The Republican Economic Trifecta.

Don't listen to the Republicans--I mean it. They whine at every mic they can find and puff up on every camera put in front of them that the stimulus hasn't been helping. Well, guess what? They're wrong but that shouldn't come as a surprise. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (a former Republican member of the House of Representatives) said recently that Republicans are telling him in private that the stimulus is working:

"I believe the economic recovery plan has worked," LaHood said, in an interview with the Huffington Post, "and I've had Republican members tell me that when I've gone in and done projects or been with them or visited them in their offices... They know that we have dollars that have put people to work." Already, there have been numerous press reports of lawmakers attending stimulus-related ribbon cutting ceremonies in their districts as well as lobbying different government agencies for stimulus funds.

TPJ: LaHood went on to say, "There would be thousands of people out of work if it weren't for the economic recovery program. Thousands of people," LaHood said of the Recovery Act. "We know that thousands of jobs have been created. We know that thousands of projects are underway. All you have to do is travel around American, see the orange cones, and see the men and women working on infrastructure, working on projects, resurfacing roads... there is a lot of activity in America and a lot of people working. This would not have happened if not for the economic recovery."

TPJ: Still think you can believe the Republicans? Well, you know how they claim that we can't keep spending despite the fact that if you stop spending in a cash crush like this recession the economy will freeze? Yeah, well their buddy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (who was nominated under W. Bush) said the other day that we need to keep spending!! Duh!!

"At the current moment the large deficits, as unattractive as they are, are important for supporting economic activity," the nation's central banker told a Senate panel, citing "weak" private spending and a "great deal of excess capacity." Bernanke added that he'd be "reluctant to withdraw that support too precipitously in the near term." His comments strongly echoed remarks he made in June.

TPJ: This last one will bring the trifecta home. So, the GOP rant and rave about deficits despite what Benanke said but at the same time want the Bush tax cuts for the rich to not expire. They want to renew them but to pay for they want to run up the deficit!! Hypocrite zone is calling:

Five years ago, Republicans backed tax cuts—but said deficits didn’t matter. Today, they say deficits are all that matters, but still like tax cuts. During the Bush years, Republicans mostly insisted, in Dick Cheney’s famous words, that “deficits don’t matter.” Now they say deficits are virtually all that matters. Their rhetoric has shifted radically, but their policy prescriptions haven’t changed one bit. You might think that people terrified of deficits would be concerned about permanently extending tax cuts that will add at least $2 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. Nope. The Republicans were for cutting taxes when they didn’t care about deficits and they are for cutting taxes when they do care about deficits, which is another way of saying that they don’t really care about deficits.

TPJ: If you still believe the Republicans after all of this evidence then I'd just advise you to avoid cults and kool-aid--the first tends to brainwash you and the second tends to have poison in it. Best of luck out there!!

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