Obama’s Old Politics

Evidently some people expected a new kind of politician in Barack Obama. I’d be surprised at their surprise but then, nothing much is surprising me anymore. Robert Samuelson has a must-read piece. He is talking about the old kind of politicking by Obama on economy:

As a society, we should pay in taxes what it costs government to provide desired services. If benefits don’t seem equal to burdens, then the spending isn’t worth it. (Exceptions: deficits in wartime and economic slumps.)

If Obama were “responsible,” he would conduct a candid conversation about the role of government. Who deserves support and why? How big can government grow before higher taxes and deficits harm economic growth? Although Obama claims to be doing this, he hasn’t confronted entitlement psychology — the belief that government benefits once conferred should never be revoked.

Is it in the public interest for the well-off elderly (say, a couple with $125,000 of income) to be subsidized, through Social Security and Medicare, by poorer young and middle-aged workers? Are any farm subsidies justified when they aren’t essential for food production? We wouldn’t starve without them.

Given an aging America, government faces huge conflicts between spending on the elderly and spending on everything else. But even before most baby boomers retire (in 2016, only a quarter will have reached 65), Obama’s government would have grown. In 2016, federal spending is projected to be 22.4 percent of GDP, up from 21 percent in 2008; federal taxes, 19.2 percent of GDP, up from 17.7 percent.

Yes, well. Obama is not a new kind of politician. That would be false premise number one.

Posted in Political Animals
Tags: Economy • Obama