Imagine we’re in a boat with a slow leak. One passenger is trying to bail out water. The other passenger complains that it’s not being done fast enough. Rather than help bail, the 2nd passenger decides the best way to motivate faster work is to punch a larger hole in the boat.
Expenditures, as a percent of GDP, has been 23-24%, while taxes have been about 14%. The math is not partisan. If there’s a genuine interest in closing that gap by the party of fiscal irresponsibility, the same party that created the structural deficits, then raising revenue has to be part of it. I honestly don’t believe the GOP has any real interest in doing anything about the deficit. They insisted since Reagan that deficits don’t matter. Their real interest is in getting rid of what they view as an illegitimate President, while reducing programs they’ve always hated. If it takes tanking the economy, so be it.
