Broken records

One thing you can say for sure about the Stepford School for Republican Candidates and Politicians is that they do an exceptional job of ingraining in their students the three talking points when it comes to the U.S. Economy:  Balanced Budgets, Tax Cuts, and Spending Cuts.  You'd be hard pressed to name a republican pol who can't recite their big three like Christians quote the Scripture.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, the pursuit of all three couldn't be worse for our financial well-being:

• You know when budgets get balanced?  When people have good paying jobs and are paying taxes and spending money--exactly like it was when Democrat Bill Clinton was President in the 1990s and hasn't been for a republican administration since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s.
• Spending cuts--just ask the good folks of Greece and our own state of Kansas how well all spending cuts all the time works out.  Contrary to what republicans would have us believe, government spending helps put money in ordinary folks' pockets and provides a greater return than most mutual funds.
• The only thing tax cuts do is make rich people richer.  Whatever cuts they give to folks like us is usually gone with the next tank of gas we purchase; for the wealthy, it means they're worth $8.9 billion instead of $8.4 billion.  And they definitely don't create jobs--businesses hire people when they're selling more of their products, not when they have a higher cash flow.

You know what economic initiatives you won't hear republicans advocating?  Raising the minimum wage, investing in improving our infrastructure, and increasing spending on education.

Know why?  Because for those of us who live paycheck to paycheck they actually work to make our lives and our finances better.

Peace,
emaycee