“We can’t cut our way to prosperity.”
That’s President Obama, speaking of his “balanced approach” of tax hikes coupled to not a goddamn thing. But does he think we can tax our way to prosperity? Apparently:
President Obama this morning pocketed the Republican concessions on tax hikes included in the Fiscal Cliff deal and promised that it was only the beginning of new taxation to be assessed on the American people.
That’s Keith Koffler. Here’s Jim Pethokoukis:
So adding it all up, it would seem the president’s second term goal is for roughly $2 trillion in new taxes. We’re only one-third of the way there.
It’s Obama’s party. We just get to pay for it.
CLUE: Yes, I know Obama isn’t actually interested in prosperity. He’s interested in the century-long vile prog goal of ever-increasing statism. Well played, Mr. President. Well played.
Strictly speaking, he’s right. We can’t cut our way to prosperity. There’s too many people who are too dependent on government transfer payments or expenditures, so any cut to the existing structure will automatically take a chunk out of the economy. Ditto for taxes–raising tax rates under the current system to close the deficit will almost certainly take a chunk out of the economy.
It’s regulations, regulations, regulations that have to be cut; followed by tax reform and entitlement reform. That’s the only way.
Obama’s plan is closer to taxing, borrowing and spending our way to prosperity. You’d be more successful trying to drink your way to sobriety.
Obama is interested in “prosperity”: he wants the government to be prosperous. What that means for We the People, however, is less and less power to effect our own prosperity. When the government becomes more “prosperous” there is no trickle down to ordinary citizens who apart from voting — when they do — operate outside the government’s activities. What there is is an increasing concentration of power in the hands of the few who do operate within governmental institutions and those institutions in the private sector that have embedded themselves with government. So instead of talking about a wealth/income gap, we ought to be talking about the power gap between our elected and un-elected officials at all levels of government, and We the People, and what to do about it.
Who is “We?”
Question for Uncle Barry: Can America prosper without you?
This statement by Obama is argueably the most foolish thing I have ever heard a U.S. president say. We are already a prosperous nation. We got here by borrowing .42 cents of every dollar we spent. Any nation can become prosperous if they can borrow like we can. What does he mean, “Can’t cut our way to prosperity.”? We have to pay for the prosperity we already have! If we don’t cut the debt we have piled up, we will go bankrupt. How’s that for prosperity? We are now over 100% of debt to gdp. I am now for the first time aware that Obama has an agenda that is ludicrous. And yet the pundits just go on patting him on the back. Go figure?