{"id":23956,"date":"2010-12-03T07:44:02","date_gmt":"2010-12-03T14:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=23956"},"modified":"2010-12-03T14:50:25","modified_gmt":"2010-12-03T21:50:25","slug":"the-iron-lady-of-santa-fe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/12\/the-iron-lady-of-santa-fe\/","title":{"rendered":"The Iron Lady of Santa Fe"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Susana Martinez<\/p><\/div>\n

I just finished a new biography on Margaret Thatcher called,\u00a0\u201cThere is no Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

When Thatcher entered 10 Downing Street as prime minister in 1979, Britain was considered \u201cthe sick man of Europe.\u201d Thatcher\u2019s advisor, John Hoskyns, after analyzing all of the problems of the country, told the new prime minister: \u201cIf you change anything you have to change everything.\u201d He went on to add, \u201cyou will become brutally unpopular if you do these changes. You will create enemies; it will be painful; consensus politics is not an option.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our new governor faces the same woefully unattractive dilemma as Thatcher. Granted, it is smaller in scale, but it’s no less daunting as a personal challenge of character and leadership.<\/p>\n

Thatcherism is summarized as \u201cconviction politics.\u201d She promoted free markets, financial discipline, firm control over public expenditure, tax cuts, privatization, and a dash of populism. She took a hard line against unsustainable collectivist policies that were sapping Britain in the 70s of its productive output \u2013 a hard line, in fact, that earned her the moniker, \u201cIron Lady.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will our new governor become the Iron Lady of New Mexico?<\/p>\n

Pugilistic bipartisanship<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Everyone is pointing fingers over who is to blame for the deficit and who is misrepresenting for doubtless political reasons the true figures of that deficit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Thomas Molitor<\/p><\/div>\n

Before what is now commonly referred to in the media as the Great Recession, in 2008, New Mexico\u2019s gross domestic product was valued at $80 billion. More than a third of that – $26.3 billion \u2013 was attributable to two sectors of our economy: mining ($12.4 billion), which includes oil and natural gas production, and government ($13.9 billion).<\/p>\n

The national deficit is running at 9 percent of GDP, which is ruinously large, according to economists. Today, New Mexico\u2019s deficit as a percentage of its GDP is less than 1 percent. Not too bad, you might think. But tell that to all the people who have lost their jobs in New Mexico these past three years.<\/p>\n

Though things are certainly bad, actually, New Mexico is not as bad as most states. The Brookings Institute\u2019s MetroMonitor<\/em><\/a> is a quarterly report that tracks the economic recession and recovery in America\u2019s 100 largest metropolitan areas. The report examines the nation\u2019s largest metropolitan areas using indicators such as employment, unemployment, output (gross metropolitan product), home prices and foreclosure rates. The report is a barometer of the health of America\u2019s metropolitan areas \u2013 measuring how the metros are recovering from the peak of output, just prior to the start of the Great Recession in 2007.<\/p>\n

Albuquerque just missed being included in the strongest 20 metro areas, ranking the 21st\u00a0healthiest out of 100.<\/p>\n

Cut government spending and we cut the deficit <\/strong><\/h3>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Government Restructuring Task Force<\/a> (a legislative task force) is currently looking at our economy from a structural point of view. It is searching for ways to consolidate state agencies and streamline government so that it can still deliver core services but at more efficient costs.<\/p>\n

Chances are, commodity prices will rebound and retail activity will inch up incrementally and help fill the deficit hole.<\/p>\n

On the cost side, it\u2019s my belief that the lion\u2019s share of closing the deficit ought to come from the spending side. Entitlements are the root of the problem, as Ms. Thatcher was faced with in an ingrained society having the belief that \u201cthe government owes us a living.\u201d Entitlements should be trimmed as research has shown that although spending cuts weigh on growth in the short run, they hurt less than higher taxes.<\/p>\n

And in the long run, later retirement and other reforms will expand the labor force and thus potential output \u2013 whereas higher taxes dull incentives to work, save and invest.<\/p>\n

The Iron Lady of Santa Fe<\/strong><\/h3>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Devising a plan that reduces the deficit ought to be relatively easy come this January. Getting politicians to agree to it is a different thing.<\/p>\n

Some say Thatcherism was an inflexible devotion to a certain moral set of principles that ran roughshod over oppositional interests.<\/p>\n

I get the feeling that Ms. Martinez is less an ideologue than a pragmatic politician imbued with moral conviction. Not unlike Margaret Thatcher.<\/p>\n

This January isn\u2019t about whether the budget deficit is $260 million or $450 million \u2013 or even a higher number by the time this column is posted.\u00a0This January is about character, about leadership, about having the intestinal fortitude to execute moral and political will.<\/p>\n

When Thatcher left office she took Britain – the \u201csick man in Europe\u201d in the 70s – to being the most prosperous country in Europe in the 90s.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure adroit brinksmanship will have a lot to do with New Mexico achieving the same turnaround. But I have a deep feeling it\u2019s going to take the actions of an \u201cIron Lady\u201d to get there.<\/p>\n

Molitor is a regular columnist for this site. You can reach him at\u00a0tgmolitor@comcast.net<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Molitor bio<\/a> \u2502\u00a0Archives<\/a> \u2502\u00a0Feed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Margaret Thatcher became prime minister, she faced a nasty recession and high unemployment just as New Mexico faces today. She took a hard line against unsustainable collectivist policies \u2013 so hard, in fact, that she gained the nickname the \u201cIron Lady.\u201d Our new governor faces the same woefully unattractive situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,182],"tags":[118,107],"class_list":["post-23956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-molitor-columns","tag-economy","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23956\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}