Why is Washington so afraid of cutting spending? Why are they so unwilling to do the right thing? Why is no understanding that if we continue to spend like we have been doing, it will end the national life we have known. It will mean the end of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, those sacred cows, if we do not act. Why is there no willingness to cut programs which we can no longer afford? I really do not understand.
If you lost your job, would you keep spending like you had before or would you trim your expenses, get rid of those unnecessary expenditures? The operative question would be, "Do I really need this?"
Most of us would rid ourselves of those things we could live without. We would sell the boat, the second home, the toys that we had accumulated when things were going well. Why will Washington not do the same?
Are we heading the same place as Greece? Riots in the streets, major cuts in benefits and discontent among all the citizens being the hallmark of the day. Can it happen here? Will our debt be controlled by other countries who will dictate term and rates?
The answers to all the questions are that it can happen here as our Representatives, Senators and President do not have the intestinal fortitude to come up with real answers to the problems we are facing. They all are interested (it is their only goal) to get re-elected and a representative cannot get another term in Washington if they are cutting benefits to their constituents. When line items are reduced, someone gets hurt. And those deprived of funds will not vote for those who hurt them. So, until our representatives decide they want to save the country (and not their careers), we will get the same mealy mouth answers to our problems.
The debt limit "crisis" is only one symptom of the ongoing disagreement between both sides of the aisle. No one wants to give an inch as it will be seen as weakness. So we approach the August 2 "deadline" to extend the debt limit, it appears as is there is less and less interest in making an agreement.
When August 2 comes and nothing has been done, will our economy collapse? Not right away as there is plenty money to pay our troops and the debt interest for while, however, there will come a future date when it will be time to pay the piper.
Will the inevitable happen in a week, a month, five years? Your guess is as good as mine, however, our belief is that it will be sooner rather than later. It is my hope that our representatives will have a moment of clarity and realize that things have to change and will take actions to do so. Until then gridlock will be the message of the day. That is not the way we should be running our government.
What do you think?
Here is an article posted on The Hill's Blog Briefing Room today. Wisconsin's Governor Walker was interviewed and his opinions are somewhat similar to mine and we thought you might be interested. Here is the post:
If you lost your job, would you keep spending like you had before or would you trim your expenses, get rid of those unnecessary expenditures? The operative question would be, "Do I really need this?"
Most of us would rid ourselves of those things we could live without. We would sell the boat, the second home, the toys that we had accumulated when things were going well. Why will Washington not do the same?
Are we heading the same place as Greece? Riots in the streets, major cuts in benefits and discontent among all the citizens being the hallmark of the day. Can it happen here? Will our debt be controlled by other countries who will dictate term and rates?
The answers to all the questions are that it can happen here as our Representatives, Senators and President do not have the intestinal fortitude to come up with real answers to the problems we are facing. They all are interested (it is their only goal) to get re-elected and a representative cannot get another term in Washington if they are cutting benefits to their constituents. When line items are reduced, someone gets hurt. And those deprived of funds will not vote for those who hurt them. So, until our representatives decide they want to save the country (and not their careers), we will get the same mealy mouth answers to our problems.
The debt limit "crisis" is only one symptom of the ongoing disagreement between both sides of the aisle. No one wants to give an inch as it will be seen as weakness. So we approach the August 2 "deadline" to extend the debt limit, it appears as is there is less and less interest in making an agreement.
When August 2 comes and nothing has been done, will our economy collapse? Not right away as there is plenty money to pay our troops and the debt interest for while, however, there will come a future date when it will be time to pay the piper.
Will the inevitable happen in a week, a month, five years? Your guess is as good as mine, however, our belief is that it will be sooner rather than later. It is my hope that our representatives will have a moment of clarity and realize that things have to change and will take actions to do so. Until then gridlock will be the message of the day. That is not the way we should be running our government.
What do you think?
