Minority Leader John Boehner
wants everyone to know that Republicans learned their lesson when it comes to governing. They are now ready to re-assume power and lead once again with the same Bush-era policies that got us into this mess.
"I've admitted that Republicans made their fair share of mistakes when they had the majority in this institution...But I think our members have learned their lessons.
"We've seen over the last 30 years that lower marginal tax rates have led to a growing economy, more employment, and more people paying taxes. And if you look at the revenue growth over those 30 years, you've got a prime example of what we've been talking about."
The fact of the matter, as Brian Beutler notes, is after the Bush tax cuts, unemployment was higher than it was after Clinton's tax increase. And GDP growths were stronger after Clinton's tax increase than after Bush's tax cuts.
Plus the largest contributor to today's deficit is the
Bush tax cuts.
As you can see from the graphic above, the second largest contributor to the deficit is two other Bush legacies, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Without the pointless tax cuts, and the invasion of Iraq, there is no doubt our fiscal situation in this country would be much better off. Both are items that were designed entirely by choice from the Republican administration. There was no need to cut taxes and create a budget deficit in the first place. And there was no sane or human benefaction to ever invade Iraq. Both are, without a doubt, the greatest contributors to our current fiscal woes. Unless Republicans are willing to admit this, then they have not learned their lesson.
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