Which Plan Most Likely to Bring Back Deficits?
The charges on both sides have been as follows:
The Gore camp claims that Bush's tax plan risks sending the federal budget back into deficit spending due to lost revenues.
The Bush camp claims that Gore's proposed new programs, if implemented, will also send the federal budget back into deficit through increased spending.
If we suppose that both allegations are correct (that both would candidate's programs would send the budget into deficit), a valid question would then be: Which candidate's programs would be easiest to *reverse* in order to restore the budget surplus? I think the answer to that question is obvious. Once federal programs such as those that Gore is proposing are in place ("benefits" or "entitlements"), it is extremely difficult to reverse them. This is because once recipients become dependent on those "benefits", it causes them *extreme* pain if the benefit is removed. Reversing a tax cut is, by comparison, extremely easy politically since the "pain" can be spread out over more people.
Partly because of the above, I believe Gore's plans are *much*, *much* riskier than Bush's in the long-term. Gore's programs (Medicare, education, etc.) will increase the role and scope of the federal government in a way that will be difficult or nearly impossible politically to reverse.
One of the things that continually disappoints me in today's political climate is the lack of any substantive discussion on the proper scope and role of the federal government. According to the Constitution, all responsibilities not explicitly called out (by the Constitution) should be deferred to the states. If the electorate were thinking constitutionally, many of the programs that have been the subject of discussion in this presidential campaign would not even be regarded as appropriate to consider.
The following pearls of wisdom from the French legislator Frederick Bastiat apply here. (Quoting from memory, so phraseology may not be exact):
"Everyone is petitioning the State in this manner [to obtain benefits], but the State has no means of granting those petitions to some without adding to the labor of others. The State is the great fiction by which everyone endeavors to live at the expense of everyone else."
"The downfall of a democracy comes when the people discover they can vote themselves largess from the public fund." |
