Replies to post #173540 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[SilverSurfer]

“ Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will be judged by only one thing - the result. ”

? Vince Lombardi

That excuse is getting old.... "Thats only because the Dems. get handed a pile and are told to put the pieces back together after the Reps."

IMHO, One President or Party can't own all the blame or credit. A Syndrome like Obama is dealing with came about over a long period, 30 years or more, so plenty of blame to go around and understanding that it will take time to re-direct. The question now is, Which Direction? Nov.. will decide that... glty

[arizona1]

Thats only because the Dems. get handed a pile and are told to put the pieces back together

It's called the Two Santa Claus Theory and it's totally intentional.

The Two Santa Claus Theory

The Two Santa Claus Theory is a political theory and strategy published by Wanniski in 1976, which he promoted within the United States Republican Party.[6][7]

According to Wanniski, the theory is simple. In 1976, he wrote that the Two-Santa Claus Theory suggests that "the Republicans should concentrate on tax-rate reduction. As they succeed in expanding incentives to produce, they will move the economy back to full employment and thereby reduce social pressures for public spending. Just as an increase in Government spending inevitably means taxes must be raised, a cut in tax rates—by expanding the private sector—will diminish the relative size of the public sector"[8]. Wanniski suggested this position, as Thom Hartmann has clarified, so that the Democrats would "have to be anti-Santas by raising taxes, or anti-Santas by cutting spending. Either one would lose them elections"[9].

The theory states that, in democratic elections, if one party appeals to voters by proposing more spending, then a competing party cannot gain broader appeal by proposing less spending. The first "Santa Claus" of the theory title refers to the political party that promises spending. Instead, "Two Santa Claus Theory" recommends that the competing party must assume the role of a second Santa Claus by not arguing to cut spending but rather offering the more appealing and publicly sellable option of cutting taxes.

This theory is a response to the belief of monetarists, and especially Milton Friedman[citation needed], that the government must be starved of revenue in order to control the growth of spending (since, in the view of the monetarists, spending cannot be reduced by elected bodies as the political pressure to spend is too great)[citation needed]. See also Starve the beast.

The "Two Santa Claus Theory" does not argue against this belief but holds that such arguments cannot be espoused to try to win democratic elections. In Wanniski's view, the Laffer curve and supply-side economics provide an attractive alternative rationale for revenue reduction: that under reduced taxation the economy will grow, not merely that the beast of the government will be starved of revenue, and that that growth is an attractive option to present to the voters. Wanniski argued that Republicans must become the tax-cutting Santa Claus to the Democrats' spending Santa Claus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jude_Wanniski