There is something grimly amusing, if one still possesses the stamina for satire, in the way both the American Left and Right have constructed their respective economic sandcastles, destined to be washed away by the tide of arithmetic. In an era where performative outrage has replaced reasoned debate, both camps indulge in fiscal fantasies so ludicrous, so hermetically sealed from reality, that one almost envies the bliss of their delusions.
Let us first dissect the liberal piety that billionaires are the root of all fiscal evil, and that the wealthy do not pay their “fair share.” One hears it on the lips of senators who write books nobody reads and activists who mistake envy for virtue. The proposed remedy? Confiscation. A polite euphemism for state-sanctioned larceny. And yet, if Uncle Sam were to plunder every last dollar from America’s 813 billionaires— roughly $5.7 trillion in total — it would scarcely fund the federal government for a single year. That is, of course, assuming these moguls don’t flee to friendlier jurisdictions first, taking with them not only their fortunes, but the jobs, investment, and innovation that underwrite the very tax base the Left claims to cherish.
Now, lest conservatives bask too long in their opponent’s absurdities, let us turn the spotlight onto them. The Right maintains that if only we could trim the flab of government bureaucracy, nirvana would follow. A romantic notion, to be sure, but one as disconnected from fiscal reality as a congressman is from humility. The entirety of federal administrative operations amounts to just 11% of the budget, some $774 billion. Eliminate it all, and you still wouldn’t have scratched the surface of the multi-trillion dollar deficit. The sacred cows of defense and entitlements, programs conservatives dare not touch for fear of electoral suicide, consume the lion’s share of national spending.
Thus both sides cling to illusions: the Left dreams of Scandinavian welfare with none of the taxes, while ignoring that funding European-style social programs requires European-style taxation—most notably, a regressive and burdensome value-added tax. And the Right prays for Reaganite small government with none of the sacrifices.
The refusal to confront these facts is not merely intellectual cowardice; it is moral abdication. We are governed by a political class more interested in applause lines than actuarial tables, and by a populace that prefers fairy tales to figures. Democracy, we are often told, is the least bad system of government. But it is also one in which popularity is purchased at the expense of truth. And so we march on, eyes wide shut, toward a fiscal reckoning that will care little for our slogans or our sentiments.
