"Generational Theft"

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Feb 8 2009, 4:25 pm by Marc Ambinder

That's what House minority leader John Boehner is now calling the House-Senate stimulus proposals. Mr. Boehner blogged these comments on a website that's so new you can't even Google it -- AmericaSpeakOn.org. You're going to hear Boehner's phrase a lot this week from Republicans. The basic argument is that Democrats are trying to spending and borrow their way to prosperity, which is true in a technical sense but debatable and provocative politically.

An esoteric Question: did Boehner actually write his post himself? Or did a staffer write it and get his approval? Did the staffer get his approval? How often, in Washington, do staffers write blog posts for principals and then convince the press or whomever that the principals themselves deserve credit as the authors? Isn't ghostwriting less acceptable in the blog world?

AmericaSpeakOn appears to be a new conservative 501(c)4 group..... more on them tomorrow.

Comments (5)

Elrod February 8, 2009 6:42 PM

Too bad the Republicans stole the last generation by piling up mountains of debt and ruining the middle class.

Chris111 February 8, 2009 6:51 PM

Whereas the Republican plan fronted by Boehner, that supposedly creates 6.2 million jobs at half the cost of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan (roughly $400 billion) is absolutely free...because tax cuts grow on trees (leaving aside the intellectually dishonest fudging of Christina Romer's work).

You know...the bill that includes such gems as 'locking the capital gains rate at 15%' - something which would'nt have an effect until 2011, when the 15% rate expires (let's not forget that's PERMANENT)

The plan that 'cuts the top corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent', as well as 'reducing the business capital gains rate from 35% to 15%' - PERMANENTLY

That's right - you are getting deja vu from the last 8 years of Bush economic policy.

Boehner's dishonest attempt at 'stimulus' isn't temporary, it's a 'permanent' Republican utopia; and as we all know from the Bush Presidency...

Permanent tax cuts = Permanent Deficit

So the Republican permanent tax cut plan, which conveniently skews its benefits toward the richest Americans and corporations may not "contain one penny of new spending" but it's a stretch to say that it will "Save Future Generations from a Crushing Debt Burden". Oh, far from it.

If you thought that was bad, check out the $3.1 trillion DeMint plan...
(http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/02/demint-stimulus/)

Eileen Kavanagh February 8, 2009 9:13 PM

On last Thursday's Daily Show, Jon Stewart showed clips from Boehner and other opponents of the stimulus justifying spending billions in Iraq. I guess Republicans are fiscal conservatives--unless they're in power.

Here's a link to that segment (the Boehner clip comes at about 5:30 in):
http://tinyurl.com/dgk69k

JenJen February 9, 2009 1:05 PM

I think "Generational Theft Act" is the phrase Michelle Malkin coined to describe the stimulus package. It's been picking up steam around chat boards and the like.

It would seem that the phrase has made its way to Republican leadership, if Boehner has chosen to invoke it. This also seems to indicate that the GOP is taking some political cues from right-wing bloggers. Interesting development.

cebo February 15, 2009 6:13 PM

It’s time the haters on both sides give it up and start finding solutions. There is not enough wealth in this country to fix everything. It has been drained by those entrusted to govern. Let’s face it, we need leaders in congress, not politicians

Generational theft? Well, you be the judge.

Forecasted 2009 deficit: $1.6 trillion, including new stimulus and bank-bailout spending.

The national debt — the sum of all annual budget deficits — stands at $10.7 trillion. Or about $36,000 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. (http://zfacts.com/p/461.html)

The 4th-largest federal expenditure, after Medicare-Medicaid, Social Security and defense, is interest payments on the national debt. This year it will be nearly $500 billion.

Payments just for the stimulus bill and TARP? $183.3 million dollars a DAY in new tax revenue required, or $5.5 billion a MONTH…equating to a yearly repayment bill of $66 billion a year for 87.6 years to pay off these two alone (assuming %4 percent interest, which the Treasury will eventually have to offer to anyone dumb enough to lend us money).

Total loan payoff, including interest, is $5.785 Trillion.