Voters clearly care about the economy, but will the GOP’s plans make things better? | Editorial

Polls indicate voters know that democracy is in peril, but they care more about the economy. But is electing Republican lawmakers the answer to either problem? If anything, a look at the GOP’s positions strongly suggests that their proposals will likely make things worse.

If Republicans win control of the House, as polls indicate, they plan to gut Social Security and Medicare, while cutting taxes. This is not a plan that will benefit voters or reduce inflation.

When Liz Truss, the brief British prime minister, announced a similar economic plan, England’s markets imploded. Truss was forced from office after 44 days, a tenure that the London tabloids said was shorter than the shelf life of a head of lettuce.

From Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush to Donald Trump, the GOP has long promoted similar trickle-down economic policies. Many middle- and working-class voters have been duped into supporting a failed policy that goes against their own economic interests.

With Election Day looming, voters beware: Republicans are not your economic friend. If Republicans win back control of Congress, they plan to make the 2017 tax cuts permanent, repeal the corporate tax increases President Joe Biden signed into law in August, and hollow out funding to the Internal Revenue Service.

Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, explained in March how cutting taxes will make inflation worse: “Putting more money in people’s pockets will increase demand for goods at a time of supply shortages. That will drive up prices and worsen the inflation that the governors claim to be so worried about. And it will increase pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates even more than it planned.”

Michael Strain, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, was more direct: “It is unlikely that any of the policies proposed by Republicans would meaningfully reduce inflation in 2023, when rapidly rising prices will still be a major problem for the economy and for consumers.”

The centerpiece of the Republican plan is to cut Social Security and Medicare. Sen. Rick Scott (R., Fla.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, rolled out an 11-point plan to “rescue America” that calls for sunsetting all federal programs every five years, including Social Security and Medicare. In June, the Republican Study Committee released a plan that called for raising the eligibility age to collect full Social Security benefits from 67 to 70.

If Republicans return to power in Congress, they plan to use the looming debt-ceiling limit to shut down the government and force cuts to Social Security and Medicare. This is a reckless plan that could intentionally worsen the economy.

Republicans have spun a narrative that blames Biden for inflation and rising gas prices. (Never mind that oil companies are making record profits.)

Republicans have spun a narrative that blames Biden for inflation and rising gas prices. (Never mind that oil companies are making record profits.)

Left unsaid is that under Trump, the national debt increased by $7.8 trillion. That was the third biggest increase in the national debt relative to the size of the economy of any president after George W. Bush and Abraham Lincoln. The Grand Old Party is not as fiscally savvy as its members would want you to believe.

To be sure, during Trump’s one term, the government rightly boosted spending to offset the economic collapse from the pandemic. But Trump’s massive 2017 tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations, combined with wasteful spending throughout, helped to balloon the deficit by 50%.

Under Biden, the deficit was cut in half in the 2022 fiscal year, thanks largely to reductions in COVID-relief spending. Meanwhile, Biden’s inflation reduction bill, signed into law in August, is expected to reduce drug prices for senior citizens, while also combating climate change. Biden’s infrastructure bill is designed to build the economy up from the middle, rather than trickle down from the rich.

While those economic benefits will not come overnight, gas prices are dropping and wages are increasing at the fastest rate in decades. In a column in the Wall Street Journal, economist Alan Blinder explained that Biden was not to blame for inflation.

Inflation came about after the pandemic collapsed the global economy. As the economy has bounced back, increased consumer demand, supply-chain issues, and worker shortages have combined to increase inflation, while the war in Ukraine added to the spike in oil prices.

It is easy to blame Biden for the economy, but voters should know that the Republican plan is far from the answer.