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Legacy of Deficits Will Constrain Bush's Successor
by k at 10:12 am EST, Feb 12, 2008 |
WSJ: George W. Bush took office in 2001 with budget surpluses projected to stretch years into the future. But it's almost certain that when he returns to Texas next year, the president will leave behind a trail of deficits and debt that will sharply constrain his successor.
I keep returning to a thought that I think I'll have to spend some more time thinking about at some point. It occurs to me that the fundamental legacy of the entire Bush presidency -- which includes, of course, not simply Bush, but all the cronies and advisors and appointees -- is the near total obliteration of people's trust in government. Plenty of people simply hate Bush, but I believe on a deeper level, many people have learned to believe, to steal a phrase, that their issue is with the game, not the player. The culmination of so many failures, failures of government, over the past 7 years strongly undermines the faith people have that government is capable of solving their problems. And I begin to believe also that this was the point. That the architects of this administration had an overarching goal of systematically rendering foolish the very notion of the federal government itself. In other words, all the bumbling and incompetence, the unchecked spending, the outright mendaciousness, the straining of our military resources to the brink, the engagement in failed diplomacy, the trashing of the economy and the erosion of civil liberties, was designed to paint a vivid picture of the inability of government to effectively manage the affairs of it's people. Even saying all this pushes the limits of my own conspiracy theory skepticism... I'm not really that guy for the most part. Of course, this is nothing more than a vague impression, not a researched position, and certainly not supported by specific evidence. Still, while correlation doesn't necessary equal causation, it may still be worth investigating. I just can't help being struck by how all the terrible shit that's happened over the past 7 years points in this same direction. |
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RE: Legacy of Deficits Will Constrain Bush's Successor
by noteworthy at 7:53 pm EST, Feb 12, 2008 |
k wrote: Plenty of people simply hate Bush, but I believe on a deeper level, many people have learned to believe, to steal a phrase, that their issue is with the game, not the player. The culmination of so many failures, failures of government, over the past 7 years strongly undermines the faith people have that government is capable of solving their problems.
<Seinfeld>Who are these people?</Seinfeld> From 2005, Tom Friedman: Are Americans suffering from an undue sense of entitlement? Somebody said to me the other day that the entitlement we need to get rid of is our sense of entitlement.
From 2004, "specialK": I for one, am sick of our society of entitlement.
From 2004, a letter in the NYT Sunday Magazine: It is sad but common evidence of our sense of entitlement that we in the West consider whatever we get our hands on to be ours.
From 2006, Decius: I think many Americans feel a sense of entitlement to the greatness of America. They wrap up our country's accomplishments, sprinkle on a bunch of stuff we didn't accomplish, pin it on their chest, and claim personal responsibility for it. They believe that they are personally great because they are Americans and America is great.
From 2004, David Brooks: Most students today are overprotected, uninterested and filled with a sense of entitlement.
Finally, a comment you made after the 2006 elections: You want a return to civilized dialogue and respectful disagreement, but you'll have to forgive my cynical laughter. It ain't happening this cycle or the next.
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RE: Legacy of Deficits Will Constrain Bush's Successor
by k at 5:18 pm EST, Feb 13, 2008 |
noteworthy wrote:
k wrote: Plenty of people simply hate Bush, but I believe on a deeper level, many people have learned to believe, to steal a phrase, that their issue is with the game, not the player. The culmination of so many failures, failures of government, over the past 7 years strongly undermines the faith people have that government is capable of solving their problems.
Who are these people? From 2005, Tom Friedman: Are Americans suffering from an undue sense of entitlement? Somebody said to me the other day that the entitlement we need to get rid of is our sense of entitlement.
From 2004, "specialK": I for one, am sick of our society of entitlement.
From 2004, a letter in the NYT Sunday Magazine: It is sad but common evidence of our sense of entitlement that we in the West consider whatever we get our hands on to be ours.
From 2006, Decius: I think many Americans feel a sense of entitlement to the greatness of America. They wrap up our country's accomplishments, sprinkle on a bunch of stuff we didn't accomplish, pin it on their chest, and claim personal responsibility for it. They believe that they are personally great because they are Americans and America is great.
From 2004, David Brooks: Most students today are overprotected, uninterested and filled with a sense of entitlement.
Finally, a comment you made after the 2006 elections: You want a return to civilized dialogue and respectful disagreement, but you'll have to forgive my cynical laughter. It ain't happening this cycle or the next.
I'm not entirely sure what you're intending to say... that there are a number of people who have never thought that the government should be in the business of solving our problems? That you agree with them? I would never argue the first point. Of course "limited government" has been a foundational plank in Republican and Libertarian platforms pretty much forever. I won't assume the second point either, since, as I said, I'm not at all sure what you're saying. I can respond to the series of references you made. Frankly, I don't at all believe that a sense of entitlement is our major problem, except insofar as it applies to the presumption many people clearly have that our society and form of government can function withou... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ] |
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Legacy of Deficits Will Constrain Bush's Successor
by noteworthy at 6:52 am EST, Feb 11, 2008 |
WSJ: George W. Bush took office in 2001 with budget surpluses projected to stretch years into the future. But it's almost certain that when he returns to Texas next year, the president will leave behind a trail of deficits and debt that will sharply constrain his successor. In the 2009 budget, the White House ants to cut about $200 billion from the government's medical programs for seniors and the poor. The longer-term picture is darker. The next president, if he or she serves two terms, could find the U.S. government so deeply in hock that it would face losing its Triple-A credit rating, something that has never happened since Moody's Investors Service began grading U.S. securities in 1917. As a result, the ambitions of Mr. Bush's successor to cut taxes, institute universal health care or aid troubled homeowners might have to give way to the reality of soaring costs for Social Security, the Medicare program for the elderly and the Medicaid program for the poor. "We kicked this can down the road about as long as it can be," Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, said at a hearing this week. "It will absolutely bedevil the next administration."
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