N F A F W E A I C S C A N D S D Our Deficit Obsession A B...
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t’s logical and understandable — at least at this point — that Gov. Dennis Daugaard is proposing a cautious budget for fiscal year 2014. He presented his blueprint to lawmakers Tuesday in the governor’s annual budget address. But it must be recognized that the circumstances in which this $4.1 billion budget is being offered may very well change. And if they do change and there is more certainty in the situation, lawmak- ers should modify the budget accordingly to correct the wounds of past years. But for now, we can only consider what we know for sure now — which, frankly, isn’t much. The current showdown in Washington over the so-called “fiscal cliff” has brought all practical projecting for the future to a virtual standstill. We do not know what will happen next, where spending cuts will be made, where tax cuts will be applied. We do not know if lawmakers will succeed or fail in their current negotiations — or even if they necessarily WANT to succeed. We do not know what priorities will emerge. And all told, we do not know what any of this will do to the U.S. economy and its current, fragile recovery. Also, the drought has inflicted a good deal of harm on the state economy — and it is even less predictable than the “fiscal cliff.” For all we know, it could start raining again tomorrow, or it might come next summer, or it might not come for a long time to come. The weather is currently an agoniz- ing variable in our economic forecasting. Under such a circumstance, a very cautious budgeting approach seems wise. But the real question is, will this be only a short-term pause or will it re- flect an ongoing, long-term mindset that has hurt some programs and many South Dakotans? Daugaard is asking for a 3 percent increase in education aid, which is in keeping with state law (unless lawmakers decide to ignore that law, as was done a couple years ago). While this move helps schools tread inflationary water, it does nothing to bring back what was lost during the deepest cuts made in the depths of the Great Recession. Medicaid is also projected to receive a modest increase for reimburse- ments, but again, this doesn’t bring the program to the level it was at four years ago before a chainsaw was taken to these programs. And, Democrats charge, it comes after the state has rejected $200 million in federal money from the Affordable Health Care Act targeted for 48,000 uninsured South Dakotans. At some point, the lost ground must be recovered — the damage must be reversed. The longer the decisions are postponed, the more detrimental these cuts will be on matters that impact us now and will impact us greatly in the future. That’s why, if there is any possibility of moving extra money to education and Medicaid in this winter’s legislative session, lawmakers must seize it. They must begin to repair the damage before it turns cancerous and crip- pling. We shall see — three vague words that apply to these economic times. The lawmakers must wait, but they shouldn’t be afraid to act when the con- ditions dictate it. We can’t afford to do otherwise. kmh Wednesday, 12.5.12 ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net VIEWS PAGE: [email protected] 4 PRESS DAKOTAN views She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him o his leprosy.” 2 Kings 5:3. Portals of Prayer, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis T HE P RESS D AKOTAN THE DAKOTAS’ OLDEST NEWSPAPER | FOUNDED 1861 Yankton Media, Inc., 319 Walnut St., Yankton, SD 57078 OPINION | OUR VIEW A Cautious Budget, But Then What? I FROM THE BIBLE YOUR LETTERS By The Associated Press Today is Wednesday, Dec. 5, the 340th day of 2012. There are 26 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Dec. 5, 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union announced a bilateral space agree- ment on exchanging weather data from satellites, mapping Earth’s geomagnetic field and cooperating in the experimental relay of communications. On this date: In 1776, the first scholas- tic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. In 1782, the eighth president of the United States, Martin Van Buren, was born in Kinderhook, N.Y.; he was the first chief executive to be born after American inde- pendence. In 1791, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna, Austria, at age 35. In 1792, George Washington was re- elected president; John Adams was re- elected vice president. In 1831, former President John Quincy Adams took his seat as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1848, President James K. Polk trig- gered the Gold