Thrice Damned NO!

From atop the Stoa this day I grunt with irritation and incredulity. I may even snort and roll my eyes before the deficit/debt ceiling deal is inked.

If I have a debt that is unsustainable, I don't go borrow more money to make my minimum payments. If I have a business and I have to borrow money to meet payroll, then my business is doomed. If I am a country, borrowing money to keep the lights on and the old people fed then I'm not running that country well. If that country is the United States of America then I am the most inept money-manager in human, if not stellar, history.

This is supposed to be the "richest" country in the world, but I have my doubts. The Social Security "Trust Fund" has nothing but piles of IOU's stapled together and not a penny to be found unless the government clerk dropped one next to the file cabinet. Corporate taxes are among the highest in the world. The "cost of doing business", that is regulation and its costs are among the highest in the world. The "rich" in this country are among the most taxed individuals in the world. The barrier to enter markets and start up new businesses is at its highest point in history. The number of listings on the stock exchange is anemic, something like 9 in 2010 where there were 300 in 2005.

Our national debt is something like 14.3 TRILLION dollars. Trillion is a word so big that most countries in the world do not even use it (they use billion, billion), yet we throw it around with style.

Remember this point: the debate is about raising the DEBT ceiling. Taxes and budget have been stirred into the pot, and I feel that the fundamental focus of the debate is being lost. Both sides agree in principle that the debt is too high and needs to be addressed, but are paralyzed by politics. So much for doing the right thing regardless of ideology (I know what you are thinking, but that is another discussion).

There are so many plans, committees, and Gangs roaming the political landscape it is hard to keep them all straight. So, lets break down the fundamental discussion. The debt is too high. How do we fix it? Well, we either stop spending or we cut spending. Both sides agree that we need to cut spending. Good. Now, where do we cut or do we hold spending steady and not index anything for inflation for, say, 5 years? Boy, now we are getting into the marrow of the matter. Every time the scalpel hovers over a portion of the budget, groups come out of the wood works crying and lamenting for their projects. We don't just have a sacred cow, we have a sacred herd. Once this happens, everything shuts down since politicians can't tolerate irritating people who donate heavily to their campaign funds. So...

Taxes, or as people in Washington like to call it, "revenue enhancers" are on and off the table daily. One of the fundamentals of economics is that you do not raise taxes when the economy is on life support. You just don't do it. Do you bleed your anemic ulcer patient because your 200 year old textbook tells you to? No, and nor should you tax an overburdened economy even though the dead hand of Marx says you should (since 100% of the money belongs to the government, aka the people). The folks in Washington, hesitant to actually cut a dollar, despite Obama doubling Federal Spending every year he has been in office, feel that taxing is the only way to balance the budget. Again, despite overspending more than the GDP of most of the world in a single year. Hellloooooo!

I am hearing about "spending cuts" of 3.7 Trillion over 10 YEARS. This is spoke with gasping word-gobbling by the media that SO MUCH would be cut from our spending priorities. In reality, Obama and the Congress overspent last year by about 1.4 Trillion and the year before that by 1.35 Trillion. This year they are on pace for another 1.4 Trillion dollars. My math has never been that good, but if we are spending, roughly, 4.15 Trillion over-budget over the last 3 years, then how does "cutting" 3.7 Trillion over 10 years help us? Promising cuts is really easy. Delivering on them with the interest groups bawling at you is harder. Raising taxes is easy. Eliminating a tax on the books is harder than surpassing the speed of light. See where this is going?

No new taxes. No more taxes. Cut taxes on the books. Eliminate taxes on the books. The Tea Party swept waves of true conservatives (with some glaring exceptions) into Congress (and the States) and it is THEY who need to kill any deal that includes TAXES (or REVENUE ENHANCERS). Period. End of story. Cut spending, cut spending, cut spending. No taxes. Period. Is that clear enough?

Provide certainty to the market place, don't over-regulate, and don't tax it to death and the economy (and tax receipts) will soar for 20 years. Then again, the Feds will have less control over it. Head scratcher.

America rebelled against England for less, far less, then the garbage that the Federal Government is stifling the States with daily. I hope that the Tea Party movement does not become corrupted and that those members elected through their efforts hold firm to their guiding principles. I want people there that will vote the will of their constituents, good or bad.

We rarely get the government we want, but we certainly get the government we deserve. As Wirecutter has stated repeatedly, "The American Sheeple". Don't be a Sheep. Plug in and pay attention. Congress works for YOU. They should not be able to order you to do JACK SQUAT.

It is hot down here and my normally calm veneer is sweating off so forgive the irritated rhetoric.

Live well, all.

--Zavost