I want DBU students to understand what the Democrats actually mean when they say they’ll balance the budget, and what the Republicans are trying to do with the economy and why that has resulted in (at least for now) the government spending more than it has. I think the Democrats’ critiquing of this fact is legitimate, but the Democrats should also not ignore the very respectable theories of Republicanomics. Many of them really do know this about Republicanomics but sneakily don’t mention it; for instance, Bill Clinton at the Democratic National Convention recently.

Clinton talked a lot about the Bush tax cuts for the rich, the largest of the Bush tax cuts. Clinton implied that the fact that rich people get tax cuts while Republicans are in office is the most important fact. The Republicans would point out part of their purpose in cutting taxes for the rich: so that the rich invest their money back into the economy, thus fueling the economy. And guess what? It works: America’s Gross Domestic Product went way the heck up, just like it did after the Reagan tax cuts.

By contrast, the Democrats want to tax the rich people more so the government can fund various social programs. Tax more, spend more. The Republican idea is supposedly to tax less, spend less. Two points about that.

First, the Democrat idea is to tax the rich, fund programs for the poor. Sounds nice, and I think it really is often enough, and even when it’s not it’s usually meant to be. However, it hints at socialism. Now, it also reminds of Robin Hood, of course. There are differences, though: Robin Hood (at least in Disney) steals from the rich people who had already stolen money from the poor through high taxes; Democrats want to tax the rich people, most of whom earned their money through hard work and stuff, and give it to the poor people.

Second, since the Republican idea is to tax less, spend less, in a time when they’re taxing less, spending more, we have a notable deficit. That’s not particularly responsible spending, but a few notes on that: one (less important) reason Republicans are spending more is because of the war. After Nineleven, there’s nothing wrong in spending a bit more on killing terrorists and stuff. Another note on that: Democrats would very likely spend even more. Still another note on that: a major reason Republicans are not so very uncomfortable with spending a lot and not being able to afford it is because they expect to make more money tomorrow. That’s the classic supply-side economics theory: tax less today (build up a deficit), economy goes up, government makes lots of money, makes up the deficit over the next few years. One more note on that: guinea pigs are cute and fuzzy little rodents, much better than squirrels. Anyways, it’s still pretty much true that the Republicans are spending irresponsibly. What I want to see is the government spending little, taxing little. The Republicans are taxing little, spending quite a bit. Thought it’s possible that the Democrats would maybe spend a lot more, same deficit thing, it’s perfectly reasonable to expect that they’ll balance the budget if Kerry wins. Remember that if they do it’ll be mostly because they tax more (and because the GDP went up after Bush’s tax cuts).