2013-06-03

Cato: Cut The Federal Budget By Killing Republican Sacred Cows

This year’s election is about the economy. The next president’s chief challenge will be to cut federal spending and reduce government debt.

Republicans are posturing as the party of fiscal responsibility, but they continue to protect their sacred cows. Unless the GOP is willing to slash corporate welfare and cut unnecessary military outlays, Republicans don’t deserve to be taken seriously when they talk about fiscal responsibility.

The two major parties are debating austerity versus growth. The president argues that one more government “stimulus” package might make a difference. Yet from 2009 to 2011 Washington ran up a combined deficit of $4 trillion. The deficit this year is expected to run about $1.2 trillion. If that isn’t stimulus, what is?

Today the national debt is $15.7 trillion—almost a 50 percent increase since January 20, 2009, when President Barack Obama took office. Despite the president’s claim to be a repentant fiscal sinner, his budget shows that he’s the economic equivalent of the temperance activist who hits the bottle every night.

The Congressional Budget Office warns that if Washington stays with its current policies—no new big spending programs, expiration of the Bush tax cuts in January—Uncle Sam will run another $3 trillion in red ink over the coming decade. But if Congress passes the president’s latest budget proposal, the combined deficit increase will be $6.4 trillion over the next ten years.

Even this estimate is too optimistic, however. Since when is there good news in Washington? The CBO offers an “alternative fiscal scenario” which assumes that Congress acts like, well, Congress. Then the added red ink over the next ten years will total $11 trillion.

Read more at http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/cut-federal-budget-killing-republican-sacred-cows

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