Rush of ’49 by confirming that gold had been discovered in Califor- nia. In 1932, German physicist Albert Ein- stein was granted a visa, making it possible for him to travel to the United States. In 1933, national Prohibition came to an end as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitu- tion, repealing the 18th Amendment. In 1955, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Or- ganizations merged to form the AFL-CIO under its first president, George Meany. In 1979, feminist Sonia Johnson was formally excommunicated by the Mormon Church because of her outspoken support for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. In 1991, Richard Speck, who’d mur- dered eight student nurses in Chicago in 1966, died in prison a day short of his 50th birthday. In 1994, Republicans chose Newt Gin- grich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades. Ten years ago: Strom Thurmond, the oldest and (until Robert Byrd overtook him) longest-serving senator in history, cele- brated his 100th birthday on Capitol Hill. (In toasting the South Carolina lawmaker, Senate Republican leader Trent Lott seemed to express nostalgia for Thur- mond’s segregationist past; the resulting political firestorm prompted Lott to resign his leadership position.) In Kansas City, Mo., Robert R. Courtney, a pharmacist who’d diluted chemotherapy drugs given to thousands of cancer patients, was sen- tenced to 30 years in prison. General Ne Win, former dictator of Myanmar, also called Burma, died in Yangon at age 91. ABC executive Roone Arledge died in New York at age 71. Five years ago: A teenage gunman went on a shooting rampage at the We- stroads Mall in Omaha, Neb., killing six store employees and two customers; Robert A. Hawkins, 19, then took his own life. President George W. Bush, trying to keep pressure on Iran, called on Tehran to “come clean” about the scope of its nuclear activities or else face diplomatic isolation. One year ago: The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service announced $3 billion in re- ductions, with cuts to first-class mail serv- ice by the spring of 2012 and elimination of more than 250 processing centers. Former Chicago Cubs third baseman Ron Santo was posthumously elected to the baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. Today’s Birthdays: Singer Little Richard is 80. Author Joan Didion is 78. Au- thor Calvin Trillin is 77. Musician J.J. Cale is 74. Actor Jeroen Krabbe is 68. Opera singer Jose Carreras is 66. Pop singer Jim Messina is 65. College Football Hall of Famer Jim Plunkett is 65. World Golf Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins is 63. Actress Morgan Brittany is 61. Actor Brian Backer is 56. Pro Football Hall of Famer Art Monk is 55. Country singer Ty England is 49. Rock singer-musician John Rzeznik (The Goo Goo Dolls) is 47. Country singer Gary Allan is 45. Comedian-actress Margaret Cho is 44. Writer-director Morgan J. Free- man is 43. Actress Alex Kapp Horner is 43. Rock musician Regina Zernay (Cowboy Mouth) is 40. Actress Paula Patton is 37. Actress Amy Acker is 36. Actor Nick Stahl is 33. Rhythm-and-blues singer Keri Hilson is 30. Actor Frankie Muniz is 27. Actor Ross Bagley is 24. Thought for Today: “As a rule, there is no surer way to the dislike of men than to behave well where they have behaved badly.” — Lew Wallace, American author (1827-1905). TODAY IN HISTORY MANAGERS Gary L. Wood Publisher Michele Schievelbein Advertising Director Tonya Schild Business Manager David Jeffcoat Circulation Director Tera Schmidt Classified Manager Kelly Hertz Editor James D. Cimburek Sports Editor Beth Rye New Media Manager Kathy Larson Composing Manager Bernard Metivier District Manager Published Daily Monday-Saturday Periodicals postage paid at Yankton, South Dakota, under the act of March 3, 1979. 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REICH Tribune Media Services I wish President Obama would explain to the na- tion that the federal budget deficit isn’t the nation’s major economic problem and deficit reduction shouldn’t be our major goal. Our biggest problem is lack of good jobs and sufficient growth. And our goal must be to revive both. Deficit reduction leads us in the oppo- site direction — away from jobs and growth. The reason the “fiscal cliff” is dangerous (and it’s not really a “cliff” but more like a hill, because we won’t fall off it immedi- ately on Jan. 1) is because it requires too much deficit reduction, too quickly. It would suck too much demand out of the economy. But more jobs and growth will help re- duce the deficit. With more jobs and faster growth, the deficit will shrink as a propor- tion of the overall economy. Recall