Tuesday, August 14, 2012

US Presidential campaign now offers clear ideological choice

Almost in answer to our 6 June post, US presidential contender Mitt Romney introduced Congressional Representative Paul D. Ryan (42) of Wisconsin as his running mate last Saturday morning, citing his "energy and vision."  According to most commentators, the selection promises to shake up the presidential race and presents a Republican ticket that offers a sharp choice for voters in November.

As mentioned in that post America has a big Federal budget deficit, mostly inherited from the Dubya presidency after the extremely expensive military foray into Iraq.

Deficits can be addressed by raising taxes, cutting spending, or as in most of Europe, by doing both.  No surprise that the Republicans only want to cut spending. But you need to move slowly and carefully with cuts as those who benefit from the government providing what it does (not only welfare recipients but contractors and a lot of citizens who hadn't realised what suddenly would no longer be available) will get very unhappy; more significantly it will reduce economic growth as can be seen following the drastic government spending cuts of Greece and Spain, and to a lesser extent the UK.  You don't get your cake and eat it.

Paul D. Ryan is a strong ideologue - pragmatism would significantly temper the ideals in practice if he gets a chance to implement them; although whether Romney wins or not, he is going to be on the scene arguing his case for a while.  But he provides American voters with a sharp referendum choice on whether they want the Federal government to continue to do very much at all. 

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