Obama’s Freeze Isn’t Strong Enough for the Deficit

With the unusual victory in Massachusetts, President Obama went back to the drawing board to try and demonstrate that he could be fiscally responsible. After a year of fiscal irresponsibility, the American people spoke by electing Scott Brown. President Obama’s response is to put a freeze on a lot of the domestic programs that we currently have. However, this does too little too late and while it is definitely a positive move, it won’t do enough to cut the debt in any way.

The issue with this plan is that he doesn’t get rid of any of the defense department’s budget. While I support the need for a strong military, there are still so many programs that are being paid for that are entirely useless to the current goals of the United States. If Obama really wants to cut the deficit, one of the things that he should consider getting rid of are a lot of the military bases that are in Western Europe. These bases are relics of the Cold War, an era that we have long since left.

When the Soviet Union was threatening to pour into Germany and the spread of Communists had everyone afraid, it was easy to justify building bases in countries such as Germany and Italy. However, with the fall of the Soviet Union, there is no need for these bases. So, instead of keeping them open, the United States should close them, take that money and apply it to beating down the deficit. There are bases all over that, if closed, would do a lot more to the deficit.

Obama has taken some steps forward that might make for a strong attack against the growing debt, even if he and the Democratic Congress were the ones that started it from the get-go. Finally going along with Senator Evan Bayh from Indiana, he has proposed the creation of a bipartisan commission whose responsibility it is to ensure that tough fiscal decisions are made. With the commission making the decisions, the politics of the economy could be greatly diminished.

Finally, close down the TARP program. Chris Dodd said that there was about $320 billion that was unspent in that program. Instead of waiting to use it, close the program down and take that $320 billion and apply it to the deficit. That is a considerable amount of money that would do a lot of good in beating the deficit back.

If President Obama is honestly serious about cutting the deficit, he is going to need to get out of the Cold War mentality of having the biggest and baddest military. So much money is wasted each year on programs that are absolutely crazy. More importantly, he is going to have to cut back on his bail out funding. If President Obama can demonstrate to the American people that he is honestly serious about getting rid of the deficit and perhaps, in the future, getting rid of debt, he stands a chance at helping the Democrats revive in time for the midterm elections.

The one damaging thing that Obama could do, though, is raise taxes. The answer in bad economic times is not to raise taxes, but cut spending. Allow the American people to correct their issues; we are a resourceful people that can fix our problems. Ensuring that taxes don’t rise in the coming years will be one sure way of getting the deficit to drop so long as it goes hand in hand with spending cuts. As the money circulates back into the economy, it will increase the GDP and that, in turn, will result in more revenues in the long run.

In the end, the United States has a debt and deficit that is far too large. If we want to continue being a strong, powerful country, we are going to need to enforce policies that get our spending in order. While I support a strong military, I do not support ridiculous spending. I do not support massive bail outs. Obama’s freeze on domestic policies is a step in the right direction, but won’t be enough to get rid of the deficit.

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