There is no crisis quite like the self-made. Illuminating this premise today are the current rumblings over the impending “fiscal cliff” of Jan. 1, when the Bush Era Tax Cuts and payroll tax cut expire, while simultaneous spending cuts totaling $1.2 trillion over 10 years take effect. This issue presents both a long and a short con for public consumption. The short one being there is no cliff. Tax cuts may be adjusted retroactively, while any budget deal targeted around Jan. 1 will certainly have no less than $1.2 trillion in spending reductions. With all sincerity, no cliff exists.
The long con is the intensity and importance our public and media give this moment. America’s long-term budget issues revolve around an inefficient health care system, an inadequate tax structure and the belief that every penny spent on the military is both justified and imperative. Which of these issues will be resolved by Jan. 1, 2013? None, of course.
Considering the attention allotted to the “fiscal cliff,” this moment should matter in some profound way. When President Barack Obama signs the inevitable deal, the America you wake up to will look surprisingly similar to the one confronting you today. Nothing fundamental, like why health care costs more in America than in any other developed nation, will change. When either party references reform, the term will still be synonymous with spending more or less, not substantive change.
Collectively, we know the more time devoted to slugging through today’s problems, the less prepared we are for a continually shrinking world. Education, affordable and effective health care and developmental technology are ways we prepare for the future. Today, Finland runs the world’s best education system, America runs the tenth. France has the best health care system, America has the 37th. South Korea provides the fastest internet connection, America the 26th, collectively according to the World Health Association, the Human Development Index and Pando Networks.
While the developed world catches, and in some cases surpasses us, we continue the same debates of the last decade — how to maintain inefficient service models with insufficient funding. This is what will be decided on January 1. We will march toward our next self-made crisis — the debt ceiling — while ignoring the question we should address: how will America plan for challenges in 2050 if we cannot handle the problems of 2012?
Brian Marceau can be reached at [email protected]