This is What They Voted For

From today's Wall Street Journal editorial board (full article linked below): 

“Note, however, that federal spending remains at a new plateau of about $3.54 trillion, or some $800 billion more than the last pre-recession year of 2007. One way to think about this is that most of the $830 billion stimulus of 2009 has now become part of the federal budget baseline. The "emergency" spending of the stimulus has now become permanent, as we predicted it would….

Even if Mr. Obama were to bludgeon Republicans into giving him all of the tax-rate increases he wants, the Joint Tax Committee estimates this would yield only $82 billion a year in extra revenue. But if growth is slower as a result of the higher tax rates, then the revenue will be lower too. So after Mr. Obama has humiliated House Republicans and punished the affluent for the sheer joy of it, he would still have a deficit of $1 trillion.

Most of our readers know all this, but we thought you'd like some new evidence to rebut the kids who voted for your taxes to go up when they return from college for Thanksgiving. Maybe they'll figure it out when they have a job, if they can find one.”

The Hard Fiscal Facts (Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2012)

How to Finance Barack Obama's New Entitlement Program

Why are voices like these ignored when it comes to policy decision-making?

"Tax Collecting for Obama's Welfare State," by James C. Capretta (see bio below).

Here's a key quote: "The chutzpah here is something to behold. Having passed the largest entitlement expansion in half a century, in the most partisan manner imaginable, the president now wants Republicans to provide political cover to Democrats as they search for ways to finance the welfare state of their dreams."

Capretta bio:

James C. Capretta, a Fellow in the Economics and Ethics Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), was an Associate Director at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from 2001 to 2004, where he was the top budget official for health-care, Social Security, education, and welfare programs.

At EPPC, Mr. Capretta studies and provides commentary on a wide range of public policy and economic issues, with a focus on health-care and entitlement reform, U.S. fiscal policy, and global population aging. 

In addition to his work as a researcher and commentator on public policy issues, Mr. Capretta is also a health policy and research consultant with Civic Enterprises, LLC and an Adjunct Fellow with the Global Aging Initiative of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and with Hudson Institute.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Capretta served for a decade in Congress as a senior analyst for health-care issues and for three years as a budget examiner at OMB. He has an MA in Public Policy Studies from Duke University, and he graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1985 with a BA in Government.