WHY WHY WHY aren't Democrats pounding

[rainy]

the table over our National debt?
‪Republicans borrow and spend on steroids quadrupling the deficit. I thought Republicans really cared about the deficit. Or is that only when a Democrat is in office? Democrats tax and spend republicans borrow and spend way more.

[BlueTsunami2018]

1. Why aren't they shouting "He stole from a charity!" on an endless loop?

It’s inexplicable how poorly our guys message.

[rainy]

5. I don't know why. It's so defeating to

not see them make good counter arguments using pertinent truths!

[Hortensis]

24. Oh, come on. Btw, if you guys want some pounding,

go ahead. Just don't hurt yourselves or expect anyone to listen to you when time's not right for the nation to get excited about it. Timing. Critical factor.

Btw, there are better ways to complain. For instance, people are still being persecuted at the border, raped, murdered, dying of neglect. The time for caring about that has not passed. There are whole groups pounding away to some effect for anyone who'd like to join them.

Woman ‘thrown in jail’ while delivering Christmas gifts to children in Mexico border migrant camps
'Obviously this was a mistake, I mean, I’m dressed as Ms Claus' ...
Her father also told the local news outlet the officials were “threatening her with federal prison … and federal charges” as she was detained with the other volunteer on Monday afternoon.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

44. who? me? you want me to do some "pounding"?

It's much easier to complain about some amorphous entity somewhere over there!

[uponit7771]

39. +1,

[tman]

2. They're not really 'pounding' about anything policy wise.

Which is why 2020 is going to be a razor close race. Sleep walking into another disaster.

[Lucky Luciano]

6. Now now, you mustn't criticize Democrats!

There definitely needs to be more table pounding.

Americans need to learn to be less docile and protest like the French.

[Amishman]

36. Hard policy and economics - not soft / social issues

Healthcare

Jobs

Wages + income inequality

Workers rights + benefits

Economy and fiscal solvency (both of the federal government and public benefits such as soc sec and public pensions)

These are the topics that will win elections

[Lucky Luciano]

3. Deficit Attention Disorder

[ck4829]

50. Ha

[pwb]

4. I think In time they will. It is early in the election.

We will have all three branches of government very soon. Pay back is coming .

[rainy]

7. Hope you are right. We seem to somehow get

screwed just when we think: we got this!

[Lock him up.]

41. We ain't got this. We've got to WORK for this.

Get new young voters leaning left interested in going to VOTE for Dems and not just the POTUS and "too long to fill I'm outta here." VOTE Dems all down ticket.

Phone, walk, volunteer, GOTV and we got this. There are more of us than there are of them!

[rampartc]

28. we may have 2 branches of government

I kinda doubt it.

as for the judicial branch (the one that will make everything we want impossible). that one is theirs for a generation. maybe more.

[Funtatlaguy]

8. This is where the Never Trumpers could actually help.

Some Republicans have some pull on this issue with moderates and Independents.

[Blue_true]

45. I totally agree.

It would help is republicans that are not sold on Trump or republican leadership would come out and say that democrats are actually careful with debt and deficits and have been for a long time.

[gab13by13]

9. There is another thread here that asks

why we give Trump credit for the "good economy?" There is your answer folks, Trump artificially created his economy by ballooning the deficit, 1.5 trillion to corporations and the rich and billions more to farmers.

[no_hypocrisy]

10. Five Facts About The National Debt (Pew Research Center)

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/24/facts-about-the-national-debt/

Net interest payments on the debt are estimated to total $393.5 billion this fiscal year, or 8.7% of all federal outlays.

We don't have the money to even pay the INTEREST on the National Debt.

[UCmeNdc]

12. The first thing they should say is "Thanks Trump, thank you for the largest debt in US history!"

Is it completely accurate yes and no. But who cares???? It is the messaging that counts. Paint Trump with that broad brush of economic incompetence. Put all of the GOP in that same incompetent basket! Pass out that messaging all across Trump and GOP red states. Watch what happens.

[democrank]

14. So troubling

I don’t understand why this isn’t a major issue with all political parties.

[Takket]

19. Revenue in 2019 is about 3.5 trillion. So only about 10% of that is paying interest.

[UCmeNdc]

11. Democratic politicians never have a unified messaging system to point out GOP flaws.

[rainy]

13. They don't seem to get as much air time

or reverence and respect as republicans from MSM I’m sure because of media ownership and unspoken rules about what policies are to be promoted.

[StarfishSaver]

25. This

The fact that the press isn't covering it doesn't mean Dems aren't talking about it.

I remember how, in 2016, the press criticized Hillary for not talking more about "bread and butter" issues, but whenever she did, they cut away from her to talk about what they thought was interesting - usually her emails or whatever outrageous thing that Trump just said.

And then after the election, they claimed one of the reasons she lost was that she failed to get her message out.

[brewens]

15. Imagine the economy if money was no object with Obama in charge. A huge infrastructure program

instead of the tariff disaster and farm welfare handouts.

