Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff
Even the infant democracies of Eastern Europe are becoming concerned about what they see America doing to itself.
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the European Union presidency, warned that President Obama's attempt to spend our way out of the recession "will undermine the stability of the global financial market" -- and that the administration's path is "the way to hell."
Many in the United States fear that as well, as protesters take to the streets in "tea party" demonstrations to show their concern for the fiscal direction of the country.
Meanwhile, China -- one of America's biggest creditors -- is suggesting that the dollar needs to be replaced with a new international reserve currency. China holds $1 trillion or more in U.S. Treasuries and other securities, and Chinese officials are worried that the current U.S. spending spree will lead to inflation and a lessened value of the dollars they hold.
China seems more concerned about our solvency than we do.
We hope the president's fiscal plans work. But we fear they will not. We have a fundamental difference of opinion over the role of government in the economy, a difference highlighted by his answers to very straightforward questions at his news conference Tuesday night.
The president seems to think the way out of this crisis is for the government to spend its way out of it. We don't think that approach has ever worked. He thinks the government can "invest" our way to prosperity. We believe the government doesn't produce anything, and so every dollar it spends must be taken out of the private economy, thus holding prosperity back.
The president promises spending cuts, but his budget promises up to $9.3 trillion in debt over the next decade. How is that leading toward prosperity? He says he doesn't want to pass our problems on to our progeny, but that's precisely what he's doing.
"Even under your budget," asked one reporter Tuesday night, "over the next four or five years, you're going to cut the deficit in half, then, after that, six years in a row, it goes up, up, up. If you're making all these long-term structural cuts, why does it continue to go up in the out-years?"
We confess to not understanding his answer -- or his economics.
Judging from the news, we're not alone.
