I would be interested in reader comments to John Stossel’s piece in Townhall. It represents Mr. Stossel’s version of the State of The Union and is shown below.
Does Mr. Stossel see the problem? Is he crazy? What other thoughts might you have?
President Obama fulfilled his constitutional duty and gave his report on the state of the union last night. Here’s mine:
We’re in deep trouble.
You know why. Our debt has passed $14 trillion, and yet our current spending plans will make that worse. The U.S. debt will reach Greek levels in just 10 years.
But do not despair. If we make reasonable cuts to what government spends, our economy can grow us out of our debt. Cutting doesn’t just make economic sense, it is also the moral thing to do. Henry David Thoreau had it right when he “accepted(ed) the motto … that government is best which governs least.”
So what should we get rid of?
We start by closing the Department of Education, which saves $100 billion a year. Education ought to be in the free market. It’s insane to take money from states only to launder it through Washington and then return it to states.
Next, we should close the Department of Housing and Urban Development: $41 billion. We had plenty of housing in America before a department was created. Let’s get government out of that business.
Then we eliminate the Commerce Department: $9 billion. A government that can’t count the votes accurately should not try to negotiate trade. Trade should be free. Free trade creates prosperity. And since trade should be free, we should eliminate all corporate welfare and all subsidies. That means: agriculture subsidies, green energy subsidies, ethanol subsidies and subsidies for public broadcasting. None of these is needed.
I propose selling Amtrak. Taxpayers will save money, and riders will get better service. Why is government in the transportation business? Let’s have private companies compete to run the trains.
And we must finally stop one of the biggest assaults on freedom and our pocketbook, the war on drugs. The drug war is really a war on our own people. The ends do not justify the means.
Now the biggest cuts. Republicans propose to cut discretionary nonmilitary spending. Good. But why stop there? That’s only 15 percent of our budget. We must cut more. That means cutting Medicare, Social Security and the military.
I know. Medicare and Social Security are popular, but they are unsustainable. We must privatize Social Security and slowly replace Medicare with vouchers.
And that brings me to Obamacare. The only way to cut costs and still have medical innovation is to free the market. So I propose that we repeal Obamacare immediately. Then we must do more: We must repeal all government interference in the medical and insurance industries, including licensing. All that impedes competition.
Now, military spending. Do you recall what candidate Obama said about the war in Iraq?
“I will bring this war to an end in 2009. So don’t be confused.”
But I am confused. We’re two years past 2009, but we still have 48,000 troops in Iraq. We must shrink the military’s mission to truly national defense. That means pulling our troops out of Germany, Japan, Italy and dozens of other countries. America cannot and should not try to police the entire world. We can’t afford it, and it’s not right.
Those cuts will put America on the road to solvency. But that’s not enough. We also need economic growth.
Our growth has stalled because millions of pages of regulations make businesses too fearful to invest. Entrepreneurs don’t know what the rules — or taxes — will be tomorrow. This discourages hiring.
All destructive laws must go. I again propose the Stossel Rule: For every new law passed, we must repeal two old ones.
We need to progress to an America that cherishes individual freedom. That means a government limited by the Constitution, one that protects our shores and our persons but otherwise stays out of our way. We should take seriously the words of another president, Thomas Jefferson, and embrace “a wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned — this is the sum of good government.”
That’s my State of the Union address.
The new civility be damned. Mr. Stossel is right on target. He could also have drawn a bead on a number of regulatory agencies and commissions like EPA, OSHA, CPSC which now serve mainly to make sure that the benefits of productivity gains rarely accrue to the businessmen, shareholders and employees who create them.
The cuts must be more than reasonable, they must be painful. Everyone’s OX will get gored.
Across the board, drop spending 7% every year for 7 years. That brings us into line with our current tax intake. Secondly, the tax base will need broadened, meaning that unless one is destitute, you will pay something. Everyone needs a dog in the fight. That increase in revenue must go towards paying down the national debt and thereby reducing our interest payments, further relieving pressure on the budget.
The only two questions:
1) do we have the maturity
2) is it too late
Stossel’s State of the Union suits me. But we know it’s not going to happen by the hands of politicians. We may have to rely on financial collapse to get the job done.
As the Niall Ferguson has pointed out, empires fall for economic reasons. It is probably right that the US make military cuts–I believe that the military is one of the few constitutionally legitimate expenditures of the Federal government. But if we don’t make the necessary cuts, then hyperinflation will force the recall of the military in any case–because our forces will not be able to afford anywhere if the world stops accepting our currency! But I believe that the world will experience great suffering when the US leaves a power vacuum in the world. Who knows which thugs will fill it?
I have been hearing warnings about government deficits and indebtness for as long as I have been politically aware. While I agree with Mr. Stossel’s point of view, I do not expect to see a return limited government in my lifetime.