Letters to the Editor

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ECONOMY: Political cycle hurting the nation

Letter by Kerry J. Phibbs, South Hill on July 5, 2011 at 1:49 pm | 138 Comments »
July 5, 2011 2:32 pm

If you are around long enough you start to see a cycle in American politics. If things are going well, Republicans look around and say “Hey, things are going well. Why do we need all these taxes and regulations? Things are great, we don’t need them!”

The general population says “Sure, why not? Let’s vote these wise people into office.” The Republicans come in, drop taxes and regulations. Pretty soon, things go haywire: Food, safety and infrastructure go sideways, and the general public starts to suffer.

Then the Democrats are put back in office to fix things up. After the state/country are back in shape the cycle repeats itself.

Unfortunately, the last crew of Republicans were so radical and the Democratic offerings so weak-kneed that Republicans were re-elected and major damage was done – much more than two years of the new Democratic administration could fix. And this new administration is assailed by an even more radicalized Republican group that are blaming the mess that Republicans created on Democrats.

Republicans need to work with the president, not against him. There is no reputable economist who thinks that we can get out of this mess unless we get rid of the ruinous Cheney/Bush tax cuts. Do that and we will be in “good” shape within two years.
