Advice to president-elect Obama

[mRx 16]

Will Wilkinson: Congratulations, Barack Obama! You're the next President of the United States. Sadly, the government's so broke that even new curtains for the Oval Office are beyond the bounds of fiscal responsibility. Thanks to the war, the Wall Street bailout, the lousy economy, and the drop in tax revenue, your big campaign plans just got a lot smaller.

Here's my advice: First, you've got to get spending under control. Yes: Bring the troops home, and shrink the military. But there's enormous waste in the non-defense budget, too, and you need to go after it. You said we need to cut spending with a scalpel, not a hatchet. Well, if you don't want to leave your kids with a crushing tax burden, you better get yourself a crate of scalpels.

Second, drop the xenophobic claptrap. The stuff from the debates about "mortgaging our future" by "borrowing from the Chinese to pay the Saudis" has got to stop. We are not, and cannot be, a self-contained fortress city. It's good that capital markets are international. It's good that energy markets are international. It's good for prosperity and it's good for peace that we're all in it together. Help save America's economy by making it even more open to the goods and people of the world.

Third, get real on the "new energy economy." You've been claiming that the government can simultaneously create millions of new jobs, spur growth-enhancing innovation, and save the Earth by politically picking winners among energy companies. It's a beautiful dream. But in reality, it means nothing more than the greening of corporate welfare and an increase in energy prices. Our struggling economy can't afford that.

You've got Congress on your side and the wind of public opinion at your back -- which is exactly why you should take it slow. This election was exactly what you said it was: a referendum on the last eight years of George W. Bush and his coalition. The voters agreed it was time to throw the bums out. But if you overreach, you'll be tomorrow's bum. Remember how popular Newt Gingrich's Contract for America was? Yeah. Me neither.

Will Wilkinson is a research fellow at the Cato Institute.

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display...dvice_to_obama/

[Danno 1,228]

Looks like Obama..... never heard the advice.

[Nagishkaw 510]

Topic moved from OFF TOPIC to POLITICS and RELIGION.

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