Wasteful tax cuts

In the February 21, 2008 debate between Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama, Clinton mentioned the “wasteful tax cuts of the Bush administration.”

That’s a phrase that only a leftist politician such as Sen. Clinton could utter with a straight face, and it tells us a lot about the beliefs of Sen. Clinton and her supporters. (I don’t think Sen. Obama’s beliefs are very different on this matter.)

It tells us that they feel they have first claim on the money we earn, and if we are allowed to keep more of it, it is wasted. Wasted, according to Sen. Clinton, that is, because she didn’t get a chance to spend it.

That is perhaps the most important thing to remember about Sen. Clinton, and Sen. Obama, too. They believe that they know better than you how a large portion of your money should be spent, and if you don’t let them spend it that way, it is wasted.

Not that Sen. McCain is that much better. He didn’t support the Bush tax cuts, although he says he does now.

There are many problems with the Bush Administration’s spending, and it’s correct to claim that a large portion of that spending is wasted. There is certainly a problem with the deficits year after year, but that is a problem caused by too much spending, not too little taxation, as Clinton and Obama claim. Taxing less — meaning that people keep more of their own money and spend it the way they see fit — is wasteful only for those politicians and their supporters who believe they know best how to spend the money we earn.