Reagan Is Still Right
By: James Freeman (WSJ)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Reagan used to say that government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem. Perhaps this basic insight was the reason he won two landslide presidential elections. Nearly four decades after the second of those landslide victories, a lot of Americans still agree with him.
"More Americans name the government as the nation's top problem in Gallup's latest poll," reports the survey organization's Megan Brenan. When asked to name the "most important problem facing this country," 21% cite "The government/Poor leadership."
This is the most popular answer in the survey, and there’s not much of a partisan divide, according to Gallup:
The government ranks as the top problem for both Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (24%) and Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (18%).
As for the other top answers given by survey participants, one could argue that they also represent government failure—and voter recognition of the resulting damage. Ms. Brenan notes:
With high prices persisting, inflation remains the second most-cited problem (15%), and amid elevated tensions about the southern U.S. border, illegal immigration edged up three percentage points to 11%.
The fourth most popular answer for the country’s top problem is “Economy in general” at 10% and the poll finds unusually pessimistic views about the economic future, especially given how strong a labor market Americans continue to enjoy. But people don’t think it will last.
And no wonder. Inflation is an entirely Washington-made problem co-produced by the Federal Reserve and the Biden economic program. To its credit the Fed has been trying to learn from its mistakes and is seeking to restore the price stability that is not just good economics but a societal necessity. Unfortunately the President has so far refused to even consider a pro-growth agenda to replace his inflation-fueling spending spree.
So everyone from Wall Street to Main Street is now just waiting to see if the Fed will succeed in crushing the labor market to restrain wages and therefore inflation, and hoping the process won’t be as painful as it sounds.
Mr. Biden surely remembers that 40 years ago the Fed was also running a tight monetary policy to slay the inflation beast it had unleashed. But the U.S. economy was starting to roar because Reagan had worked with the Congress to allow greater incentives to work, save and invest.
If Mr. Biden still isn’t willing to talk about spending reforms at his Wednesday meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), perhaps they could break the ice discussing deregulatory measures to restore the fast economic growth that prevailed at the start of Mr. Biden’s term.
Deregulation is of course a dirty word in D.C., and for those who treasure the privilege of telling fellow citizens what to do, the bright side of the Gallup results is that even more Americans didn’t sign on to the Reagan answer. This is perhaps amazing given that we have all just lived through one of the most costly and destructive government interventions in the history of civilization. Rob Arnott and Casey Mulligan recently wrote in an op-ed for the Journal:
Covid-19 is deadly, but so were the draconian steps taken to mitigate it. During the first two years of the pandemic, “excess deaths”—the death toll above the historical trend—markedly exceeded the number of deaths attributed to Covid. In a paper we just published in Inquiry, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we found that “non-Covid excess deaths” totaled nearly 100,000 a year in 2020 and 2021.
Even these numbers likely overestimate deaths from Covid and underestimate those from other causes. Covid testing has become ubiquitous in hospitals, and the official count of “Covid deaths” includes people who tested positive but died of other causes...
What are non-Covid excess deaths? During the pandemic, deaths from accidents, overdoses, alcoholism and homicide all soared, as did deaths from hypertension, heart disease and diabetes...
The CDC data show the rate of non-Covid excess deaths in the first half of 2022 was even higher than 2020 or 2021. These deaths therefore likely already exceed 250,000, disproportionately among young adults. We are witnessing multiple healthcare emergencies, but resources and attention are still directed toward Covid.
Non-Covid excess deaths have shown no signs of diminishing, at least through mid-2022. We now have more overdose deaths each year than all military deaths of the last 60 years combined. Homicides, accidents and alcohol deaths are collectively running tens of thousands per year above pre-pandemic norms. Given the substantial weight gains that were common during the pandemic lockdowns, non-Covid natural deaths from heart disease and diabetes seem unlikely to recede soon.
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