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February 10, 2012
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February 3, 2012
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Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
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Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
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Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
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Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
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January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
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January 11, 2012
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Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Oct. 20, 2008
/ 21 Tishrei 5769
Government ‘Gifts’ Are Not Free
By
Jonathan Tobin
Dependence on congressional earmarks hurts America and Israel in the long run
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Americans have reacted to the collapse of Wall Street and the subsequent massive federal bailout with a mixture of numb incomprehension and resentment.
Wall Street is rightly excoriated for its failures and misdeeds. So, too, is the Bush administration which, as with everything else that was amiss in the last eight years, was unprepared to deal with the crisis. And, just as culpable, is the Congress that failed in its oversight capacity to avert the mortgage crisis, and then dithered as panic spread.
But before the show-trial hearings start — which will allow grandstanding members of Congress to throw stones at every wrongdoer but themselves — it might be a good idea for the entire country to do a little accounting of its own.
Though predatory lenders, Wall Street CEOs and members of Congress
who fiddled and took campaign contributions while the economy burned are certainly worthy of our scorn, the broader problem goes beyond the collapse of Fannie and Freddie and the Lehman Brothers. Our enormous deficits, foreign trade imbalances and dependence on investments from unsavory customers, such as China, have put us on thin ice.
MORE THAN GREED
The lack of savings and an unwillingness to curb spending have made America a country living on margin. The belief that anyone, including those not able to pay, should be given mortgages may have been exploited by the unscrupulous. But its root cause was not so much the "greed" about which both national tickets have been yelling as much as it was a national spending spree in which accountability was forgotten by everyone. Until we learn to live within our means, our troubles won't disappear. The era of government-subsidized free lunches is over.
But are they? If the only real result of these disasters is an orgy of finger-pointing at Wall Street and a resurgence of redistributionist tax policy, little will change. What is needed is reform that will restrain a national legislature that not only failed to exercise its responsibility to regulate the system, but also added to the problem with its own out-of-control spending.
One of the recurring themes of recent scandals has been the use of Congressional earmarks to loot the Treasury. These goodies doled out by members of Congress have played a significant role in creating our deficit society. Though a fraction of the federal budget, they are important symbols of the way the system has been crafted to shift power away from the taxpayers into the hands of the political class.
Earmarks are spending amendments attached to legislation through which lawmakers are able to funnel millions from the federal coffers, often without putting their names to the bill. While the crimes of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his Congressional Republican errand boys were the most-egregious examples of this scam, it was the system they gamed, rather than the few instances for which he was prosecuted, that is the country's real problem. The real scandal is a system that siphons enormous funds into Washington and then allows Congress to give back a tiny percentage of that money to us in the form of earmarks. For these services, they reap campaign contributions and applause.
It is true that not every earmark is the equivalent of Alaska's "Bridge to Nowhere" and other boondoggles. Many bring help to their constituents. But make no mistake. Even in the cases of those senators and representatives who excel at bringing the "pork" to their states and districts, these presents from Capitol Hill are doled out with an eyedropper. They are not free; they are paid for out of our tax dollars, and are not a gift from a Heavenly treasury. Even more to the point, they serve the senders more than the recipients. Earmarks may be sold as constituent service, but they are the instruments of raw political power that make every incumbent a formidable patronage and campaign fundraising machine.
The politician most willing to talk about stopping earmarks right now is Republican presidential candidate John McCain. His Democratic opponent Barrack Obama isn't too comfortable with them, either. But unlike McCain, Obama won't vow to veto any bill with earmarks.
This difference has led some Jewish Democrats to weigh in on the matter and to claim that McCain's absolutism on earmarks would be fatal to Israel and a body blow to Jewish social service agencies. They believe earmarks should be defended to the last ditch, because they have been used to good effect by Jewish philanthropies and the pro-Israel community.
That is certainly true, though it must be pointed out that even the vaunted "Israel lobby" is a sideshow in a system in which giants like the agriculture, oil and pharmaceutical industries are the big players. And compared to the billions thrown away on ethanol and other farm subsidies, the crumbs tossed onto the pavement for faith-based charities to gobble up are peanuts.
Yet, faced with the possibility that the tradition of decorating spending bills with earmarks like Christmas trees might be terminated, the lobbyists and their congressional business partners are screaming bloody murder.
DANGEROUS LEVERAGE
The fact that some of the congressional spoils are given to good causes is no reason to keep in place a system that is inherently rotten. It also does Israel, a nation that can count on the affection of the overwhelming majority of Americans, no favor to identify it with a system that honest citizens despise.
In addition, Israelis know that sooner or later the Jewish State must wean itself from dependence on American aid. Such support has had a demoralizing effect on Israel's own political culture, as it is used to subsidize an unaccountable system living on free money. Even worse, it gives Washington leverage over Jerusalem on issues of national survival that might be exploited one day by a less-friendly administration than the present one.
As for the fate of Jewish social welfare organizations, there is no denying that, like those operated by other faiths, they have become utterly dependent on the government. But the idea that they will be destroyed by reform is unfounded. Worthy causes can still thrive in an environment that prizes transparency. They need not always be the playthings of congressional power brokers.
If the Wall Street meltdown can help give the next president an opening to curb the legalized theft and patronage that is aided by earmarks, then at least some good will come from this misery.
But, if they continue in place and, as is now possible, we return to a situation where one party controls both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, the looting will return with a vengeance. Either way, now is not the time for Jews or any other group to leap to the defense of an indefensible system.
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JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
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© 2007, Jonathan Tobin
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