The lie of the Republicans being the political party of “fiscal responsibility” is exposed again in light of the recent report released by the Treasury Department. After shamelessly giving handouts to wealthy people and corporations in their latest tax cuts, the deficit saw a 17 percent increase to $779 billion for the 2018 fiscal year. By 2020, they project the number will grow to $1 trillion.
The federal government continues to deny the real and harmful impact of the tax cuts. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin lied in his official statement, saying the increase is due to more government spending on things like the military. “Going forward, the president’s economic policies that have stimulated strong economic growth, combined with proposals to cut wasteful spending, will lead America toward a sustainable financial path.”
The raw numbers tell a different story than what Secretary Mnuchin provides. The “numbers released by Mr. Mnuchin’s department suggest falling revenues were a far larger contributor to the rising deficit than higher spending,” The New York Times points out. “Federal outlays increased for the fiscal year, but, because the economy grew at a faster pace than outlays did the previous year, they fell as a share of the economy, to 20.3 percent from 20.7 percent.“
This means that Trump’s second year in office has led the U.S. to its highest budget deficit in six years—higher than at any point in President Obama’s second term, Newsweek says. Deficits aren’t inherently bad, but it’s how and why they’re created that matters. Unfortunately, an expert explains that this economic situation is setting us up for later problems.
Michael Peterson, CEO of the nonpartisan Peter G. Peterson Foundation said that these deficits during an economic boom are unprecedented. "This is a uniquely imbalanced time in our fiscal history, with deficits rising despite a growing economy and low unemployment," he explained in a statement. "In fact, the U.S. is the only developed country in the world whose debt-to-GDP ratio is growing. This is a reflection of just how irresponsible our budget policies have become."
Irresponsible is definitely a fitting word to describe this administration.