Jenkins: Lost Decade, Revisited

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The Wall Street Journal :

 

January 1, 2013, 6:45 p.m. ET

Jenkins: Lost Decade, Revisited

Bitter politics over taxing and spending will be our lot for years to come.

By HOLMAN W. JENKINS, JR

We said it four years ago: A lost decade was coming, though not as some mechanical inevitability of the housing bust. Rather, that financial crisis put politics in charge in a way that would burden the economy's growth for years to come.

The latest fiscal cliff half-deal reached early Tuesday is not proving to be a constructive episode. It is not leading to some great bipartisan whoosh of consensus to ensure our future prosperity so we can afford all the entitlements we can afford. There will be no grand bargain.

The fiscal cliff turned into just another trial of strength by advocates of the welfare state to prove the welfare state is not rationally reformable in advance of a funding crisis. But we already knew that.

Entitlement cuts will come, you can be sure, but here's a secret: There is very little fiscal or political or solvency value in enacting today cuts that won't take effect for years.