[Vision2020] Deficits: Cheney and Santorum

[nickgier at roadrunner.com]

Good Morning Visionaries:

I don't that anyone answered Roger when he said that he needed proof that Dick Cheney said that "deficits don't matter."  Here is the proof plus one GOP Senator (probably many others) who agreed with him. Furthermore, Bush's first treasury secretary was fired when he insisted that deficits do matter.

New York Times May 18, 2011, 10:31 am 

Origins of the Deficit

[Reagan's Budget Director] Bruce Bartlett uses part of this quote, but the whole thing (via Nexis) is even more damning:

>From The Hill, Feb. 5, 2003:

As President Bush sent his budget to Capitol Hill Monday, a split opened among congressional Republicans between those who are still deficit hawks and an increasing number, including top leaders, who no longer see deficits as the touchstone of fiscal probity.

Confronted with projected deficits until fiscal 2007, senior GOP lawmakers are backing away from long-standing rhetoric about the government’s duty to live within its means.

The switch – whether from conviction, circumstance, or both – is bringing charges of hypocrisy from Democrats.
Some lawmakers view the existence of deficits as a useful tool to keep spending down.

“I came to the House as a real deficit hawk, but I am no longer a deficit hawk,” said Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.). “I’ll tell you why. I had to spend the surpluses. Deficits make it easier to say no.”

Nobody cares about the deficit, least of all the people making the loudest noise.

V-P Dick Cheney to Treasury: "Reagan proved deficits don't matter"

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill was told "deficits don't matter" when he warned of a looming fiscal crisis.

O'Neill, fired in a shakeup of Bush's economic team in December 2002, raised objections to a new round of tax cuts and said the president balked at his more aggressive plan to combat corporate crime after a string of accounting scandals because of opposition from "the corporate crowd," a key constituency.

O'Neill said he tried to warn Vice President Dick Cheney that growing budget deficits-expected to top $500 billion this fiscal year alone-posed a threat to the economy. Cheney cut him off. "You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don't matter," he said, according to excerpts. Cheney continued: "We won the midterms (congressional elections). This is our due." A month later, Cheney told the Treasury secretary he was fired.

The vice president's office had no immediate comment, but John Snow, who replaced O'Neill, insisted that deficits "do matter" to the administration.

Source: [X-ref O'Neill] Adam Entous, Reuters, on AOL News Jan 11, 2004