Rise of the Childish Cynics

"[What] the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified." - President Barack Obama, Inaugural Address

Foolishness

Last week I read an article written by my cousin over at The Motley Fool. The article articulated the need for careful analysis of Government's role in the market rather than "[p]itting socialism and capitalism head-to-head in a Bloodsport-style death match."

As expected, the comments to his article quickly snow-balled into, what else, the fear of socialism and tepid concordance marked with anti-government saber rattling. I guess I should have expected this, given that it is an investment forum. Yet it seems odd: TMF is currently promoting its members take advantage of the Stimulus, calling it an opportunity matched only by... well... another 'Stimulus' signed into law under Ronald Reagan.

President Reagan's 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 was an estimated $600 billion tax break, with billions more for defense contractors and small businesses. The tax break decreased government spending by almost 3% of real GDP. This helped balloon, not contract the deficit, and while it was certainly a great time for the wealthy who saw their mean incomes increase far greater than the nominal increases of the lower middle-class, cuts in social spending erased the gains for many of those 'on the fence' of impoverishment.

Meanwhile, despite its mantra of deregulation, the Reagan era proved to be the largest increase in both government debt and overall government spending in history - until the Bush Administration. What there certainly was not a deficit of was ideology of de-regulation and demonizing tax brackets. Alan Greenspan, a patron-saint of the Reagan years has since admitted a flaw in his ideology. Meanwhile, 4 years ago, Vice President Dick Cheyney in some ways rightfully asserted that the Reagan regime proved deficits do not matter that much, there is no voice greater today than "save our children from government spending" coming out of today's Republican camp.

Monitoring the Eruption

Republican Majority Leader John Boehner (OH) called the Stimulus plan a down payment on a "socialist experiment" . Last Friday, in response to the Obama budget, Senator DeMint (SC) went as far as calling President Obama a "salesman of socialism". This from the party that has twice mushroomed the deficit larger than it was when its party took office?

Indeed. But hypocrisy only leads to childish antics with the GOP these days.

The up and coming Governor Piyush (pronounced PEE-ROOSH) "Bobby" Jindal got in line with his party in his response to Obama's address to Congress last Tuesday. While candidly admitting that the GOP deserves its banishment into the political wilderness, he nonetheless went on a tirade to try to frame Republican posturing in terms of 'socialist big government Dems' vs 'the gatekeepers of taxpayer money Repubs' when he said: "While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects ... and $140 million for something called "volcano monitoring." Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C."

As CNBC's Keith Olberman and Paul Krugman rightly pointed out - the Volcano monitoring is needed to save lives in case of massive erruptions. High speed rail projects? Well, considering that most of the developed world already uses them because they are great for business and decreases our foreign oil consumption: maybe they are not all that bad.

Jindal gave a tired-tirade that only could have persuaded the most low-brow among us. Indeed, even his fellow conservatives thought the speech was rubbish, one Fox news commentator saying it came off as "simplistic and almost childish". Instead of speaking to us like children and lambasting necessary and critical programs, he could have pointed out some real earnest faults with the Stimulus. Apparently no one is monitoring Republican speechwriters from erupting with nonsense.

Stop Whining and Do Something

Rather than tuning into misguided dribble devoid of any real solutions, citizens should take advantage of the Stimulus Plan and the President's budget. There are three central ways to do this.

• Make money from it. Whether you are Joe Sixpack or Donald Trump, the climate is rich to invest in opportunities that the administration will surely support. While there is no disagreement that some public money is wasted, there is also little argument against government's ability to spur success in the private sector. From the successes of lots of companies that utilized NASA technology (like Olympic swimsuits and Lithium batteries) to ARPANet that lead the way to the internet as we know it, the goverment has proved to be a catalyst that drives, not hinders the private sector. I am willing to bet that investments in contractors that build schools, companies that manufacture alternative fuels and successful firms that are working on digital health records will all see profitable returns in the near future.

• Follow the money. The President has promised to make his administration one of the most transparent. So far, he has been good to this promise, creating recovery.gov - a website to monitory the stimulus money. If you are a little skeptical of the administration to watch itself, check out StimulusWatch - a site started by researchers and coders. You can use these resources, and presumably ones that will follow them, to advocate your approval or disapproval of how your money is spent.
  

• Advocate GAO and CRS perform analysis. The General Accounting Office and the Congressional Research Service are both non-partisan research services located in the legislative branch. As citizens, we should remind our representatives and the Comptroller General to ensure analysis and accounting on government programs. Since the Stimulus includes $25 million for the GAO, we need to make sure that the Watchdogs properly report impact and return on investment analysis of the budget and the stimulus package.
  

There remains a long way to go to get us away from a toxic financial system, away from bubblenomics, towards a more sustainable and harmonious future and indeed, cutting government waste. That doesn't mean the stimulus and the budget are anything but in the direction that we elected Obama to do. Therefore, rhetoric about "Socialism" and childish antics will not help us benefit from the Stimulus. They will, if successful, garner votes for Republican politicians, but they will do little for the great majority of us.

"Pork talk" is really just Political Beef

Instead of giving huge tax breaks to the wealthiest percentile and unloading money to the Department of Defense, the Administration has just cut taxes for most of us and invested in Health Care, Education and Public Infrastructure. Governor Jindal may not like it, but we'll see if he actually makes the politically unsavory move of blocking unemployment funds for his state that provisions in the Stimulus would include.

The odds are that Mr. Jindal will come to the realization that "Americans can do anything" - even humble themselves and take the money. If the young Governor does not wise up, he'll end up with some Piyush-ing down his trousers when the Democrats strike back during re-election. They'll point out that, 3 years ago, he let thousands suffer because the GOP wanted to protect notions of fiscal austerity for future posterity (got it?).

President Obama's above quotation is a benchmark that voters should use to determine how they will vote in 2012. People will likely look back and say to themselves: "gee, look at how big the deficit still is. All of these programs that are run by the feds, started under Obama. The common share stock that Uncle Sam owns is HUGE; Government is getting so big!" Instead of listening to what will be the shrill Republican cacophony lead by the up and comers like Governor Jindal of "think of the huge burden on your kids!"The correct consideration is one launched by the Great Debater himself: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?"

The childish cynics and the tired old arguments of a "creeping socialism" need to stop. While opposition within Government is fair, it needs to be more than a slogan hypocritically left to the way side when in power. Critics of the President's fiscal spending need to offer real specifics, not ideological wedges or child speak. The GOP should cease in calling real fiscal stimulus "pork" and cut the political bull. After all: who needs beef in a time of national unity?