Any political leader who, when asked about government debt/necessary spending cuts of tens of billions of euros and two-three times as large as the biggest normal government programme, proposes to save this kind of money by “cutting government waste” or “reduce government bureaucracy” is an idiot (bad) or thinks I am an idiot (worse). It is one thing to dispute the necessity of such severe cuts, but anybody who thinks tackling bureaucracy and waste will matter just does not understand the issue or is afraid to answer the question honestly. Both tendencies are bad and therefore any politician who answers in such a fashion has to be dismissed as a dilettante.
Unfortunately it was the new leader of the Dutch Socialist Party, Emile Roemer, who today revealed himself in this way, reacting to the news that budget estimates for 2015 show a deficit of 29 billion euros…. It’s a safe answer to tackle bureaucracy, but it would show more vision to either reject the need for spending cuts entirely, or to name government programmes that should be cut. The rightwing parties never hesitate to call for spending cuts in e.g. social security, why shouldn’t the leader of a leftwing party be equally bold in calling for cuts in defence spending, or propose putting up taxes for higher earners. But Roemer’s pandering shows he’s either afraid to lose voters that way, or he has no clue about his own spending properties.