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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > July > 09 > Entry
Martin Gottlieb: Washington, Columbus canceling each other out
It has long been said — to the point of cliche — that Washington and the rest of the country are two different worlds. But now, wow.
At the state and local government levels, the overriding fact about life today is that there is no money.
Want to do something? Forget it. There’s no money!!
Far from being able to do anything new, the government of Ohio is being forced to stop doing things. Programs are being slashed or eliminated. Employees are being cut.
Then, however, there’s Washington, where they’re starting to talk about another stimulus.
That is, having borrowed the better part of a trillion dollars to stimulate the economy last winter, the government is facing the possibility that that wasn’t enough, notwithstanding that most of it hasn’t been spent yet, because, after all, spending that much money that fast is hard.
So, quite literally, we have one level of government that can’t spend its money fast enough, atop several other levels that can’t meet their bills.
To put a finer point on it: We have one level that is trying to fix the economy by creating jobs for people who have lost their jobs. Meanwhile, the lower levels of government cut back on jobs — think about librarians, just as an example — and on spending in ways that will result in the private sector cutting back on jobs.
We have, in short, a world whose inventor must have been Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland. His Tweedledee and Tweedledum become Do and Undo, partners in governance.
The contrast between the financial situations of Do and Undo have been noted by others and, indeed, acted upon. The stimulus entails a lot of help for state and local governments. But even that action seems designed to mystify any Alice.
Take this trains thing. Passenger train service for Ohio is a great idea. We should have had trains all along, and if we can get some as a result of federal spending to stimulate the economy, that’s great, too. Some people who are out of work will be put to work, and they’ll pay state and local taxes, rather than looking for government help. And we save gas and have more travel options.
But, come on. Are we really going to build a train system from Cincinnati to Cleveland — with federal money — while we are cutting back on state money for foodbanks? While we’re slashing libraries and programs that are saviors for families who are dealing with mental illness? While we’re cutting the state program that helps older people stay out of nursing homes (a program which, by the way, saves public money in the long run)?
Like other presidents before him, Barack Obama is doing whatever he really, really wants. The stimulus was a starter. He’s pushing for expensive health-care reform. He’s moving troops into Afghanistan without really pulling any sizable number out of Iraq. He’s given the middle class a little tax cut.
All presidents do whatever they really want to do. Ronald Reagan did tax cuts and a defense build-up. George W. Bush did war, tax cuts and expansion of Medicare. They differ as to what they want, not as to whether they do it.
Their free hand derives from the magical power the feds have to borrow money. Some people think the magical power is printing money. But printing too much money is dangerous, leading to inflation. The real force at work is a great credit rating. Meanwhile, at the state and local levels, the failure to balance budgets somehow brings an end to life as we know it
OK. That’s the reality. Life is messy. Complicated.
But would it be too much to ask that somebody appoint somebody to try to make sure that the various levels of governments aren’t working at cross purposes?
As things stand, given events in Columbus, Gov. Ted Strickland might as well be trying to put a brake on the economy his president is trying to stimulate.
When the nation’s founders ensured that power was distributed among various levels of government — that the feds didn’t have it all — the idea was probably not to provide some latter-day Lewis Carroll with a book idea.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns, Economy, Martin Gottlieb, Ohio government, Transportation
Comments
By bobby
July 9, 2009 8:32 PM | Link to this
Are you,too, getting that sickening feeling, Mr. Gottlieb, that the “stimulus” is social engineering that doesn’t address the real needs of this country? Joe Biden has spooked the stock market with his statement that another stimulus may be needed before the present stimulus has been spent. Congress, in their haste to pass the bill, didn’t consider the cascading effect we are experiencing in Ohio’s economy. Unfortunately, Dayton and Ohio are poster children for what the rest of this country has to look forward to. At some point,the word recession might be replaced by the dreaded D word.By joe_mamma
July 10, 2009 7:54 AM | Link to this
Has there been a middle class tax cut? I know they adjusted the withholding tables so there is more money in my paycheck, but my tax rate has not changed.By joe_mamma
July 10, 2009 8:26 AM | Link to this
