Temporary Tax Gimmicks Damage America – We Must have a Budget
Democracy and Power 107: Counting votes
Successful … politicians are insecure and intimidated men. They advance politically only as they placate, appease, bribe, seduce, bamboozle or otherwise manage to manipulate the demanding and threatening elements in their constituencies.
– Walter Lippmann (1889-1974), American Journalist and Author
In a democracy, the politician must favorably influence the majority of their voting constituents. In all political decisions, the politician calculates how many votes are gained by voting-money spent on interest groups versus how many votes are lost.
Temporary Tax Gimmicks Damage America – We Must have a Budget
Congress and the President have fled DC. In their haste to leave the city, they employed a procedural gimmick by agreeing to no motions and no debate. Hence, the payroll tax-cut has been extended for two months.
Great! However, the real gimmick is the payroll tax-cut. It was pure fraud on the American voter, and retards economic grow. In truth, the payroll debate was a political contest to buy votes. A game played by the President, Congress, Republicans and Democrats.
The fraud: temporary infusion of money to Americans does not stimulate sustainable recoveries. John Taylor of Stanford University writes in the Wall Street Journal:
Like the one-time rebate of 2001, the temporary tax cut of 2008, the cash-for-clunkers and stimulus payments of 2009, or similar policies tried back in the 1970s, these temporary policies consistently fail to stimulate sustainable recoveries. And as this history shows, extending the temporary reduction from two months to six months or even to 12 months would be at best a marginal improvement.
The DC politicians must halt the despicable jousting for political advantage and make vital, long-term decisions. Again Taylor writes:
But the policies are worse than doing nothing at all. Rather than stimulate the economy, they hold the economy back by creating policy unpredictability and by distracting Washington from crucial long-term reforms that are key to restoring economic growth and creating jobs.
Congress and the President are immoral stewards of fiscal and tax policy. The Senate has not passed a budget in over two years. Hence, there is no structure or restraint on spending. Worse, governmental debt has increased by trillions of dollars.
FreedomWorks and thousands of citizens have presented the Tea Party Budget, which cuts spending by 9 trillion dollars in 10 years. Now, Congress must pass a budget – their most fundamental and indispensable duty.
America must have a plan to reduce government debt. The politicians have a moral duty to present and defend their plans. Without a doubt, FreedomWorks will advocate for the Tea Party Budget. All Americans must have the opportunity to know and participate in this critical budget debate, which will determine America’s future.
Again, the DC politicians must halt the despicable jousting for political advantage and make vital long-term decisions.
