The economic unsustainability of By Chris Varmeckie Staff Writer CJVSO43@PSU.EDU Touting its insatiable preoccupancy with furthering the cause of sustainable, eco-friendly living, the hapless left wing of America and misanthropic environmentalists alike contend that the survival of America’s future is co-dependent upon whether or not the human race can adapt their current lifestyles to harmoniously coexist with fragile mother Earth. Even Barack Obama, predisposed to allow the direction of America’s energy future to be at the whim of taxpayer subsided alternative energy (often times more costly and less efficient than traditional sources of energy) has developed some sort of odd infatuation with weatherized housing, solar panels, and windmills. Oh, allures of romanticism (Mary Shelley and Heinrich Himmler would be ever-so proud). I jest. However, this sort of engorged emphasis on environmental sustainability begs a much more imperative question that seems to be conveniently absent from liberal dogma these days. liberalism needless pork, the omnibus spending provision consisted of over 9000 earmarks amounting to $12.8 billion. Keep in mind this doesn’t include the original stimulus which was comprised of $16.1 billion spent on 2627 earmarks. In the scheme of things these earmarks are relative trivialities, but they’re worth mentioning. Ardently campaigning on the promise of eliminating earmarks and wasteful spending, Obama and the Democrats in Congress have suddenly misplaced their reservations and their fiscal outrage pertaining to this utter disregard for taxpayer dollars. Now, don’t get me wrong; I am in no way, shape, or form surprised by his convenient change of heart. It doesn’t take an especially perceptive onto our already existing national debt of over $ll trillion, and we mustn’t forget to factor in $5 trillion in interest payments. The grand total: over $25 trillion in unfunded liabilities that will burden not only our generation, but our children as well. “This clearly creates a scenario where the country’s going to go bankrupt. It’s almost that simple,” said Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.), the senior Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. In a futile, yet economically ruinous attempt to offset these massive increases in government, Obama plans to raise the top income tax brackets from 36% to 39.6%, increase capital gains and dividend taxes to 20%, phase out personal tax exemptions, and reduce taxed deductions by approximately one fourth. These inflation reached 13 percent, interest rates hit 19 percent, and the stock market grew only 5.4 percent annually. Does America really aspire to mirror the economic tribulations of the tumultuous 19705? Do we really desire to turn back the clock on thirty years of unprecedented economic growth and prosperity in order to fund a few ideologues’ grandiose dreams of a utopian paradise in which government is the omnipotent and omnipresent entity that ensures everyone’s well-being? This overbearing, unsustainable, government expansion delineates its economic failure. However, its failure will come at the expense of our generation and generations to come.
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