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In both 2001 and 2003, Senator John McCain voted against President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Regarding his 2001 vote, McCain said "I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle-class Americans who most need tax relief."
Enter 2008. Presidential candidate McCain has abandoned his once thoughtful stance on fiscal responsibility in favor of political expediency. In February, he pledged to make the Bush tax breaks permanent during his presidency. And today, McCain took a detour into the truly absurd when he said that he will somehow balance the budget by the end of his first term.
Will the real John McCain please stand up?
Flip-flop aside, his plan makes no sense. Balancing the budget while extending excessive tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans (less revenue) and fighting two costly wars (more spending) is not going to happen short of cutting Medicare by as much as 81% or cutting all discretionary non-defense spending by 78%. In reality, our federal deficit, and our corresponding national debt, will continue to skyrocket under his proposed policies.
The US national debt is now over 9.5 trillion dollars and rising. Last year, the interest alone on this debt made up 9% of our entire federal budget. That's $237 billion, which equates to $649 million per day, or just over $27 million per hour. The debt is so high that every US citizen would have to pay $31,216 to bring it back down to zero. That's every man, woman, and child.
This all makes sense to John McCain, George Bush, and their neocon followers. During the May 15th Republican presidential debate, McCain said "the fact is the tax cuts have dramatically increased revenues."
Less money in, but more money out? In fact, a former White House economist and a number of federal agencies have all conceded that the Bush tax cuts have reduced revenues.
Candidate McCain has either changed his view dramatically on this issue or he is pandering. So what does he really believe? Perhaps the 2001 John McCain can pay the 2008 John McCain a visit to help us sort it all out.
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