The consensus on the left today is that they have finally gotten the man they thought they were voting for in 2008. Barack Obama’s Second Inaugural speech was free of the post-partisan eyewash that was a staple of his first presidential campaign. The speech presented him as he is, a liberal ideologue that has little respect for opposing views and no interest in compromising on issues he cares about, like the budget. This was no surprise to conservatives who have never been deluded by the conceit that Obama was above ideology. But it does encourage liberals to believe that, as some are saying, this administration was on the verge of reversing the achievements of the Ronald Reagan era. Listen closely to MSNBC and CNN and you can almost hear the strains of “Happy Days Are Here Again,” as left-wing talkers envision the return of an era in which a permanent Democratic majority would ensure that America was on a permanent long march to a liberal utopia that the right was helpless to halt.
Such triumphalism is almost forgivable on Inauguration Day. But even if we take the president at his word, there is a big difference between our current situation and the world prior to 1981, when the left never doubted that their project would be derailed. Liberalism may be feeling its oats today, but looming over the inaugural parties is the fact that it cannot pay the bill for the party.
While the president paid some lip service to fiscal realities yesterday, the overall tone was one that sought to rekindle confidence in the idea of a liberal narrative which depicts the country on an inexorable path to greater equality as well as more government services to do good. While we should all applaud the idea of equality, which is, as the president notes, integral to our identity as a nation, the attempt to channel the confidence of mid-19th century American liberalism in the early 21st century is bound to be a bust.
Americans came to accept in the 1980s and ’90s that the welfare state had failed to help the poor and was sinking the country in a moral and fiscal morass. But the problem for resurgent liberalism in 2013 is not just that most Americans already know that big government isn’t the answer to every problem, but that we are also aware that we haven’t the money to pay for the existing entitlements that Washington has promised, let alone any new ones.
President Obama can speak as if the cost of his new health care entitlement will not make it even harder to keep the debt from spiraling out of control and even promise more new costly projects. He can pretend that Medicare and Social Security must remain unchanged without bankrupting the country. He can also ignore the fact that the size not just of the federal government but also of local and state governments is fiscally unsustainable. But reality has a way of interfering with even the sweetest liberal fantasies.
Like it or not, liberalism must now face the problem of how to pay the bill for its big-government agenda. That was something that never occurred to Americans in the heyday of liberal political ascendance from the 1930s to the 1960s, as the thought of such limits was not imaginable. But there is no evading the fact that unless entitlements are reformed the whole system will collapse sometime in the coming decades. Liberals never used to worry about paying for their schemes, but now they must.
That is a problem that responsible politicians are struggling with these days, but it is not one that seems to interest the president very much. He prefers to live in a fantasy world in which Washington can go on taxing and spending with impunity and words like deficit and debt are treated as mere details.
Yesterday was an escape from reality for liberals. Let’s hope they and the president enjoyed it. In the real world in which we live the president’s vision of resurgent liberalism leads only to a North American version of Greece.
Sadly, America is so incredibly strong thanks to over two centuries of individual innovation and productivity, plus the incredible benefits bestowed by our Constitution and American values, that Obama and the Democrats will be able to squeeze the country dry for decades to come. Obama is very very smart. He knows that one day the bill will come due. But he is much smarter than you give him credit for. He can defer that day of reckoning for a long time (a compliant Fed will help–amazing what easy money can do), while he consolidates power. He will not drive the country "off a cliff." That would be almost impossible for anyone to do. Nor does he want to. What he wants is immortality and control. He will simply release his squeeze on the country's private parts enough to keep things going.
(continued) He does not want us to become Greece. He has no power if we become Greece. For sure our standard of living will decline (or won't be as high as it can and should be) as will our liberty, but for him the key is power and glory. He will keep amassing power, getting the entire country economically and, most important, psychologically dependent, but he is not so stupid as to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. It will still lay some, and he will decide who gets them.
You're forgetting the part that we are running our of rich people to steal from to pay for the sick lame and the lazy.
Tobin is wrong only about one thing: most liberals I know are not the least bit worried about how to pay for their schemes. Tax the “rich.” Tax the “big corporations.” Tax soda pop. Tax “carbon use.” Tax commercial real estate. Tax crossing the George Washington Bridge. Borrow from China. Print more money. But whatever you do, don’t even think about cutting anything — except for defense, of course.
