Myopia Isn’t Just an Eye Condition

Since the economic crisis in 2008, governments have struggled to balance budgets, and many have cut spending across the board in an effort to regain financial health. While these attempts at fiscal responsibility have quieted some taxpayers, they are ultimately quick patch jobs that do more harm than good. Seeking reelection in the near future, deficit-hawk politicians aim to give voters what they want at this instant instead of using the brains we believed them to have upon election to develop a long-term strategy to improve America’s economic prospects. Just as Mr. Magoo required thick eyeglasses to see anything beyond his nose, politicians today exhibit dangerous amounts of myopia that if left uncorrected will derail America in the decades to come.

First let’s talk education. The crown jewel of human capital investment now faces a dramatic decrease in spending. Classroom sizes are up and American students are not competitive with their peers in other industrialized countries. Though education often suffers dramatic cuts in rough times, this should not be the case. Education is the lifeblood of industrialized societies. Without strong education for all, fewer innovations may be realized, and the entire workforce of the future will be less skilled (and paid less in today’s dollar).

From the politician’s viewpoint, slashing education spending is an easy fix. Primary and secondary students can’t vote, and the negative effects of decreased budgets are not immediately felt. Additionally, by the time America suffers because of a less-educated citizenry, someone else will be in office.

Healthcare marks another crucial investment opportunity for the government. Just as much part of human capital as education, healthcare is pivotal for the long term -ahem- economic health of the US. Healthcare cuts oftentimes encompass things that reduce costs today but produce significant future financial burden. Take preventive care. Offering services to Americans to prevent disease or future illness seems like a logical enough thing. But preventive measures are often the first to go. Preventing future disease does nothing to improve people’s positions today, so the eyeglass-less politician says. Many of the drawbacks of cutting preventive healthcare measures will not be realized for many years. However when those costs come about, they will be drastically larger than the costs associated with administrating preventive care. Preventing an illness or detecting one at the onset (and treating it) saves significant costs for the government.

But tomorrow (or rather the day after tomorrow) is of little concern to today’s politicians. They believe that cuts of any kind, other than defense, must occur today and must occur in huge quantities. They couldn’t be more wrong.

But can you blame them?

Despite these politicians making drastic, foolhardy budget reductions, they’re just acting to gather votes for future elections. As much as I’d like to bemoan the politicians’ actions, maybe we should focus our anger on voters.

Voters, like all of society today, demand everything and demand it now. We live in a world in which we expect things to happen almost instantaneously. Corporate executives are rewarded for quarterly performance (not long term strategy), Twitter can cause a revolution overnight, and viral videos can garner millions of views within hours of their release. Information is widely available to us today in ways that previously were impossible. As a result, the public expects politics to keep up.

But just as your father always said, some things in life are worth waiting for. Not that waiting by itself is a good thing, but there’s value in spending time devising thoughtful actions. Although politicians and impatient voters believe that the current budget deficits must be conquered at this instant, we need to realize that budget deficits aren’t going anywhere until the economy improves and the government can collect higher tax revenues.

So instead of cutting funding to programs that will contribute to future economic improvement, let’s put on some corrective glasses, spend wisely and develop a plan to protect our economic future.