The Missing Links

Jobs, Health Care, the National Debt, and the Tea-bag Party. What do they have in common?  Are they the missing links?

In yesterday’s New York Times, Paul Krugman and David Brooks wrote amazingly similar pieces from quite different points of view. They both were reaching for the Center. Both wrote about how President Obama should lead. Brooks wrote of a modern day independent Ross Perot leader, and Krugman pointed out the foolishness of the “deficit peacocks”. Brooks was emphasizing the need for the President to stand up and speak directly about what the country needs. Krugman pointed out the emptiness of the promise to “freeze Government spending” when it would not begin this year and when it did begin, it would impact only about 10% of government expenditures.

At their roots, the Tea-bag Party members are afraid. They are afraid because they feel it is becoming harder each day to maintain their living standards. They have conducted a trial and issued a verdict that the Government is the guilty culprit. Therefore in the Tea-baggers’ minds, just say no to whatever Government proposes.

The National Deficit is actually not a problem Americans are feeling today. The fact that it continues to rise and elude control could, however, is an important signal, and will most likely become a serious problem in the future.   We are spending more than we currently can afford.

The Tea-baggers propose to simply to stop spending, and while the government is at it, they should lower taxes too. They are not specific but one must assume they mean the combination of taxes, like income, social security, medicare, and State and local taxes. While spending control must be part of the national debt solution, it will be a question of what spending cuts and how much.  With the size of the annual budget deficit, it is hard to imagine what government spending could be cut to allow for further tax cuts.

The revenue side of the deficit question is the overlook part of the equation. Tax increases like the elimination of the Bush tax cuts would be a very prudent action. But we would find that too was not enough. We have too few people employed and too many of those employed make too little money.  ”Jobs creation” will help, but when the type of jobs likely to appear will be marginal minimum wage jobs ($16,000 a year), these new jobs will not help much. Minimum wage jobs while noble, will not yield much if any tax revenue, and will leave the earner far below the poverty level.

Health Care is the unspoken turd in the punch bowl. Americans are paying 50-100% more on health care (through their and their employer’s contributions along with co-pays and payroll taxes)  than all other civilized modern countries in the world, and getting not as good outcomes. Medicare costs, in part, reflect the out of control nature of health care costs.

Were the President to lead as he should, were the Tea-bagger to be honest and unselfish Americans as they should, and were Congress to throw off the smothering covers of special interests as they should, we would find that the path forward that would raise all boats involved (1) national effort to create “good” jobs (not just any job), (2) reform health care along the lines of Europe or Japan, and (3) increase federal taxes fairly (meaning those above $200,000 annual income will pay more). The interesting aspect of this is that the health care sector is projected to grow significantly over the next decade. Accordingly, a decrease in “per capita” income could be more than offset with an increase in those receiving health care.

Good jobs and real health care reform are the missing links.

Explore posts in the same categories: Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Politics, Republican Party

Tags: david brooks, health care, health care reform, national debt, new york times, paul krugman, tea party

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