Burgeoning social programs, massive injections of funds into work programs, and nationalist calls for a rallying around a common purpose: rebuilding America. These three components highlight the recovery of 2009-10 in much the same manner that they did in the New Deal, the extensive reconstruction of the American economy after the Great Depression.
John B has expressed on several occasions the ways in which President Obama's programs mirror the New Deal in both aim and execution, but suddenly there's trouble afoot. The same ideals that crowned the policies of FDR now threaten to nurture the greatest threat to our Democracy since the election of the president himself: the deficit.
You cannot turn on the news anymore without hearing some talking head comment about the ballooning deficit. In their defense, the prospect seems attractive: ballooning debts and deficits are no way to run a business so why should America be exempt from the rules of the market? When are lenders just going to quit lending, sensing that there is no end in sight? Surely large swaths of the global community will see us as a joke and our national identity will suffer, right?
The problem is that, according to an article by Paul Krugman in the NY Times, the deficit and national debt are far less serious problems then we are being lead to believe. I admit, even I was concerned with the concept until I read Krugman's outlook (he likens current tactics to the kind of fear-mongering that lead us into Iraq).
Now, it's not my job to sit here and point out where the right fails like a glorified (?) watchdog. Shoring up national debts and relinquishing ourselves from the grasp of the Chinese economy sounds like a perfectly respectable thing to do. However, the constantly repeated talking points and misinformation of the political right in this country is clearly in full swing on this matter, convincing average Americans that the goal posts of health insurance (!) reform and job creation are not nearly as important as "fiscal responsibility", now a concrete pillar of the Republican line.
Yet we do not challenge it. The deficit was never in question when President Bush manufactured consent for two wars, the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, and tax cuts to the wealthiest 2% but when Obama's well-vetted programs (whose recommendation come from the godfather John Maynard Keynes himself) threaten to temporarily increase government spending en route to a reduction in the national debt, it's time to rally that Tea Party "populism".
Some of you may think that you can't make a difference on the matter, but when "experts" are out there claiming that a necessary run of deficit spending is endangering our standing as a nation, it is time to put out what word we can and convince whoever may read our words that they are being lied to. This stands to become a big issue in the coming election, which means its our time to be citizens.
Write as you see fit, agree or disagree, and remember that America was founded on the open forum, the polis, of the printed word.
1 comment:
The press coverage and conservative/tea party response toward the deficit are wrong on SO MANY levels, but as I see it two things really stand out.
1) 70% of the national debt was acquired under Ronald Reagan and the two Bushes. Given that, it should be obvious to everyone that cutting taxes as a way to balance the budget has been an abject failure. It should also be apparent that Republicans give only lip service to deficit reduction. If they meant it they've had most of the last 30 years to do it.
2) BECAUSE Republican policies in regards fiscal management are such an unqualified disaster it becomes difficult to undertake stimulus spending on the level that is truly required. If every penny of discretionary spending were removed from next years budget including all military spending the budget still wouldn't balance! Conservatives know this, they can at least manage to add and subtract. For an education on how all this works go to www.pbs.org/moyers/jornal/01152010/profile.html . Thomas Frank lays out a very convincing case for Conservatism as deliberately preying on the short memories of Americans. It's worth a look.
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