Letter: Keep money with the people, not politicians

• Rep. Tim Walz

Rep. Tim Walz

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• Letter: Another look at Walz's vote on climate change

I would like to compliment Michael Garber on his accurate and understandable analysis of the consequences of Rep. Tim Walz’s vote on climate change. His letter was printed in the Daily Globe on July 15.

It is a tragic state of affairs when our elected representatives choose to first spend public money on frivolous things like animal cages, bike trails, turtle crossings, truck sheds and worse. Then when the money is gone, they squeal like kids who had their Halloween candy stolen.

Let me propose an analogy to put some priorities into perspective. Suppose society is facing a long hard journey, and to make their travels easier, they build a bus. Many people get on the bus, and most people bring some baggage with them. When the road becomes steep and winding, more people want to get on the bus, and more baggage is added. The bus soon becomes dangerously close to stalling because it does not have the power to pull the added load.

Our economy is simply not strong enough to pull the increased load of added government spending and people living off the government. The load and power must be rebalanced. This can be done when power is added to the engine and the load on the bus is reduced. A profitable business climate is the engine that drives our economy, and attempts to micro regulate and tax business serve only to throttle back the power. Asking the wealthy to finance government spending has the same effect of holding back the economy. People with money will spend money (good for the economy), will invest money (finance businesses that hire people), or will save money (let financial institutions invest it for them).

I am not saying that we throw people under the bus, but rather ask them to take some baggage with them when they get off the bus. Remember, a bus is designed to help people get to a destination, not become a residence.

Critics may say that government is now becoming the new strong business that will drive the economy. A point to remember is that the economic multipliers are always less for the government than for the private sectors. This is because individuals buy what they want, whereas the government will buy what they think you need. In addition, the government will spend money on items that do not generate goods or services. A dollar in the hand of the individual will always be a bigger stimulus than a dollar in the hand of a politician.

Tags: tim walz, opinion, letters