Comments on: President Obama on Taxing and Spending, and the American Center

By: Joseph Concordia

Joseph Concordia — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 21:46:09 +0000

President Obama presented a factual and necessary message to the nation. There are serious economic issues to be addressed. That idea is not an invention of the Conservative Right and it is a situation acknowledged by Democrats. The differences are in what the approach should be to mitigate the problem. I say mitigate because “solution” is not an appropriate term to apply to it here. A solution in any meaningfully short time frame would demand such an upset to the lives of almost all Americans that it is totaly impractical. President Obama’s plan recognizes that. He proposes budgets and taxes that slowly tapers things down and achieves balance at some point in a relatively distant future. He recognizes that a slashed budget while the nation faces a host of demanding economic needs is not a strategy that is in the best interest of middle and low income America. The Paul Ryan plan discounts those needs and sets out to more quickly achieve vastly reduced budgets, and to do contemprously withthout any increase in taxes. That strategy is something that upper income people can live with because they have the financial circumstances to absorb the increased costs that come from less government support of social needs. Middle and low income people will be devastated, but that is not all. A large segment of the national infrastructure will be allowed to deteriorate in ways that will impact negatively on the quality of life for everyone.

This is the classical socio-economic and socio-political debate that has been waged in all civilizations for centuries. It hinges on whether one believes that government can be a positive force in economic affairs bearing on social justice, or that all government intervention in economic matters works to the detriment of social justice, i.e. society looses its freedoms and economies falter. Conservatives of the far right regard almost all government as useless. Progressives of the far left look to government as the only means for assuring social justice for all. There are moderates who feel there is a role for government somewhere in the middle of these extremens; but unfortunately, they seem to be less willing to make their feelings known than the extremists in the debate.

Unless the moderates take charge and overule the demands of the extremists, by voting the relevant measures in Congress to implement a reasonable correction that steers a mid course through the stormy economic waters, the grand ship of this state could actually sink. Time is short for doing this. This is not an issue to be debated as opposing ideologies or for reasons of political party loyalty and campaign positioning for 2012. This is an issue for pragmatic and reasonable decision making and to do it now in the best interest of the country over all. President Obama is proposing that. All citizens should support him.

By: Scott

Scott — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:39:19 +0000

For some reason there are certain narratives, as erroneous as they sometimes are, that never seem to lose their appeal. Just like the myths about the “free-market,the “tax cuts for the rich will create economic growth and jobs” narrative is one of these. Certainly the national debt is problem, but collective delusions are perhaps even more so, especially when they have the force of billions of dollars behind them. Yet certainly, the choices are more nuanced than between fact and delusion, and in a democracy the “center” often becomes the most feasible option, but I nonetheless don’t think its the best one right now and like other I am certainly peeved that Obama will not take a more principled stand on the issues this country faces even as the Republican opposition for 2012 currently looks anemic at best.

By: Amy Stuart

Amy Stuart — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 15:48:08 +0000

It seems to me that one valuable thing sociologists can contribute to this discussion is to define clearly what is meant by “left,” “right,” and “center.” (Or at least to raise questions about how these terms are and/or should be defined.) Are these terms relative or absolute? Do they refer to both economic and social policies? Should all kinds of policies be lumped together into a single left-right position, or do we need multiple axes?

The idea of storytelling is very interesting as well, and I agree that this is one of the most important elements of a president’s job. However, I wonder whether we should be paying more attention to the story that comes out of Obama’s mouth or the storyline that is implicit in the policies he promotes. In this case, he has implicitly (and even explicitly) accepted the Republican story about the need for austerity measures at a time of high unemployment and general economic slump. This is part of a larger narrative that says government cutbacks are good for growth and that the deficit is the biggest economic problem we face right now. I’m not sure that talking about compassion is enough to overcome that. But I’d be interested to hear others’ thoughts.

By: Bob Tinker

Bob Tinker — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 01:13:07 +0000

You’re kidding, right? Capitulation to bat-crazy right wingers is not vision.