I don’t know how or why guys like Tobin don’t get this: it’s not just Obama or Chuck Schumer. They are set to go full bore for a generation of even higher govt. spending because the constituents who elected them want it — indeed, refuse to accept any cuts, anywhere, anytime. Look at California and Illinois where you’d think the problem might have sunk in, but it hasn’t. And that’s at the state level where budgets have to be balanced (at least on paper). At the federal level, where the printing press is at hand and taxing power virtually unlimited?
Tax only the "rich," that is singles/marrieds with incomes greater than $200K/$250K per year, don't touch a single hair on the heads of the "non-rich," or the "middle class," that is singles/marrieds with incomes less than $200K/$250 per year, because it is the "rich" who aren't paying their "fair share." That's Obama's view of how it should be, and it sells so well to the 98%. Ostensibly it's all about how much we need to raise in revenue through taxes and how to go about it, but I thing there is another subtext, that being "redistribution" of wealth as a goal in and of itself.
Europe pays for its welfare state with a VAT. We will soon as well.
A VAT would add 25% at least to a new CAR, not to mention EVERYTHING else that would go up in price. Think coffee pots, kids braces, lawn mowers etc. nPersonal income would take a huge DIVE and another recession would happen.
Right. it will be a disaster, just as it is in Europe. But it is the next logical step in converting the US into a European-Style Welfare State, which is the now plainly stated goal of Obama. He has us on the path to socialized medicine, and a VAT can not be far behind. n nIt will be sold exactly the same way ObamaCare was: We are the only advanced industrialized country without it. He will get public support for it by eliminating federal income tax on the first say, $100,000 of income. n n n
What VAT does is take away a little money (profit) from every single transaction in the economy. It's like reducing the lubrication (increasing the friction) at every point in a large machine. Inevitably, the machine slows down. n nConsidering the difficulty we already have maintaining a robust economy – or even an economy better than feeble – this is exactly what we don't need.
Right. We haven't needed anything Obama has done from cash-for-clunkers to the homebuyer tax credit to the Stimulus to Dodd-Frank to ObamaCare to the VAT I fear and predict.
No they pay what they can afford to pay and get what they can afford to get. They don't have access to the health care if they don't have money and their public services suck. I don't know if you read the news often but every government in Europe has not only been talking but actually cutting services and pensions. When you read about austerity that is what it means.
nI find it funny that the media is just catching up now, a lot of us already knew what Obama was before he was re-elected into office.
which media?
The Lame Stream Media, the media that fawns allover Obama.
I don't know what "media" you're talking about….the 98% of the leftist media is crowing over the right's failure to gain traction…they won't look in to vote rigging, fraud etc….they are not interested at the moment….however, when they lose income over lack of subscribers and/or viewers they might pay a bit of a attention…truly the stupidest people on the planet are the American media!!
The Media is in bed with the left and has no credibility.
I think it is more about the truly uneducated, moronic college grads the progressive have churned out since the l960's…they are truly the most uneducated people on the planet as Fox has proved,among others, for decades. Their are simple, dumb as posts and when reality hits them in the face they are so aggrieved! And note another critical factor: the progressives are far more wealthy than the conservatives and they honestly believe as a faith that they know what is best for you and me…but, since they're rich, they don't have to follow the rules! 32ox sodas or guns…they get them! To you and me, the media does not have credibility…but we have intelligence and smarts..they don't!
I heard a lot of what WE have to do FOR the government. Oddly I didn't heard much what the government has planned for any of us though.
Although the party is over for big government there is a lot a good president and Congress could do to increase American income like for instance scrapping most regulation of industry, over-turning unreasonable environmental restrictions and reinstating the rule of law in labor relations and ensuring that employers have reasonable rights to fire non-performing employees. In Obama's position I would go as far as I could down these roads to increase overall national income to enable government-funded programs to continue. I would place a lot more incentive in the path of the unemployed and ensure that a job was far and away their best option. nGreg Byrne Wantirna South Vic Australia
We shouldn't be doing anything "for the government", if, by the government, we mean the Federal machine. That would be like building a robot and making sure it poops and wears diapers, so we can feel like little girls with Betsie Wetsy. If we handed the remote control to the creature, we may have been clever scientists but otherwise, we are just plain naive little children. And guess what…that is exactly what we are. Why should we be surprised if R2D2 steps out on the town with our credit card, to pursue a tingle up his leg he calls sentience. How sapient are we when we get the card statement and pay the bill without cutting up the card? People, if we are looking for statesmen and women of discernment, the creature culture is the wrong place to look. We now have a "think tank" at Westpoint studying and reporting how the government can define a whole new class of criminals, well… because, Dr. Victor Frankenstein exposed himself to identity theft. We need to wake up from this horror story nightmare. What does the government have "planned for us?" Is that really the helpful question?