[rainy]

16. Democrats need to make a big point about republican debt

and ask why we have nothing to show for it such as infrastructure healthcare etc...

[brewens]

17. The farm welfare is actually for the big agricorps and banks. They could give a shit if the

actual farmers keep their land. It's who they owe money to that matters. The ones that support Trump, I hope they end up working for the big corporations for wages. They have it coming to them.

[RandiFan1290]

18. Subservience. nt

[modrepub]

20. Red Blue

Blue generally generates GDP (taxes). Red takes more gov $ than it pays in and complains about public welfare. Big corps pay no taxes.

We need analytics to determine who's generating and getting gov tax revenues then put in place legislation that focuses any future cuts in areas that take in more gov revenues than they generate and bar company lobbying for companies that paid no federal taxes.

[Martin Eden]

21. Republicans WANT deficits. Republicans NEED deficits.

It's the old STARVE THE BEAST strategy. They know the only way to cut and ultimately destroy popular programs like Social Security and Medicare is to convince the public "entitlements" are unaffordable while undermining confidence in our government.

Republicans sabotage our government then point to the failures they caused which they cite as evidence they were right all along.

[Boomerproud]

40. They have always wanted social institutions to fail.

Public education (aka The Great Equalizer) has always been in their cross hairs for instance.

[ismnotwasm]

22. Probably because what is popular right now, are so-called "free" things

Free healthcare

Free education.

In some cases free guaranteed income.


None exactly a bad idea, but None with a workable plan that is politically expedient. A lot of arguing about how it’s gonna get paid for.

In short, Democrats have to rewrite the tax system, pay for various plans, fix the damage Trump has caused, including the national debt, AND stall of the inevitable recession.

Very complex stuff.

[mcar]

23. Are you running for office on that theme?

Have you written LTE about it in your local paper? Have you called, written or texted your congressional representatives about it?

[StarfishSaver]

27. Thank you

The Democrats are talking about these issues. But there's only so much they can do and so far they can reach. At a certain point, a lot of it is up to us to carry the message into our communities.

[mcar]

32. End of year "Democrats are bad" messages

[Baltimike]

26. because the "liberal media" has been the conservative press all along. nt

[COLGATE4]

29. Unfortunately because the vast majority of the

populace views this as a purely academic debate. They don't believe that running deficits has any real effect on them or on the economy.

[Hoyt]

30. I can't think of one candidate mentioning the deficit or debt.

Some candidates have all kinds of plans for new programs, which are definitely needed, but those will likely increase deficit/debt even after repealing recent tax cuts.

[ArcticFox]

31. Gee, maybe they could have started

By not passing the budget through the House. Maybe they could have demanded Trump's Space Force be removed. Notice how the excuse for passing that particular budget - some small paid family leave provision - is now credited to Ivanka Trump... Democrats need to start standing for their convictions.

[FiveGoodMen]

43. "standing for their convictions"

You'd think, right?

[MichMan]

33. Kind of hard to pound the table when all spending originates in the House

[GoCubsGo]

37. Tax cuts also originate in the House, and that's what's driving the deficit.

It was the Republican-controlled House that is responsible for passing Fat Nixon's tax cuts, which resulted in the latest record deficit. Just like every other time they've pulled this shit, going back to Nixon. The Dems absolute have the right to "pound the table" over it.

[RandiFan1290]

52. The tax cuts you like to brag about are adding to the debt

Time to get rid of them

[David__77]

34. I don't think the focus should be debt in general, rather the wisdom of certain expenditures.

Mostly, I'm thinking of tax expenditures (tax cuts).

As a political matter, I don't think "borrow and spend" would largely be perceived to be a problem unless inflation and/or unemployment rose appreciably. I would not want the Democratic Party to be perceived to be the party of austerity.

[democratisphere]

35. Don't want to burnout the bad news before the elections get serious.

Republicans have a lot to worry about in 2020 and we need to keep our powder dry for now!

[slater71]

38. No talk of this either.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-entrenched-repo-market-does-120000251.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kcnVkZ2VyZXBvcnQuY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAE7R8r-Ov92zD_31gfFNhQIAhlWzn2qeGP3KIRoQzY_-WvqmEnQUAZe8JpYBfVgWbTiaBQpjlTydCAubr_rU0su40KSoIzxVSrfLYh4ELCe5cHGVsWNhU50mqF5nVEDTENaovI1GpTLg--NmQsiYsEpk9NApp6Yno-FiUkPt2sQp

[tritsofme]

42. I doubt Democrats want to be perceived as running a campaign based on austerity.

The debt doesn’t seem to be a concern for either side.

[Demovictory9]

46. k&r

[area51]

47. The answer: "Or is that only when a Democrat is in office?" n/t

[ck4829]

49. You know it

[ck4829]

48. Good question

[Mike Nelson]

51. Democrats should show the...

... National Debt figures going up - show this more often than the Stock Market. And, every time, they should ask, "Who do you think is going to pay the bill? You get one guess and the only answer is... YOU."