Barack Obama came into office, just like those before him, thinking he could raise the national debt ceiling as a matter of routine. Indeed, some commentators say that the raising of the debt ceiling should be routine, and the whole question of the national debt, and of reducing it, and of entitlement reform, and of discretionary spending, should never have been tied to the raising of the national debt.
Yeah, right. As if Congress and the President were ever going to address the national debt other than under the pressure of a deadline.
Item: President Obama appointed a bipartisan commission to study the national debt, then ignored its findings.
Item: President George W. Bush raised the national debt ceiling seven times, but never addressed the national debt.
Item: President Obama could muster the will to put forth a massive stimulus package of almost $1 trillion, but could not, this year, even submit a budget of his own. He could criticize the Republican budget with fine sarcasm, but not put forth any ideas of his own. Some leadership.
And so it goes, and so it has gone, under both Republican and Democratic administrations: Spend as if there were no consequences.
Item: Minnesota went bankrupt and shut down for three weeks.
Item: Wisconsin almost went bankrupt.
Item: Bankruptcy seems to be the style among many European nations.
The point: There comes a point when there is no one to bail out the failed states because the bailer-outers such as the US are themselves almost bankrupt.
There is no solution but to stop spending so much. It is valuable to close loopholes in the tax code, but, in principle, the idea that the only way out of the debt crisis is to cut spending and raise revenue is really just another version of denial: the need to cut down, to realize that the nation cannot afford everything. The idea that one can tax ones way out of this crisis is as fallacious as the idea that one can spend ones way out of it, or borrow ones way out of it. By all means, reform the tax code, but only against the acknowledgement that we cannot have everything.
The habit of denial is so pervasive that the solution of virtually every head of a major nonprofit or government department comes in a one-size-fits-all template: The debt crisis is real and its absolutely imperative that we cut spending just not of my nonprofit, or of my department.
Entitlement spending will have to be reformed. There is no sacred trust or sacred cow if it means that the entire nation is put in jeopardy by not touching it and that is precisely what not touching it means. National jeopardy.
Those folks at the upper echelons who avoid paying taxes altogether will just have to have their Nachio Moment: Just as Joe Nachio couldnt believe that he was convicted and just couldnt believe that he would have to go to prison and just couldnt believe that his appeals failed and just couldnt believe that he could not get still another appeal, and just couldnt believe that all his money could not help him pervert the law, those at the top who pay no taxes will just have to start paying. As will those at the bottom of the ladder who also pay no taxes. The issue isnt that the overall percentage of tax collections has dropped; it is the number of people who pay no taxes at all, whether at the top or the bottom.
So, here we are. Tea Partiers forced the issue, with whatever deficiency in wisdom that caused their House leader to twist their arms to get the country started on serious debt reduction. Others, both Democrat and Republican, ducked the issue, as they have done for a couple of generations. Neither side is happy, and both sides need to act on one simple reality: Bankruptcy is not some far out, strictly theoretical possibility. Cuts in the national debt are imperative, and a balanced budget amendment to the constitution is wise.
But keep in mind: A balanced budget amendment should be free of the Jerusalem Syndrome. That is the loophole, large enough for a Mack Truck, that requires the US to move its embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but which allows the President of the US to suspend the law in the national interest. Guess what. Like clockwork, the law has been suspended each year since 1995. It has never been implemented. Thats not the kind of genuine national emergency clause we should tolerate in a balanced budget constitutional amendment.
We need to balance the budget with due safeguards for genuine national emergencies, but without the Jerusalem Syndrome. We do not need another smoke-and-mirrors resolution, amendment or commission that cuts the debt later. We do not need a balanced budget amendment that may not be enforced.
Congress is now in recess. Why? Do all the rest of us get a recess? What kind of message does the leadership in Congress think it sends when it gives itself a traditional one-month recess as the national debt crisis burns, the countrys reputation is in tatters, the FAA suspension is unaddressed, and the rest of the peoples business is put on hold.
Let Congress stay in Washington and tend to the peoples business. Its bad enough that we face fiscal bankruptcy. Another type of bankruptcy in commitment to work through the national business is entirely gratuitous.
Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News
