Suicidal Government?
If you are concerned about the future of America, especially its economic future, Robert Samuelson has a “must read” column in the editorial pages of today’s Washington Post. The column begins this way:
“We in America have created suicidal government; the threatened federal shutdown and stubborn budget deficits are but symptoms. By suicidal, I mean that government has promised more than it can realistically deliver and, as a result, repeatedly disappoints by providing less than people expect or jeopardizing what they already have. But government can’t easily correct its excesses, because Americans depend on it for so much that any effort to change the status arouses a firestorm of opposition that virtually ensures defeat. Government’s very expansion has brought it into disrepute, paralyzed politics and impeded it from acting in the national interest.”
Samuelson continues by explaining just how dependent Americans are on government, writing that almost half receive at least one federal benefits, e.g., Social Security, food stamps, etc. Add-in tax breaks. e.g., mortgage interest deduction, and the number of people dependent on the federal government grows to almost 3/4 of all Americans. He concludes the column explaining just why government can be suicidal, writing:
“Government is suicidal because it breeds expectations that cannot be met. All the partisan skirmishing over who gets credit for averting a shutdown misses the larger issue: whether we can restore government as an instrument of progress or whether it remains — as it is now — a threat.”