According to recent reports, the number of Americans registering as independents has shown an upward trend in the last 4 years. This is a welcome trend given the lacklustre performance of the Democrats and the Republicans over the past 12 years, both in the White House and in the US Congress. However, with elections already near, there is no major momentum in favor of any third party candidate, at least, nothing like a Ross Perot effect or a Ralph Nader effect. With the fears of a double-dip recession hanging over the US economy, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have come up with any good plans to fix the short-term and the long-term problems in the US economy. And the times call for an astute balancing of both these aspects of economic management. While Mr. Romney has allegedly made statements to the effect that he does not care about the 47% of Americans who do not pay taxes, thereby projecting himself as an anti-tax Republican, Mr. Obama has not done himself much credit on the tax front by incorporating a payroll tax increase as part of his negotiations with the US Congress, thereby casting severe doubt over his ability to champion traditional Democratic economic stances and his ability to solve pressing US economic problems like historically high poverty rates. Tax rates have been low in the US after the George W. Bush tax cuts for about 10 years now. While Republicans are likely to favor tax cuts as the panacea to the economic growth problem and the unemployment problem in the US, they should come up with explanations as to why low G.W.Bush-era tax cuts have not led to extraordinary growth and why the country has seen a deep recession and a painfully slow and doubtful recovery from it while the low tax rates due to these tax cuts have persisted. There is a lot concern about a possible fiscal cliff if automatic doscontinuation of Bush tax cuts and automatic spending cuts come into effect. However, the Congress should be able to pass new legislation to delink the spending increase part from the tax increase part. Not only that, the Congress should be able to frame new legislation that imposes different tax rate increases on different socio-economic segments if the best interests of the US demand it. And Democrats need to hear some explanation as to why payroll taxes have been made into a bargaining item rather than focusing on other taxes like income taxes. Given the disastrous performance of the private sector in securing the retirement savings of seniors in recent years, why are the Democratic party and Mr. Obama being so cavalier about payroll tax cuts given its implications for the Social Security system and social welfare in the United States ?
Given these directionless wanderings on the part of the two major political parties, one is led to wonder why third party alternatives have not caught the imagination in the recent election season. The economic problems facing the United States are unprecedented in many ways. Great Depression-like dynamics have become compounded by globalization dynamics. Will the intellectual establishment in the United States step up to the plate in the current economic and political climate and possibly create alternative political formations ? Unfortunately, United States does not have a very good record on this front. Ross Perot was a right-winger when it came to things like taxes and flogging a dead horse on the taxation front may prove to be very counter-productive, especially for the long-term fiscal and economic health of the United States. The Green Party has not caught the voters' imgaination to the extent necessary to effect historic change in the direction and component of economic policy in the United States. The Occupy movements have not translated into political action to the extent necessary to bring about legislative change that fixes America's economic malaise for the short-term and for the future. So, what America probably needs now is some brave professor, somebody who can think beyond traditional frameworks like Monetarism and Keynesianism, and can come up with solutions that make the capitalist system more humane and also that enable near-term and future economic stability and economic growth. Somebody who the Americans can turn to in this rather gloomy economic climate where GDP growth rates have become delinked from human welfare and where fiscal stability nightmares are in the offing.
by C. Jayant Praharaj ( send comments to [email protected] )
Given these directionless wanderings on the part of the two major political parties, one is led to wonder why third party alternatives have not caught the imagination in the recent election season. The economic problems facing the United States are unprecedented in many ways. Great Depression-like dynamics have become compounded by globalization dynamics. Will the intellectual establishment in the United States step up to the plate in the current economic and political climate and possibly create alternative political formations ? Unfortunately, United States does not have a very good record on this front. Ross Perot was a right-winger when it came to things like taxes and flogging a dead horse on the taxation front may prove to be very counter-productive, especially for the long-term fiscal and economic health of the United States. The Green Party has not caught the voters' imgaination to the extent necessary to effect historic change in the direction and component of economic policy in the United States. The Occupy movements have not translated into political action to the extent necessary to bring about legislative change that fixes America's economic malaise for the short-term and for the future. So, what America probably needs now is some brave professor, somebody who can think beyond traditional frameworks like Monetarism and Keynesianism, and can come up with solutions that make the capitalist system more humane and also that enable near-term and future economic stability and economic growth. Somebody who the Americans can turn to in this rather gloomy economic climate where GDP growth rates have become delinked from human welfare and where fiscal stability nightmares are in the offing.
by C. Jayant Praharaj ( send comments to [email protected] )