Last night I taped the latest GOP presidential debate so I could listen to it today. More and more I have come to the conclusion that both political parties have no clue how to govern America.
One of the common themes last night is to cut Federal Spending. At the same time the candidates were blasting spending they want to significantly increase military spending. They support tax credits to enable people without health coverage to obtain heath insurance. At the same time they say we can not continue with the annual deficit. None of the GOP candidates that support these two things explain where the money to significantly expand our military and field a missile Defense system is to come from. No one explains where the money for tax credits to pay for health coverage is to come from. In fact these two proposals would add hundreds of Billions to the existing spending levels.
I happen to agree we need to spend more on our military. However I also know that we need added tax revenue to pay for that increased spending as well as to balance the current budget. Some of the candidates also are following the LIE from Bush about the size of the deficit. They claim that the 2007 annual deficit was $161 Billion dollars. That is NOT true. The actual 2007 deficit is $500 Billion. They, like Bush, subtract the Social Security Surplus from the actual budget deficit to make it appear smaller.
The Democrats want to start new health programs which will increase spending and the GOP wants to increase both military spending and provide more tax cuts to fund health insurance coverage. Neither approach is realistic and just continues a fiscal policy this country can not afford! No GOP candidate had any real solutions for the fiscal problems of Social Security or Medicare. They spent their time telling us how serious those issues are with no suggestions that come close to resolving the fiscal problems that beset both these programs! It is sad we have NO candidate from either party that has any clue of how to solve the greatest challenges that face our country.