"Despite serving for years as a political ally to Trump, and handing him arguably the greatest policy achievement of his presidency (with the 2017 tax bill), Ryan has remained largely despised by MAGA Republicans. "
A year or so later and before covid, the budget deficit shot up from several billion to well over a trillion. Was this a coincidence? If not, was a tax cut worth a skyrocketing deficit and debt?
That was an artful evasion. Ill take your reply to my first question as "Yes, BUT..."
If the tax cut, standing alone, caused the deficit to skyrocket, wouldn't a good bill in your mind necessarily be one that included in it both a tax cut and enough spending cuts to keep the deficit at its (then) current level.?
Or perhaps your answer to my second question in also "Yes." Maybe you think the tax cut, standing alone, was worth a skyrocketing deficit and debt.
It wasn't any kind of evasion. Revenue wasn't the problem. Spending was. I ripped the GOP for four years over how much spending was done under Trump. It was completely inexcusable.
You avoiding the fact that the tax cut, standing alone, caused (OK "enabled") the deficit to skyrocket. Anyone who thought that the deficit wouldn't skyrocket with the tax cut, standing alone, was a fool. Congress certainly knew this. So, in enacting a tax cut, the responsible thing to do was to take care of "the problem" in the same bill. Of course, such a bill may well not have passed , which goes back to my second unanswered question, Was it worth it?
>>You avoiding the fact that the tax cut, standing alone, caused (OK "enabled") the deficit to skyrocket
No, I'm saying the tax cut brought in more revenue than otherwise would have been brought in, and that increased spending was responsible for the growing deficit.
>>Of course, such a bill may well not have passed
Correct.
>> which goes back to my second unanswered question, Was it worth it?
Was it worth bringing in more revenue than otherwise would have brought in? Yes. But I wanted big spending cuts, including from entitlement reform, but I rarely get what I want when it comes to politics.
"Was it worth bringing in more revenue than otherwise would have brought in?"
I'll make one more stab at this. A more honest question would be "Was it worth bringing in more revenue than otherwise would have been brought in AND, at the same time, skyrocketing the deficit?"
Your answer is apparently "Yes!" After all, you think that the tax cut, standing alone and that would certainly skyrocket the deficit, was Trump's greatest policy achievement.
You certainly aren't foolish enough to assume, or even to think, that "big spending cuts, including from entitlement reform," would follow the tax cut.
"Despite serving for years as a political ally to Trump, and handing him arguably the greatest policy achievement of his presidency (with the 2017 tax bill), Ryan has remained largely despised by MAGA Republicans. "
A year or so later and before covid, the budget deficit shot up from several billion to well over a trillion. Was this a coincidence? If not, was a tax cut worth a skyrocketing deficit and debt?
We had record tax revenue during that time. The problem wasn't tax cuts. It was spending.
That was an artful evasion. Ill take your reply to my first question as "Yes, BUT..."
If the tax cut, standing alone, caused the deficit to skyrocket, wouldn't a good bill in your mind necessarily be one that included in it both a tax cut and enough spending cuts to keep the deficit at its (then) current level.?
Or perhaps your answer to my second question in also "Yes." Maybe you think the tax cut, standing alone, was worth a skyrocketing deficit and debt.
>>That was an artful evasion.
It wasn't any kind of evasion. Revenue wasn't the problem. Spending was. I ripped the GOP for four years over how much spending was done under Trump. It was completely inexcusable.
You avoiding the fact that the tax cut, standing alone, caused (OK "enabled") the deficit to skyrocket. Anyone who thought that the deficit wouldn't skyrocket with the tax cut, standing alone, was a fool. Congress certainly knew this. So, in enacting a tax cut, the responsible thing to do was to take care of "the problem" in the same bill. Of course, such a bill may well not have passed , which goes back to my second unanswered question, Was it worth it?
>>You avoiding the fact that the tax cut, standing alone, caused (OK "enabled") the deficit to skyrocket
No, I'm saying the tax cut brought in more revenue than otherwise would have been brought in, and that increased spending was responsible for the growing deficit.
>>Of course, such a bill may well not have passed
Correct.
>> which goes back to my second unanswered question, Was it worth it?
Was it worth bringing in more revenue than otherwise would have brought in? Yes. But I wanted big spending cuts, including from entitlement reform, but I rarely get what I want when it comes to politics.
"Was it worth bringing in more revenue than otherwise would have brought in?"
I'll make one more stab at this. A more honest question would be "Was it worth bringing in more revenue than otherwise would have been brought in AND, at the same time, skyrocketing the deficit?"
Your answer is apparently "Yes!" After all, you think that the tax cut, standing alone and that would certainly skyrocket the deficit, was Trump's greatest policy achievement.
You certainly aren't foolish enough to assume, or even to think, that "big spending cuts, including from entitlement reform," would follow the tax cut.