Member-only story
Social services — that is, actual benefits that go to taxpayers — must be paid for. But tax cuts for the ultra wealthy and military spending — both HUGE expenses that grow all the time are studiously overlooked by alleged “deficit hawks.”
I often feel my writing should be by-lined as written by Captain Obvious. But what SHOULD be obvious, I find, often isn’t. We are repeatedly exposed to the most tired, false and self-serving arguments, and THOSE, by virtue of repetition, remain the dominant views.
This isn’t a coincidence. The ultra wealthy, their PR firms, industry groups and the politicians to whom giant corporations “donate” — that’s the accepted euphemism for paying bribes — have for many years spent large sums of money to guarantee that THEIR viewpoints get a prominent place on the airwaves (and now, the Internet). The views of ordinary people who actually work for a living and pay taxes (while the wealthy legally evade them) do not count.
Let’s Pretend
One of these lies is that the GOP is a party of deficit hawks. We are told again and again that they are determined to balance the budget. They see the deficit as an existential threat to the country. They also see deficits as a moral failing. Good honest people pay their bills.
