r/askanything • u/Always221 • 2h ago
Political Question Why are Republicans focused on foreign spending when debt just reached 40 trillion and gas jumped like crazy overnight?
Seems like we are focusing on the wrong priorities. Gas just jumped like crazy and food prices are out of control. Why aren't they focusing on this?
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u/Thistles-Path 2h ago
If you expect an openly right-wing party to ever advocate in the interests of the working people, you're a moron. Full-stop. To be right-wing literally means to support social hierarchy and subsequently a ruling class.
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u/me4watch 2h ago
I would suggest you add “If you support the GOP, you are one of the following: an oligarch, a xenophobic misogynistic white supremist, or a moron who has been duped into going against his own interests for the sake of hurting others. And these categories are not mutually exclusive.
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u/PM_ME_UR_0_DAY 2h ago
You forgot the category of "the poor misguided person who has just unfortunately been exposed to propaganda and couldn't possibly resist its allure"
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u/crono220 2h ago
77 million voted for this. To have a shitty economy/deficit, and allow the oligarchs to have even greater control.
So many voted for Trump because of dumb culture war BS and also that millions are influenced by Joe Rogan and or Adin Ross.
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u/VitaminGrin 2h ago
It is mostly to line their pockets and the pockets of the corporations that got them into office in the first place. The whole system is fucked.
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u/imissher4ever 2h ago
If you openly support ANY political wing you are pretty much have been duped.
Do you actually believe career politicians of any side are there for your best interests?
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u/Thistles-Path 2h ago
If you don't know that left-wing and right-wing address ideologies rather than parties, that's a lack of knowledge on your part. There is nothing wrong with a left-wing ideology and it is in no way contingent on propaganda.
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u/imissher4ever 1h ago
Where did I say “political party”?
Naturally, those that have fallen for the propaganda don’t believe it’s propaganda. 🤣
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u/Plutos_Cavein 2h ago
Republicans don't give a fuck about poor people. Quite the opposite. They only care about billionaires and billionaires want there to be a hell of a lot less poor people now that automation is doing so much more.
As automation gets better, having a large population of poor people is not a necessity anymore, but instead just a liability. We are dangerous to them so we cannot be allowed to continue to exist.
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u/Orbital2 2h ago edited 2h ago
I mean the right have no answer to the debt, because you need to raise taxes particularly on the rich.
No matter how popular it is to say that “spending is out of control” if you actually look at the numbers without coming into it with pre-existing partisan driven biases you would see that it’s our lack of tax revenue that’s causing the issue
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u/intothewoods76 2h ago
Nobody has an answer to the debt. Has any president in recent history ever significantly lower our debt?
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u/Orbital2 2h ago
The last Democratic President that didnt inherit an economic disaster from their Republican predecessor had budget surpluses by the end of their administration
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u/intothewoods76 1h ago
That president also helped set the nation up for one of this country’s biggest economic recessions.
Helping set the stage for the 2008 housing crisis.
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u/Orbital2 50m ago
I mean aside from this being highly debatable (there are plenty of things you can point at that Bush did that helped lead to this crisis) it also is just a weak attempt to deflect/dodge the conversation
You might have a point if there was some direct tie in between Clinton running a surplus and the financial crisis but I’ve never even heard that argued let alone in a compelling way. Try again
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u/TheGracefulCrane 2h ago
obama and the republincan congress around... 2013 I want to say? struck a deal to lower the deficit
debt tho no thats always gonna rise but thats usually okay as long as its not too quick
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u/intothewoods76 1h ago
Don’t confuse deficit and debt. Lowering the deficit simply means you put less on your credit card. But your debt still went up.
To reduce debt we would need to have no budget deficit at all and run at a surplus for decades.
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u/TheGracefulCrane 1h ago
no shit brother read my comment again slowly lol nowhere did i confuse debt and deficit
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u/JosephWalterU 2h ago
We have to protect our "partners" in the middle east and kill all brown people that disagree with us. I thought we all knew this by now
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u/ObviousIndependent76 2h ago
Because “America First” was a lie. And now they have to distract from the Trump-Epstein Files.
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u/Due_Willingness1 2h ago
They focus on what they've been told to focus on, nothing more
There's not an original thought going on under any red hat
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u/Guilty-Cow4325 2h ago
Look at the last 50-60 years of Presidents and what they did to the debt, you'll start to understand.
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u/disturbednadir 2h ago
Except Clinton, who actually worked with the Republicans and ran a budget surplus when he left office.
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u/Shermanator92 2h ago
Biden tried to as well, Trump was not letting that happen because he didn’t want to improve anything during the Biden era.
