Dan Gillmor: Domestic policies give cause for fear

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Dan Gillmor <dgillmor () sjmercury com>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 10:26:51 -0800
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Column

Dave, you asked me to send along my column URLs. This one's a little more
politicial than usual, but given the times we live in...

Dan

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/5405781.htm


------ End of Forwarded Message

Dan Gillmor: Domestic policies give cause for fear
By Dan Gillmor
Mercury News Technology Columnist

An imminent war tends to overshadow everything else in the public mind. But
our focus in one area should not turn into tunnel vision; things at the
periphery matter, too.

The news from the edges is almost uniformly bad. It's getting harder to look
at America's social and economic condition without a deep sense of
trepidation. In too many ways, we're moving in the wrong direction, and
accelerating.

Once, Silicon Valley felt itself immune from the vagaries of the larger
world. Now we know better, and valley leaders have been doing their best to
influence policy. Their efforts have been, unsurprisingly, more parochial
than global -- such as lobbying, unsuccessfully, to block the expensing of
stock options on corporate balance sheets.

I wish our leaders would take on some of the bigger trends, the ones that
can turn into stiflers of innovation and growth. Radically retrograde social
policies -- including moves toward a surveillance state and a likely ban on
basic research in such potentially life-saving areas as stem cells -- are
bad enough.

But there's amazingly little discussion, as far as I can tell, even about
the most obviously misguided policies. Leaving aside the wisdom of invading
Iraq -- where there's room for solid arguments on both sides, if not
sufficient thought about the longer-run consequences from the ``depose
Saddam'' side -- there's ample evidence of shortsighted thinking on core
domestic issues.

It's pretty simple, actually. In America, we're borrowing -- far beyond our
means -- against the future of our children. This is dangerous and
unforgivable.

President Bush and Republican congressional allies are sending America down
the most dangerous economic and social paths in generations. Their
borrow-and-spend fiscal policy, combined with alleged conservatism that is
anything but compassionate, set a modern standard for irresponsibility and
radical thinking.

Where are the Democrats? Whining, mostly. They're not offering a coherent
alternative. But at least they're doing what truly conservative Republicans
did in the era when fiscal responsibility was a conservative issue: decrying
the deficits.

This year -- ignoring the cost of the war, which will not be trivial -- the
deficit will come in around $340 billion, according to the Congressional
Budget Office, and it will be about $1.2 trillion during the next five
years.

Economists don't agree on much, but they do agree with the truism that big
deficits force the government to borrow a lot more money. That competes with
borrowing by businesses and individuals, and interest rates go up, taxing
the economy's potential.

The minute rates go up, the last remaining bubble from the 1990s will start
to deflate. Housing's continuing rise in such a so-so economy is fueled by
two things: a sense that it's the only good investment left -- a partly
irrational notion, when you think about it -- and low mortgage interest
rates. If you're hoping that deflation will keep rates low and home prices
high, you're kidding yourself, because real deflation will torpedo the
economy and hurt everyone.

The Democrats are also participating in imposing unfunded federal mandates
for ``homeland security,'' such as protection of seaports, on state and
local governments, contributing to their already vicious fiscal woes. They
have to balance their budgets, unlike the federal government. They're doing
it in large part by cutting vital services. Schools and basic infrastructure
are feeling much of this budget-whacking: more borrowing against our future.

Bush and his crowd say the answer is to cut taxes, giving disproportionate
benefits to the wealthy and corporate interests that already have such an
advantage over the rest of us. They're betting that more money at the top
will lead to enough more investment that some cash will trickle down. In the
long run, they say, the economy will be better off even though the tax cuts
will do little or nothing to improve things now. That's bad long-range
thinking, but at least there's some logic.

Borrowing on tomorrow goes beyond mere money. Every time Bush and his
radical clique turn back the clock on environmental protection, they leave
our kids less for tomorrow.

If we had an opposition party, a real one, we'd hear about alternatives. The
Democrats could talk about investing in our children's future, not stealing
from it.

For example, they could insist on a coherent plan to invest in a crash
program to make the United States much more energy-efficient. Imagine that,
a policy designed to make us much less vulnerable to political instability
in the Middle East and other oil-producing regions, and to reduce the
horrendous costs we pay for our fuel-guzzling ways.

They could insist on health care for all, not the patchwork of insurance
that ultimately will collapse on itself. They could work for investment in
fiber-optic cables to all homes and businesses, to jump start the 21st
century economy once and for all.

And they could do what Bush refuses to do -- talk about sacrifice. If we are
going to fight a war to depose a monstrous dictator and help bring
pluralistic, open government to the Middle East, we're going to sacrifice
lives and treasure. If we're going to have a nation at home that lives up to
ideals of fairness and justice, we're going to have to recognize and accept
the risk that comes with liberty. If we're going to have sane energy policy,
we'll have to spend what it takes to achieve it.

Instead, we're borrowing endlessly for an unjust, unfair and unsustainable
future -- rewarding the people at the top and leaving the sacrifice to
everyone else.

If we keep going this way, our children and grandchildren will hate us.
They'll have reason.

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