The Republican Terrorists are holding America hostage. They threaten to destroy the countries fiscal foundation, destroying the nation economically, sending us, and perhaps the rest of the world into a depression, unless we undo all of the social programs that are allowing all but the rich to survive. They want to undo the stimulus, health care, and all of the other good work that has helped the country get out of the Republican recession, allowed Wall street to prosper, created millions of jobs and provided 14 straight months of economic growth.
http://shredoftruth.com/component/conten...When we consider whether the Debt Ceiling should be raised, we should first of all consider what caused the National Debt and the current Deficit. Republicans think that most of the deficit is from stimulus programs, and programs to help the poor, the sick , and the unemployed.
The truth is that Republicans, starting with Reagan, caused 80%-90% of the National Debt by increasing military spending while at the same time giving tax breaks to the rich. When GW Bush entered office, Clinton had balanced the budget and had budget surpluses of $200 billion projected indefinitely. We had actually started paying off the National Debt.
Then Bush reversed all of that by starting two wars and giving huge tax breaks to the rich while not paying for any of it. They just put it on the credit card.
Most of the spending that Obama is stuck with was also the fault of the Republicans. First of all Obama had no choice but to spend a lot to get us out of the depression we were heading into. He was in the middle of two wars. He decided to get us out of Iraq, which will save us money, and he decided to win and then withdraw in Afghanistan. Then he was blackmailed into extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich in exchange for unemployment programs.
Look at the chart which shows what Really cased the deficit. "The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has updated a widely cited chart to show that Bush-era tax cuts to the rich and two ill-advised wars - not the economic downturn - are primarily responsible for the massive debt now driving Republicans to cut health, education, social services and every other remotely useful program. As usual, the visuals speak louder than any numbers."
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/...The Republican Propaganda machine is making everyone freak out about the debt now all of a sudden, but when they were creating all of that debt, Dick Cheney said that 'Reagan proved deficits don't matter," "We won the (2002) midterms. This is our due."
By "due," Cheney meant that because Republicans won the midterm elections on a platform of more tax cuts and deficit increases, they could pass still more tax cuts and run up still more deficits. Voters knew that a Clinton surplus of $200 billion had been transformed into a $200 billion deficit under Bush (it is now $450 billion), and voted for Republicans anyway.
That's what Cheney meant by "Reagan proved deficits don't matter." For Cheney, Reagan proved there was no political cost to big deficits.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn...They intentionally passed on this huge debt problem to future generations and now they are blaming Democrats for what they did.
When citing the dangers of carrying a huge debt, Republicans say that the government should be handled like a business, and that is why they think that millionaires with business experience should run the country.
The fact is however that many businesses do run a deficit. Right now America has an income of $14.5 trillion GDP each year. It also has a $14.3 trillion debt. That is about a one to one debt ratio. For comparison IBM borrows twice as much as they earn, Dupont 3 to 1, United Technologies — 3-1. Boeing — 4-1, Caterpillar — 14-1, and JP Morgan Chase borrows 50 times as much as they earn.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05...What they are doing is investing in the future of their companies. We as a nation also need to invest in our future. We need better educated kids so we can be the innovators of the future. We need to invest in clean energy technology so we won't be left in the dust by other nations that are investing more. We need to invest in rebuilding our crumbling 50 year old infrastructure, to provide jobs and allow businesses to expand and prosper.
What caused most of the National Debt, and the current deficit, is that Republicans are just unwilling to pay for the things they have already purchased. It is now abundantly clear that we cannot balance the budget without raising taxes. 81% of the public would like to see a surtax on millionaires to help balance the budget, but most of the Republicans have signed a pledge to Grover Norquist, not to raise taxes for any reason. They think that a promise to an unelected rich guy is more important than their pledge to uphold the Constitution and protect the United States.
http://www.thefinarts.com/category/gover...Now the Republican terrorists are holding the Debt Ceiling, and the future wellbeing of America hostage for political ideology. They are willing to risk destroying America for economic and political policies that were proven disastrous just a few years ago.