The article, Nearly 10 Years Ago Today, The U.S. Began Borrowing Billions To Pay For The Bush Tax Cuts, cites an Associated Press story written 10 years ago.  I picked a couple of quotes from that 10 year old article.

The Bush administration said the need to borrow in the third quarter reflects a short-term cash squeeze and doesn’t signal a move from a budget surplus to deficit.

We all know how badly that prediction was off.

… Democratic warnings that a Bush tax cut would slice ddeeply into the budget surplus.

“It’s confirmation that they got us headed into a boxed canyon on the budget”

We all know how good a prediction that was.

Add to this the dire consequences the Republicans predicted when Bill Clinton raised taxes, and the history showing the opposite happening.

With this track record why would anybody give any credibility to any Republican predictions of the consequences of any government fiscal policy?  Sure, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.  That means you only have to pay attention to the Republicans very rarely.  Moreover, you have to know what is truth first before you listen to Republicans.  You cannot judge truth by listening to them alone.

I particularly like the way the above video clip ends.

Franken continued. “And I frankly don’t really know how we can trust the rest of your testimony if you are reading studies these ways.”

The quote above comes from the article, Al Franken Pokes Fun At Focus On The Family Mischaracterizing Study At DOMA Hearing (VIDEO), posted on Talking Points Memo.

I think I see a pattern here Al Franken, Barney Frank, frankly speaking. What’s in a name?

The Six Ways to Liberate America From Wall Street Rule that are posted in the article are theo following:

How to Liberate America from Wall Street Rule spells out details of a six-part policy agenda to rebuild a sensible system of community-based and accountable financial services institutions.

1. Break up the mega-banks and implement tax and regulatory policies that favor community financial institutions, with a preference for those organized as cooperatives or as for-profits owned by nonprofit foundations.
2. Establish state-owned partnership banks in each of the 50 states, patterned after the Bank of North Dakota. These would serve as depositories for state financial assets to use in partnership with community financial institutions to fund local farms and businesses.
3. Restructure the Federal Reserve to function under strict standards of transparency and public scrutiny, with General Accounting Office audits and Congressional oversight.
4. Direct all new money created by the Federal Reserve to a Federal Recovery and Reconstruction Bank rather than the current practice of directing it as a subsidy to Wall Street banks. The FRRB would have a mandate to fund essential green infrastructure projects as designated by Congress.
5. Rewrite international trade and investment rules to support national ownership, economic self-reliance, and economic self-determination.
6. Implement appropriate regulatory and fiscal measures to secure the integrity of financial markets and the money/banking system.

If, after all you have read about the Koch brothers here, you were tempted to boycott any of their products, look to Boycott Koch Brothers Products for a list of items.

I provide this link solely for informational purposes.