Deficit Spending, Patterns of

Throughout American political discussions the mantra of the republicans is that they are the party of fiscal responsibility. I’m about to prick that bubble. It may have been true in the 1950’s and part of the 1960’s but it has rarely been true since that time. Here’s what I’m writing about.

During the last several republican White House administrations, national debt has soared. It did under Nixon, Reagan, George HW Bush, and George W Bush, Soared. Exponentially. In Reagan’s case, what the national debt didn’t absorb, state and local governments did in the form of handed down funding mandates no longer supported by the feds. Thanks a lot, Uncle Ron! In those days our property and state taxes soared to fund the old programs now funded by us, not Uncle Sam, er Ron.

It fell on President Carter to hold the line and bring federal spending under control, but he had only four years to do that. President Clinton made the most headway by actually bringing down the annual deficit and shrinking the national debt at the same time. Unheard of in modern times! And President Obama hasn’t shrunk the national debt, but he has massively reduced the annual deficits, all while repairing the broken mess he inherited upon inauguration. 

Meanwhile deferred maintenance is building at a frightful pace. I speak of national infrastructure that badly needs refurbishing, actual replacement in many areas, and expansion of new infrastructure in most areas. Letting this go to run down and fall apart will only make subsequent funding more complex and much larger. Just like deferred maintenance on your house. Let a faucet drip long enough and a major plumbing problem grows hugely (or is that Yugely?). Same with foundation cracks/settling and roof malfunctions. Both will lead to incredibly costly repairs if left unattended for too long.

Now just imagine bridges, dams, power grids, storm water management systems, water and sewer systems, and the like aging and falling apart. To repair them is a big hit. To replace them unconscionably huge. But that is what is building for our future. We have work to do now, and yesterday, not tomorrow. Tomorrow will be spent figuring out how in the world we will afford all this repair and replacement work. It should be done on a current basis and well planned. Obsolescence is an automatic like all change is. It is plan-able and thus budget worthy.

Congress doing nothing is not saving money; it is costing us money.

Meanwhile they allow other investments in our society to go under funded: public education, research and development at universities and think tanks, space programs and expansion of scientific frontiers. Public health research is another field that is underfunded. And so far we are only scratching the surface of the inner workings of our society in need of investment.

Global economic competition and development of new markets, products and services are all in need of public support if we are to continue to play a major role in world affairs. How much of this is falling by the wayside because congress is unwilling to make key investments in the name of fiscal responsibility?

This is not a responsibility as much as it is a fiscal debacle. Let’s face reality, deregulating the banking and investment industries beginning in 1999 and stretching to 2008 is the underlying cause of the great recession of 2007-2013. The vestiges of that recession remain with us. We are still seeking the ‘new normal’ and a new recession is being talked about before that new normal is secured.

False economy! Congress is playing with fire it does not understand all in the name of politics.

You know, the original Constitutional Convention, were it reconvened today, would make for interesting discussion and history making. The Founding Fathers would shudder to see the mess we have made for ourselves. And all under the conservative aegis of the Republican Party. And of the Christian Conservative Party. A party of church overarching the state. Just what the Founding Fathers wanted, eh?

I doubt that. It would be a serious misreading of American history.

Conservative principles I grew up understanding held that government had a proper role in maintaining order and making sure baseline investment in health and human services (read education, too) was necessary to provide a self-sustaining populus capable of supporting each other and their governance. That seems to have been lost in modern political discussions.

Fiscal responsibility or fiscal folly? I think the writing is on the wall on that subject. Now to turn that around, all we have to do is…

March 8, 2016