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.