The GOP has a long history of presenting itself as the party of fiscal responsibility with a focus on reducing debt by reducing spending. This position does not hold up under scrutiny.

 

First, a simple fact: among all the non-wartime Presidents since 1900, four of the five who increased the national debt the most were Republicans:

 

Now, some context about the origin of our current level of indebtedness.

During WW2 the national debt rose to 106% of GDP in 1946. (This is not unusual as national debt always rises during war time in order to finance the war.) Then, over the 34 years between 1946 and 1980, the national debt dropped to just 25% of GDP. During this time, the US government was spending very heavily: interstate highways, a vast national security state, scientific research, public education, higher education, Medicare, Medicaid, and other forms of expanded welfare.

 

Debt is simply the difference between revenue and spending. What changed in 1980 that resulted in this progressive increase in our national debt?

 

Hint: IT WAS NOT GOVERNMENT SPENDING.

 

In 1980, the conservative right invented and then pushed the economic myth that massive tax cuts would spur growth and productivity and increase revenues enough to not just cover themselves, but result in 'trickle down' economic prosperity. This neo-liberal or illiberal economic theory had appeal, not just to the wealthy donor class but also to a wide swath of Americans. It was a very easy sell.

 

What actually happened? The massive Republican tax cuts in 1981 cost $445 billion over four years and blew a gaping hole in the deficit. THAT is when the government began the practice of borrowing heavily to cover expenses, consistently feeding the deficit, which now stands at a startling $36 trillion.

 

To be fair, because raising taxes is such an unpopular political option, both parties simply continued - to varying degrees - with deficit financing of government.

 

In this setting, one might reasonably expect that a political party that prides itself on its fiscal prudence would propose a budget that would lower - or at least stabilize - the national debt. That expectation, of course, assumes that the 'Party of Prudence' actually wants to lower the national debt. Actions speak louder than words. The current Trump and GOP budget proposal would add at least $3.8 trillion to the national debt.

Stop and ask yourself: why would the GOP propose ballooning the national debt? Here are two possible reasons.

 

First, a massive federal debt generates high carrying costs (interest) which makes it harder (or impossible) for the government to pursue public (government) investment. It is no secret that the libertarian and conservative right wing factions that now control the GOP have a strong ideologic opposition to government involvement in almost anything beyond national defense and protection of property and wealth.

 

Second, massive federal debt will make it impossible to maintain both the safety net that so vital for the most vulnerable citizens and the many public programs that support the working and middle classes and make upward mobility an achievable goal. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and both public health and public education will be impossible to sustain. The libertarian and conservative right wing factions that now control the GOP consider the poor and the to be poor and vulnerable as the justified and natural result of their lack of skills and intrinsic worth. They are threatened by the thought of any social change that supports upward mobility and thus threatens their own status and control.

 

Don't be fooled when the GOP lies, as did House Speaker Mike Johnson when he claimed the Trump budget will not add to the debt. They know it will add massively to the debt and make effective government for the benefit of the general populace impossible.