The same day President Obama called for another $50 billion to $100 billion stimulus plan (and concomitant increase in the deficit), he also appointed the chairmen of his Deficit Reduction Commission. It says a lot about Washington that almost no one got the irony of those paired announcements.
The two cochairmen will be Democrat Erskine Bowles, President Bill Clinton's former White House chief of staff, and Republican Alan Simpson, the former Wyoming Senator. Mr. Simpson was best known for being a thorn in the side of conservatives and supply-siders when he was in the Senate. "He is a tax increaser and he's anti-immigrant," says Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform.
Larry Kudlow of CNBC's Kudlow Report is even more critical. "Simpson's to the left of Erskine Bowles," Mr. Kudlow scoffs. "This thing [the bipartisan deficit panel] needs to be blown up. It's an excuse to raise taxes -- when we need to be cutting tax rates." But for Mr. Obama's purposes, Alan Simpson is a master stroke since he's likely to commit Republicans to being the tax collectors for Obamanomics.
Some are even calling it the "VAT Commission," because liberals want a bipartisan agreement to implement a European-style value-added tax that will raise federal revenues by about five percentage points of GDP. That's the amount federal spending has risen under President Obama. Since 2007 federal spending is up by nearly 25%.
If we decide to solve our fiscal problem by raising taxes instead of cutting spending, i.e. entitlements, i.e. Social Security and Medicare, we are choosing the way of Europe. And it won't be long before were in Greece's shoes. But the Chinese will be calling the tune, not the EU. And we will have sold out our children and grandchildren. For this we sell our birthright of freedom? |