Not his only betrayal.
Posted on 12/11/2018 2:58:39 AM PST by from occupied ga
The eulogies for George H.W. Bush keep rolling in, and a great American hero's life has been given proper tribute.
But there has also been a rewriting of history about the Bush presidency that needs to be cleared up. Liberals love Bush for the very tax increase betrayal that destroyed his presidency. This was the official end of the Reagan era. This was not just the political blunder of the half-century, it was a fiscal policy catastrophe.
Most readers under the age of 40 have no idea the real story of what happened. What the history books are writing is that Bush showed political "courage" in breaking his "Read my lips: No new taxes" pledge, and he was thrown out of office for doing the right thing.
Wrong. The quick story is that the Reagan expansion -- in no small part due to the reduction of the highest tax rates from 70 percent to 28 percent -- was shrinking deficit spending dramatically by the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency. The budget deficit had fallen in half, to 2.9 percent of GDP by 1988. It was headed to below 2 percent if Bush simply had done nothing.
We will never know whether Bush always had a secret plan to raise taxes, but we do know that Dick Darman, Bush's budget director, persuaded Bush to agree to a budget deal with congressional Democrats to raise income taxes in exchange for spending cuts from Democrats.
But instead of cutting government spending, the 1990 budget deal became a license for Democrats to spend and spend. The budget deficit in 1991 was supposed to be $253 billion, and if Bush simply allowed the Gramm-Rudman automatic spending cuts to occur, the deficit would have fallen to below $100 billion. Instead, the deficit that year was $269 billion -- with the tax increase.
The eulogies for George H.W. Bush keep rolling in, and a great American hero's life has been given proper tribute.
But there has also been a rewriting of history about the Bush presidency that needs to be cleared up. Liberals love Bush for the very tax increase betrayal that destroyed his presidency. This was the official end of the Reagan era. This was not just the political blunder of the half-century, it was a fiscal policy catastrophe.
Most readers under the age of 40 have no idea the real story of what happened. What the history books are writing is that Bush showed political "courage" in breaking his "Read my lips: No new taxes" pledge, and he was thrown out of office for doing the right thing.
Wrong. The quick story is that the Reagan expansion -- in no small part due to the reduction of the highest tax rates from 70 percent to 28 percent -- was shrinking deficit spending dramatically by the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency. The budget deficit had fallen in half, to 2.9 percent of GDP by 1988. It was headed to below 2 percent if Bush simply had done nothing.
We will never know whether Bush always had a secret plan to raise taxes, but we do know that Dick Darman, Bush's budget director, persuaded Bush to agree to a budget deal with congressional Democrats to raise income taxes in exchange for spending cuts from Democrats.
But instead of cutting government spending, the 1990 budget deal became a license for Democrats to spend and spend. The budget deficit in 1991 was supposed to be $253 billion, and if Bush simply allowed the Gramm-Rudman automatic spending cuts to occur, the deficit would have fallen to below $100 billion. Instead, the deficit that year was $269 billion -- with the tax increase.
Democrats could not hardly contain their glee. They knew that the tax hike would divide and conquer the Republican Party and win back the White House for the first time in 12 years in exile. With a third-party candidate Ross Perot in the race, George H.W. Bush, who had a 90 percent approval rating in 1990, got less than 40 percent of the vote two years later.
Few events of the last four decades have had a more profound political impact than the Bush tax betrayal. This folly solidified the Republican stance as an anti-tax party, and Republicans have not voted for a tax hike ever since.
Three enduring lessons should be learned by the 1990 budget deal.
1) Tax increases always lead to more government spending, not less.
2) Tax increases damage the economy and can make deficits worse.
3) When Republicans raise taxes, they lose.
Democrats would seemingly give up their first-born son to get Donald Trump to vote for a tax hike as Bush did. They harbor secret hopes that high budget deficits (due to spending hikes, because revenues are at an all-time high) will sucker Trump into a 1990-style tax hike. He likes to make deals. This scenario would guarantee Elizabeth Warren or Joe Biden or whomever it might be, the keys to the Oval Office.
