Debunk Away!

Aug 6th, 2006 | By Mark | Category: Economics, Jobs, Politics

by Mark Adams

Economic analysis can be a tedious chore, at least for me.  Number crunching was never my passion.  Fortunately Hale Stewart at
BOPnews — Complete Refutation of New GOP Economic Talking Points is more than willing to do my homework for me.

Raw Story is claiming it has obtained a copy of the GOP election playbook. All of the points made therein are crap — as in pure crap. Assuming this is the true playbook, here are the basic rebuttals to the economic claims made therein. This information is free to all to use.

If you only take away one fact from Stewart’s analysis, here’s the clincher:

Even using the Republicans incorrect figures, the economy is only creating about 158,000 jobs/month.  The economy has to create 150,000/month to keep up with population growth.  In other words – using their numbers – the rate of job growth still stinks.

This has been a public service message for mathematically challenged Republicans who may also tout the fiction that average wages have increased — a lie when you factor in inflation.

Other quick points?

  •   A 16% increase in tax revenue during an expansion is nothing to be proud of when the post 70’s recession saw revenue increase by over 77%, and the 90’s expansion drew almost double the revenue — a 96% increase.
  •   The yearly deficit they report does not reflect the actual increase in debt issued by the government  — Tthere’s so much “off book” and “emergency” spending that you just know to take the “over.”  They aren’t even coming close to balancing the budget.  Last year alone the government spent $553 billion more than it took in, but the GOP will use the “deficit” figures of merely a $318 billion abuse of your children’s credit card. With two months left in fiscal ‘06, they’ve already overspent by $481 billion.
  •   Discretionary spending (non-military) is up by 48% since ‘01. (They did freeze non-defense, non-discretionary spending).

    In fact, the Cato Institute – a bastion of liberal thought and action – called Bush the biggest spender since LBJ. I’m sure that’s a name the Republicans would love to be compared to.


    There’s an excellent discussion of this where Stewart (who is “bonddad”) cross-posted his analysis at KOS

    • 4 comments
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    1. Andrew Cory August 6th, 2006 1:47 pm :

      Are you really saying that the GOP isn’t even competent to cook the books?

    2. Mark Adams August 6th, 2006 3:38 pm :

      It’s hard to cook when the cupboard’s bare.

    3. Rosemary, The Queen of All Evil August 7th, 2006 2:45 pm :

      I grew up poor, I can cook with very little in the cupboard. It takes ingenuity and a fair effort.

    4. shep August 7th, 2006 5:56 pm :

      Me, I just borrow the ingredients from my neighbor’s grandkids, knowing I’ll be safely retired on the ranch (I could actually afford to buy the food but why bother) before those kids get hungry.

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