According to a Newsweek article written by Jon Meacham and Evan Thomas. Well if we weren’t before, we certainly are now with Porkulus being passed. Interestingly the Dow takes a dive. We still need to fight this thing as it goes to conference. Meacham and Thomas say that we need to acknowledge the reality of our current situation.
If we fail to acknowledge the reality of the growing role of government in the economy, insisting instead on fighting 21st-century wars with 20th-century terms and tactics, then we are doomed to a fractious and unedifying debate. The sooner we understand where we truly stand, the sooner we can think more clearly about how to use government in today’s world.
So basically, stop using the word socialism because that is so passe. It is so divisive. It isn’t productive. Let’s find different words. Just grow up and realize that only government can solve the problem we face. I mean we should be thankful that the government “is going to try things that we’ve never tried before.”
No we’re not becoming socialist, no that isn’t helpful – the helpful comparison is that we are becoming French! That sounds so much better. Meacham and Thomas continue…
All of this is unfolding in an economy that can no longer be understood, even in passing, as the Great Society vs. the Gipper. Whether we like it or not—or even whether many people have thought much about it or not—the numbers clearly suggest that we are headed in a more European direction. A decade ago U.S. government spending was 34.3 percent of GDP, compared with 48.2 percent in the euro zone—a roughly 14-point gap, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In 2010 U.S. spending is expected to be 39.9 percent of GDP, compared with 47.1 percent in the euro zone—a gap of less than 8 points. As entitlement spending rises over the next decade, we will become even more French.
Pourquoi serait-il vouloir être français? I guess because the French are doing so well, let’s just resign ourselves to this. Besides it’s Bush’s fault, as they write, “for the man who laid the foundations for the world Obama now rules is George W. Bush, who moved to bail out the financial sector last autumn with $700 billion.” Let’s forget the fact that Obama voted for this, and what this President Bush have to do with the current Spendulus bill? Nothing. This is a Democrat baby. In their minds (along with the White House and Congress) to get out of this mess is more government.
Now comes the reckoning. The answer may indeed be more government. In the short run, since neither consumers nor business is likely to do it, the government will have to stimulate the economy. And in the long run, an aging population and global warming and higher energy costs will demand more government taxing and spending. The catch is that more government intrusion in the economy will almost surely limit growth (as it has in Europe, where a big welfare state has caused chronic high unemployment). Growth has always been America’s birthright and saving grace.
So it’s the answer, but it will limit growth, but growth is what we need. Huh? No! You can’t spend your way out of a recession. Stimulus plans like this simply don’t work. Government growth will not help us. Why should we not just resign ourselves to socialism becoming more like France? Simple. It just doesn’t work.