the 1990s, when the Clinton administration balanced the budget ahead of the schedule it had set with Congress. That was because of faster job growth than anyone expected — creating more jobs and bringing in more tax revenues than anyone had fore- cast. Europe offers the same lesson, but in reverse: Its deficits are growing because its austerity policies have caused its economies to contract. Sure, Greece had to pull in its belt. But Britain and Spain were doing fairly well before they began cutting public spending. Now they’ve pulled so much demand out of their economies that unemployment has risen and tax revenues have dropped. Policymakers need to understand that when unem- ployment is high and workplaces are idle, the best way to generate jobs and growth is for the govern- ment to spend more, not less. And for taxes to stay low, or become even lower, on the middle class. By the way, higher taxes on the rich don’t slow economic growth, because the rich spend a much smaller portion of their earnings than does the mid- dle class. And they’ll continue to spend even if their tax rates rise. They’re already taking home a near record share of America’s total income and have a record share of total wealth. Why don’t our politicians and media get this? Be- cause an entire deficit-cutting industry has grown up in recent years. It began with Ross Perot’s third party in the 1992 election and continued through Peter Pe- terson’s institute and other think tanks funded by Wall Street and big business. It was embraced in the late 1990s and earlier this century by the government- haters in the Republican Party and the eat-your- spinach deficit hawk crowd among Democrats. And it culminated in the Simpson-Bowles Commission that President Obama created in order to appease the hawks but which only legitimized them further. As a result, much of official Washington and the media have bought into the narrative that our eco- nomic problems stem from an out-of-control budget deficit. They’re repeating this hokum even now, when we’re staring at a fiscal cliff that illustrates just how dangerous deficit reduction can be. Deficit mavens routinely warn that un- less the deficit is trimmed, we’ll fall prey to inflation and rising interest rates. But there’s no sign of inflation anywhere. The world is awash in underutilized capacity. As for interest rates, the yield on the 10-year Treasury bill is now lower than it’s been in living memory. In fact, if there was ever a time for Amer- ica to borrow more in order to put our peo- ple back to work repairing our crumbling infrastructure and rebuilding our schools, it’s now. Public investments that spur future job growth and productivity shouldn’t even be included in measures of government spend- ing to begin with. They’re justifiable as long as the re- turn on those investments — a more educated and productive workforce, and a more efficient infrastruc- ture, both generating more and better goods and services with fewer scarce resources — is higher than the cost. In fact, we’d be nuts not to make these invest- ments under these circumstances. No sane family equates spending on vacations with investing in their kids’ education. Yet that’s what we do in our federal budget. Finally, the biggest driver of future deficits is the rising cost of health care — that same phenomenon that’s causing headaches for individuals, families and businesses. America’s wildly inefficient balkanized health-care system is already taking a far larger share of the total economy than that of every other rich na- tion (18 percent), and yet our health outcomes are worse. So instead of fighting over how to cut the budget deficit, we should be having a constructive conversa- tion about how to use government’s bargaining power through Medicare and Medicaid to hold down health- care costs. And then use the Affordable Care Act as a stepping stone toward a single-payer health-care sys- tem. So can we please stop obsessing about future budget deficits? They’re distracting our attention from what we should be obsessing about — regaining jobs and growth, and making our health-care system work. Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, is professor of public policy at the University of Califor- nia at Berkeley and the author of “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future.” He blogs at www.robertreich.org. Our Deficit Obsession Robert REICH Missing Mr. Anderson Carrie Johnson, Washington 2005 Yankton High School graduate I recently learned of Dick Anderson’s passing, and in reflecting on my time in Mr. Anderson’s A.P. Litera- ture class, many enjoyable and cherished memories came to mind. Through his course, I began my lifelong love for classical literature and a personal goal to one day read all of the books on Mr. Anderson’s top 100 list. In his class, he empowered his students by giving them the independence to choose the books they wanted to read and filled his classroom with a wonderful mix- ture of humorous anecdotes and thought-provoking lectures. The constructive feedback I received on my literature papers left me with writing tips that I still use today, and I can frequently hear Mr. Anderson’s voice in my head when I write. Even after graduating from Yankton High, I enjoyed stopping by his and Louise’s store when I was home to catch up with Mr. Anderson and see if he had any free and delicious samples I could try. My thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Anderson’s family and friends during this difficult time. He was an exceptional teacher who touched the lives of count- less students. I feel incredibly lucky for having had Mr. Anderson as a teacher, and I will always remem- ber him for his smile, keen knowledge of writing, and witty sense of humor. A Plebe’s Story William J. Collen, Yankton In 1959, I received an appointment from Nebraska to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. When arriving at Kingsport, N.Y., we were given an indoctrination. We were given specific orders that we were not to fraternize with any officers, teachers or their family members. They said if they ever found out about such activity, it would mean immediate dis- missal. This is why I do not understand Gen. David Pe- traeus, who went to West Point. How could he have romanced and married the U.S. Military Academy commandant daughter and got away with it? I guess, since he is 12 years my junior, the military became liberalized and political! Maybe they should do as my boss did at Martin Colo., in 1962 when I got my top security clearance. He told me that before he gave me my badge, “If I ever told anyone about the computer information I was working on,” he would send me to Leavenworth (USDB) and throw away the key! SOUTH DAKOTA SEN. TIM JOHNSON: 136 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; Washington Phone: (202) 224- 5842; Sioux Falls Phone: (605) 332-8896; email: http://john- son.senate.gov/emailform.html SEN. JOHN THUNE: United States Senate SR-493, Washington, D.C. 20510; Washington Phone: (866) 850- 3855; Sioux Falls Phone: (605) 334-9596; Fax: (202) 228- 3855; Web: thune.senate.gov. REP. KRISTI NOEM: 226 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; Washington Phone: (202) 225- 2801; Sioux Falls Phone: (605) 367-8371; Fax: (202) 225- 5823; email: visit https://noem.house.gov NEBRASKA SEN. BEN NELSON: 720 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; Washington Phone: (202) 224- 6551; email: bennelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm SEN. MIKE JOHANNS: 1 Russell Courtyard, Washing- ton, D.C. 20510; Washington Phone: (202) 224-4224; email: log on at http://johanns.senate.gov/public/?p=EmailSenator- Johanns REP. JEFF FORTENBERRY: 1517 Longworth House, Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; Washington Phone: (202) 225-4806; District Phone: (402) 438-1598; email: log on at www.house.gov/writerep/ REP. ADRIAN SMITH: 503 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515-2703; Washington Phone: (202) 225-6435; Fax: (202) 225-0207; District Phone: (308) 633-6333; email: log on at www.house.gov/writerep/ YOUR D.C. LAWMAKERS The PRESS & DAKOTAN encourages its readers to write letters to the edi- tor, and it asks that a few simple guidelines be followed. n Please limit letters to 300 words or less. Letters should deal with a single subject, be of general interest and state a specific point of view. Letters are ed- ited with brevity, clarity and newspaper style in mind. n In the sense of fairness and professionalism, the PRESS & DAKOTAN will accept no letters attacking private individuals or businesses. n Specific individuals or entities addressed in letters may be given the op- portunity to read the letter prior to publication and be allowed to answer the let- ter in the same issue. n Only signed letters with writer’s full name, address and daytime phone number for verification will be accepted. Please mail to: Letters, 319 Walnut, Yankton, SD 57078, drop off at 319 Walnut in Yankton, fax to 665-1721 or email to [email protected]. OUR LETTER POLICY
Transcript of N F A F W E A I C S C A N D S D Our Deficit Obsession A B...
t’s logical and understandable — at least at this point — that Gov.Dennis Daugaard is proposing a cautious budget for fiscal year 2014.He presented his blueprint to lawmakers Tuesday in the governor’sannual budget address.
