Goldwater Institute: Stimulus bill is robbing Paul to pay Paul

By Dick Armey "In the long run, we are all dead," John Maynard Keynes once quipped. An influential British economist, Keynes used the line to dodge the problematic long-term implications of his policy proposals. His analysis of the Great Depression redefined economics in the 1930s and asserted that increased government spending during a downturn could revive the economy. President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats have dug up the dead economist's convenient justification for deficit spending in defense of their bloated stimulus legislation. It's clear why Keynes's popularity endures in Congress. Intellectual cover for a spending spree will always be appreciated there. But it's harder to see any justification for the perverse form of fiscal child abuse that heaps massive debts on future generations. If the government borrows the money for the stimulus, then it will either have to print money later or raise taxes to pay it back. If the government raises taxes to pay for the stimulus, it will, in effect, be robbing Peter to pay Paul. If the government prints the money, it will increase inflation, which will decrease the value of the dollar. That would, in effect, rob Paul to pay Paul back with devalued currency. The problem with government attempts to manipulate the economy through fiscal policy -- spending that takes resources away from those who are productive and redistributes it to politically favored interests -- is that it is audacious. It assumes that government knows better how to spend and invest than individuals acting in their families' best interest. In reality, no one spends someone else's money better than they spend their own. The charade of the current stimulus package, chockablock with earmarks to favored pet constituencies and virtually devoid of national policy considerations, is the logical consequence of Keynesianism in action. It is about politics and power, not sound economics, and I believe that the American people will reject it. Mr. Armey, a former economics professor and former majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, is chairman of FreedomWorks Foundation. A longer version of this article originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Armey is the featured speaker at a Goldwater Institute luncheon in Tucson on February 17. Click here to RSVP.

Learn more: Goldwater Institute: Inflation days are here again Wall Street Journal: Washington Could Use Less Keynes and More Hayek Commanding Heights: John Maynard Keynes