This is what the country and voted for and wanted. Elections have consequences. The country and state voted for a candidate that openly said he believed in big government. This should not surprise anyone. Big government has consequences. Why on earth would you think that a select few in government, whether federal or state, could spend 780 Billion more efficiently, effectively and quickly than private individuals? BTW, you refer to the government spending “it’s” money. Maybe you misspoke, but you sound like a socialist. The money belongs to the private sector individuals that earned it. Also, you said that the government creates jobs. All jobs are funded and created on the backs of private individuals not the government.By Brian
July 10, 2009 12:27 PM | Link to this
The President is trying to create jobs without fixing the root cause that resulted in the loss of jobs (sort of like pumping more air into a leaking tire without fixing the problem). As a result, no new real jobs are being created (his calculation of 150,000 jobs being created are simply projections of what should happen given the amount of money thrown at the problem so far). At this rate, the jobs situation probably would have turned around by natural market forces without the President(s) having injected any of the trillions of dollars into the system. As for the Governor, I really can’t figure out what he’s trying to do. I’m listening, but just can’t make any sense out of it.By TRS
July 10, 2009 1:08 PM | Link to this
Every consider that these entities are pulling against each other because the founders never intended the fed to do so much or control to much? Perhaps the best infusion we could have into our economy is freedom without federal government constraints. The President seems to think he can decree “green jobs” by caveat when the technologies are in their infancy and even those that exist need to build the infrastructure, perhaps 5-10 years down the road. That has no immediate effect. How many jobs could be created if we pursued natural gas exploration, if other states such as CA proceeded with off shore drilling to replace oil we are currently importing or began building nuclear plants? As long as the fed continues to grow and exert power, expect such conflicts.By Davidss2
July 10, 2009 4:01 PM | Link to this
We now have a president who is totally out of touch with reality. He thinks by letting democrats spend as much as they wanted to do the last two years they had control of congress b ut had Bush for President, he will fix the country. This proves that Congress needs term limits as well. People passing bills only for political reasons that they haven’t even read is ridiculous.—————We are blessed with a president who is hell-bent on using our money to steal more votes with ACORN and illegals being legalized to collect the doleouts from our tax money in DC.———————Judging by popularity polls of Strickland AND Obama who’s negative now people are catching on that the stimulus only stimulated overspending rather than doing anything other than what was already ontrack to occur naturally and start ending the recession. What both won’t do is end programs that are “feel good” programs that made congresspeople or the parties “feel good” about sending our money out to buy them their seats another term. —————-The TEA, Taxed Enough Already, people and Palin scare them to death because they speak the truth. I’m beginning to look forward to 2010.By drunken_orangetree
July 10, 2009 8:59 PM | Link to this
“Social engineering.” “Socialism.” “ACORN.” “Illegals.” The whole list of conservative cliches. The problem, Mr. Gottlieb, is that a sizable percentage of Ohioans are numbskulls and keep voting against their own best interests, while the country as a whole, at least this election cycle, decided to stop doing that. Hence the disconnect. By the way, “expensive health care reform”? How could the reform possibly be more expensive than the worthless system we have in place, a system that consumes 15% of GDP, an amount greater than that spent by any other industrialized nation, while leaving better than 40 million Americans without any coverage at all? I for one would love to see the DDN actually deal with the FACTS in this matter.By RWE
July 11, 2009 8:16 AM | Link to this
Gottlieb - why didn’t you mention that Obamma also is in the process of taking over the financial and automotive sectors of the economy? That has to be a drain on federal spending. Who knows what’s next.By davidss2
July 13, 2009 10:02 AM | Link to this
drunken_ must be confused. Cliches like “it’s Bush’s fault” and “change” and “hope” are what fooled the people. It’s funny that the small majority got what they wanted after being bought with lots of “funny money” donated to the race. Remember accepting the fed money and then changing his mind so he could receive funds far in excess of an campaign so far? How much did that White House cost? $450,000,000 in campaign spending? Why were the Dems so anxious to take over after already having two years of control in congress?======Odd how they don’t take responsibility for the the economic crunch after having two whole years of control. Talk about cliches. The liberals are just one cliche. The war was killing civilians when Bush was in charge; do you hear Dems/liberals talking about killing civilians now? Why not? Because Obsama is in control. Just go through the list of gripes about Cheney Bush and see what the liberals/Dems don’t mention now that’s still the same? ——————Now if we could only get a real governor who’s a minister, psychologist, etc.? Grin.By bobby
July 14, 2009 9:23 AM | Link to this
drunken, My apologies for using the term social engineering and offending your sensibilities. Please substitute transfer payments for the above term.