Thom Hartmann explains Republican's 2 Santa strategy

Now does it make sense?

Two Santa Clauses or How The Republican Party Has Conned America for Thirty Years by Thom Hartmann http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0

"...By 1974, Jude Wanniski had had enough. The Democrats got to play Santa Claus when they passed out Social Security and Unemployment checks -- both programs of the New Deal -- as well as when their "big government" projects like roads, bridges, and highways were built giving a healthy union paycheck to construction workers. They kept raising taxes on businesses and rich people to pay for things, which didn't seem to have much effect at all on working people (wages were steadily going up, in fact), and that made them seem like a party of Robin Hoods, taking from the rich to fund programs for the poor and the working class. Americans loved it. And every time Republicans railed against these programs, they lost elections.

Everybody understood at the time that economies are driven by demand. People with good jobs have money in their pockets, and want to use it to buy things. The job of the business community is to either determine or drive that demand to their particular goods, and when they're successful at meeting the demand then factories get built, more people become employed to make more products, and those newly-employed people have a paycheck that further increases demand.

Wanniski decided to turn the classical world of economics -- which had operated on this simple demand-driven equation for seven thousand years -- on its head. In 1974 he invented a new phrase -- "supply side economics" -- and suggested that the reason economies grew wasn't because people had money and wanted to buy things with it but, instead, because things were available for sale, thus tantalizing people to part with their money. The more things there were, the faster the economy would grow.

At the same time, Arthur Laffer was taking that equation a step further. Not only was supply-side a rational concept, Laffer suggested, but as taxes went down, revenue to the government would go up!

Neither concept made any sense -- and time has proven both to be colossal idiocies -- but together they offered the Republican Party a way out of the wilderness.

Ronald Reagan was the first ..."

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Thom
• Hartmann
• Republican
• Santa
• strategy
• Jude
• Wanniski
• GOP
• hypocrisy
• budget
• deficit
• supply
• side
• economics
• trickle
• down
• Reagan
• Greenspan
• scam

[dave777blaster]

yes you make good points the Democrats are predominately for the little man compared to the filthy corrupt Republicans. though both are corrupt the republicans are greedy and always get caught because of being too greedy.

[im4wur2]

@dave777blaster - You're right, the US is sick with GREED, on both sides of the aisle; but to my mind, while the democrats are too often corrupt, the GOP is truly malignant to the vast majority of Americans.

[dave777blaster]

Republicans and Democrats to me is the same deal

What has really changed since Obama took over

Look American don't care about anything but their pocket book they don't care if the country is run into the ground ,that the debts are so high no one will lend USA money.

None of it matters to them. They don't care until you hit their pocket books.

you can put fluoride in the water Uranium too you can do anything you want to but don't touch their pockets books.

the end of the road now looms

[im4wur2]

@dave777blaster - It's my opinion that if Gore had been President, the US wouldn't have gone to war with Iraq. That one thing alone is indicative of a significant difference in the parties. Positions on tax breaks for the rich and defense spending are two others.

[yak55x]

Absolutly, 911, Afganistan and Iraq were manufactured crisis created by neo-cons (republicans) They thrive in crisis and destruction. MY WARNING TO THE REST OF THE WORLD, The us is no longer a democracy. Geroge Bush didn't win the election in 2000 and while I believe Obama did - he can't get anything done against the corpratists represenantives in the Senate. In short - country out of control.

[dave777blaster]

@im4wur2 that sounds about right

[dave777blaster]

@im4wur2 your right ,the parties do the same but in different ways.

when the Democrats do it they don't bungle it like 911

the 911 story is as phony as a 4 dollar bill

[MarmaladeINFP]

So, Two Santa Clauses strategy is the same as or the other side of Starve the Beast. Voodoo/trickle down/supply side economics is what makes Starve the Beast look good... just as long as you don't look to closely. Hartmann's explanation here reminds me of my own thoughts of why Democrats are in reality now the new 'fiscal conservatives'. Republicans talk the talk. Democrats walk the walk.

benjamindavidsteele.wordpress. com/2010/07/23/liberals-are-th­e-new-fiscal-conservatives/

[TheLogicStick]

Why isn't this guy here running for office?

[dave777blaster]

Great Video 5*****