By Douglas V. Gibbs
One of the phrases in a recent Washington Post article reads, "today’s GOP adheres to a 'no new taxes' orthodoxy that has proved far more powerful than the desire to balance the budget."
The premise given by the writer is that without a tax hike, balancing the budget is not possible.
The problem is a spending problem, not a revenue problem. Tax cuts, combined with serious spending cuts, would balance the budget, and invigorate the private sector - which in the end would stimulate the economy.
Woodrow Wilson left America with high taxes, a growing deficit, heavy regulations against businesses, a growing government sector, and a massive recession. When President Harding took office, his first line of action was to cut taxes, cut spending, reduce regulations against businesses, and begin the process of shrinking the federal government away from the progressive model Wilson had initiated. After Harding died, Calvin Coolidge continued the effort, and even took it a little farther. What followed was one of the most prosperous decades in American history - The Roaring 20s.
Hoover took office after Coolidge, saw all of the potential revenue in the roaring economy, increased taxes, printed more money, increased federal spending, and began a series of public works projects paid for by the government. What followed was the stock market crash, and the Great Depression.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt followed Hoover, and doubled down on Hoover's policies. However, Roosevelt's New Deal worsened the economic picture.
The war economy helped a little, but would only turn and burn while the war continued to be fought. It wasn't until well after the end of World War II that the American economy truly recovered (trailing behind many of the economies in Europe). The American entrepreneurial spirit of the 1950s, as well as other increases in the private sector, turned things around.
Reduced taxes, and a withdrawal of the government from the private sector in the 1980s, after Carter's devastating policies, ushered in the Reagan era of prosperity, which was felt well into the new millennium. Unfortunately, a housing crisis caused by policies like those carried out by the Community Redevelopment Act, where mortgages were being pushed for people unable to repay them, as a part of the liberal push that proclaimed that everyone deserved a house, devastated the vibrant economy - pushing us into a recession about a year after the Democrats gained control of Congress a few years ago, and a recession that has worsened under the irresponsible policies of the Obama administration.
No matter how you slice it, Federal spending is out of control. Current spending, and government obligations for the future, are unsustainable. The simple truth is you can't spend more than you have coming in, for eventually the outgoing will become too much for the system to handle. And even if we were to increase taxes to 100% of income (hypothetically speaking, of course), it would not be enough to even make a dent in the spending.
In short, we must cut this heavy government spending right now.
I am not talking about little cuts here and there, but some major reductions in spending from ridiculous domestic spending like studies about the drinking of alcohol among college students, much of our foreign aid, and cuts as a result of serious entitlement reform. In other words, Congress must get spending under control in the long term.
Raising taxes would not only damage the economy, but give the government the thought that it has more revenue coming, therefore they can spend more (even though raising taxes almost never results in revenue increases in the long term). Tax reductions create a scenario where the private sector can grow, which in the long run increases revenue.
Regardless of revenue, however, the main problem is spending, and the leftist attempt to grow our government. To create an even larger governmental leviathan, the bureaucrats are continuing to overspend, and that borrowing is putting an enormous financial burden on future generations.
While working to cut spending for the long term, gaining control of overspending in the short term is important too. Obama's Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Submission proposes that the federal government spend $1.2 trillion more than it will take in. I don't care who you are, spending like that cannot be maintained, and will eventually lead to collapse.
The biggest overspending problem is the the ever-growing slate of entitlement programs, which includes the latest edition to the entitlement buffet, Obamacare.
Even more alarming is that all of those policies are unconstitutional. Nowhere in the Constitution is there authority for the federal government to spend this kind of money on entitlement programs. Of course some people have geared their lives around these programs, so pulling the rug out from under the people is not the best plan of action. The programs must be reformed, and over time the entitlement programs must be made obsolete, where people become personally responsible again.
So the keys to securing a prosperous tomorrow for our children and grandchildren includes us controlling spending, reducing taxes, backing off on many of the regulations that stifle the growth of the free market, and reducing borrowing to only necessary levels for policies that are authorized by the U.S. Constitution.
The debt ceiling must be reduced, annual spending needs to be capped in a manner directly related to a specified percentage of the value of goods and services the economy produces in a year (GDP) while taking the amount of revenues into consideration as well.
Any increases in taxes should require the vote of a supermajority, and borrowing should be reserved for unexpected increases in spending such as for military actions necessary for the defense of America.
A government that spends its money in excess of its revenues cannot sustain such levels indefinitely, and such poor economic practices should not be allowed. Heck, the government isn't even approving its budgets on time.
As a result of all of these irresponsible economic practices, America is in a fiscal crisis. Our government is spending more than necessary, more than constitutionally allowed, and is growing at a rate that would bring tears to the eyes of the Founding Fathers. This incredible spending must stop immediately, and such a stoppage can only be facilitated by Congress.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Running in the red: Among GOP, anti-tax orthodoxy runs deep - Washington Post
The Consequences of Excessive Government Spending - American Power Blog
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