Leap of Faith

Representative Paul Ryan has made a plan to cut spending over the next 10 years by $4 trillion. This is by far a major increase in spending cuts compared to the plans proposed by the Obama administration. The question the bears in mind most is whether this will pass at all.

Some of the criticisms that have been coming forth from other lawmakers such as Representative Chris Van Hollen include statements such as “It is not courageous to protect tax breaks for millionaires… while slashing our investment in education… and denying health care coverage to tens of millions of Americans”. Van Hollen does have a point that these steps to require a considerable amount of sacrifice and at first glance it may seem unjust that the wealthy may end up getting a tax break while the rest of America suffers.

While it is important to think of the little guy when a lawmaker, it is also important to recognize where all the jobs come from in the first place. Small businesses and large wealthy millionaires are the ones who make risks and all sorts of investments with their money that brings in many opportunities to Americans from all over the economic spectrum. It is a false assertion also to presume that government makes jobs.

John Stossel put it nicely when he described how government subsidies are really acts of robbery against those Americans who have money. In his example, he describes how the government breaks a certain individual’s window. He then goes on saying that by employing someone who can fix the window, the government is able to spur the growth of jobs. The problem with this point of view, as Stossel mentions, is that the person who’s window broke could have used his money instead on what he thought was best instead of what the government would have wanted. In that way, waste disappears.