A bill to restore Medicaid payments to doctors and extend unemployment benefits for a short period of time passed both houses of Congress. While President Obama would like unemployment benefits extended through the end of the year, Republicans have been successful in blocking a vote.
Republicans claim their concern over unemployment benefits involves fiscal responsibility; they want to be able to pay for it before they agree vote for it. Yet they are more than willing to spend money on others budget items that are far more costly.
“They seem to have discovered fiscal responsibility when it comes time to extend benefits, but not when it comes to paying for tax cuts for the rich and … war,” Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich. said.
Representative Jerry Moran, R-Kan, said he is concerned with the deficit. According to his account, extending jobless benefits to the end of the year would increase the deficit by $18 million, “a cost to be paid for by future generations,” he said.
The rallying cry against spending is about not leaving a debt for our grandchildren, but is that an accurate assessment? Does it take generations to pay down a debt?
Statistics show that since 1910 the US has fought with budget deficits, but never has it taken a generation to turn a deficit into a surplus. In fact, deficits and surpluses throughout the past half century have been up and down like gasoline prices.
In 1943 our country had a deficit of $54.6 billion, but by 1948 we had a surplus of $11.8 billion. In 1968 our deficit was $25.2 billion, but the following year we had a surplus of $3.2 billion. More recently, in 1992 our county’s deficit was $290.4 billion; six years later we enjoyed a budget surplus of $69.2 billion.
It is easy to see that it has not taken generations to right our economy in the past, so I find it difficult to believe this will happen now. Besides, debt is not measured by how much we owe, but by the percentage of debt compared to the gross national or gross domestic product.
The highest national debt in terms of our gross domestic product came in 1943 when that debt ratio stood at 30 percent, according to factcheck.org. Statistics also point to the fact that Republicans give rise to the nation’s debt more often than Democrats.
From 1948 until 1990 our nation’s debt steadily declined, and declined sharply. In 1991 our debt began to climb again. This increase began during the Reagan years and continued through the first Bush presidency. During the Clinton presidency the debt leveled off and when George W Bush took the oath of office the nation enjoyed a surplus, but that surplus quickly became a deficit again and the debt has continued to rise to the present day.
Republicans like to call themselves fiscal conservatives, but history does not make a good case for them. Denying jobless benefits does not help the deficit, but in fact, slows recovery. A direct correlation exists between the gross domestic product and joblessness; when unemployment increases the gross domestic product decreases, which in turn, puts a strain on the economy. Good economic times only occur in America when Americans are working.
While investing in job creation may increase the national debt slightly in the short term, not investing in jobs has a negative long term effect on the economy. When America isn’t working, homes sales are down, cars set on dealership lots, mortgages go into foreclosure and our nation’s infrastructure suffers.
Those who stand against the jobless in this country do not stand for fiscal responsibility, quite the opposite, they are adding to the economic downturn. Turning off the benefit spigot for the unemployed ads to their misery and affords them less opportunity to find jobs, this is not rocket science, its common sense.
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