US economic policy has ducked every hard issue

From Prof Jeffrey D. Sachs.

Sir, Clive Crook's advice to President Barack Obama to " Lead from the centre " (Comment, September 27) is deeply disappointing. The essence of Mr Crook's advice is that the president should concede tax cuts for all, including the rich, in order to please the centre. Why? Because, writes Mr Crook, what happens to taxes now does not much matter, since "everyone's taxes are going up: the alternative is fiscal collapse".

Yes, certainly, let's cut taxes in order to raise them. Let's expand the deficit now to avert a fiscal collapse. We live in a madhouse of modern American populism, and Mr Crook swallows it whole and cheers it on.

America's problem is that economic policy, on a bipartisan basis, has so far ducked every hard issue. In fact, the US needs tax increases, especially on the extravagant consumption of high-income households; the end of two useless and costly wars; a serious energy policy; an intelligent climate policy; real cost controls on healthcare by forcing a reorganisation of private insurers; and urgent attention to the many Americans who lack access to higher education and labour-market skills needed to reach or to stay in the middle class. This requires leadership, vision and boldness, that is, honest policies to save the "aspiring middle class", not unaffordable tax cuts to appease it.

Jeffrey D. Sachs,

Director of the Earth Institute,

Columbia University,

New York, NY, US