Opinion

Growing pains(s)

TBO.com
Published: January 3, 2013

Things were so this way and that regarding the last-minute negotiations over the "fiscal cliff," there was no way to tell as this was being written whether President Barack Obama and the Democrat-controlled Senate could strike a bargain with the Republican-run House. In the end, however, we doubt it will matter much one way or the other in the long run, given the problems the nation's economy faces, if only the "rich" get hit with a big tax rate increase or the middle class gets roped in as well.

That's because what really ails the national economy is a lack of growth. We're told the recession that followed the 2007-2008 real estate market collapse and financial industry crisis ended in November 2009. Since then, any signs of meaningful economic recovery have been few and far between. If the pattern that held throughout the 20th century had repeated itself, the steep economic decline caused by the real estate and banking problems would have been followed by an equally steep recovery.

That didn't happened and that is bad because economic growth, not higher tax rates, will produce the revenue Washington needs to pay for all the spending obligations it has made. The recent wrangling in the nation's capital will do nothing to foster that growth.

Creating wealth is the key to getting out of our current difficulties. Trying to use the tax code to redistribute wealth has not been getting the job done — and never will.