Is more spending power the answer?

More and more, economists are warning us about the inevitable:

WE’RE sliding into recession, or worse, and Washington is turning to the normal remedies for economic downturns. But the normal remedies are not likely to work this time, because this isn’t a normal downturn.

The problem lies deeper. It is the culmination of three decades during which American consumers have spent beyond their means. That era is now coming to an end. Consumers have run out of ways to keep the spending binge going.

This Professor from Cal-Berkeley believes that the answer to this dilemma is to tweak the federal income tax so that the lower classes receive funds derived from increased taxation of the highest tax bracket: the answer to our problem of spending beyond our means is more income.

The only lasting remedy, other than for Americans to accept a lower standard of living and for businesses to adjust to a smaller economy, is to give middle- and lower-income Americans more buying power — and not just temporarily.

The author posits Americans have tried to compensate for their lack of buying power over the years by having women enter the work force, working more hours per week, and borrowing against home equity. He then concludes that the only way to stop this cycle is to put more spending money directly into the hands of the middle and lower class.

Does anyone else notice a vicious circle here? Here is a classic example where both conventional liberals and conservatives reveal their deeper unanimity. Liberals want to increase taxes on the upper class, conservatives want to relieve taxes, all for the end of putting more spending money in the pockets of consumers.

If the problem is spending beyond our means (which is a vice), the solution is frugality. Of course, this is a solution that lies (for the most part) beyond the means of the government to instantiate. It is a reality that comes into being within the family, the individual, and the local community. As long as the culture continues to advocate indulgence and material dissipation, any tax credit will continue to feed the problem.

The only solution is a cultural shift, proceeding from grass-root levels, that values voluntary simplicity, temperance, and detachment. This is a shift that results from parents teaching and giving their children an experience of a life that is radically different from the wasteful, indulgent, materialistic culture at large.

Again: the most important political issues are beyond the purview of government policy, and are ignored (even: excluded) by the debates between our political parties.