Word: socialism
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...second principle is that spending cuts should come from subsidies to the middle class, not genuine Government investment or programs that aid the poor. Obvious targets are farm programs, Social Security and our disproportionate share of the defense of Europe and Japan, which is a subsidy to middle-class foreigners. But merely to list these is to build a monument to hopelessness. That's why, for all the candidates' bluster, salvation will probably come, if at all, on the revenue side...
...much consumption and not enough saving. As Harvard professor Benjamin Friedman points out in his forthcoming book Day of Reckoning, the share of national income raised in federal taxes is exactly what it was in 1979, but the share returning to individuals in the form of transfer payments (Social Security and so on) has gone up. The Government borrows the difference, thus replacing national savings with consumption. The 1980s' consumption boom, Friedman notes, has been financed in three ways: by this shift in the Government budget; by a larger share of the population in the work force (owing...
From there the battle was joined in a reprise of many of the social issues that have provided an emotional subtext of American politics for the past 20 years. The fiercest conflict emerged over abortion. While Bush seemed discomfited by a question about what punishment would be appropriate if abortions, as he urged, were made illegal, Dukakis immediately jumped on the issue to declare, "I think that what the Vice President is saying is that he is prepared to brand a woman a criminal for making this decision." The now shopworn controversies over the Pledge of Allegiance and Dukakis' membership...
...campaign issue, the nation's huge budget deficit, the questioners were unable to pin the candidates down on just how they can reduce it and still acquire the military weapons and social programs they support. Dukakis repeated his unpersuasive solution of tougher tax enforcement. He stressed welfare reforms that would put more poor people to work as a way to cut spending and simultaneously bring in more tax revenue. Bush argued that "we've got to get the Democrats' Congress under control" to hold down spending...
...main thrusts of Bush's attacks on his foe was to portray him as one of the "big-spending liberals" who see Government as the main solution to social problems. Bush stressed the need for voluntary action by individuals and private organizations, for example, to improve life in urban ghettos. He several times praised the "thousand points of light" in helping to solve the plight of poor children whose lives, he has said, "haunted him." Dukakis chided Bush for being vague. "Thousand points of light? I don't know what that means." The audience chuckled at the sarcasm. Bush explained...