Here is an article posted on The Hill's Blog Briefing Room today. Wisconsin's Governor Walker was interviewed and his opinions are somewhat similar to mine and we thought you might be interested. Here is the post:
Gov. Walker: 'Not a lot of courage' in Washington to cut spending
- 07/03/11 12:00 PM ET
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) called Sunday for Congress and the president to show “courage” in debt negotiations and push for structural changes to the budget as part of any agreement to raise the country’s debt ceiling.
“If they fail to do something in response to this debt ceiling limit to structurally change where they're headed, we're in real trouble with the economy,” said Walker on CBS News’ Face the Nation.
Walker pointed to the Wisconsin budget he signed June 26 which plugged the state’s $3 billion shortfall with spending cuts as an example to Washington.
“We can turn it around state by state. We can turn it around jurisdiction by jurisdiction, but we need a federal government that's competent. And right now, there's not a lot of courage in the Beltway. We need it. We see it in our states. We see it in our cities. We need to have it in Washington.”
Negotiations to extend the country’s debt ceiling limit before an August 2 deadline have hit a stalemate with Democrats calling for a final agreement to include tax revenue increases and Republicans opposed to such measures.
Gov. Walker signed his first budget for Wisconsin last Sunday. The two-year $66 billion budget covers the state’s shortfall with spending cuts including $1.85 billion in reduced funding for public schools and the state’s university system.
“If they fail to do something in response to this debt ceiling limit to structurally change where they're headed, we're in real trouble with the economy,” said Walker on CBS News’ Face the Nation.
“We can turn it around state by state. We can turn it around jurisdiction by jurisdiction, but we need a federal government that's competent. And right now, there's not a lot of courage in the Beltway. We need it. We see it in our states. We see it in our cities. We need to have it in Washington.”
Negotiations to extend the country’s debt ceiling limit before an August 2 deadline have hit a stalemate with Democrats calling for a final agreement to include tax revenue increases and Republicans opposed to such measures.
Gov. Walker signed his first budget for Wisconsin last Sunday. The two-year $66 billion budget covers the state’s shortfall with spending cuts including $1.85 billion in reduced funding for public schools and the state’s university system.
A quote from National Review Online...
ReplyDeleteDespite the impasse, Cantor remains optimistic, praising the vice president’s leadership in the negotiations, which have thus far yielded “trillions in spending cuts” and have “established a blueprint ” for meaningful fiscal reform. He called on President Obama to assume a bigger role in the discussions going forward. “I believe it is time for the President to speak clearly and resolve the tax issue,” said Cantor. “Once resolved, we have a blueprint to move forward to trillions of spending cuts and binding mechanisms to change the way things are done around here.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/270328/cantor-pulls-out-biden-talks-andrew-stiles
I think a deal could be made if all would agree to something close to the 3-to-1 ratio in the Simpson-Bowles proposal. That would be $3 trillion worth of spending cuts and $1 trillion worth of tax expenditures over 10 years. Works for me.
--David
David Brooks thinks independent voters would blame the Republicans for a default…
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/opinion/05brooks.html?_r=2&hp
How can anybody know what independent voters will do?
--David
David, I think that Brooks has a political point which you might have missed. His point was that if the Republicans continue to strong arm the negotiations, it will force (and has forced) the Democrats to leave the negotiations as they will think that the Republicans are crazy budget cutters -- at all cost.
ReplyDeleteHe might be right but he also is a conventional Republican and does not like the Tea Party branch of the Republicans.
David Brooks is afraid the New Republicans will screw up this opportunity. Without knowing the inside story of the negotiations, I cannot tell if he is right or wrong. Time will tell.
The inside story of the negotiations is that at the point Cantor walked out, the Dems were offering 80-85% spending cuts and 15-20% tax expenditures. That's fairly close to the Simpson-Bowles ratio.
ReplyDeleteAssuming those numbers are correct, the question is whether independent voters would blame Republicans or Democrats for the default. Brooks seems to be making the assumption that the independents would blame the Republicans without any real polling data to back up his assumption.
I think both sides believe the independents will support them in case of default. I hope we don't have to find out.
--David