Republicans Caused Our Deficit Crisis - Not Beggars

In 2001 Bush lowered the regular income tax rates for everyone while we still had a budget surplus. In 2003 he also lowered the capital gains tax rates (which the wealthy, stock traders, corporate CEOs, and bankers had mostly benefited from). Now the present deficit is nearly $2 trillion higher than it would have been had these 2000 tax rates remained the same for the past 10 years.

There were less jobs created under the Bush tax cuts than under Clinton, and even with the Bush tax cuts over 8 million jobs were lost since October 2007 when the DOW JONES peaked to its all-time high - past 14,000 points.

From Forbes: "It sounds like a pitch for a sham tax shelter: Sell stocks for a profit, and pay no capital gains tax. But it's not. It's legal, and it's the last of the capital gains tax cuts President George W. Bush pushed through in 2003 to take effect.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2008, taxpayers whose income is low enough to keep them in the 10% or 15% ordinary income tax bracket, will pay a 0% tax rate on gains from the sale of stocks, funds and some other assets (such as a vacation home). Like the rest of Bush's tax cuts, the 0% rate was set to expires at the end of 2010, but were extended." - - - thanks to the GOP.

The stock market (which was already down from its highs of 2007) began crashing significantly in September 2008 after AIG failed, when most rich people were "cashing out" with ZERO PERCENT capital gains taxes.

After Bill Clinton in 2001, and since Bush and Obama have held office (with the continued Bush tax cuts), the national debt went up from ZERO to $14 trillion. The number of Americans in poverty hit a 16-year high last year, food banks were swamped, and foreclosure signs were everywhere.

Since the stock market bottomed out in March 2009 at 6,500 points (when Obama had only been in office for 3 months), the DOW JONES rebounded over these past two years, doubling to over 12,000 points. The corporations did well, while at the same time the bailed-out bankers made record profits - but the unemployment rate has gone higher (millions never found work again and are no longer being counted, keeping the REAL unemployment lower than is being reported).

Since the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, fewer jobs were created than before, and a record amount were actually lost....more than during the Great Depression. But in 2010 the Republicans held unemployment benefits hostage for these jobless Americans so that the corporations and banks could get 2 more years of these tax cuts. Wall Streeters and bankers were rewarded for crippling the economy, while corporate America and wealthy politicians were rewarded for outsourcing jobs.

Now, because of less revenue coming in (less taxes being paid and less jobs generating tax revenues), we have more debt. But it's Main Street who must pay. What did Main Street ever get but more debt, fewer services, and less jobs with these tax cuts?

Now Main Street must pay again - they must also pay with less government services, a rise in the age of Social Security, and reduced hours and wages. But the Republicans want to blame the deficit on fair wages for public union employees, unemployment benefits for jobless workers, and Medicare and Social Security funds for retiring old people.

The GOP won't blame the rising deficit on tax cuts for the rich, but claim the rich need the tax cuts to create jobs. How many jobs will Lady Gaga or Paris Hilton create? The CEOs and bankers haven't replaced the 8 million-plus jobs that were lost since 2007 while they had the tax breaks. They can't even create enough jobs for natural population growth.

The GOP will say it's only by cutting spending, not raising taxes, that will put people back to work and lower the deficit. That's like saying you only need frosting to make a cake. The problem with that is, the rich get the icing on the cake while the working-class are only left with the crumbs.

Maybe if we only give the richest Americans MORE tax cuts, maybe they'll create MORE jobs. Maybe if we don't tax them at all, 8 million people will be working tomorrow, and all 15 million Americans will be back to work next week.

That's the GOP's reasoning...at least, that's what they want ignorant Americans to believe. They'll always tell you that the cost of retiring old people and fair wages is "unsustainable" - not that extending more tax breaks for the rich is obscene. They'll always tell you that the deficit crisis is the fault of state workers, the unemployed, welfare recipients, and retired workers on Social Security and Medicare....all those who NEED these programs just to live. The GOP won't tell you the truth. The deficit crisis was caused by the GOP catering to their wealthy campaign donors, who lobbied for lower taxes to fill their already overflowing piggy banks.

The wealthy (and their GOP political arm) has always been the ones waging class war on the middle class, but always accuse the middle class as waging this war. The guilty always want to lay the blame at the feet of others, always pointing their greedy fingers at someone else.

Then the rich had the GOP masterfully manipulate the masses by using Fox News to have the workers (taxpayers) turn against the poor, the unemployed, the unions, and the elderly (the "beggars"). Glenn Beck single-handedly created the Tea Party...following him like the cult members of Jim Jones. Last year the Republicans swept into the House for a majority, pushing for "smaller government" - - - code words for eliminating programs for the poor (the "beggars") by cutting taxes for the rich.

I used to believe in Glenn Beck, the GOP, and the Tea Party mantra, and I still get subscriptions in my email - following their bizarre antics. I was once taken in by the GOP propaganda machine as many people still are, so I know. But I suppose it takes a catastrophe in one's life to open their eyes to the truth. (I know, my eyes are now open.)

The GOP's Bush tax cuts caused our deficit crisis, not those who are lazy and just looking for a government hand-out (the unemployed who were FORCED out of the labor market). The GOP's Bush tax cuts caused our deficit crisis, not those who are sick, and old, and burned out from 50 years of labor (the Social Security retirees). The GOP's Bush tax cuts caused our deficit crisis, not the disenfranchised who were minorities, middle-aged, or jobless and had been discriminated against JUST for being unemployed.

No, these "beggars" didn't create the budget crisis, the Republicans caused our deficit crisis. But only the working-class and the "beggars" (the have-nots) will suffer for this. As George W. Bush was once famously quoted, "the haves and the have-mores", they haven't suffer at all.

REPORT: How Koch Industries Makes Billions By Demanding Bailouts And Taxpayer Subsidies (Part 1)