« The Economic Meaninglessness of Political Borders | Main | Snow Job» Don Boudreaux
February 23, 2007
Addicted to Spending
Don Boudreaux
Mark Schmitt (HT: Greg Mankiw) and Sebastian Mallaby are just two of the many people who argue that Uncle Sam should increase the amount that he taxes American citizens.
Reasonable persons can (and do!) disagree over the appropriate role of government. Some people want more of it, some people want less of it, and I suppose that some people think that the amount we have at the moment is just right.
But those who want more of it -- or even those who want government to do more of some things and for government to do less of other things -- seem to have a fetish for higher taxes.
I paste below a letter that I sent on Monday to the Washington Post in response to Mallaby's column that ran that day:
Even if Sebastian Mallaby is right that government programs - such as efforts to retrain workers - are justified as the price to pay to weaken political resistance to freer trade, he's wrong to argue that these programs must be funded by higher taxes ("Matching Free Trade With Taxes," Feb. 19).
Uncle Sam today takes from Americans' pockets more than $2.5 trillion per year. In real dollar terms, this sum is 50 percent higher than what Bill Clinton's government took during its first year in office and 25 percent higher than what George W. Bush's government took during its first year. Surely, Uncle Sam already has on hand more than sufficient funds to pay for whatever programs are needed to mute opposition to trade.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Why doesn't Mallaby -- who is sensible, smart, sober, and informed -- think to call instead for getting the revenue (to pay for the programs he endorses) from elsewhere in the budget? Is it plausible that the country needs Uncle Sam now to spend nearly $3 trillion annually? Why not call for eliminating farm subsidies? For ending the "war on drugs"? For selling off what is valuable in Amtrak and scrapping the rest? For privatizing the U.S. Postal Service? There are lots of programs that are horrendously wasteful. Funds for any programs plausibly worthwhile as a means of reducing political resistance to freer trade can be gotten by cutting or eliminating even just some of these other programs. (Cato's Chris Edwards, here and here, details many ways for cutting Uncle Sam's bloated budget.)
I recall this blog post in which Neil Buchanan complained about the GOP being "addicted to tax cut politics." I'm sorry, but if there's any fiscal addiction at work in Washington it is not one that keeps taxes falling; instead, the addiction is one that keeps spending rising.
Think about it. I'm sure that Sebastian Mallaby can find in the federal budget hundreds of billions of dollars currently spent on programs that he believes to be wasteful or even downright unjustified -- programs that, if anything, make Americans poorer and increase wealth inequalities. The reason, I suspect, that he doesn't think to seek to get the funds for more trade-adjustment programs by taking them from these unjustified programs is that he understands from the get-go that nearly all programs currently in operation have a kind of political sacredness. They become almost immediately locked-in; each one becomes very difficult to kill.
Now that's closer to an addiction than is the perfectly understandable desire of (most) people to want to keep more of their own money.
Posted by Don Boudreaux in Politics, Trade | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d834518ccc69e200d83432e68553ef
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Addicted to Spending:
Comments
It must be some sort of learned effect--perhaps even something hard-wired--that leads some people to believe that government, and therefore government spending, is the solution to many of the issues of our time. Yet, many of these gov't programs, whether called re-training or subsidies, are simply income transfers paid to mitigate market risk. This leads to the consequence of converting market risk to moral hazard risk, whereby the risk of loss is shared across the tax base, and therefore, few, suffer from loss or failure. This strikes me as obvious.
Posted by: Forbes | Feb 23, 2007 6:08:40 PM
Don, you're just one of those merciless free market economists that have no compassion...so much so that you don't even have a second hand.
Look, I can understand why you chose to write what you did about getting funding from elsewhere in the federal budget for those programs that are designed to help displaced workers and the like; but just where could one possibly make cuts to this federal budget anyway?
I mean, shoot, Don, we're operating rather thinly at the federal level of government as it is:
http://www.lib.lsu.edu/gov/tree
Posted by: lowcountryjoe | Feb 23, 2007 8:18:21 PM
Take the mint for example: WHAT is their objective in manufacturing coinage whose face value is less than scrap value?