But it must be recognized that the circumstances in which this$4.1 billion budget is being offered may very well change. And ifthey do change and there is more certainty in the situation, lawmak-
ers should modify the budget accordingly to correct the wounds of pastyears.
But for now, we can only consider what we know for sure now — which,frankly, isn’t much.
The current showdown in Washington over the so-called “fiscal cliff” hasbrought all practical projecting for the future to a virtual standstill. We donot know what will happen next, where spending cuts will be made, wheretax cuts will be applied. We do not know if lawmakers will succeed or fail intheir current negotiations — or even if they necessarily WANT to succeed.We do not know what priorities will emerge. And all told, we do not knowwhat any of this will do to the U.S. economy and its current, fragile recovery.
Also, the drought has inflicted a good deal of harm on the state economy— and it is even less predictable than the “fiscal cliff.” For all we know, itcould start raining again tomorrow, or it might come next summer, or itmight not come for a long time to come. The weather is currently an agoniz-ing variable in our economic forecasting.
Under such a circumstance, a very cautious budgeting approach seemswise.
But the real question is, will this be only a short-term pause or will it re-flect an ongoing, long-term mindset that has hurt some programs and manySouth Dakotans?
Daugaard is asking for a 3 percent increase in education aid, which is inkeeping with state law (unless lawmakers decide to ignore that law, as wasdone a couple years ago). While this move helps schools tread inflationarywater, it does nothing to bring back what was lost during the deepest cutsmade in the depths of the Great Recession.
Medicaid is also projected to receive a modest increase for reimburse-ments, but again, this doesn’t bring the program to the level it was at fouryears ago before a chainsaw was taken to these programs. And, Democratscharge, it comes after the state has rejected $200 million in federal moneyfrom the Affordable Health Care Act targeted for 48,000 uninsured SouthDakotans.
At some point, the lost ground must be recovered — the damage must bereversed. The longer the decisions are postponed, the more detrimentalthese cuts will be on matters that impact us now and will impact us greatlyin the future.
That’s why, if there is any possibility of moving extra money to educationand Medicaid in this winter’s legislative session, lawmakers must seize it.They must begin to repair the damage before it turns cancerous and crip-pling.
We shall see — three vague words that apply to these economic times.The lawmakers must wait, but they shouldn’t be afraid to act when the con-ditions dictate it. We can’t afford to do otherwise.
kmh
Wednesday, 12.5.12ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net
VIEWS PAGE: [email protected] PRESS DAKOTANviews
She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet whois in Samaria! He would cure him o his leprosy.” 2 Kings 5:3. Portals ofPrayer, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
THE PRESS DAKOTANTHE DAKOTAS’ OLDEST NEWSPAPER | FOUNDED 1861
Yankton Media, Inc., 319 Walnut St., Yankton, SD 57078
OPINION | OUR VIEW
A Cautious Budget,But Then What?
I
F RO M T H E B I B L E
YO U R L E T T E R S
By The Associated PressToday is Wednesday, Dec. 5, the 340th
day of 2012. There are 26 days left in theyear.
Today’s Highlight in History: On Dec.5, 1962, the United States and the SovietUnion announced a bilateral space agree-ment on exchanging weather data fromsatellites, mapping Earth’s geomagneticfield and cooperating in the experimentalrelay of communications.
On this date: In 1776, the first scholas-tic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa,was organized at the College of Williamand Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
In 1782, the eighth president of theUnited States, Martin Van Buren, was bornin Kinderhook, N.Y.; he was the first chiefexecutive to be born after American inde-pendence.
In 1791, composer Wolfgang AmadeusMozart died in Vienna, Austria, at age 35.
