Grassroots Baton Rouge Democrats

A recent Letter to the editor about Rep. Cassidy and his illogical logic.

Rep. Cassidy displays confusion
December 8 2011

U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, displays some fundamental confusions in claiming a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution is the best way to deal with America’s debt and deficits (“Balanced budget for America,” letter to the editor, Nov. 18). Let’s start with the familiar — and false — comparison of the federal budget to that of “the average American family.” Obviously, the two are quite different. The average family can’t build interstate highway systems or carry out other large-scale projects in the national interest. But many families carry car notes or mortgages on their homes that they cannot pay off all at once. Those debts are a combination of necessity and a decision to invest in their future.

Mortgages were considered safe investments before the decade of deregulation and fraudulent financial practices that brought about a near total economic collapse in 2007-2008. When President Barack Obama came into office, that economic free fall was well under way. He undertook spending measures to stop the collapse — successfully — although his room for doing so was constrained by the deficits and debt the GOP had run up when the economy was growing. During that time, when they controlled Congress and the White House, the GOP could have balanced the budget painlessly, had the Republicans wanted to.

Now Cassidy and his GOP colleagues are seriously concerned about the debt. But strangely, they oppose any proactive measures to support the economic growth that will allow the country to pay off the debt while still investing in its future. Strange as well that Cassidy also voted for U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan’s proposed budget, which would run deficits over the next decade only slightly smaller than those proposed by Obama. A key difference is that Ryan, R-Wis., uses most of the cuts to social programs to help pay for expanded tax cuts for wealthy Americans and corporations.

Perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise, since Cassidy supported defaulting on the country’s debt, despite the damage that would have done to the economy. He also was foolish enough to sign anti-tax activist Grover Norquist’s no-tax pledge, meaning he’d rather cut Medicare than raise one cent of taxes on billionaires, even if that “raise” merely restored the rates that held during President Bill Clinton’s term. This kind of fiscal illiteracy on the part of Cassidy fails to serve the people of the 6th District, though Grover Norquist is no doubt satisfied.

Jeffrey Dubinsky

computer consultant

Greenwell Springs