Bruce Bartlett served as an advisor in the Reagan Administration and in the Department of the Treasury in the George H. Bush Administration. He later worked at the National Center for Policy Analysis and is now a newspaper columnist and a New York Times bestselling author whose books include The New American Economy: The Failure of Reaganomics and The New Way Forward. In October, he released a new book, The Truth Matters: A Citizen’s Guide to Separating Facts From Lies and Stopping Fake News in Its Tracks. This interview, which has been lightly edited, is taken from an upcoming appearance on the radio version of Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel, which will air at 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3, on community radio KXCI, 91.3 FM. Read the first part of this interview here.
What did you make of the healthcare debate this year?
Once Trump said that called, in effect, his own party’s bluff by saying, “I’m not going to sign a bill to repeal Obamacare, unless we have something immediately available to replace it.” See, the Republicans never intended to replace Obamacare with anything. They were just lying year, after year, after year saying, “We’ve got a bill to replace Obamacare and it will be 100 times better. We’re just going to keep it secret until we have the votes to enact it,” or something. But nobody told Trump that this was the plan, you see. He actually thought they had something. So when he said, “I want a replacement,” their bluff was called and it immediately became apparent that the emperor was wearing no clothes. There was nothing there and that pretty much led to the result that we saw. Although, again, Republicans are very, very focused and they’re still going to try to get the mandate repealed in this tax bill. The mandate is absolutely essential to making Obamacare work, so if they knock that pillar out from under it, it may well collapse and they will achieve their goal.
What was your assessment of the Affordable Care Act?
I mean, I supported it because it was better than nothing, but just barely. I think the whole political strategy of the Obama Administration was very, very poor. They really played into the Republicans’ hands. What I think Obama should have done is put out something much, much more aggressive that included a public option. I would even support single payer, knowing that it wasn’t going to pass. But if he had put that out, it’s inevitable, in my opinion, that Republicans would have turned to something like the Heritage Plan, which was implemented by Mitt Romney up in Massachusetts, which is very, very similar to Obamacare. Republicans would have put that forward as their alternative. Then you could have had a bipartisan compromise that would, I think, at the end of the day, look a lot like Obamacare, except that it would be bipartisan, and it would be stable, and would not be perpetually in danger of being abolished.
So you think the Obama Administration gave away too much at the start by just trying to start with the Heritage Foundation blueprint?
Yeah, but it’s not entirely an Obama problem. I mean, I’ve worked at the White House and I know how they think. When presidents put forward proposals, they never build in anything to negotiate with, you see. They have this tendency to think, well, I’m going to send forward the perfect plan, and I’m going to make the assumption that it will be enacted exactly the way I proposed it. So they put in a lot of provisions in their legislation that cannot be compromised on, because they underpin other provisions, you see. Then they’re always blindsided when Congress says, “Hey, we’re going to start from scratch. We’re going to do our own thing. We’re going to rebuild this thing from the beginning.” Then all the compromises and things in the proposal that all had to be there for it to work, all-of-the-sudden, that all falls to pieces and you’re left with a mishmash. That’s a lot of what happened with Obamacare.
Obama also had some conservative Democrats in the Senate he had to work around in order to get something through, as well.
That was less of a problem, frankly, than the fact that a lot of liberals, especially in the House, wanted something more aggressive. So, I think, Obama hurt himself, rhetorically, by appealing to them by trying to make Obamacare look more liberal than it actually was, in order to get those liberal votes, because once he had lost all Republican votes, he had to get every single Democrat to support it. Actually, it was those on the left that were the hard ones to get.
What is your assessment of the Trump Administration?
Well, it’s a disaster. I mean, Trump is unquestionably the most incompetent, most inept, most ignorant president we’ve ever had in our history. I’m afraid that he’s doing so much damage to our country, to our government, that we may not be able to recover. It will take decades and a lot of really hard work. I mean, look, for example, at what he’s doing at the State Department. He’s gutting the whole department. They’re getting rid of thousands of highly trained, experienced, people who know about foreign policy and know about different countries. But Trump’s view is, we’re America first, we don’t give a damn about any other country. They can all go screw. We don’t need a State Department. Why should we bother interacting with these people? You know, who cares? And he doesn’t even care about his own people. I mean, just look at the continuing suffering that’s going on in Puerto Rico, where he’s treating them like a foreign country. He refuses to give any aide. The people there are, literally, dying and he doesn’t give a damn. He’s busy playing golf.
It certainly looks as though some of the polling suggests Democrats might do very well next year, but you think that might be a short-lived victory.