In 1792, George Washington was re-elected president; John Adams was re-elected vice president.
In 1831, former President John QuincyAdams took his seat as a member of theU.S. House of Representatives.
In 1848, President James K. Polk trig-gered the Gold Rush of ’49 by confirmingthat gold had been discovered in Califor-nia.
In 1932, German physicist Albert Ein-stein was granted a visa, making it possiblefor him to travel to the United States.
In 1933, national Prohibition came toan end as Utah became the 36th state toratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitu-tion, repealing the 18th Amendment.
In 1955, the American Federation ofLabor and the Congress of Industrial Or-ganizations merged to form the AFL-CIOunder its first president, George Meany.
In 1979, feminist Sonia Johnson wasformally excommunicated by the MormonChurch because of her outspoken supportfor the proposed Equal Rights Amendmentto the Constitution.
In 1991, Richard Speck, who’d mur-dered eight student nurses in Chicago in1966, died in prison a day short of his 50thbirthday.
In 1994, Republicans chose Newt Gin-grich to be the first GOP speaker of theHouse in four decades.
Ten years ago: Strom Thurmond, theoldest and (until Robert Byrd overtook him)longest-serving senator in history, cele-brated his 100th birthday on Capitol Hill. (In
toasting the South Carolina lawmaker,Senate Republican leader Trent Lottseemed to express nostalgia for Thur-mond’s segregationist past; the resultingpolitical firestorm prompted Lott to resignhis leadership position.) In Kansas City,Mo., Robert R. Courtney, a pharmacistwho’d diluted chemotherapy drugs given tothousands of cancer patients, was sen-tenced to 30 years in prison. General NeWin, former dictator of Myanmar, alsocalled Burma, died in Yangon at age 91.ABC executive Roone Arledge died in NewYork at age 71.
Five years ago: A teenage gunmanwent on a shooting rampage at the We-stroads Mall in Omaha, Neb., killing sixstore employees and two customers;Robert A. Hawkins, 19, then took his ownlife. President George W. Bush, trying tokeep pressure on Iran, called on Tehran to“come clean” about the scope of its nuclearactivities or else face diplomatic isolation.
One year ago: The cash-strapped U.S.Postal Service announced $3 billion in re-ductions, with cuts to first-class mail serv-ice by the spring of 2012 and elimination ofmore than 250 processing centers. FormerChicago Cubs third baseman Ron Santowas posthumously elected to the baseballHall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.
Today’s Birthdays: Singer LittleRichard is 80. Author Joan Didion is 78. Au-thor Calvin Trillin is 77. Musician J.J. Caleis 74. Actor Jeroen Krabbe is 68. Operasinger Jose Carreras is 66. Pop singer JimMessina is 65. College Football Hall ofFamer Jim Plunkett is 65. World Golf Hallof Famer Lanny Wadkins is 63. ActressMorgan Brittany is 61. Actor Brian Backeris 56. Pro Football Hall of Famer Art Monkis 55. Country singer Ty England is 49.Rock singer-musician John Rzeznik (TheGoo Goo Dolls) is 47. Country singer GaryAllan is 45. Comedian-actress MargaretCho is 44. Writer-director Morgan J. Free-man is 43. Actress Alex Kapp Horner is 43.Rock musician Regina Zernay (CowboyMouth) is 40. Actress Paula Patton is 37.Actress Amy Acker is 36. Actor Nick Stahlis 33. Rhythm-and-blues singer Keri Hilsonis 30. Actor Frankie Muniz is 27. Actor RossBagley is 24.
Thought for Today: “As a rule, there isno surer way to the dislike of men than tobehave well where they have behavedbadly.” — Lew Wallace, American author(1827-1905).
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BY ROBERT B. REICHTribune Media Services
I wish President Obama would explain to the na-tion that the federal budget deficit isn’t the nation’smajor economic problem and deficit reductionshouldn’t be our major goal.
