Who Will Pay for the Democrats Promises?
Wouldn’t it be great if we really could have everything the democrats are promising us in their campaigns? Free college tuition for everyone. Free health care for everyone. Tax Cuts! Help with your mortgage. They might even come out and mow your lawn for you!
The list of promises from both democratic candidates is very long. The National Taxpayers Union has a very rough estimate of $287 billion for Obama’s promises and $218 billion for Clinton’s promises. Even at those staggering costs, neither candidate have much to say about how they will fund this utopia they promise. They say something about repealing Bush’s tax cuts (note that to them this isn’t the same thing as raising taxes because they are simultaneously promising tax cuts) and they say that ending the war in Iraq will help pay for it. As USA Today these vague statements about how to pay for billions of dollars of new and improved social services just isn’t going to cut it.
A rollback of Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans could generate perhaps $75 billion next year. The Iraq war savings are much harder to figure. The war has been costing about $100 billion per year. But a Democratic president, once in office, might decide that national security demands a gradual withdrawal, or a redeployment to Afghanistan. Health care for Iraq war veterans will run into the billions for decades. It’s unlikely that winding down the war will produce a large, quick peace dividend capable of supporting a host of new programs.
To make matters worse, any tax increases and military reductions might be needed just to cover the government’s existing shortfalls caused principally by rising health care costs and the pending baby boomer retirement.
The two democratic candidates don’t seem too concerned about benefiting in the short run from enticing votes by promising almost limitless gifts from the government to everyone. The thing is, I’m worried about the long run and I’m not the only one.
With the exception of the limp wristed sushi and latte learjet liberal set, most tax payers look at the promises made by these two with a suspicious eye. Most of us see our paychecks flying out the window in upwards of 50% taxes on our incomes and everything we buy. People start losing their incentive to work when their income is taken to pay for everything for people who don’t work. Most people in our society feel responsible for and don’t mind paying for people who can’t take care of themselves. Most people mind very much paying for people who can and just don’t or won’t pay for themselves. When the money is redistributed people start to give up hope knowing they can never get ahead of what is allotted them by a government out of control.
Its not that this form of government is something new that Clinton and Obama thought up. Its been tried before. I really don’t know why Clinton and Obama are so far behind the curb because it was tried a generation ago by other governments. Russia, Cuba, Venezuela have all tried socialism and/or communism. Its bankrupted and corrupted every society it has been tried in. We’d have to suspend disbelief to think it’d be any different here than it has been in every other government that has tried it.
