Except Republicans don't actually "leave money in the economy", because their tax cuts essentially only help their plutocrat friends hoard more and more of it, and put very little into the overall economy. I agree about the chart, but letting the above statement stand without context is just a tad misleading, don't you think?
but a chart that shows *only* the change in the deficit doesn't show where or with whom the currency is left. That's the point. If we are concerned *only* with the "deficit", then a regime that actually does meaningful stuff for the masses would have similar-looking "deficit" numbers.
As I said in the piece, if we want to show year-to-year changes in income levels, in income inequality, wealth inequality, or progressive tax rates, we could just make charts that show THOSE things. A chart that shows *only* the "deficit" doesn't show any of those things and is most effectively used against the marginalized.
I understand that, but I'm an editor so when I see an incomplete thought I tend to want it fixed. :-) Especially if the idea is to educate and inform. The simple fact of life is the charts presented by politicians are always going to be prime examples of "lies, damned lies, and statistics", so I favor making sure all the villains are clearly represented.
If you want to truly cats an editorial eye, look at Kamala Harris' comment James quotes last. The Democrats really are the "badder guys" among all bad guys here. There is no nice way to dress up such austerity, because you know under a surplus-seeking government the poor and low-income groups aren't going to get any trickle-down whatsoever, not even free healthcare as things stand.
The GOP are not much better, but at least they provide a dim chance for trickle-down with their proto-fascism. The point to make here is if Democrats really care about the working class they'd (a) run permanent deficits, and (b) make sure the injections go in ONLY at the base, and they could *easily* choose to do so, they just don't, because they've all got neoliberal brainworms and still take advice form Summer, Blanchard and Bernstein and Co.
Right, when Democrats who promote this "deficit" mythology (which is nearly all Democrats) say things like "trickle-down economics doesn't work" (which is true), they're also saying "and, so, we're not going to try trickle-UP economics either," even though trickle-up economics actually DOES work.
Except Republicans don't actually "leave money in the economy", because their tax cuts essentially only help their plutocrat friends hoard more and more of it, and put very little into the overall economy. I agree about the chart, but letting the above statement stand without context is just a tad misleading, don't you think?
but a chart that shows *only* the change in the deficit doesn't show where or with whom the currency is left. That's the point. If we are concerned *only* with the "deficit", then a regime that actually does meaningful stuff for the masses would have similar-looking "deficit" numbers.
As I said in the piece, if we want to show year-to-year changes in income levels, in income inequality, wealth inequality, or progressive tax rates, we could just make charts that show THOSE things. A chart that shows *only* the "deficit" doesn't show any of those things and is most effectively used against the marginalized.
I understand that, but I'm an editor so when I see an incomplete thought I tend to want it fixed. :-) Especially if the idea is to educate and inform. The simple fact of life is the charts presented by politicians are always going to be prime examples of "lies, damned lies, and statistics", so I favor making sure all the villains are clearly represented.
If you want to truly cats an editorial eye, look at Kamala Harris' comment James quotes last. The Democrats really are the "badder guys" among all bad guys here. There is no nice way to dress up such austerity, because you know under a surplus-seeking government the poor and low-income groups aren't going to get any trickle-down whatsoever, not even free healthcare as things stand.
The GOP are not much better, but at least they provide a dim chance for trickle-down with their proto-fascism. The point to make here is if Democrats really care about the working class they'd (a) run permanent deficits, and (b) make sure the injections go in ONLY at the base, and they could *easily* choose to do so, they just don't, because they've all got neoliberal brainworms and still take advice form Summer, Blanchard and Bernstein and Co.
Right, when Democrats who promote this "deficit" mythology (which is nearly all Democrats) say things like "trickle-down economics doesn't work" (which is true), they're also saying "and, so, we're not going to try trickle-UP economics either," even though trickle-up economics actually DOES work.