Biz Leaders: Washington Is The Real Threat To The Economy

It’s not just us who think this way anymore.

Consensus may be hard to find in Washington these days, but many corporate executives and economists seem to agree on one point: the biggest risk to the world’s largest economy may be its own elected representatives.

There is an emerging school of thought among many activists that I know which posits that the real battle is no longer party based at all. What we are dealing with is a “DC vs The Rest Of Us” scenario.

While the rest of the country has suffered from an economy that Washington is forever promising to fix, income and wealth are surging among the federal government types in and around the Beltway. How? They just get to make things up for themselves that the rest of us have to pay for.

While I am not wholly dismissive of the idea of framing the debate this way as a sound strategic move, I do feel it has some problems.

First, it gives the free spenders somewhat of a pass. As the narrative is currently constructed, “They’re all the same!” means that the people who are constantly working for higher taxes are the same as those who fight to rein in spending (few as they may be). It’s the spending problem that led to the revenue problem, not vice-versa.

Second, it shifts some blame away from the electorate. After all, the idiots in Washington we’re all mad at were sent there by “The Rest Of Us”.

Ultimately the fix is, as always, in the US Constitution: vote the bastards out.

No, it’s not easy but necessary undertakings often aren’t.