And history will repeat itself when it comes to the broad brush strokes of Republican tax/economic policy. They rail against deficits, yet the deficit always seems to balloon when they control the White House.
The main reason this happens is because of their obsession with tax cuts. They favour the rich disproportionately and they are justified by magical claims that the rich will put the money they save into new investments which will create new tax sources that will more than offset the loss of tax revenue. The problem is that economists have never identified one case when this actually happened.
The next major hurdle is that they are also obsessed by ploughing a lot more money into the military and that often seems to help out their mates in that industry. Often that money is wasted because it's spent on equipment that the military doesn't even want - weaponry and munitions that would have been brilliant in previous wars but not those that are likely to be fought in the future. But there are lobbyists and influential congressmen who need some pork barrels to take home to their companies and districts. I can see Trump demanding more battleships to show those Chinese that the US Navy is still top dog.
Republican President also have a habit of getting the US involved in major military conflicts, which increases spending.
Now Trump is making a $25b commitment to build a wall and the new deportation drive will be costly as well.
So falling revenues and increasing government spending on non-welfare areas means the deficit will go up. Then the Republicans will demand that social services be slashed to balance the books. And when the next Democratic President enters the White House, the GOP will refuse to allow any budgets pass which don't slash spending on social services or which attempt to increase taxes to pay for Trump's deficit.
At least some GOP budget hawks are showing signs that they might resist Trump's spending plans, but in the end they'll probably decide that they can bide their time until the Dems get back in.
The main reason this happens is because of their obsession with tax cuts. They favour the rich disproportionately and they are justified by magical claims that the rich will put the money they save into new investments which will create new tax sources that will more than offset the loss of tax revenue. The problem is that economists have never identified one case when this actually happened.
The next major hurdle is that they are also obsessed by ploughing a lot more money into the military and that often seems to help out their mates in that industry. Often that money is wasted because it's spent on equipment that the military doesn't even want - weaponry and munitions that would have been brilliant in previous wars but not those that are likely to be fought in the future. But there are lobbyists and influential congressmen who need some pork barrels to take home to their companies and districts. I can see Trump demanding more battleships to show those Chinese that the US Navy is still top dog.
Republican President also have a habit of getting the US involved in major military conflicts, which increases spending.
Now Trump is making a $25b commitment to build a wall and the new deportation drive will be costly as well.
So falling revenues and increasing government spending on non-welfare areas means the deficit will go up. Then the Republicans will demand that social services be slashed to balance the books. And when the next Democratic President enters the White House, the GOP will refuse to allow any budgets pass which don't slash spending on social services or which attempt to increase taxes to pay for Trump's deficit.
At least some GOP budget hawks are showing signs that they might resist Trump's spending plans, but in the end they'll probably decide that they can bide their time until the Dems get back in.