His article for RealClearPolitics sums up the economic dilemma of our time: too many citizens taking too much money from an underfunded, but bloated, government to which no one wishes to pay more taxes. And nobody wants a cut in their government subsidies, either.
Any resolution of the budget impasse must repudiate, at least partially, the past half-century's politics. Conservatives look at the required tax increases and say: "no way." Liberals look at the required benefit cuts and say: "no way."Samuelson concludes:
The political system is failing. It's stuck in the past. It can't make desirable choices about the future. It can't resolve deep conflicts.
