Evening star., 1939-01-06
A Discouroging Budget

A Discouroging Budget
A reading OF the ten billion dollar
budget for the next fiscal year leads
to but one conclusion-that Presi-
dent Roosevelt definitely has joined
forces with those among his advisers
who would travel the "easy" road to
recovery. Nowhere in the message
is there expressed the hope or belief
that income and expenditures will be
balanced at any particular time in
the future
Thus the President puts behind him
a policy to which he has consistently
adhered in the past, namely that
balanced budget should be the pri-
mary concern of government and
that such a goal was to be reached
during his administration.
What is offered now is the rosy
hued hope that continued spending
by the Government of borrowed
money will some day initiate the ma
tional income to point where pres
ent taxes will bring in enough rev.
enue to balance present expenditures.
That is an economic philosophy
which ignores the experience of the
New Deal, if not of all history. In
stead of bringing the desired re-
covery the continued piling up of a
huge Government debt is more apt
to further discourage extensive in
vestment of private capital, without
which there can be no real and last
ing improvement in the national
economy.
The huge budget, with the huge
deficit in prospect adding still fur
ther to the vast public debt, has been
given new front-national defense.
Yet the new national defense pro-
gram accounts for only $21O 1000 ,OOO-
part of the whole $5O0OOO,O 900 mill
tary program. 1t is impossible for
the administration to make the
people believe that all this vast
budget is due to the need of increased
national defense. This tail cannot
wag the financial dog, no matter how
adroitly the matter is put.
In addition to national defense as
a prime reason for greater spending,
the President has evolved an argu-
ment to convince the people that
they are not, after all, so badly off
because they-as taxpayers-owe, or
will owe by June 80, 1910 almost
$45,OO0,OOO,000. The President pre-
sents tables to show that about S16,-
0OO,OO0,0O0, all told, have been ex-
pended for projects in this country
mostly public Works-which consti-
tute wealth, over a period from 1881
to 1910, inclusive. To this he adds
the $4,000, 100000 Stabilization fund,
which was created out of the air,
when the President reduced the gold
content of the dollar.
All of this is rather specious. The
people, as Nation, may have more
assets in buildings and roads. But
they are still in debt for them, and
the people as individuals will have
to pay for them through heavy
taxation.
The President, having built up this
great spending machine - which
threatens to become a Frankenstein
monster-noW taunts the Congress
with suggestions that it dare not
curtail or economic in Government
spending. He has in the offing, and
not yet revealed, plans for new and
costly public health program, and for
increasing the scope of the Social
Security Act. Money spending has
been responsible for the popularity
in many quarters of his administra-
ton. That the drawing power of this
kind of activity has lessened was
revealed in the November elections.
Nevertheless, spending seems to be
the only tune the New Dealers
can play.
There are no evidences in the new
budget that the administration has
any intention of economizing. If
there are cuts here, there are in
creases there. While the total does
not reach the expected total for the
fiscal year 1889, it is made quite clear
that supplemental estimates running
into hundreds of millions are to be
expected.