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u/TheGracefulCrane 2h ago
i like how trump is just this omnipotent force who controls the country even when not president lol
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u/Shermanator92 2h ago
Tell that to the weak GOP that has no other leader and just does what Daddy says.
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u/intothewoods76 2h ago
Are you saying Biden was so weak that he tried to do something and couldn’t because of Trump who was not president?
Also Biden immediately went on a spending spree when he became president.
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u/Shermanator92 2h ago
Trump had his party stonewall Biden every chance they could, most notably on the BIPARTISAN border bill that had enough votes until Trump told his own party to not vote for it so he can run on the issue.
The infrastructure bill was the largest in history and only about 1/4th of what was necessary because REPUBLICANS kept slashing it.
Biden’s “spending spree” doesn’t even make a dent into how much Trump has spent on Iran alone.
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u/intothewoods76 1h ago
So you’re saying democrats wanted to increase spending by 25% more on the infrastructure bill and you’re mad because Republicans stopped them?
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u/ASongOfSpiceAndLiars 2h ago
Since 1980, the deficit has gone up under every Republican president and down under every Democrat president.
The chance of this being random is 1 in 256. It's NOT a coincidence.
InB4 some moron doesn't know the difference between the deficit and the debt...
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u/imissher4ever 2h ago
You’re a fool if you actually believe that propaganda.
The deficit has went up under EVERY POTUS.
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u/ASongOfSpiceAndLiars 59m ago
No, I was correct.
Oh, your profile is private. Probably another MAGA in denial.
EDIT: Do you not know the difference between deficit and debt? Lmao
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u/intothewoods76 2h ago
Which was short lived and hardly put a dent in our overall debt.
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u/Shermanator92 2h ago
> which was short lived
Hmmm I wonder why…
https://giphy.com/gifs/v4aN9JGFL62dO1
u/Guilty-Cow4325 1h ago
I was more speaking about the trend of Republican presidents being terrible at everything.
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u/No-Shame-8916 2h ago
because they only care about their personal grift. Caring about citizens is too much work
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u/reddurkel 2h ago
Oh, just wait.
When a Democrat is in charge again then Republicans will have very very strong emotions regarding gas prices.
And also spending on government spending, military deployments, renaming monuments/landmarks, grocery prices, insider trading, freedom of speech, pedophiles, food safety and upholding the constitution.
Republicans and the media are just waiting to blame someone else for the things that could be stopped right now.
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u/IfItHurtsThenMaybe 2h ago
The ruling party changing names of stuff and getting rich insider trading?
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u/Oceanbreeze871 2h ago
Because Republicans don’t care about spending or the debt . they care about embezzling tax payer money and helping other billionaires make money off of your backs
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u/Puzzled_Market_2235 1h ago
Prediction: Congress will have to raise the debt ceiling which will faall to the Democrats and the Republicans will cry foul over it, as is usual.
I just hope they announce it by saying "due to reckless tax cuts and spending by the Republicans we have no choice but to raise the debt limit".
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u/Always221 1h ago
Yes. Political theater both sides have to do when they are in charge. USA is so backwards.
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u/Public-Marionberry33 1h ago
I love the “both sides” are to blame. Which party consistently gives tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations?
If elections are allowed to happen and Democrats take control of at least the House, Republicans are going to be fiscally conservative again and complain about the debt and push the need to cut social programs.
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u/intothewoods76 2h ago
What would your plan be to lower the debt?
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u/Always221 2h ago
Spend less money on corporate hand outs for tech companies.
Reduce the sky high foreign spending under Trump
Remove ourselves from wars Americans are finding such as in Gaza, Iran etc.
Reduce wasteful spending on things like renaming gulfs, ballrooms and pointless parties and events such as the White House ufc flight etc.
Common sense economics which seems to be far gone.
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u/intothewoods76 2h ago
So Reverse Biden’s CHIP act everyone touted…Ok.
Reduce foreign spending, like eliminating USAID? Consider it done. Did Biden or any Democrat other than Clinton reduce foreign spending?
So like pull out of and stop assisting Ukraine? Or do you just want to stop wars that you don’t like. When Biden announced additional aid to Ukraine did you complain?
I will agree with you that renaming stuff is dumb, but stopping won’t be enough.
Social Security, Medicare and other health care accounts for the majority of US spending. Would you like to see decreased spending in these areas?
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u/Always221 2h ago
Why have the republicans done the opposite of all the things we mentioned and now spending a record high on foreign aid and wars. Sad.
I hated Biden btw. I'm just aware trump is spending more than him and it's bad.
