Government is stealing our future prosperity
Inevitably, excessive government spending and debt must be paid back – and it will be in the form of higher taxes and social spending cuts.
With excessive spending and debt, the US government is inflating growth and lowering living standards – in short, politicians are stealing our collective future prosperity. The U.S. is at an economic tipping point, threatened by unsustainable public debt and deficit spending, which will lead to below-potential real GDP growth when the spending bubble bursts.
Currently, we are transitioning from illusionary economic growth, fuelled by $11 trillion in excessive fiscal spending and massive monetary liquidity, to long-term economic decline. The eye-watering debt hangs over us like the Sword of Damocles.
Inevitably, government spending and debt must be paid back – and it will be in the form of higher taxes and social spending cuts. There is no genie in this lamp to conjure money out of thin air. Higher taxes and spending will lead to lower growth and living standards. The U.S. government has become the Artful Dodger, picking the pockets of its citizens just as Dickens’s boy thief did in Oliver Twist. The only difference is that the Artful Dodger didn’t steal from children not yet born.
The Democrats assume the 'rich' will be able to pay sufficient taxes to pay for all their give-aways that are similar to the EU and other countries that have 'free' healthcare and other public benefits. The trouble is, there isn't enough money among the rich for all the give-aways. It means they will have to start taxing the middle c;lass at levels previously unheard of in the US. Tax rates of 40% won't be rare, they will be the base! As a result, initiative and other production-leveraging efforts will gradually disappear. It will be a vicious spiral down.
While the Democrats think it's cruel to compel people to work rather than sit around and collect free benefits, it's a very bad policy if you want a strong economy. A strong economy comes from strong people, not people on welfare or 'guaranteed' income. Nothing in life is guaranteed; we all have to work to survive in one way or another.
It's time to start eliminating the debt by encouraging reinvestment in the US, not with give-aways but with a set of intelligent policies and more limited government. It's time to redistribute government, to the states. Reduce the size of the bureaucracy in the Beltway; cut regulations, and free-up initiative (and the opportunity to fail, and learn).