WILLIAM W. BEACH
The president wants an economy that’s built to last, as he said repeatedly in tonight’s State of the Union speech. However, among the litany of programs he announced, he promised little action on the driver of economic decay: the blooming debt of governments at all levels, but particularly the government that President Obama runs. Total government debt is chewing away at innovation and economic growth by squeezing credit markets for private borrowers; it is spreading fear and uncertainty among investors about this country’s future; and it is condemning an entire generation to an economic life well below their potential.
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If you are under 30 years of age, you belong to the Debt-Paying Generation. This enormous, growing federal debt will have to be repaid across your lifetime. Higher taxes will almost certainly be imposed to pay down this debt, thus reducing your income and increasing your cost of living. You are likely to marry later, as you will have trouble saving up to start a family. If you marry later, you are likely to have fewer children, which further hurts the economy by reducing the future labor force. Higher interest rates from higher federal debt will mean that the Debt-Paying Generation will start their home mortgages later in life, which may mean that they will never own a home. A slower economy means not only slower income growth for the Debt-Paying Generation, but also less savings for retirement, education, and health care.
The real tragedy of the president’s litany of economic-policy changes is its failure to address federal debt. Why? Simple: The failure to reduce debt condemns an entire generation to the least prosperous life in U.S. history relative to the generation that preceded it. That’s not the way to build an economy that lasts.
― William W. Beach is director of the Center for Data Analysis at the Heritage Foundation.
JAMES C. CAPRETTA
Let’s hope Republicans everywhere took the time to listen to Governor Mitch Daniels’ Republican rebuttal to the president’s state of the union address.
It was a masterpiece. Concise, direct, optimistic, and tough. It framed the issues facing this country exactly as they need to be framed. He pulled no punches, going directly at the president for his failures on promoting growth and for exacerbating rather than solving the nation’s mounting debt crisis. And, unlike other Republicans, he forcefully articulated why a strategy of “taxing the rich” within the current tax code is a dead-end of slower growth and fewer jobs.
I loved VDH's contribution here except I don't agree with the last paragraph. While Governor Daniels was succinct and correct, I doubt that most Americans would understand it all, and to say that Daniels said more than all of the candidates have said so far is a bit of a hyperbole. I think most of our candidates have articulated in great detail much of what Daniels said.
This employee of ours is delvering on his promise of fundamental change. We have arrived at the point where the decision will be made between a gradual return to liberty or the inexorable decline into a crony caste system imposed by elites. The hundred year's journey to this point can only be reversed by a multi - generational renewal of the Founding Principles beginning with this year's election.
Seriously, after seeing Mitt, Paul, and Newt going at it the only thing one can come up with is both the Devil and the Lord are directing them. Obama never has had a worthy political foe because the cosmic forces are behind him. It's like General Lee's lament during the Civil War, "We may not have providence."
Then again perhaps the Prussian General Von Clausewitz had the analysis on Obama pinned down when he observed the Union Army in the Civil War, "God watches out for fools, drunkards, little children, and Americans."
Hans Von Spakovsky wrote,
"As an English conservative said, Obama will never realize that his kind of socialism is workable only in heaven, where it isn’t needed, and in hell, where they’ve already got it."
I loved that line as well, but my question is - who originally said it?
I did an internet search and came up empty, and would love to have the original quote to hang on to.
If the GOP can help it, this will not be Obama's last State of the Union speech. We Republicans are the Special Olympians of the political world and we will find a way to screw it up. In fact, it is already happening with Mitt and Newt! Thank you, GOP!
If "Built to Last" and "Fairness" are going to be the watchwords of Obama's campaign as it seems from the SOTU, then with all respect for Lucy's description of politico's "chicanery"....well, if our candidate confronts him at every turn on both concepts Obama will have a lot of 'splainin' to do.
Will we make this election about DEBT built to last forever and what fairness REALLY is?
P.S.--Out of the mouths of...? On Don Imus's show just now, they were mentioning that the President is now out on a tour of factories in battleground states to promote his idea of govt.-encouraged/adided manufacturing job growth. Producer Bernard McGurk mentioned that usually when Obama visits a factory the company shuts down or goes belly-up a few weeks later. Imus's response? "At least when Romney did that, he made money from it!" (smile)
But y'know...Obama visiting your factory IS becoming the political/economic equivalent of the Sports Illustrated cover curse....so we can only hope it extends to his visits to campaign offices, too.
I am typing this from a WiFi coffee shop, at 6AM west coast time. This is in a semi-rural community that is otherwise surrounded by standard coastal leftism. That is, I am not among fly-over types, but the persons in the coffee shop are passing through, on their way to work. I am the only one sitting at a laptop. A couple of others are small ranchers (horse, not cattle), a couple are small building contractors, a couple are small business owners, and arriving is a Bible study group (not of the rehab kind). As folks enter, they have been talking about the SOTA, which believe it or not many saw on TV last night.
So far, not much positive for Obama, with one exception: This is not a military-enthusiast community, and even among the folks I've mentioned, they are happy with military cutbacks. The see it as an expenditure (meaning, taxes) that does nothing in particular for any of them, at such cost.
However, that's taken for granted here. There are no hopey-changey types at this location. What is remarkable is that as folks enter, they primarily talk aout the Republican response. So far, not a good word for the Republicans. Not only are the major Republican candidates disrespected as big-money corporate elitists, I have not heard anyone claim that the Republicans can do better.
It may be that I'm just hearing what I wish to hear.
Rest assured, barring the biggest electoral landslide in our history, California won't matter much in November.
So, it doesn't really matter what you heard. But if no one had a good word for Obama, and if they focused more on the GOP response, then Obama may well have lost all possible advantage of incumbency, in the minds of the voters, however irrelevant their specific votes may be.