Our biggest problem is lack of good jobsand sufficient growth. And our goal mustbe to revive both.
Deficit reduction leads us in the oppo-site direction — away from jobs andgrowth.
The reason the “fiscal cliff” is dangerous(and it’s not really a “cliff” but more like ahill, because we won’t fall off it immedi-ately on Jan. 1) is because it requires toomuch deficit reduction, too quickly. Itwould suck too much demand out of theeconomy.
But more jobs and growth will help re-duce the deficit. With more jobs and fastergrowth, the deficit will shrink as a propor-tion of the overall economy.
Recall the 1990s, when the Clinton administrationbalanced the budget ahead of the schedule it had setwith Congress. That was because of faster job growththan anyone expected — creating more jobs andbringing in more tax revenues than anyone had fore-cast.
Europe offers the same lesson, but in reverse: Itsdeficits are growing because its austerity policieshave caused its economies to contract. Sure, Greecehad to pull in its belt. But Britain and Spain weredoing fairly well before they began cutting publicspending. Now they’ve pulled so much demand out oftheir economies that unemployment has risen and taxrevenues have dropped.
Policymakers need to understand that when unem-ployment is high and workplaces are idle, the bestway to generate jobs and growth is for the govern-ment to spend more, not less. And for taxes to staylow, or become even lower, on the middle class.
By the way, higher taxes on the rich don’t sloweconomic growth, because the rich spend a muchsmaller portion of their earnings than does the mid-dle class. And they’ll continue to spend even if theirtax rates rise. They’re already taking home a nearrecord share of America’s total income and have arecord share of total wealth.
Why don’t our politicians and media get this? Be-cause an entire deficit-cutting industry has grown upin recent years. It began with Ross Perot’s third partyin the 1992 election and continued through Peter Pe-terson’s institute and other think tanks funded byWall Street and big business. It was embraced in thelate 1990s and earlier this century by the government-haters in the Republican Party and the eat-your-spinach deficit hawk crowd among Democrats. And itculminated in the Simpson-Bowles Commission thatPresident Obama created in order to appease the
hawks but which only legitimized them further. As a result, much of official Washington and the
media have bought into the narrative that our eco-nomic problems stem from an out-of-control budgetdeficit. They’re repeating this hokum even now, whenwe’re staring at a fiscal cliff that illustrates just how
dangerous deficit reduction can be. Deficit mavens routinely warn that un-
less the deficit is trimmed, we’ll fall prey toinflation and rising interest rates. Butthere’s no sign of inflation anywhere. Theworld is awash in underutilized capacity. Asfor interest rates, the yield on the 10-yearTreasury bill is now lower than it’s been inliving memory.
In fact, if there was ever a time for Amer-ica to borrow more in order to put our peo-ple back to work repairing our crumblinginfrastructure and rebuilding our schools,it’s now.
Public investments that spur future jobgrowth and productivity shouldn’t even beincluded in measures of government spend-
ing to begin with. They’re justifiable as long as the re-turn on those investments — a more educated andproductive workforce, and a more efficient infrastruc-ture, both generating more and better goods andservices with fewer scarce resources — is higher thanthe cost.
In fact, we’d be nuts not to make these invest-ments under these circumstances. No sane familyequates spending on vacations with investing in theirkids’ education. Yet that’s what we do in our federalbudget.
Finally, the biggest driver of future deficits is therising cost of health care — that same phenomenonthat’s causing headaches for individuals, families andbusinesses. America’s wildly inefficient balkanizedhealth-care system is already taking a far larger shareof the total economy than that of every other rich na-tion (18 percent), and yet our health outcomes areworse.
So instead of fighting over how to cut the budgetdeficit, we should be having a constructive conversa-tion about how to use government’s bargaining powerthrough Medicare and Medicaid to hold down health-care costs. And then use the Affordable Care Act as astepping stone toward a single-payer health-care sys-tem.
