,
5 tweets,
1 min read
Read on Twitter
Actually, Democrats were ready in 2010 and 2011, and again in 2013, to couple reforms in Social Security and Medicare with tax increases. Obama included some of those reforms in his SOTU in 2013 and in his budget. Republicans would not stand for tax increases.
Then we got the most irresponsible and reckless fiscal act in history with the Trump/Ryan/Brady/McConnell tax cuts that are the drivers of this debt problem. Corker, Collins, Flake, Alexander and other so-called fiscal conservatives voted for it. This is not both sides.
When the opportunities were there for bipartisan action, Republicans blocked it. Ryan voted to kill Simpson-Bowles. Ryan killed the responsible tax reform of Republican Dave Camp, which was revenue neutral and constructive. Debt came down in Clinton and Obama presidencies
In fact we moved to surplus under Clinton. Debt skyrocketed under Bush with his tax cuts, and now with Trump. One party drove the sequesters, and poisoned the well for bipartisan action. There is no traction now for anything like what was possible in the Obama presidency.
The idea that after a tax cut that benefited the ultra-rich and corporations, who have done little to expand investment or increase economic growth, the burden from the tax cut should fall largely on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is absurd. First step: undo the tax cut!
