badgenome said:
Starving the beast has for a long time now been an idea that only really thrives among conservatives out of power (i.e., pundits). It's an idea certain politicians may recklessly invoke from time to time, but it's entirely rhetorical. Were the Bush tax cuts done out of a Machiavellian attempt to starve the beast? Or were they done because he'd inherited an economy on the brink of recession and tax cuts are generally popular, so why not? If it was the former, it certainly didn't work because the Republicans controlled all the levers of power and what did they do? They passed Medicare Part D. When Republicans do something stupid and destructive, it isn't because they're evil super geniuses. It's because they're idiots. |
Even the GOP is running on how the Democrats want to cut funding to Medicare. As it is now, the body politic really doesn't want budget cuts. So, it ends up to be folly. But the idea is there, as one of the rationales for pushing budget cuts, very likely discussed among those who want to advocate smaller government, to rationalize the tax cuts, even when they aren't matched with budget cuts, because the belief is that a crisis will eventually happen.