Going Rogue: An American Life (118 page)

Within six months of taking office, Ptesident Obama put the United States on track to double its already staggeting national deficit. The new debt, which will burden furure generations, is

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immoral. And all of it in the name of fixing an economy broken by too much debt in the first place.

Servicing the $11.5 trillion debt is a huge annual expendirure in the federal budget. Those who hold our debt, including foreign countries like China and Saudi Arabia, must be paid first. Last year we spent more than $400 billion to service our debt. At this rate, by 2019, that number is expected to be trillion. Our overspending roday could destroy our children’s future. Is that what the president meant by “change”?

Where is all of this money going to come from? It can come from only three places. Government borrows it, government prints it, or government taxes the people for it. So far

administration

has done the first two. We’ve borrowed massive sums from foreign countries, and we’ve also simply printed money. Economists call this practice “monetizing the debt,” and it’s not something we hear much about. Higher taxes won’t be far behind. Our parents were right when they told us that money doesn’t grow on trees. There are consequences to these massive spending plans. And we will be feeling them soon.

Is that what the president meant by “change”?

Washington is not done with its spending spree yet. Congress is talking about additional stimulus packages and bailouts. But we tried growing government to save the economy back in the 1930s, and it didn’t work then either. Massive government spending programs and protectionist economic policies actually helped turn a recession into the Great Depression. New Deal-like spending plans aren’t the only blast from the past we see today. With the government takeover of parts of the banking industry and the auto industry, we see the return of corporatisJIl-government collusion and cooption of big business.

No one person is smart enough to control and predict markets. The free market is just that: free to rise or fall, shrink or

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expand, based on’ conditions that are often outside of human controL Government interference in market cycles is just as dangerous as government-directed programs that encourage permanent dependency. In both cases the rewards for responsible behavior and the penalties for irresponsible behavior are removed by the state. This is the lesson I tried to convey to Bristol when we discussed her plans for rhe future. It may look to her now that the rewards for her responsible behavior and sacrifices as a hardworking single parent will be a long time coming. But in time they wilL

Out massive interventions in the economy today haven’t “fixed” anything; instead, we’re rewarding a few large firms for being irresponsible. We’ve told them they’re “too big to fail”; we’ve told them that the bigger they are and the more trouble they get themselves into, rhe more likely the government will be to bail them out. Sorry, little guys. Bruce’s Muldoon Chevron isn’t big enough to Save. Uncle Kurt, you’re on your own. The lesson in all of this is that we can’t abandon freemarket principles in order to save the free market. It doesn’t work that way. The cure only makes the disease worse.

One such cure: Washington’s misguided “Cap and Trade” plan. But let’s call it what it is: a “Cap and Tax” program. The
environmentalists’ plan to reduce pollution is to tax businesses
according to how much pollution they produce. Industries that emit more pollutants would have to pay more in taxes. Businesses that reduce emissions and thereby avoid all or part of the cap and rax hits could rrade or sell their government credits to other companies.

There are big problems with this. We have the highest unemployment rate in twenty-five years, and it’s still rising. American jobs in every industry will be threarened by rhe rising cost of doing business under cap and trade. The cosr of farming, for ex
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ample, will certainly increase, driving down farm incomes while driving up grocery prices. The costs of manufacturing, warehousing, and transportation will also rise. We’ll all feel the effects of this misguided plan to buy and sell. pollution.

The president has already admitted that the policy he seeks will cause our electricity bills to “skyrocket.” Sadly, those hit hardest will be those who are already·struggling to make ends meet. So much for the campaign promise not to raise taxes on anyone less than $250,000 a year. This is a tax on everyone. Is that whanhe president by

As more and more Americans understand that cap and trade is an environmentalist Ponzi scheme in which only the government they will refuse to tolerate it. They will make their voices heard at the ballot box, and any

who supports

tive legislation like this will soon be turned out of office. That’s what we mean by “change”!

Our nation is facing great challenges, but I’m optimistic-and I know there is a way forward.

Ronald Reagan faced an even worse recession. He showed us how to ger out of one. If you want real job growth, cut capital gains taxes and slay the death tax once and for all. And if we really want to help the poor and middle class get through this recession, how about cutting their payroll taxes? Giving people control over more of the money they’ve earned: now that’s real stimulus. Get federal spending under control, and then step aside and watch this economy roar back to life.