Well, I think if the tax cut passes, the Democrats are screwed because they’re going to be forced to cleanup this fiscal mess that Republicans are going to leave them. In the first place, if they get control of Congress next year, they’re not going to be able to do anything because Trump will veto anything that they do and they’re not going to be able to override.
Secondly, like I said earlier, all these Republican deficit hawks we’ve been deafly silent, you know, for months, are going to suddenly emerge, you know, the minute the tax cut is signed into law saying, “Oh my God, the deficit suddenly, mysteriously, became hugely bigger. It’s threatening national bankruptcy. We absolutely have to cut the deficit.” Since they won’t raise taxes, they’ll demand cuts in Social Security, Medicare. Democrats will waste all of their capital trying to save those programs and, I think, that once they get another Democratic president, maybe, in 2020, they’ll be forced to raise taxes. This will be very unpopular. The Medicare cuts will also be unpopular. And, I think, Republicans may well be back in control by 2022, and by 2024 they’ll have another president. And it’s off to the races and they can just start this whole process all over again, of slashing taxes, forcing spending cuts, downsizing government. At some point, people are going to look at programs like Social Security and say, “God, they’ve made so many cuts to this program, it’s hardly worth having. Let’s just do what the Republicans want to do and privatize it.” And Wall Street will get rich off of all the fees. That’s their longterm goal.
Is that similar to what happened with the Obama Administration, where he had to clean up the mess after Bush?
Well, that’s exactly right. Both Clinton and Obama spent an enormous amount of their political capital, not advancing their own agenda, but simply responding to the conditions that Republicans forced upon them. And Republicans know this, even if Democrats don’t, and that’s why they’re doing what they’re doing. They want to tie the hands of Democrats for, maybe, a decade or more into cleaning up their fiscal mess.
Let’s talk about the role of the media here. That’s a subject of your new book, The Truth Matters: A Citizen’s Guide to Separating Fact From Lies and Stopping Fake News in Its Tracks. Why did you decide to write this?
Well, because of the election results. I felt that a lot of the problem, the political problems, that we had, and still have, and are evident every day, result from problems in the media. The most important problem is simply economic, namely that they lost so much. The major media has lost so much advertising, it doesn’t have the resources to do its job properly anymore. I think readers and consumers are ill served in many ways and what I tried to do is give them some suggestions for how they can respond and still get reputable news that they can depend upon.
This article appears in Nov 30 – Dec 6, 2017.
3.3 % economic growth in the last quarter. Obummer couldn’t do that in 32 quarters. Jobs coming back by the thousands. Unemployment down and continues to fall. Consumer confidence the highest it’s been in 17 years. I could go on but why bother, it’s going to fall on deaf ears anyway. Sure, there are things I don’t like about Trump, but I voted for him to be my President, not my priest.
Let the dislikes begin !!
He is doing his job right in a year while others take 100 years. One of the best presidents in America.
Obummer did do that you dumbshit.
Employment increased every year that he was in office and we are still in his fiscal year. Because of that, guess what? Your ignorant ass just gave Obummer credit.
But I don’t expect you to get it.
You never have.
Oh by the way BF chuck, your comment made 13 look like he has intelligence. Yes, you should be ashamed.
Mr. Trump, I my view, is NOT fit to service in the Office of President of the United States. He is Mentally Unstable and has undermined the very nature of our Constitutional Democracy with Three Co-Equal Branches of Government, as well as our Independent and Free Press. His statements regarding His Russian Mentor and “Friendship” with the Thug Putin threatens the National Security of our Country.
It remains to be determined the nature of the contacts He and his Minions have had with Russia before, during, and after the Presidential Election. His statements during the Election encouraging Russia to hack Servers of the DNC and Mrs. Clinton are sufficient, in my view, in making him Complicit in undermining the validity of this Election and are sufficient Grounds for His Impeachment. This, of course, is a decision that Congress will make when these Congressional Investigations are Complete.
All Partisanship Must be put aside in the evaluation of the evidence and in determining if Donald Trump should be removed from Office.
“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it”.. Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address March 4, 1861
“….The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure….” ( Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, Paris, 13 Nov. 1787)
What makes you think trump takes all the credit for those figures. I thought last year when the official unemployment rate was around 5 percent that really meant it was at 40, then the day trump takes office it suddenly becomes accurate?
What happened, AZ/DC? I thought we had a truce. Oh and Francis, blow it out your ass you sanctimonious gas bag.
There is no way that those who continue to support Trump and his ridiculous ideas will ever get it. They like to think that Obama caused the recession because it was hitting the hardest as he came into office. In fact, it was a direct result of Bush’s administration (and all the preceding years of trickle down economics and de-regulation). Now they like to think that the Trump is responsible for the recovery that took eight years of hard work and continued sacrifice because enjoyed the benefits as he came into office.
