Tax Cuts and Government Spending Are Not the Solution to Every Problem

     So I've been thinking lately, that both Democrats and Republicans both seem to havethe perfect little setup when it comes to their favorite things (tax cuts for Republicans, government spending for Democrats). With Democrats, when the economy is roaring and the Treasury is flush with revenue, they always want to spend, spend, spend. They will lambast the Republicans as greedy, uncaring meanies should they advocate fiscal conservatism, and say that the whole idea is silly because the Treasury has plenty of money right now (apparently the idea that at some point in the future the economy will tank and a recession will occur and tax revenues will drop doesn't ever seem to occur; the fact that government programs grow exponentially in cost usually also doesn't seem to occur to them either). Of course, then when the economy does tank and a recession occurs, we here, "The Worst Thing You Can Do In A Recession Is Cut Spending." Well, maybe. But there's a difference between deficit spending during a recession in the sense that the tax revenues decline, and you just don't cut government spending, but you don't increase it either, versus engaging in running a massive deficit by greatly increasing spending in order to try and stimulate the economy. Usually, the Left prefer the latter, and their idea of stimulus is often spending money on a bunch of programs they have wanted to spend money on in the past (as we saw with the recent $820 billion stimulus in which only around $40 billion or so was allocated for infrastructure work). They also want to make the spending increases permanent. If they gun up spending during the recession and then the economy recovers, just let Republicans try to engage in big-time fiscal conservatism, and they will scream. Of course, that is all assuming the fiscal stimulus even worked, which as I have written in past articles pretty much never has happened.
     Now the Republicans, they are the exact opposite. Whereas the Democrats want to always spend, spend, spend, the Republicans are always wanting tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. If the economy is roaring and the Treasury is flush with revenue, the Republicans will want to give people a tax cut. If Democrats dare talk about how this will blow up the deficit, they get called socialists and get told that tax cuts = more revenue because they create more economic growth which makes up for the drop-off in revenue (this does have an element of truth in it, but much of it is also Republican boiletplate---similarly, many times Democrats will refer to spending as "investing" in America, and claim that thus by "investing" in the economy, the economy will produce more revenue and the investment will pay for itself....this too has an element of truth to it, but is also used as Democratic boilerplate). Now of course, when the economy tanks and a recession happens, what is the Republican solution to the problem? You guessed it, tax cuts! And just like the Democrats with wanting to make their stimulus spending, which is supposed to be temporary, permanent, the Republicans want to make their tax cuts permanent.
     With both parties, this results in either too much spending for the current revenue, or too little revenue for the current spending, and thus deficits will result with either policy. With both parties, the policies are essentially a different variant of the same thing, which is to give money to the people. Some Republicans might try to claim, "Well, unlike with Democrats, we don't seek to have government control everything or give freebies to people, we just seek to let people keep more of their money..." but that isn't necessarilly true. Part of the reason about 50% of America pays no federal income tax right now is because of the Bush tax cuts, which included for example doublind the Child Tax Credit, which went from $500 to $1000 per child. A credit means the government is paying you, so if you are able to reduce your federal tax bill to zero, but the tax credit makes it negative, it means the government is paying you money (credits aren't the same as say deductions).
     I guess the point of this semi-rant is that both parties need to stop with the going overboard. Republicans should not call every government spending attempt by Democrats socialism and Democrats should not accuse Republicans of being evil meanies for seeking to be fiscally conservative. Just the same, Republicans also should not seek a tax cut every time the Treasury is flush with revenue (which also is not necessarilly fiscally conservative) and Democrats should not lambast Republicans for wanting to only "help the rich" when they do seek tax cuts. Legitimate investments in America and legitimate tax cuts in taxes that legitimately are too high are both good policies.