Republicans have zero economic policy and history proves it

Echo opinion letter to the Editor of the Reading Eagle, a Pennsylvania newspaper:

Republicans are misleading people about what the federal debt ceiling means.

Hard-right Republicans in Congress are demanding tax cuts and no debt ceiling increase. Don’t they know the national deficit went down under every Democratic president, and up under every Republican, since 1980?

President Ronald Reagan’s trickle-down (aka "trickster-down) tax policy was a trick that increased the gap between rich and poor. According to information compiled on Wikipedia, the economy had been better under Democratic presidents than Republicans since the Depression, including jobs, gross domestic product, stock market returns, corporate profits and personal income.

Since the Truman administration, unemployment was down under Democratic presidents and up under Republicans. Since 1945, the S&P 500 gained an average of 11.2% under Democrats, 6.9% under Republicans. Every Republican president since 1900, had a recession in his first term.

IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, a Trump administration appointee, said there could be $1 trillion in tax fraud annually. The Inflation Reduction Act gives $80 billion to the IRS, across 10 years, for more phones, modern computers and more agents replacing retirees. The increased ability to audit big-time cheaters would pay for itself many times over and slash the deficit.

Bloomberg says America’s economy improved more in President Joe Biden’s first year than any president in the last 50 years. The deficit is $1 trillion lower. Unemployment is lowest in 50 years. Inflation caused by COVID-19, especially the supply chain snafus, is easing. Corporate profits are at a 70-year high. Wages aren’t.

Congressional Republicans are weaponizing economic ignorance about the results of tax cuts on deficits.

Jane Beck in Brecknock Township in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania