Is this supposed to be what happens when America is run like a business?
https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... arqQuwjqnUWith Donald Trump having departed the White House, many Republicans are suddenly rediscovering the dangers of budget deficits, after four years of conspicuous indifference. This was entirely predictable: for the last 45 years, the GOP has done the same thing every time a Democrat has held the presidency, and only then.
In fact, we can identify three long cycles, during each of which Republicans reversed their fierce opposition to deficits once they won the presidency: the 1980s, 1990-2008, and 2009-20.......
Bush’s son, George W Bush, let the Paygo provisions expire after becoming president in 2001. In that year and again in 2003, Bush Jr followed the Reagan playbook by enacting big tax cuts. He also increased federal expenditure during his first term, at four times the rate that Clinton had – not just on defence but domestic spending as well. Even with unemployment down to 5% in 2005, Bush ignored warnings that running large budget deficits during an economic recovery would leave less fiscal space to respond to the next recession or crisis. Three years earlier, his vice-president, Dick Cheney, reportedly said: “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.” The national debt increased by another $4tn.
