The chart shows percent national debt as a percent of gross national product. More here, The Triple Legacy of Ronald Reagan
The numbers tell the story. As predicted, Reagan's massive $749 billion supply-side tax cuts in 1981 quickly produced even more massive annual budget deficits. Combined with his rapid increase in defense spending, Reagan delivered not the balanced budgets he promised, but record-settings deficits. Even his OMB alchemist David Stockman could not obscure the disaster with his famous "rosy scenarios."
Forced to raise taxes twice to avert financial catastrophe (a fact conveniently forgotten in the conservative hagiography of Reagan manufactured by the GOP's 2008 ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin), the Gipper nonetheless presided over a tripling of the American national debt. By the time he left office in 1989, Ronald Reagan more than equaled the entire debt burden produced by the previous 200 years of American history.
Republicans have had several chances over the past sixty years to balance the budget and each time have failed. They could say that Democrats are to blame. That would mean Republicans admit they are the party of both wild spending sprees and fiscal impotence.
Laura Ingraham Touts Fiction As Fact In Attacking Planned Parenthood With Lila Rose’s Hoax Video
On The O’Reilly Factor last night (2/4/11), guest host Laura Ingraham touted the latest Planned Parenthood sting tapes from Lila Rose’s group Live Action. You may recall that Rose is a pal of the completely discredited and thoroughly disreputable James O’Keefe. Rose's latest attacks on Planned Parenthood (a phony pimp tries to get help with his underage sex ring) are more than a little reminiscent of the debunked ACORN tapes. We’ve even got suspicious editing and Andrew “Shirley Sherrod” Breitbart involved. But while the Planned Parenthood hoax – like the ACORN stings – involved no actual sex trafficking, Ingraham acted as though Rose and Live Action had just uncovered the real thing. Ingraham even gushed that she thought they deserved a Pulitzer for their work.Last I heard the truth was a value. Since Republicans cannot seem to handle or tell the truth it speaks volumes about their supposed values.
