If you want to get a sense of how backward and upside down our politics has become, juxtapose these two events: yesterday’s Democratic Presidential debate and today’s speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the state of the Russian Federation.
The Democratic Presidential candidates talked about their myriad plans to grow the size and scope of government; yet, the words economic growth never once left their lips. But in the absence of robust economic growth, it is impossible to see how these Dem presidential wanna-bees could finance their costly schemes to create new and vast federal entitlements such as “Medicare for All.”
“‘We are literally talking about increases in government spending that would double the size of government as a share of gross domestic product,” Maya MacGuineas told CNN reporter Ron Brownstein. Brownstein and MacGuineas calculate that Sanders is proposing an astronomical $30 trillion to $60 trillion in new spending over the next 10 years.
MacGuinease is “President of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonprofit group that advocates [for] reducing federal deficits.”
Admittedly, Sanders (and Elizabeth Warren) may be in a league of their own when it comes to making government huge again. But the rest of the Democratic field isn’t far behind, truth be told. They all want to make the government much bigger and more dominant vis-a-vis the private sector. Economic growth to them is just assumed and taken as a given
Not so for Putin, who, according to CNBC, told the Russian people:
“High economic growth rates are essential. This is the only way to overcome poverty and ensure steady and perceptible increases in income. This is the key to success.
“[By] 2021, Russia’s economic growth rate must exceed 3% and stay above the global average afterwards. This objective should not be discarded,” he said.
Putin said that areas to focus on were labor productivity, improving Russia’s business climate, removing ‘infrastructural constraints for economic development’ and lastly, “training modern personnel.”
Clearly, Putin is more focused on economic growth than the Democratic presidential candidates! The Russian dictator realizes that, unless his country’s economy grows much more rapidly than it is now, all of his dreams and aspirations for a greater, imperial Russia are for naught.
Would that Bernie, Elizabeth, Pete, and Joe all had similar situational awareness and understanding.