Mona Charen on the upcoming Obama spend-a-thon:
The Democrats are in the driver’s seat now. And with the exception of a brief period in the 1990s after Ross Perot made everyone deficit conscious, Democrats are the party of government — that is, the party of domestic spending. Every indicator of economic decline seems to them a green light to do what they would have done anyway — party like it’s 1933! It’s not that they are buying votes. No, the times demand extreme measures.
But before the first mortgage defaulted, we were already on a fast train to fiscal insolvency. The problem of the aging baby boomers and the Social Security/Medicare obligations we’ve undertaken but cannot pay for has not gone away. It crouches just around the bend.
And if the Obama “stimulus” bill passes, our federal deficit will top $1.7 trillion next year! As Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute has observed, “If government spending provided such a wonderful boost to the economy, we would be in Nirvana already.” Or, as a cartoonist rendered it, our economy is in a hole and the Obama solution is “shovel ready.” The first rule of getting out of holes is to quit digging. So the spending, while cheering a variety of contractors, unions, “green” companies, mayors and governors in the blue regions of the country is very unlikely to affect the recession at all.
The proposals to spend more and more money we don’t have on projects of dubious use in actually stimulating anything other than debt are coming fast and furious. Every day that passes sees yet another bright idea for getting the economy moving. What’s missing is any sense of proportion. If you are in money trouble at home, spending even more is not a wise move, as Charen points out. When the boomers really begin hitting the entitlement circuit, all heck is going to break loose on the economy. Yet there is no plan – at all – for dealing with that looming demographic disaster.
Instead it is short-term, short-sighted, shovel-ready projects. All we’re doing is digging the hole deeper.
From my point of view, if we are going to run these types of deficits, why not do it by cutting the corporate, individual, and capital gains taxe rates to zero or very close to it? I am thinking we would get a much faster recovery that way than Government handing out money to people with failed business models.
For several years leading up to the 2006 election the Democrats put a great deal of effort into criticizing the Republican majority Congress for being spend happy and running up the deficit. So what do they do the minute they get a Democrat in the White House? They propose HUGE spending INCREASES that will drive the debt up astronomically. Not only is it hypocritical, it is irresponsible and a great illustration of how Democrats have always approached any problem – throw money at it. If that doesn’t work, throw more money at it because it wasn’t enough the first time.
I’m still waiting for Obama to pay my mortgage and put gas in my car. Have him call me because I have a whole list of things for him to do. \sarc
Mockingbird you’ll have a long wait unless you fall into one of the victim categories. In the meantime it appears if you aren’t in one of those categories you’re screwed.