Justifying His Fiscal Policies, Obama Borrows From the G.O.P.
For 30 years, Republicans have held as an article of faith that tax cuts spur the economy and generate more revenue. “Deficits don’t matter,” as former Vice President Dick Cheney said. Now President Obama is adapting Republican arguments to his own agenda — only substituting spending for tax cuts.
Call it the Democratic version of Reaganomics, the supply-side theory that replaced Republicans’ longtime belief in balanced budgets. As popularized by President Ronald Reagan, the theory holds that cutting income taxes encourages people to work harder and to produce more goods, sparking economic growth and increased tax revenues.
With Congress’s approval on Wednesday of a $3.5 trillion budget blueprint embracing Mr. Obama’s spending initiatives for education, health care and energy, the president extolled the potential benefits of these “new investments.” In his nationally televised news conference that night, he said the budget would start laying “a new foundation for growth, a foundation that will strengthen our economy and help us compete in the 21st century.”
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Call it the Democratic version of Reaganomics, the supply-side theory that replaced Republicans’ longtime belief in balanced budgets. As popularized by President Ronald Reagan, the theory holds that cutting income taxes encourages people to work harder and to produce more goods, sparking economic growth and increased tax revenues.
With Congress’s approval on Wednesday of a $3.5 trillion budget blueprint embracing Mr. Obama’s spending initiatives for education, health care and energy, the president extolled the potential benefits of these “new investments.” In his nationally televised news conference that night, he said the budget would start laying “a new foundation for growth, a foundation that will strengthen our economy and help us compete in the 21st century.”