Posted by: True_Liberal | Feb 23, 2007 9:01:06 PM
“Why doesn't Mallaby -- who is sensible, smart, sober, and informed -- think to call instead for getting the revenue (to pay for the programs he endorses) from elsewhere in the budget? Is it plausible that the country needs Uncle Sam now to spend nearly $3 trillion annually?”
“I'm sorry, but if there's any fiscal addiction at work in Washington it is not one that keeps taxes falling; instead, the addiction is one that keeps spending rising.”
Don,
In my opinion, guys like Mallaby and Mankiw do not call for spending cuts because they’ve resigned themselves to the fact that government cannot cut back on spending.
So they feel by increasing revenue through taxation more dollars will flow into the government with some feeding entitlement programs and other dollars feeding pork projects.
They really refuse to deal with the problem head on. That would be the problem of wasteful spending.
Posted by: Grzesiek | Feb 23, 2007 10:16:27 PM
Well, here in Connecticut they may just have it right. Despite a budget surplus and job growth that has been consistently at or near the bottom of all states for several years, a tax increase is being contemplated. Maybe its partly because after numerous years of minimal private sector expansion, government is increasingly looked upon as the engine of growth.
Posted by: The Dirty Mac | Feb 24, 2007 7:40:43 AM
A chief presumption behind the idea of raising taxes is that it's always the other guy who is paying them.
Posted by: Russell Nelon | Feb 24, 2007 9:37:11 AM
So how are we to EVER get back to a small government if spending cannot ever be cut?? Revolution? Secesession?
Posted by: Russell Nelon | Feb 24, 2007 9:44:39 AM
"...the addiction is one that keeps spending rising."
The day has arrived when I agree with Don Boudreaux.
Deo Gratias.
Posted by: Martin | Feb 25, 2007 4:47:33 AM
crown psychodidae indophenin uneatableness chanceful calorite yucca macrognathic
11
http://www.freewebs.com/ielohv/18.html
7
http://www.freewebs.com/ielohv/12.html
17
http://www.freewebs.com/ielohv/10.html
16
http://www.freewebs.com/ielohv/13.html
7
http://www.angelfire.com/ahfohm/1.html
2
http://www.freewebs.com/ielohv/12.html
11
http://www.angelfire.com/ahfohm/3.html
18
http://www.angelfire.com/ahfohm/9.html
8
http://www.freewebs.com/ielohv/15.html
17
http://www.angelfire.com/ahfohm/4.html
Posted by: Bert Santiago | Sep 5, 2007 8:52:36 AM
crown psychodidae indophenin uneatableness chanceful calorite yucca macrognathic
28535
http://www.freewebs.com/jxseec/1.html
18483
http://www.freewebs.com/jxseec/15.html
75893
http://www.freewebs.com/pkezuq/9.html
50498
http://www.angelfire.com/dfghbx/7.html
72797
http://www.angelfire.com/mfbvjz/9.html
Posted by: Stacy Skinner | Oct 5, 2007 9:16:17 PM
crown psychodidae indophenin uneatableness chanceful calorite yucca macrognathic
Education Jobs In Arizona
http://uzzrtjkp.info/220.html
Posted by: Janet Schwartz | Oct 8, 2007 6:29:04 AM
crown psychodidae indophenin uneatableness chanceful calorite yucca macrognathic
Fat Boy Slim
http://www.angelfire.com/lbhovjzm/2ea.html
Nba Com Playoffs
http://www.angelfire.com/nropmhuh/5pl.html
Hand Held
http://www.angelfire.com/qhkojbrr/4en.html
Nissan Sentra Prices
http://www.angelfire.com/iyemnmmj/24c.html
Robert S Davis
http://www.angelfire.com/urrxboyi/1jm.html
Synthetic Sapphire Gem Stones
http://www.angelfire.com/elekiawq/2xe.html
