After President Obama’s election, conservatives were afraid he would drag the U.S. down into European socialism. We underestimated his vision.
A mere 18 months later not even the European socialists want to go where the president wants to lead—ever more government spending. Indeed, most of Europe is headed in the opposite direction.
- The U.K. has announced new austerity measures, including 25 percent budget cuts and a two-year public-sector pay freeze. Even the queen’s allotment will be frozen next year.
- Germany has said it will cut its budget by nearly $100 billion over the next four years.
- And France wants to cut its budget deficit from 8 percent of GDP this year to 3 percent by 2013.
By contrast, Obama tried to convince countries at the G-20 meeting to, lemming like, follow us off the economic cliff. They declined en masse. Many of them may be European socialists, but they aren’t fiscal idiots. The U.S. will have that “honor” all to ourselves.
Yes, the U.S. agreed to go along with the other countries in stressing deficit reduction. But that’s a sop to give the appearance of unity.
There will be no budget this year because a budget requires deficit projections, and deficit projections like those facing the U.S. produce headlines. And headlines would force—finally—the administration to explain why spending even more money the country doesn’t have will create prosperity.
This may be the most deluded fiscal-policy administration we’ve ever witnessed. Everyone knew ObamaCare was going to cost significantly more than what the Congressional Budget Office predicted. And yet the Obama administration persevered.
Most economists knew the Obama stimulus bill would do little to reduce unemployment or increase economic growth. And yet that hasn’t stopped the president from asking for even more stimulus spending—and encouraging other countries to follow our misguided lead.
But when even the European socialists blush at our overspending, you know the American people see through the nonsense.