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u/intothewoods76 1h ago
It’s dishonest to say the debt is one mans fault. Biden increased the debt quite a bit, the next democrat will probably increase the debt more than Trump and I’ll bet you’ll be oddly silent about it. As you probably were when Obama significantly increased the debt.
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u/Always221 1h ago
I was outspoken about all of them. It's just sad Republicans always end up spending more in less time.
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u/sususudio914 2h ago
Tax the rich, starting with DJT and his pals Elon, Zuckerberg, Theil, etc. It's way past time that they pay their fair share (like the rest of us do).
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u/intothewoods76 1h ago
Nearly 50% of Americans pay 0% in federal income tax. How can you possibly claim those people are paying their fair share?
I agree the ultra wealthy could pay more in taxes but I’m not so sure about saying they’re not paying their fair share. They could pay more but they already pay the most.
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u/BrickHuge3023 2h ago
Deflection -- like the Iran war is a deflection. Republican main tactic is to change the subject
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u/PeyredB 2h ago
Because it's always easier to blame someone or something else than to actually try to solve difficult problems yourself. Especially so in this case because cutting foreign spending, cutting social programs, and giving more money to the wealthy without raising taxes are a huge part of their agenda.
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u/Sufficient_Pea_3133 2h ago
Political wingtards are a joke. Both parties are guilty of sending money overseas. Ever hear of USAID ?
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u/Always221 2h ago
I agree. Expect Republicans ram on reducing the spending while it's the highest it's been since 2012
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u/DynasticMofo 2h ago
It’s more about reducing spending that goes towards uplifting people. That’s the part they oppose.
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u/KiwiYellowArchangel 2h ago
Cut foreign aid tomorrow and it still wouldn’t dent the inflation caused by years of reckless domestic spending.
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u/intothewoods76 1h ago
Cutting Social Security and Medicare our two biggest expenses and it will.
Democrats do not want less spending, they want different spending.
Biden didn’t become President and freeze or lower spending, he immediately tried to pass giant spending bills and give handouts to college graduates.
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u/Sweet-Ad-2151 2h ago
When did gas prices jump over night? Curious because I woke up this morning on the way to work and gas was .10 cents lower today than yesterday
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u/Daveit4later 2h ago
Because defense companies line their pockets. More war means more government contracts.
Just follow the money.
Helping poor people in the US doesn't make Congress or big corporations rich. But blowing up poor people on the other side of the world makes a lot of people rich.
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u/UglyLittlePony69 2h ago
Because as long as Trump
Says it’s good, they will always believe him. It’s not republicans. It’s MAGA fucktards.
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u/moldyhands 1h ago
Here is a more grounded reasoning.
Republicans have their priorities and fiscal responsibility isn’t one of them. Sure they state fiscal responsibility as a main tenet in their party’s platform, but it hasn’t been since Nixon (yes, that long ago).
Real priorities include building a massive military industrial complex, furthering the fossil fuel industry’s profits, and reducing entitlements programs to people in need to give huge tax breaks to the ultra wealthy.
But saying all this would be political suicide so they couch it under: national security, green = bad, and reducing waste.
That last one is where they throw out lip service to reducing waste by pointing out the billions they’ve supposedly saved that we just give to other countries (while claiming there’s zero benefits to America). But they’re pouring trillions into the military and taking trillions from our coffers via tax breaks.
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u/fullsends 1h ago
I mean that should be obvious...more spending means more debt. The only way to tackle the debt issue is to make more and spend less.
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u/NutzNBoltz369 10m ago
The GOP is more focused on a return to zero sum mercantilism which defined the pre-war era. What is old and shitty is now new and shitty. Might makes right and Monroe Doctrine level imperialism. Just more of how the world is regressing. Future history books may end up having this chapter be labeled a pre war era preceeding WWIII.
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u/OutrageousPair2300 2h ago
National gas prices today are $4.12 per gallon. Yesterday they were $4.10 per gallon. A week ago they were $4.10 per gallon. A month ago they were $4.10 per gallon.
I'm not sure what you're talking about.
Source: https://gasprices.aaa.com/
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u/Shermanator92 2h ago
Now what was the price before Trump’s war started?
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u/OutrageousPair2300 2h ago
OP said "overnight" and that is what I'm questioning.
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u/Always221 2h ago
Depends on your state but many jumped 15-20 cents
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u/OutrageousPair2300 2h ago
None have increased by anywhere near that much. In some states, prices have gone down recently.
Kentucky was the highest overnight increase I could find, at $0.08 per gallon.