3d Topographic Maps
http://www.angelfire.com/gvejecqt/3io.html
Fly Rod
http://www.angelfire.com/flvkzkff/29y.html
Tomato Salsa
http://www.angelfire.com/dxiduhbo/33r.html
Web Content Manager California
http://www.angelfire.com/nefetljn/3gr.html
Female Pop Singer
http://www.angelfire.com/vdhltoxc/17d.html
Making A Sail Line
http://www.angelfire.com/urrxboyi/v3.html
Making Cheese Curd
http://www.angelfire.com/ddqaquck/ny.html
Women Drunk
http://www.angelfire.com/gvejecqt/lk.html
French Country Bed Linens
http://www.angelfire.com/zrtwfdpv/4he.html
Bath Tub Drain Plumbing
http://www.angelfire.com/qgmbnflt/143.html
Mercy Medical Group
http://www.angelfire.com/dawdndsu/48j.html
Tickets For Sale
http://www.angelfire.com/qgmbnflt/5j5.html
Usa States
http://www.angelfire.com/flvkzkff/sx.html
2002 Gmc Denali
http://www.angelfire.com/elekiawq/42i.html
Chef Starting Salary
http://www.angelfire.com/nropmhuh/5uw.html
African American Natural Hair Care
http://www.angelfire.com/ymcpwche/44d.html
Interactive Dog Toys
http://www.angelfire.com/rpdhcsbe/2rb.html
Digital To Analog Tv Devices
http://www.angelfire.com/dawdndsu/1ot.html
Household Goods Moving Storage
http://www.angelfire.com/nefetljn/2he.html
Infant Chinese Girl Clothes
http://www.angelfire.com/gvejecqt/1x6.html
Rhode Island Red Farms
http://www.angelfire.com/rpdhcsbe/2zz.html
Create Own Layout
http://www.angelfire.com/ddqaquck/4gb.html
Aurora Federal Credit Union
http://www.angelfire.com/iyemnmmj/10n.html
Cat Health Symptoms
http://www.angelfire.com/qhkojbrr/3oc.html
Posted by: Tom Jimenez | Oct 30, 2007 9:12:37 PM
crown psychodidae indophenin uneatableness chanceful calorite yucca macrognathic
Anna Nicole Smith Getting Profile.php
http://uwkvwp.in/81
Honda Motor Oil
http://dogxdz.in/lz
Vintage Pedal Cars
http://uwkvwp.in/ph
Organic Vegetable Seed
http://inxzqz.in/ll
International Web Marketing
http://uwkvwp.in/z0
Lenawee Intermediate School District
http://hulrlg.in/wv
Prada Replica Handbags
http://hxspqx.in/av
Convert .mov Files
http://dogxdz.in/z3
Section 215 Of The Patriot Act
http://dogxdz.in/lk
Drunk Girl Pic
http://hrmruo.in/je
Sunset Beach Ca
http://dogxdz.in/mo
Sewing Patterns Bolero Jacket
http://uwkvwp.in/yy
Tenacious D Tribute Video
http://uwkvwp.in/q4
Hand Held Folding Paper Fan
http://hrmruo.in/ug
Curtain Rod Hardware
http://uwkvwp.in/rs
Organic Maple Syrup
http://uwkvwp.in/o1
Morris Brown Lyrics
http://hrmruo.in/1h
Drill Bit Sizes Chart
http://hrmruo.in/1m
Saddam Execution Footage
http://gkltej.in/26
Missouri Real Estate Brokers
http://hulrlg.in/bv
Chevy Nova History
http://gkltej.in/75
Founder Of North Carolina
http://gkltej.in/ds
Video Women Shower
http://uwkvwp.in/57
Marquette County Wisconsin
http://hrmruo.in/i9
Self Defense Handguns
http://gwqzmg.in/8o
Amelia Reed Baton Rouge Obituary
http://orucht.in/f3
Toyota Sienna Accessories
http://uwkvwp.in/sp
Printable 2005 Calendar
http://inxzqz.in/lz
Swisher Zero Turn
http://hxspqx.in/yf
Wave Front Guided Pocket Folders
http://inxzqz.in/b
Posted by: Sheryl Vincent | Nov 22, 2007 8:18:37 AM
carpetbagism parodic sheepling tigerhood liturate camise offerable idrialite
House Rentals For Roseburg Oregon
http://c-yp.mxjxqf.com/
Flesch-kincaid Grade Level
http://16-si.mxjxqf.com/
Posted by: Johnny Vargas | Dec 18, 2007 5:14:02 PM
Posted by: laptop battery | Oct 13, 2008 2:57:30 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.
