Feb. 12, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement in anticipation of tonight’s State of the Union Address:
“Obama is arguing that slashing budget authority by $85 billion — just 2.4 percent of the overall $3.5 trillion budget — will somehow ‘do unnecessary damage to our economy.’ Government statistics agencies reflect this Keynesian bias in their estimates of the Gross Domestic Product, which includes government spending as a component. But even when government spending is excluded from the measure, the private sector only grew by a real rate of 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter, in spite of borrowing an extra $1 trillion a year and the Federal Reserve’s expanded quantitative easing programs.
“This failure of the private sector to grow is a direct result of our massive $16.5 trillion national debt which several independent studies have shown is creating a real drag on our economy. Contrary to Keynesian assumptions, excess government spending and borrowing is robbing the private sector of resources necessary to create the conditions for robust growth.
“Of course, when one measures prosperity by how much money the government spends, the only conclusion that can be arrived at is that spending must always increase — even if we cannot afford it. The national debt is increasing at an annual rate of $1 trillion such that by 2022, it will total at least $24 trillion. By then, the budget will total $5.7 trillion. There is no question we have a spending problem. Tax revenues cannot increase fast enough to keep up with the level of spending and borrowing that is anticipated over the next ten years.
“Yet Obama wants to replace the modest cuts that will occur under sequestration with tax hikes. Despite getting what he wanted — the so-called ‘balanced approach’ that includes tax increases on those making more than $400,000, and cuts to national defense set to occur on March 1 — Obama is not yet satisfied. He is single mindedly focused on his class warfare agenda of even higher taxes, which he knows full well will have next to zero impact on moving our nation toward a balanced budget.
“Obama and the left have revealed, now that he doesn’t have to pretend to voters anymore, that the deficit doesn’t matter to him at all, and that he believes that the government has a right to each of our earnings in order to award them to other politically favored constituencies. This is nothing more than vintage Marxist economics: ‘from each according to his ability to each according to his needs.’ Except as Margaret Thatcher famously noted, ‘socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess, they always run out of other people’s money.’
“Now that Congress knows that Obama is not an honest broker who wants the debt crisis to be tamed, those who care about our nation’s economic future need to act by taking whatever steps are necessary to force Obama to accept real and meaningful cuts, which is the only way to put us on a path to a balanced budget before it is too late.”
Interview Availability: Please contact Adam Bitely at (703) 383-0880 ext. 126 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.
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