Once upon a time, the US had budget surpluses. Seriously! You can look it up! Whether these are tales of myth or not, the fact is that we are seriously screwed when it comes to having the receipts ledger match the expenses ledger. It’s one thing to engage in foreign policy that a majority of the population has doubts about. It’s quite another to recklessly and selfishly drive the nation toward fiscal calamity by purposefully driving federal spending to once unthinkable levels.
Exhibit A for the prosecution of Bush and the Republican Congress: this article from the Washington Post. Brace yourselves for annual deficits not too far short of ONE TRILLION DOLLARS. Between runaway Medicare costs worsened by the prescription drug benefit, borrowing funds for the Social Security privatization that increasingly looks like a shell game instead of a permanent fix so desperately needed, unknown amounts of yearly “emergency” expenses for whatever the army ends up taking on, radically accelerating costs of running vast bureaucracies like the Department of Education, and the huge amount of porkbarrel spending sure to find its way into the budgets, we’re not only spending more money, we’re spending more money at an accelerating rate.
The rosy projections that the administration points to, ones of hearty future surpluses, imply that the tax cuts that Bush wants to be made permanent will actually disappear. The president, of course, wants to keep talking the rhetoric of the small-government crusader, and that means low taxes. I support the reforms that he wishes to undertake, such as eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax and reducing taxes on capital income (i.e. bank interest and the like). But for the love of the children, WE HAVE TO CUT SPENDING. Of course, there are plenty more people saying the same thing, but no one wants to listen. “The days of [the government] being everything to everybody are quickly coming to a close,” Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) said. Hallelujah. One of them sees the light.
It’s pretty straightforward. You can’t spend more than you make forever. It’s pretty clear that in the time that our generation holds political power, America’s fate is going to be decided. Not to sound like a complete lunatic, but the US could be a Third World country in our lifetimes. Let’s paint a picture, shall we? It’s somewhere around 2035. Yearly revenues, after a number of tax increases, are roughly $5 trillion, but spending has reached $8 trillion, almost entirely composed of Social Security and Medicare benefits. Foreign governments and investors are no longer willing to lend Washington more money to feed its spending binge, wondering if it might soon default on existing loans. Congress and the president fear for their lives (both figuratively and literally), frightened by a public incensed by both 60% tax rates and talk of all their government benefits being cut off. In response, they pass a law that abolishes the Federal Reserve and orders the U.S. Treasury to simply start printing money to cover the gap. As any economist worth their salt would tell you, this creates inflation.
Prices and interest rates immediately skyrocket. The cost of everything doubles virtually overnight — and keeps on rising. Credit card interest rates jump first to 30%, then 50%, then 100% before the banks decide to deactivate them. Faced with a dollar losing value by the day, people start hoarding everything they can. The lucky ones are able to empty out their bank accounts and convert whatever money they have left into Canadian or European currency. The stock market crashes, losing virtually all of its value before bolting its doors. State and municipal governments declare bankruptcy and shut down, unable to pay their bills. Banks are forced to raid their customers’ accounts to pay off their debts before they, too, close. The populace, surrounded by an economy imploding on itself, suddenly has to wonder about where it’s going to buy food tomorrow and whether they’ll have heat for the night.
You don’t think it could happen here? Look at Germany, circa 1922. The exact same thing occurred when they couldn’t meet pay their WWI reparations to France. This was an advanced, industrialized nation that was decimated by hyperinflation. Conditions became so horrible that they began to listen to the only man who spoke of restoring their nation to its former glory — a Bavarian politician and writer named Adolf Hitler. Indeed, given the gutless and entitlement-ridden course that our nation is traveling, destruction almost seems like a harsh inevitability. We have to END these programs before their incredible weight crushes us all. The government is not to be your mother. It should not do what you are capable of taking care of for yourself. Most importantly, Washington’s money does not come out of thin air. We’re quickly approaching the point where fiscal libertarianism is not a choice, but a requirement.
I’m Bryan Grady and I approved this message. Okay, manifesto done. Don’t kill me.
