The more I follow the “debate” about President Barack Obama’s “stimulus” package and his plans for the U.S. economy, the more I realize that most people are missing the fundamental issues. While I wish the public debate really was about the efficacy of borrowing a trillion dollars and spending the money willy-nilly, in truth the issue is much, much deeper.
Most commentators I have read are treating the “stimulus” as a mechanism through which the government is able to “get money into the hands of consumers” in order to cover a supposed “large hole” in consumer spending until the economy “recovers.” Thus, according to this reasoning, Obama simply is throwing out a lifeline to people who really can use the money.
However, that is not what is happening, and the sooner we understand what the government is doing, the sooner we can speak out against it. I am going to make a statement that will seem almost conspiratorial in nature, and I am decidedly not a conspiracy theorist. Nonetheless, I am going to say it: there will be no recovery, and the government is going to make sure that it does not happen.
Yes, I know this seems counterintuitive. Everyone supposedly knows that the politicians in power want a strong economy so they can get credit for it. Sorry, people, but that is not how politicians operate.
First, no politician–no president, senator, representative, or judge–can “provide prosperity.” At best, they can help create a playing field in which the participants in an economy can face consistent laws, protection of property rights, enforcement of contracts, and the other things that entrepreneurs and business owners need to create a prosperous economy. In other words, the “positive” role that legislators can play is largely negative in practice; it is those things that legislators and others do not do that often help to determine whether or not a nation’s economy will be prosperous.
Second, politicians love to be seen as doing something. Look at the press treatment given to those members of Congress who have voted against the “stimulus” and to those few governors who have said they won’t take the cash. (The editorial page of the New York Times seems to be “Stimulus Promotion Central,” and anyone who opposes this legislation is portrayed either as evil or just plain stupid.)
Third, and most important, politicians do not gain votes by doing nothing for their constituents. A politician who stands before voters and declares, “I have not voted to send you money, but instead voted to create an arena in which entrepreneurs and business owners can help create a stronger economy without government largess,” is not a politician who is going to win an election.
Politicians cannot help individuals who are able to find work in a recovering economy. However, if an economy consistently has 10-15 percent unemployment and people have to ask politicians for lots of favors, especially when it comes to employment, that presents a wonderful opportunity for those in power.
Indeed, I believe that this administration plans to institutionalize double-digit unemployment and turn the United States into a European-style social-welfare system in which unemployment is high and the economy grows slowly at best, a condition that has been called “Eurosclerosis.” To those who claim Americans will not put up with this state of affairs, I remind readers that during the New Deal, Franklin Roosevelt and his political allies won election after election despite high unemployment and slow growth. A recent Thomas Friedman column approvingly lays the new roadmap to this brave, new economy.
From the new financial restrictions to new draconian environmental policies, the government clearly is going to stand in the way of new economic growth. The “green jobs” path to greater employment is just a myth. For every new “green job” created, many other sources of employment are destroyed.
Right now, the government is talking recovery. A year from now people will be trying to survive, and it always is easier to survive when those in power are on your side.
