Notes from the Battlefield

by Gordon Cooper

From Broader View Weekly, April 14, 2011

In spite of my opposition to the overuse of militaristic terms to describe things that have no real comparison to the bloody, noisy, messy, pain-filled, stink-of-death reality of genuine warfare, I hope you will indulge me this time as I try to put a perspective on the current debate centered around our federal budget.

It was 150 years ago this week (April 12, 1861) that shots were fired at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. As we all know (or should know) those shots were followed by many fierce battles that left thousands of bodies of fellow citizens strewn across farm fields and family lawns for four long, brutal years.

As we look back upon that terrible and divisive time we can gain some lessons about what took place recently in our nation’s capital. As with the Civil War, first shots do not determine the final outcome and advances and retreats must be made by each side before victory or defeat is finally registered.

I believe the deal struck between Messrs. Reid, Obama and Boehner late Friday night represents the first shots fired in what will definitely be a long, brutal conflict between two ideological encampments.

On the one side we see those who seem reluctant to acknowledge the danger faced by stifling debts and deficit spending. On the other side we see those who feel compelled to limit the reach of government and to bring spending under control.

The agreement reached late Friday evening represents a historical shift in fiscal direction. For once we are talking about cutting spending rather than increasing spending. The final agreement set the budget of the 2011 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, at $1.049 trillion. That is $39 billion less than was budgeted for 2010 and $79 billion less than President Obama had requested. These figures are less than what I would want in an ideal world, but I recognize the advantage of gaining objectives by incremental steps and I can see larger and more significant battlefields ahead.

It should go without saying that our national debt is a serious threat to our national security and the continued deficit spending cannot be sustained, but if one were to listen to many of the critics of Boehner and his proposal, one would think the lesson needs to be taught over and over again. Any serious attempt to cut back on spending is met with howls of protest from those who somehow believe the problem can be shoved down the road to future generations.

That is why I believe the real budget battles lie ahead as Paul Ryan’s Path to Prosperity is introduced as the model for the 2012 fiscal year. The serious spending cuts and revolutionary reforms contained in that document may not all make it to the light of day, but at the very least it will spur open debate and any progress it makes toward lowering our deficit will be worthwhile.
While time and space do not allow me to go into detail about his plan, some of the highlights are the following:

_ The plan would cut spending over the next decade by $6.2 trillion from Obama’s budget. This would return Washington’s slice of the economy to its historical average, below 20 percent, rather than Obama’s 23 percent spending floor.
_ Ryan would also eliminate $2.3 trillion in tax hikes, including $800 billion avoided by repealing the unpopular healthcare bill.
_ The “Path to Prosperity” would also combine hundreds of overlapping programs, scrap others, and reform some, such as Medicare. While leaving beneficiaries over age 55 untouched, Ryan’s plan would give future retirees funds to help them purchase their choice of health coverage, rather than one Washington-dictated plan. Similarly, instead of a single federal Medicaid model, governors and state legislators would use federal block grants to serve the diverse needs of poor people in, say, Arizona and Vermont.

“The U.S. government is not running sustained deficits because Americans are taxed too little. The government is running deficits because it spends too much,” Ryan’s plan continues. It adds, “Over the past 40 years, government revenue has averaged between 18 percent and 19 percent of GDP. This level has generally been compatible with prosperity, even though there is broad agreement that the structure of the tax code should be simplified and made more conducive to economic growth, high wages, and entrepreneurship.”

Hence, the Path closes deductions and loopholes and lowers top individual and corporate taxes to 25 percent. This outright tax relief would end America’s 35 percent business levy, the industrial world’s highest. (http://budget.house.gov/UploadedFiles/PathToProsperityFY2012.pdf)

In conclusion, do not be quick to claim victory or defeat for either side at this point. The consequences of last November’s “shellacking” of President Obama and his policies will be forthcoming in several minor skirmishes and we can only hope our nation will come out the better for it just like she came out the better for going through that long, bitter conflict 150 years ago this week.