President Trump, don't go there unless you want to be as George H.W. Bush put it "a one-termer."
Don’t ever trust a Democrat and don’t do deals with them. Reagan’s amnesty deal didn’t work out any better.
What also happened was Medicare was split out from social security and there was no cap. Used to be that when you maxed your FICA that was it.
Because I had 2 jobs and paid FICA in both I normally got a healthy refund, but after the Bush tax increase that refund was $1000 less. I was not a happy camper.
Like the terminator: you cannot reason with them. You cannot bargain with them
Reagan’s amnesty deal didn’t work out any better.
Yep
Bush Clinton - not much difference except Bush wasn't as obviously sleazy, but he certainly didn't have all that great a philosophical difference from the Clintons.
Did 41’ get rolled by the Democrats? I could believe it all the way up to the 1’ election. The whole klan showed their true colors. JP should know better than to think he has a future unless it’s as a Democrat.
Your explanation is exactly the way I remember it, save one small detail. The economy had a little bump in the road because of real estate over speculation in the North East (Democrat’s). That combined with the ‘deall’ With Democrats ended the GOP control of the White House, ushered in the Clintons (of which we still suffer), expanded three letter acronyms control over budget, privacy, security, and politics, that we as a Republic may never overcome.
GHWB spent his entire career in Washington. He was even the former CIA director -- so he was in the business of lying, deception and disinformation.
Nobody fooled him or deceived him. He signed the tax hike because he wanted the tax hike -- period.
That is all that needs to be said. I told my wife all of the accolades were coming from the liberals because they loved Bush because he was liberal and they were happy he was dead, since he was a Republican. Their politics IS their religion.
Not his only betrayal.
What purpose in beating a dead horse? Long-term resentments, that outlive the source of pique, are bad for you. Might as well sip on poison and hope the dead guy suffers.
Something about learning from history so as not to repeat it. Democrats want to roll Trump the same way. Only difference is Bush wanted to get rolled. As far as I can tell Trump doesn't
There was a very good reason for the target of the first bombs to fall in Operation Just Cause...
Like I said a RINO - a swamp creature - a Washington insider - whatever you want to call them. The Bushes were not even close to conservative.
And Reagan made a good faith immigration deal with the dems and got stabbed in the eye for dealing with them......lots of lessons to remember and most deal with common sense and knowing you can’t trust the Left - and half the ‘reps” that claim to be on the Right....
Amen, it was a huge betrayal and I never forgave him.
At first impression. But it didn't take long. The "aw shucks" routine is a way to not engage in honest dialogue. So many people who don't engage in a dialogue are like that. It's mostly because they think they and their thought process are better than us little folk, that only they and those in their circle are capable of leading.
I was still involved in the MA Republican Party when GHWB took office. A friend became his regional secretary of the Department of Education. I went to a talk where someone from DC laid out GHWB's education plan. It was a federal takeover of education with the excuse of preparing for technology by the year 2000! And then there was the local political campaign. The GHWB campaign team didn't want locally planned and implemented campaign gatherings. They wanted it all planned from their perch, with funding done (donations and spending) through them. I was pretty disillusion even before he got global.
I wish that DJT would release GHWBs complete record, which might explain his rise from Yale to HOR to CIA to President without winning many elections. I realize the payback from the Global Cartel might cost Trump his Presidency, but it's better than ceding ever more to the puppet masters. JMHO
Trump has no problem in sending gov’t employees home....for not just days or weeks, but on into four months. The DC crowd will go nuts if they aren’t paid for three months straight. This shutdown approaching will be one of the more interesting periods of US history over the past century.
Bush was an honorable man, with integrity. His mistake was to trust Sen. George Mitchell, a lying deceitful DemocRAT and Senate leader. Bush relied on promises the DemocRATS never meant to keep.
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