Rachel Maddow recently showed in her show at MSNBC how President Obama has now reduced the deficit by over 50%, meeting the target he had set. While he meets this target late – having set the deadline for the end of his first term – Rachel Maddow points out that this is the fastest deficit reduction since World War II! Obama’s fiscal consolidation beats even Clinton, famous for balancing the budget.
However, the reality of the matter is that Obama is not Clinton. The economic prospects for America and Americans are not the same. Clinton governed in the Roaring Nineties. Obama’s governing through the recovery of the Great 2008 Meltdown (call it what you may, it’s not particularly important). Moreover, he is governing during a time when Europe is self-inflicting a decade of recession, joblessness and poverty and when the emerging economies’ growth is slowing down, something that shouldn’t surprise anyone as they reach the end of their catch-up period.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEbhTXTZQ8k
Obama should perhaps focus less on deficit reduction and more on getting the U.S. economy dynamic again. He should think about America’s economy strategically and look to develop new industries or relaunch declining industries. He should place serious investment on infrastructure where America continues to seriously lag behind other advanced industrial economies, and where audits have constantly stressed not only colossal hindrances to economic development but also concerning risks to health & safety.
Old industrial buildings. West side, Chicago. Image credit: Wilhelm Joys Andersen
We can all understand that Obama is responding to the Republicans by focusing on reducing the deficit so much. But it’s just bad economics. He shouldn’t shy away from debating the fundamental premises of the economic argument. He shouldn’t accept defeat. He should instead make a persuasive case for public investment and a new dawn for the American economy. If he proves even slightly as convincing as ‘Yes We Can’ was in 2008, it’ll already be a gigantic victory.
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[…] This article was originally published on the International Political Forum, the home of politically engaged young people across the world. You can read it on IPF’s website here. […]