President Barack Obama’s recent State of the Union Address was a centrist manifesto that offered everyone something to hate.
Liberals bemoaned his plot to gut the federal government. The Conservative Red Meat Brigade bristled at the thought of ending oil drilling subsidies and the creation of a nationwide high-speed rail network.
Foreign Policy’s SOTU drinking game was downright brutal. Your correspondent received a hateful five drinks when the president named not one, but all of the nations involved in recent U.S. trade deals. Like most things he’s done, there’s a lot of good to be said about his agenda. And a lot of bad.
Consider his timid plan to reduce the budget deficit. Generally, nations facing deficits cut spending and raise taxes. To his credit, President Obama insisted that spending must be reined in. But where to slice?
According to an Economist poll last April, the only spending cuts the majority of Americans approve are in foreign aid. Unfortunately, those make up way less than even 1 percent of the total budget.
Ironically, the largest pigs that feed at the federal trough are also the most popular — Social Security, Medicaid, and defense spending make up 52 percent of the budget this year and are politically off limits for dramatic cuts. Obama won’t touch these.
Instead, he plans to squeeze blood from the stone of America’s least well off government departments by freezing their spending for the next five years.
We’re talking about such notoriously wasteful and pointless entities like the Department of Transportation (2.05 percent of total spending) and the Department of Justice (0.63 percent). These departments are so underfunded and understaffed that they can’t even do their jobs as is.
These agencies depend on modest yearly budget bumps just to try to cope with the colossal workload. Cut even more deeply into their bones, and you might as well do away with them altogether.
But Obama offered a lot to like as well, despite what the pundits might have you think. Most promising for the nation’s transportation future was his commitment to phase out oil subsidies and invest in a national high-speed rail network.
Any bargain bin course in economics teaches that subsidies distort the market; oil industry subsidies allow gas stations to sell oil at below the market price and encourage excessive consumption.
Instead of taking the bus, many people might drive to a Sustain Mizzou meeting because of low gas prices. Jack them up to what the rest of the civilized world pays and alternatives to driving suddenly look that much more appealing.
High Speed Rail is one American infrastructure project which has been overdue for a while. The rationale for a nationwide HSR network is clear-not only would it free congested freight lines of passenger traffic, but high-speed trains are a far more environmentally sustainable method of moving people long distances quickly than airplanes or cars. Train food probably doesn’t suck as much as airline food either.
America is at an important crossroads. As a nation, do we really need 11 aircraft carrier strike groups when the rest of the world can scrape up 10 carriers combined? Can Social Security sustain itself without an increase in the payroll cap? Can we end our tawdry love affair with the automobile and lead the world in sustainable transportation and energy? Keep these questions in mind this year as we plunge into the dark and unhealthy world of the 112th Congress
