Let's Start a War

In an editorial in this morning's Dallas Morning News, Bob Herbert writes of the economic ills still plaguing that nation. Unemployment is still high and the economy is still struggling. In his column, Herbert makes the astounding claim that government efforts to address the economy so far have been "small-bore efforts that will accomplish little." He is half right. Government efforts to stimulate the economy have had few results. But he is very wrong to characterize government efforts to stimulate the economy so far as "small bore". Well over $1 trillion has been spent. Granted, a trillion dollars is not what it used to be. But to characterize it as "small bore" is quite a stretch.

Herbert trots out the standard justification of massive government spending by using the New Deal as an example of the efficacy of massive government spending to stimulate the economy. It has long been argued that it was government spending that brought the nation out of the Great Depression. This argument has been eroding for some time. Many economists have come to conclude that what ended the Great Depression was not the New Deal, but WWII. It was the war that cranked up production in the U.S. It was the war that took millions of men and women off the street and put them to work in factories and fighting the Germans and the Japanese.

After well more than $1 trillion has been spent to stimulate the economy, the economy is still foundering. According to Herbert and many others, $1 trillion is "small bore." A real solution would require much more to be spent. "Real" job bills are needed, not the feeble ones so far enacted by Obama and Congress. Hebert asserts that the solution to the economic problems hounding the U.S. is more jobs. There is no argument that he is correct. The problem is how do we create real jobs? To Herbert and other liberals, the way to create jobs is through government "stimulation". If spending $1 trillion was not enough to stimulate the economy, the solution must be to spend a trillion more.

Maybe it is time that the government finds a new strategy. Perhaps it should try getting out of the way by lowering taxes and reducing regulations. The entrepreneurial nature of the American public has never failed in the past. Certainly the motivation and skills are there for Americans to get to work and make money. The government should encourage them, not hobble them with taxes, regulations and mandatory health care.

There is an old saying. If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you do is stop digging. Massive government spending and increasing regulatory encroachment have failed to improve the economy, but the government keeps on digging. It cannot be helped. It is the government's nature to dig.

If the administration truly wants to follow FDR's example and stimulate the economy, it should stop dithering with health care and stimulus packages. It should declare war on China. Not only would a real war give the economy a boost and dramatically reduce unemployment, it would give us the opportunity to take down one of our chief economic rivals. Perhaps we could even make a detour and invade Iran as well. It would be a win win situation. World war worked for FDR. It can work for Obama.