So can we please stop obsessing about futurebudget deficits? They’re distracting our attentionfrom what we should be obsessing about — regainingjobs and growth, and making our health-care systemwork.
Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, isprofessor of public policy at the University of Califor-nia at Berkeley and the author of “Aftershock: TheNext Economy and America’s Future.” He blogs atwww.robertreich.org.
Our Deficit Obsession
Robert
REICH
Missing Mr. AndersonCarrie Johnson, Washington 2005 Yankton High School graduate
I recently learned of Dick Anderson’s passing, andin reflecting on my time in Mr. Anderson’s A.P. Litera-ture class, many enjoyable and cherished memoriescame to mind.
Through his course, I began my lifelong love forclassical literature and a personal goal to one dayread all of the books on Mr. Anderson’s top 100 list. Inhis class, he empowered his students by giving themthe independence to choose the books they wantedto read and filled his classroom with a wonderful mix-ture of humorous anecdotes and thought-provokinglectures. The constructive feedback I received on myliterature papers left me with writing tips that I stilluse today, and I can frequently hear Mr. Anderson’svoice in my head when I write.
Even after graduating from Yankton High, I enjoyedstopping by his and Louise’s store when I was hometo catch up with Mr. Anderson and see if he had anyfree and delicious samples I could try.
My thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Anderson’sfamily and friends during this difficult time. He was anexceptional teacher who touched the lives of count-less students. I feel incredibly lucky for having had
Mr. Anderson as a teacher, and I will always remem-ber him for his smile, keen knowledge of writing, andwitty sense of humor.
A Plebe’s StoryWilliam J. Collen, Yankton
In 1959, I received an appointment from Nebraskato the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.
When arriving at Kingsport, N.Y., we were given anindoctrination. We were given specific orders that wewere not to fraternize with any officers, teachers ortheir family members. They said if they ever foundout about such activity, it would mean immediate dis-missal.
This is why I do not understand Gen. David Pe-traeus, who went to West Point. How could he haveromanced and married the U.S. Military Academycommandant daughter and got away with it?
I guess, since he is 12 years my junior, the militarybecame liberalized and political!
Maybe they should do as my boss did at MartinColo., in 1962 when I got my top security clearance.He told me that before he gave me my badge, “If I evertold anyone about the computer information I wasworking on,” he would send me to Leavenworth(USDB) and throw away the key!
SOUTH DAKOTASEN. TIM JOHNSON: 136 Hart Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20510; Washington Phone: (202) 224-5842; Sioux Falls Phone: (605) 332-8896; email: http://john-son.senate.gov/emailform.html
SEN. JOHN THUNE: United States Senate SR-493,Washington, D.C. 20510; Washington Phone: (866) 850-3855; Sioux Falls Phone: (605) 334-9596; Fax: (202) 228-3855; Web: thune.senate.gov.
REP. KRISTI NOEM: 226 Cannon House Office Building,Washington, D.C. 20515; Washington Phone: (202) 225-2801; Sioux Falls Phone: (605) 367-8371; Fax: (202) 225-5823; email: visit https://noem.house.gov
NEBRASKASEN. BEN NELSON: 720 Hart Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20510; Washington Phone: (202) 224-6551; email: bennelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm SEN. MIKE JOHANNS: 1 Russell Courtyard, Washing-ton, D.C. 20510; Washington Phone: (202) 224-4224; email:log on at http://johanns.senate.gov/public/?p=EmailSenator-Johanns
REP. JEFF FORTENBERRY: 1517 Longworth House,Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; WashingtonPhone: (202) 225-4806; District Phone: (402) 438-1598;email: log on at www.house.gov/writerep/
REP. ADRIAN SMITH: 503 Cannon House OfficeBuilding, Washington, D.C. 20515-2703; WashingtonPhone: (202) 225-6435; Fax: (202) 225-0207; DistrictPhone: (308) 633-6333; email: log on atwww.house.gov/writerep/
YO U R D. C . L AW M A K E R S
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