Sen. Marco Rubio may need to revisit ‘1999’ because the U.S. government had a surplus of cash Read
BY JOSHUA GILLIN
Sen. Marco Rubio confirmed his 2016 presidential campaign Monday, but an apparent musical analogy in his announcement speech was a bit off key. During a speech in which he implied his opponents were too old, Rubio accused the competition of wanting to recycle ideas “stuck in the 20th century.”
“They’re busy looking backwards, so they do not see how jobs and prosperity today depend on our ability to compete in a global economy,” Rubio said. “And so our leaders put us at a disadvantage by taxing and borrowing and regulating like it’s 1999.”
We’ll note the irony of a candidate touting his youth as a campaign strength by citing a 33-year-old pop song. And because it’s a joke to make the point that his opponents are stuck in the past, we won’t put it on our Truth-O-Meter.
That’s good for Rubio, because the U.S. fiscal picture in 1999 — especially on borrowing — bears little resemblance to what’s going on today, making for a very poor comparison. (We want to give a shout-out to Steven Dennis at Roll Call, who made the same point about this on Monday night.) Tax burdens were different, the federal budget was running a surplus and a major focus of the 2000 presidential campaign was what Al Gore and George W. Bush would do with all this extra cash America had.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article18578966.html
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