Spending’s way to go

Besides setting up to destroy our democracy after the next election, it seems the Republican Party has done a very bad job managing the economy.

There are basically two ways the government can stimulate the economy: taking out less in taxes, or spending more. Republicans have opted exclusively for tax cuts.

Since 1980, the Republican Party has argued that their series of tax cuts would pay for themselves by stimulating the economy. Economists are in general agreement that tax cuts had little effect on the economy, but did run the national debt from under $1 trillion in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was elected president to over $25 trillion by the time Biden was elected. The problem was that Republican tax cuts went primarily to the richest Americans who did not spend the money. We’ll see if Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s tax cuts work any better at the state level. Doubtful.

Republicans take the position that tax cuts don’t count when looking at our debt, but any spending adds to it dollar for dollar. This is an understandable position for a party that represents the rich and intends to do nothing for ordinary citizens, but both assumptions are false.

The Democratic approach is to spend directly on infrastructure and social programs. Since Biden became president, a covid relief bill was passed through the reconciliation process and Republicans have allowed one infrastructure bill to slip through. Both have had a positive effect on the economy.

If they survive Republican obstruction, more ambitious Democratic spending bills would likely add little or nothing to the debt since they include tax increases on the wealthy to pay for the spending. The real upside is that Democratic spending could not only pay for itself, but make a profit as recipients recycle the money.

Most economists think spending is the way to go.

ROGER WEBB Little Rock