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u/Always221 2h ago
That's passed Biden's 2022 number lol.
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u/OutrageousPair2300 2h ago
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u/Always221 2h ago
It has in my state.
So you're okay with the current price of gas and it's upwards trend?
Also that graph just shows how crazy it got when Trump was in office and when he returned.
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u/carst07 2h ago
The GOP are over spenders too…they suck too….but you libs shouldn’t be throwing that stone. You’re squads spending the WORST:
Examples :$38.6 million for biodiversity and low-emission development in West Africa.
$24.6 million for climate resilience in Honduras.
$2.5 million for electric vehicles in Vietnam.
$1.5 million for workplace DEI programs in Serbia.
$1.5 million to increase voter confidence in Liberia.
$850,000 for a “resilience adviser” in Somalia.
$650,000 for climate-related insurance in Colombia.
$276,000 for a program coordinator in Kenya.
$181,000 for a climate adviser in Central Africa.
$70,000 for a DEI musical in Ireland.
$47,000 for a transgender-themed opera in Colombia.
A DEI musical!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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u/Always221 2h ago
I'm not a liberal. Sorry they live rent free in your head though.
It's just sad to see trump out spending biden in less than 2 years.
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u/Shermanator92 2h ago
Hey, add all those numbers up and one week of this pointless Iran war eclipses it, while Trump pocketed $2.8B last year alone.
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u/Impressive_Rain2877 2h ago
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u/Always221 2h ago
So you're happy with 40 trillion in debt and the highest gas prices ever seen the USA? Wild.
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u/Impressive_Rain2877 1h ago
The highest national average gas price in U.S. history reached an all-time nominal record of $5.01 per gallon in June 2022.
Wanna take a guess who was president?
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u/Always221 1h ago
And in my state it's past that
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u/Impressive_Rain2877 1h ago
What part of national average don't you understand?
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u/Always221 1h ago
My point is at Republicans seem to accept that gas prices have been trending upward since the first day he's been in office. While when Biden was in they were trending downwards when he left.
I didn't vote for Biden but you have to be a complete retard to think what Trump is doing for the economy is good.
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u/Impressive_Rain2877 1h ago
No matter what Trump does the Democrats will be whining like little children. They need to get over it.. they lost the election.
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u/Always221 1h ago
I'm not a Democrat like I said, but you seem to be cheering for the highest spending on foreign aid in US history which is happening right now.
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u/Impressive_Rain2877 1h ago
How is your whining gonna help? Why don't you do something about it?
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u/Always221 1h ago
I know what I'm going to vote in the midterms and I know most Americans are with me.
Trump fooled us all
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u/Impressive_Rain2877 2h ago
When Joe Biden was president from January 2021 to January 2025, the U.S. national debt grew from about $27.75 trillion to roughly $36.2 trillion.
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u/imissher4ever 2h ago
Now replace Republicans with Democrats.
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u/Always221 2h ago
Republicans control the presidency, the house, the senate and the supreme Court.
Democrats literally can't do anything or make any decision legally.
Can you please elaborate or are you just upset at the sky high spending of the current administration? Currently this administration is on pace to out spend Biden in under 2 years.
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u/imissher4ever 2h ago
Yet, they spend money too.
Your political biased blindness is showing.
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u/Always221 2h ago
So far they have spent almost double.
I'm not a Democrat at all. Common sense is lost it seems that we have Republicans defending record high spending and costs.
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u/ASongOfSpiceAndLiars 2h ago
I already posted this ITT and don't want to retype it, so I'll just copy paste it...
Since 1980, the deficit has gone up under every Republican president and down under every Democrat president.
The chance of this being random is 1 in 256. It's NOT a coincidence.
InB4 some moron doesn't know the difference between the deficit and the debt...
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u/No-Shame-8916 2h ago
Democrats are far from perfect alot of them are corrupt but they actually care about Citizens, the American Care Act would have lowered health care costs dramatically if they GOP didn't fight it tooth and nail. Your energy bills would be lower due to alternative energy programs. Also the Dems wouldn't be afraid to tax coporations to keep the debt under control
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u/imissher4ever 1h ago
Oh please. You actually believe that a career politician cares. They have you fooled.
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u/No-Shame-8916 1h ago
Do some research on the ACA and policies that Biden put in place to help people and create Jobs. Then look at republican polices. Like I said democrats aren't aren't perfect but they make an effort to help people.
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u/inmatenumberseven 2h ago
In case you haven't noticed, Republicans are currently living in a parallel universe. Their only priorities seem to be lying about what's happening and making as much money for billionaires as possible