Friday, August 25, 2006

Why can't Democrats get their act together?

When GOP talking points revert to the economy, they invariably point to tax cuts as the main reason the economy recovered after 9/11.

Nothing could be further from the truth. At best, they helped at the edges. At worst, they contributed to the roughly two TRILLION dollars in the increase of the national debt since Bush & Co. charged into town.

The real reason the economy recovered is that Alan Greenspan flooded the system with liquidity by driving interest rates to the lowest level in recent memory.

As a result, mortgage rates dropped precipitously and the price of real estate increased dramatically allowing millions of Americans to refinance and use the proceeds of home equity loans to buy second homes, redecorate, travel or make purchases that suddenly became affordable.

Now, you'd think that Democrats would bring this FACT to the attention of the American people whenever GOPers brag about their tax cuts.

Amazingly, that is not the case. Instead, they simply change the subject or try to explain that tax cuts helped mainly the wealthiest among us.

While that is indeed the case, it doesn't address the main issue, namely, Greenspan's "generosity" that, predictably, changed the surplus of the Clinton years into humongous deficits during the Bush years and the corresponding increase in our national debt.