Republicans: we are now against spending cuts, they're unpopular and won't work

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So where are all the "I vote Republican because I'm a sensible American concerned about fiscal conservatism, balanced budgets, and the deficit " people now?

Still here, about 90% Republican learners, too.  The fact is, most people of tons of ideologies love their government entitlements.

cutting non-defense discretionary programs get you no where though and frankly Republicans like to believe there is this massive amount of waste and duplication that if they just magically erase then they will get spending under control.

If you really want to get spending under control you have to do 3 very basic things.

1. Across the gov't procurement reform, from letting Medicare negotiate for lower drug prices to competitive bidding on contracts in the Pentagon. Of course that pinches Republican donors in the Pharma and defense contractor industries.

2. Entitlement Reform - Republicans need to come to reality that that true driver of Medicare costs is the denial of care earlier in life, and the aging population. If you want to get Medicare under control, the first thing you need to do is ensure access to preventative care throughout the life span. Republicans too often love to cut now, in exchange for double the amount in higher spending later through Medicare. And yes I support block granting Medicaid and Obamacare, but at much higher funding levels then Graham-Cassidy. We have had back door Universal Healthcare via the emergency room for decades and it is time Republicans acknowledge it, bring it to the front door and quit trying to use poverty as a substitute for gov't death panels to bring down costs. Instead they should try to get as many insured as possible with market/state based insurers, paid for with block grants to the states or a sliding scale subsidy, and then work on reforming delivery and other reforms that will bring costs under control without killing people.

3. Stop using the tax code to hide spending behind of shield of "Oh I am not spending money, I am just returning your money too you". This attitude of take two tax credits and call me in the morning has riddled the code with ridiculous complexity, lowered revenues, and added a hidden tax to the tune of $500 billion dollars in tax code compliance costs, which acts as a regressive tax on small business, making it harder for them to compete with larger firms. Republicans should simplify the tax code, remove all the special loopholes and bring down the rates. Then they should apply fees and/or taxes to hedgefunds and financial transactions by big firms to fund/incentivize loans to small business by local and community banks and bring down the deficit/debt.

Republicans talk about all this but often times pull a bait and switch, like on financial regulations, where Republicans should work to restore market competition, not foster a regulatory environment that consolidates more banks into larger too big to fail firms that will leave tax payers on the hook with another bailout down the road.

Glass-Steagall is a fiscally conservative proposal when you account for the cost of the bailout. Taxing financial transactions/hedge funds is a fiscally conservative proposal when you account for the lost revenues of the Great Recession and expenses it generated.

Bailouts are surely against Capitalism. The free market party can't support privatizing profits & socializing losses, can it? Does a small business owner in the Rust Belt get a bailout when his firm fails? Capitalism was about ineffective firms dying. Why is a Free Market solution of "Free Trade of Brand Name Medicinal products" Or "Drug Imports" opposed by most Republicans ? How can you import fish, vegetables but not import brand name drugs which developed nations produce?

That is not a free market, conservative, fiscally responsible party. That is crony capitalism & there is an unhealthy nexus between campaign donors & politicians with elected leaders doing the bidding of donors. No Conservative party anywhere in the world denies Climate Change. The only country not to support the Paris Deal is Syria. That is the state of the current Republican party.

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Therefore we need huge tax breaks for the wealthy, because that will generate so much growth that we have more revenue in the end and the wealth will somehow trickle down.

Honestly, the fact that Reagan was somehow able to sell this nonsense with a straight face and have half the country at the time believe him goes to show you how stupid people can be.

Tax Revenue went up from 517 billion in 1980 to 1.03 trillion in 1990. So Tax Revenues almost doubled in the 1980s, so no it was not the tax cuts that caused the deficits it was the increases in spending.

That argument is pretty ridiculous. Tax Revenues always go up, like always. You assume a Real GDP Growth of say 4% & add 4-5% inflation (80s/90s inflation) & you get 8-9% odd Nominal growth. Put that number for 10 years & it is almost double.

Anyways, spending also naturally increases. Medicare/Medicaid costs are rising with inflation plus you have a demographic issue with an ageing population further increasing costs. And there is a population increase & immigration. Yes, Spending increased, Reagan didn't cut major programs & massively increased military but spending always increases.

For all the good things said about Reagan, he was terrible about the deficit. He accumulated more debt than all previous Presidents combined & he didn't inherit a great recession or depression & didn't inherit a 1T $ Deficit.