A battle is brewing that will determine the future of this country. In one corner, Obama, Geithner and Goolsbee, and in the other, newly elected Congressional Republicans. The current debt ceiling is $14.3 trillion dollars and we are fast approaching that. Don’t blow past that number, it’s big, it’s scary and it’s probably going to get bigger unless the Congress finally decides to man up. That number represents, based on the census.gov population clock, over $45,000 for every single person, man, woman and child in this country, on top of whatever other debt they may already be encumbered. Collectively, we are in it deep.
Should it come as any surprise that That One and his cronies want to raise the limit even higher?
It should! Obama has stated,
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills....Leadership means that “the buck stops here.” Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better”.
Unfortunately, he said that in 2006 on the floor of the Senate when debating whether to raise the debt ceiling to $9 trillion. He was of course referring to the Bush administration, but his prescient words still ring true of his own administration. He has failed too, and even more spectacularly than Bush ever dreamed. Rather than make the case that it is finally time for the buck to come to a screeching halt, he has his flunkies out fanning the flames of catastrophe if the Congress refuses to raise the legal debt limit.
And thus the stage is set for a battle extraordinaire. The buck has to stop somewhere. We are not spending ourselves into prosperity, but into a dark oblivion. At some point, our creditors are going to come knocking. Most of us, those of us who have had to work hard at regular jobs and pay regular bills know this. We live in Realville where we can’t let our debt pile up unpaid like some stack of unread newspapers in some dark corner. If we do, all kinds of bad things happen, like eviction, foreclosure and bankruptcy. But who is going to foreclose on the federal government? While the Federal Reserve owns the greater part of our debt, we also owe many foreign countries. China and Japan are our two largest creditors. According to the US Treasury, we owe China almost $1 trillion and Japan almost $900 billion. What would we do if either of them called that debt? I’m sure it wouldn’t involve rainbows, flowers or scented candles.
Rand Paul sporting his new ping tutu of shame
So, the newly elected conservatives, who mostly identify as Republicans, are faced with their first challenge. They can draw a line in the sand and tell the President, “this far and no further.” Or they can put on some pretty pink tutus and dance around the pure insignificance of their being sent to Congress while they sign away any chance of getting re-elected. Some have already opted for the tutu route. Even Rand Paul, whom many consider presidential material, said on FoxNews this week after being fitted for his new tutu, “I’ll vote to raise the debt ceiling if we attach a balanced budget rule to it. If they say no more debt will be added and from here on out we’ll balance the budget, I’ll vote one time to raise the debt ceiling”. Are you kidding me? He’s barely been in office a week, and he already sounds like a seasoned two-faced politician. As much as I detest everything Obama stands for, at least when he was a senator, he refused to wear the pink tutu of shame and voted against raising the debt limit. Doing anything else is akin to telling a heroin addict, “Gee, ok, if you promise you won’t ever get high again after this, I’ll help you get your drugs this time.” Yeah, right. Who is Rand Paul or Obama (the 2.0 presidential version, not the 1.0 Senator version) kidding? Our government continues to grow because no one has the spine stand up and and actually say and mean “The buck stops here”. As I said in my last post, go big or go away. We don’t need small-minded leaders now, our problems are too big. Either lead and lead right, or shut up and get out of the way.
The hard part of this particular game of potential political suicide is not flinching when the Democrats unload with both barrels, just as the Republicans did when the Democrats voted not to raise the debt ceiling in 2006. Unfortunately, the Republicans will be fighting not only the Democrats but the media as well. The Democrats and the Jurassic Press will call conservatives and Republicans all sorts of heinous names and prophesy that our doom and gloom is upon us because we are going to default on our obligations. The response has to be resolute and unyielding – “We will only default on our obligations if we continue to spend recklessly and foolishly. Rather than raising the debt limit, we need, no have, to cut all discretionary spending and begin cleaning house.” And then submit a list of non-negotiable cuts in government spending, beginning with the list of unconstitutional departments or agencies that have to be defunded, including repealing or defunding Obamacare.
Obama once famously said on the campaign trail - “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for”. That has never been truer than now. Someone in Washington has to stand up and act like an adult and put a stop to deficit spending with a plan to manage the detox and withdrawal. There has never been a better time than now. The real question is, did we elect the right people in November and will any of them have the guts to do what it takes, no matter how unpopular, to put this country back on track to fiscal sanity? For all of our sakes, I hope so.