Test of leadership: America can erase its deficits, if it stays the course
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The Congressional Budget Office has not been in the habit of handing out valentines, and so it was last week when it offered its latest annual outlook on the federal government's economic health.
The nonpartisan agency that provides analysis to Congress on budget matters reported that the government will show a $1.1 trillion shortfall when the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. While the projected deficit will be $200 billion lower than last year's, it will be the fourth in a row at the $1 trillion level.
Improvement is right around the corner, the CBO said, but only if current law remains unchanged. If the Bush-era tax cuts expire, as scheduled, after 2012 and if Congress' automatic spending cuts take place, Washington's annual deficits will plunge -- to $585 billion in 2013 and $345 billion in 2014. That's not one, but two big ifs -- and not many people expect today's politicians, particularly in an election year, to let it happen.
Yet, if Congress and the White House want to lift the noose that is tightening around the country's economic future, they need to use all the tools at their disposal -- budget cuts on military and domestic programs, and higher revenues from the expiration of ill-timed tax cuts initiated during the Bush years. If elected leaders don't have the spine for it, the CBO's alternative fiscal scenario shows trillion-dollar deficits continuing annually, to the point that debt held by the public will be 94 percent of gross domestic product only 10 years from now.
Trimming the government's financial sails, unfortunately, will extend the time it takes the economy to recover, and the CBO's near-term numbers attest to that, forecasting 8.9 percent unemployment for Election Day (compared to 8.3 percent last month) and 9.1 percent in 2013. But the agency said the additional revenue and spending cuts would strengthen the economy in the long run.
Real leadership is never easy, especially in times like these, and many candidates this year will profess to have the nation's best interest at heart. But if they're not willing to make the tough choices and not willing to back measures for shared sacrifice, then they are harming the future of this country and they do not deserve the people's votes.
First Published February 6, 2012 12:00 am
