Unlike Paul Krugman, another economist who writes a column for a publication only slightly less prestigious than this one, I make a conscious effort – for various reasons – to keep this column as politics-free as possible. If you would like an idea of which way Krugman leans, when I met him a few years ago, I discovered that simply mentioning the term “Republicans” can caused him to practically froth at the mouth in a paroxysm of anger.
But given this week’s topic, I’m afraid I’m going to have to break my vow to certain extent. And before we proceed, just let me make clear that I pledge no allegiance to either of the United States’s major political parties.
A couple weeks back, over 750 Tax Day tea parties took place across the United States, ostensibly in response the “out-of-control spending” by the Obama administration. Granted, some folks have been consistently against big spending/big government, but the first thing that came to my mind was, “Where were all these people when the Bush administration was in the process of doubling the gross national federal debt?”
And I am also dubious of the claim that this was a nonpartisan “grassroots” movement, particularly given the organizations and media outlets in support of and at least partially behind these shindigs. All in all, the whole thing smacks of partisan politics, and that these gatherings ended up being, for the most part, not anti-profligate government spending rallies, but instead, anti-Obama rallies.
Let’s put a few things in perspective. No matter how you measure it, yes, the federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2009 is indeed an all-time high – estimates now put it at a eye-popping $1.8 trillion! But do note, this astronomical figure isn’t only the result of spending by the current administration, but also partially a product of the last president’s budget. Keep in mind, it was under Bush the Younger that the bailout boondoggle got under way.
And do you really believe that if McCain had been elected president, no additional stimulus would have been proposed? It might also be noted that until this most recent deficit, Ronald Reagan, the hero of many of the party-goers, presided over the fourth-largest budget deficit as a proportion of GDP since World War II.
Again, most of the participants and proponents/defenders of the demonstrations emphasize that most of the protest has to do with government spending, but there is an obvious connection to taxes. It might come as a surprise that, relative to most other major countries and even our own past, we are presently a low-tax country.
Hey, like pretty much everyone else, I don’t like paying taxes, but we all know the old saw about them and death. Right? To me, the most unfortunate aspect of the recent economic crisis is that it delays the government from focusing on the real problem, the silver tsunami – the impending tidal wave of some $40 to $50 trillion bearing down on us, as the baby boomer generation begins to retire.
Perhaps this brief discourse has not assuaged your anger and you are still as mad as heck and not going to take it anymore. Well, if that’s the case, let me suggest a quaint little country in the Horn of Africa where there are no taxes because there is no actual government to collect them. Oh, and if Johnny Depp is part of the “welcoming committee” that boards your ship as it courses through the Indian Ocean, if you get a chance, tell him I said, “Argh!”
