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John Bolton on Budget & Economy
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Cure for recession is increasing private-sector activity
The answer to austerity is not what its opponents like Obama and some G8 leaders suggest. When they speak of promoting growth, they are not advocating increased private-sector activity: more investment creating new wealth by adding value to material
inputs, thereby generating more jobs and growing prosperity. Quite the opposite: they want to expand already enormous government sectors through even greater public spending. "Growth" to social democrats means growth in government's size and reach, not
growth in the real economy. This approach directly contributed to our current predicament; and more of the same will only exacerbate it.Unable to agree on substance, the G8, typically, advocated everything: both austerity and increased government
stimulus measures. Such vague and contradictory rhetoric, unsupported by concrete actions, will achieve nothing but more confusion. The hard issues cannot be postponed indefinitely, and trying to do so only makes the ultimate outcome more painful.
Source: AEI Scholars column: Free lunch is finished
, May 23, 2012
Page last updated: Oct 10, 2020