What government “leader” has even a basic appreciation of the effect of higher taxes on economic life in the aggregate? They can talk for years about the macro issue, but are silent on the micro issue.

It’s Not Gridlock, It’s Collapse: 

Our Crisis is Political, Not Economic

By Michael Auslin

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Our crisis is political, not economic. Politics is ultimately a moral exercise, no matter what it deals with. Leaders are stewards of our social patrimony. What we see in Washington today is not gridlock. It is collapse. It is the final triumph of political theater over political reality, of ignorance over reasoned governing, of self-interest over principle. A $12 trillion economy and 230-plus-year history can survive a great deal of abuse and neglect. But history proves no state is immune from the self-inflicted idiocy of its leaders or people. Just how long we will survive in this state is now a proposition fully engaged. It is the great social experiment of the 21st century.

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