheating on their spouse or outed as gay. The Dems don't make family values, the sanctity of marriage, and homosexuality being a sin a core part of their platform. But the GOP makes all of those a key piece of their party platform. They campaign on it and raise hell whenever a Dem president runs a high deficit.

That's why it gets called out when a GOP president runs a high deficit but not a Dem, because the GOP pretends to care about it until they're in power. The Dems only care about it to call out the hypocrisy of the GOP making a huge deal about it when the Dems are in charge just to quickly forget about it once they take over.

- - - Updated - - -

Mike Pence on debt and large deficits, 2009 - "Let’s not do this to our kids,” said Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, the No.3 Republican in the House. “Let’s not borrow from the next generation of Americans.”

Mike Pence on debt and large deficits, 2011 - "Cut it or shut it," Republican Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana shouted at the Tea Party rally, then later told CNN that "If we don't take a stand right now ... we are going to shut down the future for our children and grandchildren and that will be a lot worse."

Mike Pence on debt and large deficits, 2020 - "That's not important, we'll get to it eventually. It's not a big deal right now!"

[Breccia]

to even turn back to their old standard, we are talking a complete halt of any and all spending increases (which, fucking lol), and around a 4 % growth a year.

Just to hammer this point home:
1) this also includes spending increases on the military.
2) Trump promised 4% GDP growth. He was lucky to escape 2019 with over two percent.

So you were pointing out how comically unlikely that was, and I just felt the need to apply clown makeup to drive the point home.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Don't worry. The debt will be really important to him again.. the next time a Democrat is President.

[Breccia]

They're not going to grow the economy with what they are doing.

You're just saying that because 2018 and 2019 had growth under 3% and there's no reason to believe 2020 is any better.

For the record, growth in the 2-3% rate isn't, in and of it self, cripplingly bad. We had it for Obama's second term, the one that was post-recession. Trump, however, is in pre-recession, he's burning up the money normally used to help this kind of problem (see also: "quantitative easing") and getting worse results.

[Teleros]

For the record, both sides have never cared. I thought maybe with a non-politician in office this might change, but no.

Pretty much this. The USA's national debt is basically impossible to pay off at this point (not that many - if ANY - other Western countries can boast in this regard), so hey, may as well carry on until the inevitable crash.

Not exactly a good attitude to have or policy to follow, but certainly understandable.

[Grapemask]

Weird. If I went onto a financial forum and said I'm increasing my worth by 2-3% per year, but I'm increasing my spending by 30-50%, they wouldn't say I'm making good choices.

[Fardringham]

Now, all the lies notwithstanding, can we finally admit that the Republican party has never, ever actually cared about deficits or the national debt? Because this administration, especially with a Republican controlled House/Senate for the first two years, has blown up deficits and upped the debt in return for rather lackluster growth that's largely the same as it was before their new economic policies were put into place.

For which they should be applauded for acknowledging the truth.

It never ceases to amaze me how corporate democrats somehow manage to find policies of the Republican party I actually agree with. It is the Republican party we are talking about here, there is almost nothing I agree with them on.

If Sanders doesn't win the US is going to be totally, totally fucked.

[Paranoid Android]

Who wants to bet me it will be a priority in say 11 months.

With this growth we had is a time you pay down the debt if we actually didn't gut taxes, not cut taxes but gut them. The problem is its easy argument to make to people that they are "wasting" your money or threatening to raise taxes, when of course the rates are targeted at the higher bracket. Let's face most of the public don't get the nuance.

If I'm right the tax rate ends in 2024. So I can predict w/o a doubt the campaign slogan will be "if you elect a Democrat they will raise your taxes". Semantics of course, but bringing the rates back to prior tax gut would provide the revenue for programs. But for some reason, the rich convinced them of two things 1) one day they will be rich so don't vote against your future interest and 2) they somehow convinced that we must let the rich keep their wealth or society will fail.

[Gestopft]

We've known for a long time that debt, like taxes, have become a bludgeon for the GoP to use against Democrats instead of an instrument of public policy like they actually are.

[Captain N]

We've known for a long time that debt, like taxes, have become a bludgeon for the GoP to use against Democrats instead of an instrument of public policy like they actually are.

Well this should have been obvious with the the typical GOP voter screeching about Democrats and tax and spend. You would assume that raising the funds and then using said funds to purchase things is fiscal conservatism, right? Apparently actively cutting off where the money comes from and then using credit on non-productive things like a Border Wall (Trump is now asking for an additional $2B for that supposedly) is the correct path.

[Paranoid Android]

Well this should have been obvious with the the typical GOP voter screeching about Democrats and tax and spend. You would assume that raising the funds and then using said funds to purchase things is fiscal conservatism, right? Apparently actively cutting off where the money comes from and then using credit on non-productive things like a Border Wall (Trump is now asking for an additional $2B for that supposedly) is the correct path.

As I stated its an easy argument for the Republicans. Most people are not sophisticated I guess to see what policy does. If you spend $1 and say you get a return of 80 cents on the return of a infrastructure or even a social program, its a good trade. Government is not a business where it should be profitable or break even. Its easy as @Gestopft stated to just hit people over the head of they are taking your money and spending it on this (generally it happens to be a program that a certain group is hated). It's stupid cause I can rail against saying we don't need more F35's so thus my I shouldn't pay my $80k in taxes cause of waste. People are brainwashed that all their money goes to some program they have been programmed to hate.

Now, I'm not for waste and hate even in something that I champion, and there is waste or even outright corruption. The wall is a good one. Total waste of money since it doesnt stop the movement of people illegally crossing the border and sure is hell doesn't fix our immigration process and the demand for cheap labor.

[beanman12345]

Got to set the stage for running on another major tax cut to the extreme wealthy.

[Breccia]

Got to set the stage for running on another major tax cut to the extreme wealthy.

It can't pass.

The last one barely did, they claimed it would pay for itself, and they had $1.5 Trillion of extra debt to work with to meet that goal. They won't have that a second time. Maybe some lame duck GOPs will go for it in 2021, but in 2020 casting a vote for even more debt is too risky for their slim Senate majority.

[beanman12345]

It can't pass.

The last one barely did, they claimed it would pay for itself, and they had $1.5 Trillion of extra debt to work with to meet that goal. They won't have that a second time. Maybe some lame duck GOPs will go for it in 2021, but in 2020 casting a vote for even more debt is too risky for their slim Senate majority.

Oh I know it can't pass, but they will still run on it, and rack up a lot of $$$ in the general election based on the theory the gullible trumphites will save 5$ a year.

[Zaydin]

And you know as soon as Democrats control the White House and both branches of Congress again the GOP will suddenly start pretending to care about spending again and try to blame everything on the Democrats and hope no one points out everything they have charged to the national credit card over the last few years.

[Zan15]

But democrats would have you believe that rising debt is a non-issue. That was the rallying cry when Obama was spending like crazy.
.

So you have someone in the administration admitting this under Obama?
I mean, I guess we can ignore that the majority of the deficit spending under Obama was related to prior republican administration actions, but I would love to see the same quotes from democrats....

Because as I remember it they had problems with it too, and by the actions taken and corresponding drop to the deficit over his administration sure seems like they thought it was a huge issue.