http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/farmer/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1102918419215790.xml'Party now, pay later' economy can't last
Monday, December 13, 2004
The economic policy of the Bush administration is beginning to look like an updated Ponzi scheme.
Like the Big Con pulled off in the early part of the 20th century by the infamous Carlo "Charles" Ponzi, the Bush administration's economic strategy -- ballooning budget deficits, a spiraling trade imbalance, the disappearing American dollar, privatization of Social Security -- involves a quick, early payoff (in cash profit for Ponzi, in political profit for Bush) that postpones the inevitable pain.
In Ponzi's case, the trick was to lure investors with the promise of big early profits and no risk. In Bush's case, the trick is getting Americans to swallow the idea that they can have it all -- war and matchless military power, the most self-indulgent consumer society in history, tax cuts out the gazoo and an updated Social Security system -- all without paying a dime. It's painless -- for now, anyway.
SNIP
None of this has been much noticed so far. It's a work in progress. But just wait a bit. You'll notice pretty soon now, especially when the Federal Reserve is forced to raise rates again to keep foreigners financing our federal debt. For what we've got here is an economy that's far less secure than its overseers in Washington led voters to believe last month, or, for that matter, that many free-spending (and borrowing) Americans wanted to believe in any case.
The moral: If you're already feeling the pinch but you voted for Bush, you've got no beef.
John Farmer is The Star-Ledger's national political correspondent.
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