According to calculations by Harvard economics professor Greg Mankiw based on data from the Office of Management and Budget, roughly 60 percent of Americans receive more in government benefits than they pay in federal taxes. A Tax Foundation study suggests that, after President Obama’s health-care law is implemented, as many as 70 percent of Americans are net recipients of government largesse. Nearly a third of Americans receive more than half their income from the government. There are also more than 80,000 pages of federal regulations, overseen by some 456 federal agencies, and more than 4.3 million federal employees. We have become a nation of Julias, the Obama campaign’s fictional woman whose every life decision was subsidized, regulated, or directed by government. One can certainly see how a government shutdown would strike terror in her life... Given the growing tide of red ink facing this country over the long term, and our profound philosophical differences about the role of government, this budget crisis will hardly be the last. Unless we want to spend more time worrying about whether those budget battles will hurt the country, we should redouble our efforts to get government out of our lives. If we return government to its proper size and functions — become more a government of Jefferson and less a government of Julia — future shutdowns will be far less likely and, if they do happen, even less painful.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Oct 2013 08:25:33 +0000
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