Why is it that "fiscal conservatives" tend to have no good actual fiscal policies? Our national budgetary problems are significant, to be sure, but the people screaming the loudest about it also have the poorest proposals for rectifying the situation.
Principle 1: Just a reminder of the obvious, there are two sides to the deficit equation, namely revenues and expenditures. In order to balance the budget, you need to raise one and lower the other. A third-grader can figure this out.
Principle 2: Tax cuts decrease revenues. Period. This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t cut taxes; far from it, when the economy is a mess, that’s the time when government should spend a whole bunch of money in order to prevent the social safety net from collapsing, i.e. tax credits for hiring new employees, etc. High unemployment leads to a drop in revenues from income taxes and an increase in expenditures for unemployment benefits and the like.
Given these, it is important for us as a nation to take a look at our fiscal situation and adopt a long-term policy that will put us in the clear ten years out, battling the defecit when we have the ability to do so without cutting programs that are preventing our economy from slipping into a true depression.
Let’s talk about Obama’s proposed spending freeze on non-military discresionary spending. Let’s assume that, given the Republicans’ behavior when the Democracts proposed trimming $500 billion from Medicare’s useless bloat (not the services themselves), it will be politically impossible for Obama to take a much-needed scalpel to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security without being accused of trying to murder our seniors. Taking those three programs and military spending off the table (especially in the middle of two wars), that leaves a ridiculously small portion of the pie left to freeze in the first place. It’s a stunt, and an unfortunate one.
Furthermore, the same people howling about the deficit are the same ones who implemented 2 wars, a massive tax cut, and an expensive prescription drugs bill without paying for a dime of any of it. Obama took office when the deficit was $1.3 trillion. It is now somewhere in the $1.6 trillion range. How is it that Republicans are getting away with claiming the mantle of fiscal responsibility?
Unless deficit scolds starts sacking up and proposing corresponding tax increases to go with their spending cuts (a terrible idea right now) and/or carefully dissecting bloated social programs with an eye toward political honesty (a good, but unlikely, idea), then they need to go back to their caves and never come out until they produce a thoughtful, practical set of policies. This ranting about Obama bankrupting the nation is just nonsense.
