The California Republican Party issued a statement today following President Obama’s speech on deficit reduction, saying California and America are out of money. The statement reads,
“President Obama and Jerry Brown are two of a kind. Rather than accept the economic reality that Americans do not have the money to bail out government anymore, they continue to push for higher taxes. Long before today, a President candidly told us that we didn’t get into budgetary trouble because we taxed too little or spent too little.“Rather than attempt to tax our way out of deficit, a economic policy that has never worked, the President should provide real budget reform that will have a meaningful impact on peoples lives, bring America back from the brink and restore confidence in our future.”
In fact there is much more money in California and America today than in the past, except now it is largely going to a very few already-wealthy people. In California there are people who could write a check to pay off our entire state deficit themselves. There is even one Californian who could pay off the deficit and have $13 billion left over! So when they say “Americans do not have the money,” they mean something else.
We’re all in this together. And that means we all have to pitch in to get us out of the mess that the tax-cutters put us in. I’m not suggesting that we get it all from one person, but I am suggesting that it is time for the already-wealthy to start pitching in a bit more.