814. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposes first conservative fiscal policy in decades to the Congress

By 1981, America had built an interstate system across most of America, we had created a GI bill that allowed a lot of men and later women to go to college and then buy their first homes, and we had sent several men to the Moon and returned them home safely, and we had done all of it while keeping the national debt under One Trillion Dollars, and a Debt-to-GNP at one of its lowest points since the Great Depression. We were the envy of the world and rightly so. When Ronald Reagan described us as the "city shining on the hill," he had every right to do so.

Unfortunately, by that time, he had already set in motion the downfall of America, the fiscal course we're still following. Reagan began, and every one of his successors in office have followed, a series of lowering taxes, Let me point out here that the largest the federal government has ever been ever was under President Reagan. Please, go look it up. A few presidents, including Reagan, also raised taxes. In fact, Reagan raised taxes more than any other president in my lifetime. Please, go look that up too. But overall, Reagan and all of the presidents who have followed him in office have lowered the federal taxes that Americans paid and the end result is we are no longer the "city shining on the hill." We have crumbling bridges and highways. Veterans can hardly get a room at the VA, much less a decent loan to go to college or buy a home. And the debt, which tripled under Reagan, doubled under W, doubled again under Obama, and had added over $2T since Trump took office seems out of reach of ever being paid off. Does that mean we should just say "It'll never be paid off so why worry about it?"

That seems to have been the attitude of almost everyone for a long time although if you know me, I am not among that group of people and never have been. I believe Americans owe it to America to pay off the debt which was created by the governments they voted into office which created it. We are a republican form of government so to say "the debt isn't mine" is to essentially say, "I'm a shirker and screw my creditors." That's what we've been doing as a Republic since Reagan first allowed the national debt to almost triple. One final note on when this all began, back in 1981. At the time, the highest tax bracket for someone "Married Filing Jointly" and making "$215,400.00" was 70% on everything over that amount. 70%. 70% on everything over $215,400.00. In today's dollars, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that would be $595,007.01. (I can only think of maybe four or five of my readers that this might possibly apply to).

Today's news and a lot of Facebook posts have been filled with that 70% number. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents New York's 14th Congressional District, today proposed a 70% Tax Rate on the nation's wealthiest people to begin addressing the debt and paying for other programs. Imagine that, a member of Congress responsible enough to suggest we find a way to 1) get out of debt and 2) actually pay for what we spend with our own money. (I'll note here that she is a cum laude graduate of Boston University majoring in International Relations and minoring in Economics). But let me repeat my last line - "Imagine that, a member of Congress responsible enough to suggest we find a way to 1) get out of debt and 2) actually pay for what we spend with our own money." You would think that such a policy would have conservatives jumping for joy. Finally a level-headed fiscal policy coming out of the mouth of a Washington politician. Spending our own money instead of borrowing it from China. What a novel idea.

Instead, conservative, Republicans, old white men, and, frankly, a lot of Democrats are up in arms at "such a crazy idea." They're calling her a socialist. She claims to be a Democratic-Socialist which is something altogether different but most of these people don't care about the difference and are too educationally lazy to find out what it is. We finally have someone in Congress who wants to address the economic woes of the Republic, woes wholly created before she arrived (which was yesterday), and the world goes mad.

Here's a thought. She's 29. She'll be 30 in October of this year. Her generation and the one following will have to live and pay the debt created by the three generations of American politicians who preceded her. And who is yelling foul the most? Those same people. Those same exact people. Either they are for fiscal management or they aren't. Since we are $21,000,000,000,000.00 in debt under their watch, it is clear where they stand.

Good work, Congresswoman. Finally a voice of reason.