These are the same people that continue to think that Obama was not born i the U.S., climate change is simply of figment of the imagination of 95 – 99% of the world’s scientists, and of course, totally misunderstand the 2nd amendment and is the only part of the constitution that matters to them.
It is unfortunate that in the U.S. the loser of the election becomes the President. In any other country, we would call it like it is – a failed democracy. And we are suffering the consequences.
They still blame it on Bush. ( Who I never cared for either) If Obummer knew how bad the economy was, perhaps he should have stayed in Chicago stirring up shit instead.
Crazy Al:
Sorry, I’m just tired of reading things where you’re not doing your homework. Please educate yourself before you post. It will benefit you and it will also sway those who have different opinions. You have posted items in the past that I didn’t necessarily agree with, but upon further investigation I discovered they had some validity. This tripe that you posted above and other items which you’ve posted about the Obama administration ruining the economy have no validity. I just can’t get behind it.
I am willing to admit though, I shouldn’t have attacked you like that and I’m sorry that I didn’t handle it a bit more maturely. Please accept my apology for my behaviour, but understand that I do not apologise for pointing out your lack of knowledge on the Obama administration’s inheritance of a very ruined economy. As far as I’m concerned, it all started with Daddy Bush’s New World Order bullshit, it continued with Clinton’s NAFTA bullshit and Baby Bush sure the fuck didn’t help with several things I am not the mood to currently discuss. Please don’t blame an administration that actually improved things after the previous 3 really twisted things up.
Once again, my apologies.
Truce brother. Arizona/Dave C.
Truce it is. I must admit you did throw me a bit of a curve. We will never agree on this so let’s just drop it. I know that there are a lot of people who read what I post very carefully to try and trip me up. So I read first, type second. As I said to Robin I’m no Bush fan. I also don’t recall saying Obama ruined the economy. I just feel he didn’t do all that much to help it.
Agreed.
Thanks for your response.
” the recession … was a direct result of Bush’s administration “
Maybe not.
Lucas won the Nobel Prize for rational expectations theory, that a change in what people expect for the future immediately changes the present. A simple concept that when people on a train look down the tracks and see them going over a cliff, they get off immediately.
As Obama went from a 15% chance of being president in 2008 to 70%, the stock market weakened and then collapsed $8.2 trillion. As he was first stalemated by the Republicans and then walked to the door, the stock market first went up $7 trillion and then with Trump’s surprise election, another 5 trillion.
Obama promised and delivered a big tax increase on small businessmen and women. The economics department at the University of Arizona is so twisted; they think that is good for the economy. Its not; it laid waste to us in something called the Great Recession. Just like Roosevelts increase from 25% to 93% made the Great Depression the Great Depression.
Obama caused the Great Recession intensified the Great Recession, and lengthened the Great Recession.
The huge tax increase that Obama put in place and the huge diversion of resources to engage in the stylish pursuit of climate change devastated our economy. Growth in capital intensiveness, the core of improving living conditions ground to a complete halt.
As a result, our labor productivity improvement only averaged one-half percent under Obama after averaging 2.5% under Bush. No improvement in labor productivity equals no pay increase for the workers.
Lots of problems, yes, but at least there are some reductions in illegal immigration and overall immigration with a good chance of more reductions to come. Politics isn’t pretty and Democrats have a lot of soul searching to do on who they’re really representing.
I love the comment above by huppent. I didn’t know that Obama was so powerful that even a chance of him being elected could cause a financial economic collapse. Wow!
And Obama cut taxes. By a lot. Look it up, or search your memory if you have a longer memory than most Americans these days.
What’s new? Obama tax cuts were a tax increase for many. Looks like they just can’t stop spending.
In 2010, President Obama signed an $858 billion tax cut deal. It extended the Bush tax cuts through 2012 and unemployment benefits through 2011. It cut payroll taxes by 2 percent, adding $120 million to workers’ spendable income. It extended a college tuition tax credit. It also included $55 billion in industry-specific tax cuts.
To pay for part of these costs, Obamas deal revived the inheritance tax that had lapsed for a year. It applied a 35 percent tax rate to estates worth over $5 million for individuals or over $10 million for families. (Source: Washington Post, “Obama, GOP reach deal to extend tax breaks,” December 7, 2010)
Huppenthal:
Why do you spread all that misinformation?
Does it make you feel superior?
Too bad that you didn’t learn your lesson the first time that you were exposed to the public as the idiot that you are.
That’s the definition of a true idiot. Someone who makes obvious mistakes and can’t learn one stinking thing from it.
It’s time for you to retire from making commentary. Take up pickleball, or canasta, or anything else.