This is the same thing progressives like the ones here at Blue Virginia have been saying for a long time, but it carries more weight coming from the Great Ronald Reagan’s own budget director. See Think Progress for more, including how tax cutting has become a “theology” in the Republican Party, how “Reagan proved nothing of the kind [that tax cuts supposedly lead to higher revenues],” that Dick Cheney “should have known better,” and that the Bush Administration is responsible for ” basically destroying the last vestige of fiscal responsibility that we had in the Republican Party.”
David Stockman is right. I’d go even further, though, and argue that the Democratic Party also is not being fiscally responsible by accepting permanent extension of any of the irresponsible, wildly misguided Bush tax cuts. Sure, extend them for 2-3 years for middle-class and working-class Americans as we get out of the Bush Great Recession, but other than that, there is absolutely no way we can afford these tax rates if we don’t want to either a) go bankrupt; or b) slash Social Security, Medicare, and defense spending. Either of those options is unacceptable, which means the last thing we want to do at this point is add yet another $4 trillion to the debt by extending Bush’s tax cuts. This is basic math; why is it so difficult to understand?
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