From "New Deal or Raw Deal" by Burton W. Folsom, Jr.: n n"Unemployment lines, for example, were long and steadily lengthening during Roosevelt's second. nterm. From November 1937 to August 1939, monthly unemployment numbers always ranged from 17 to 21 percent—the highest in U.S. history except for Roosevelt's first term, one year in Hoover's presidency, and one year in the 1890s." n n"After almost two full terms of Roosevelt and the New Deal, here are Morgenthau s startling nwords—his confession—spoken candidly before his fellow Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee: n n'We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong.. , somebody else can have my job, I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job.' n n"I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises…. I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started.,.. And an enormous debt to boot!' n n"In these words, Morgenthau summarized a decade of disaster, especially during the years Roosevelt was in power." n nComment: FDR's unemployment numbers were 2 times worse than Obama's (of course the calculation rules have changed since FDR was President). What did people do about it then? Answer: Elected him to a third term and sucked it up!
The left does not care about paying any bills. All they want is to stay in power. If massive FREE STUFF to the masses is what keeps them in POWER they will DO it. nObamaCare is NOT free, somebody has got to pay for it somewhere. But the low information people who pay ZERO taxes will NEVER care how much someone ELSE has to pay, they ain't paying. nIn 2016 the D's will run another FREE govt STUFF candidate and the FREE STUFF army will vote en mass for more FREE STUFF and tax the rich. nWhen 20 Million + people are added to Medicaid states ALL over will be FORCED to RAISE income TAXES to PAY for this new deluge of people. The feds will not pay forever. nSitting on your sofa and napping in the hammock while Other Peoples $ pay for your life is what we have today. WHY WORK when the freebies are so easy to get? nUnless R's have a valid reason for working that the low info people will respond to America has a nation is burnt toast, its only a matter of time.
Do you think Obama and Democrats really care this Nation is getting getting poorer and deeper in debt every day and the quality of life is decreasing and the misery index is increasing? n nThe more that flee blue States like Calif. the more Control and Democrat voters the Democrats have in the State. With Democrats it not about the Citizens Welfare, Jobs, Living standards, or the future of this Nation or State, it is about Power, Control and the Democrat party! n nIf reducing Calif. and this Nation to a suburb of Mexico and this Nation to a bankrupt Third World Slum is necessary to accomplish their goal that is a price they are more than willing to pay. n nNormal people thinks no one would be diabolic and sick enough to purposely use policies to reduce the Nation and its population to a state of Poverty, Crime, Misery and Corruption, but you would be wrong! n nThat is exactly where the Democrats are taking this Nation! n nThe more Democrats can decrease Education achievement, Reasoning ability, Punish success, Reward failure and increase the Liberal idealogy, Poverty, Welfare and the Entitlement mentality the more Democrat voters they make and the closer they get to a Third World Socialist Food Stamp Paradise controlled Lock, Stock and Barrel by the Democrat party! n nThe last piece to achieve their goals is nearly in place. Amnesty for the 12 to 30 million criminals and uneducated invading Illegal Aliens. That with chain Immigration for the ones still left in Mexico and Latin American and with a Prolific breeding rate will assure Red States are turned blue and a Democrat majority forever with a Third World Slum here of Crime, Corruption, Poverty and Misery modeled on Mexico and controlled by the Socialist/Democrat party of Northern Mexico! n nIt is all about Power, Control and the Democrat party and how to use lies, false compassion, poverty and dependency to enslave a free people and a great Nation!
When conservatives pay for the unfunded wars!
Do you think Obama and Democrats really care this Nation is getting getting poorer and deeper in debt every day and the quality of life is decreasing and the misery index is increasing?
Liberals will never accept the fiscal responsibility that must one day come after decades of big government boondoggles. They will drive this train right off the tracks knowing full well that that their enablers in big media will help them blame it on Republicans. n n
They are saving the “Pay the bills” fight for when a Republican is in office – Remember their arguments on Iraq, now they are in power, it no longer matters…