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I have to say I’m frustrated. I think that I would have preferred if the Republicans had just let the ceiling stand. And I’m not simply talking about the fact that the Dow and S&P are plunging, I’m talking about a matter of principle. We’ve chosen to spend more than we take in, and going further in debt won’t solve that problem.
Government is worse than a kid in a candy store. When times are good, government spends more. When times are bad, government spends more. And even most of the spending cuts that are in this latest law are scheduled to take place later, not now.
How would this work if this were an average family? It wouldn’t.
Addiction to Stuff
America has an addiction to stuff. We want stuff. We want it now, we want it cheap—free if it can be. This addiction to stuff means that we’re willing to put ourselves in slavery to a bank for a period of time until we pay it off.
And I’m no better. I put a whole bunch of money on a card to move to a location for a new job. I could have driven back and forth longer, but I made a choice that was convenient, and hopefully this month or next month I will have that debt paid off.
It’s just this mentality that has effected the way that we think about the Federal Government. We have no problem with them going into debt further because it’s something that we do as well. Just kick the can down the road, pay it later, and we can have all the goodies now.
Unfortunately, just as all the get out of debt people say, there will come a time where the price will get to high, the bottom will fall out, that “rainy day” will come, and you’ll find you can’t pay things back the way that you promised.
Drawing a Bright Line
I would have preferred a bright line in the sand to what we got in this law. I would have preferred that the government said, “No more debt” and told the President how to prioritize spending. Perhaps they could have put a review in the works, and made Congress go through every law and figuring out why we’re spending so much money.
Especially when I found out about the trigger. Yes, if the “Super Congress” (as it’s being called) cannot find a way to cut the necessary amount of money in the next 6 months, there will be triggered tax increases and spending cuts. On Tuesday we heard Sen. Reid bragging how there would be tax increases (just letting the Obama Tax Rate Cuts expire would bring an increase). Today we’re hearing about another wrinkle.
Lay Off My ObamaCare!
Should Democrats not agree, to a spending deal, parts of ObamaCare could find themselves unfunded:
Many of the pots of money in the law — one of the Democrats’ most prized pieces of legislation — could get trimmed by the debt deal’s sequestration, or triggered cuts. The funds for prevention programs and community health centers, grants to help states set up insurance exchanges and co-ops, and money to help states review insurance rates could be slashed across the board if the panel can’t find enough cuts this fall.
Funding for the temporary high-risk pools for pre-existing conditions could be sliced, too, as well as grants to improve maternal and child health. And as previously reported by POLITICO, the law’s cost-sharing subsidies — which are supposed to help low-income people pay their out-of-pocket expenses — could face the ax, too.
This could provide quite the incentive for the Democrats to find something to cut that’s not ObamaCare. Or it could just be another smoke and mirrors game that we play where Democrats will come out sounding reasonable (“We have to raise revenues fairly”) while Republicans come out sounding bad (“They’re putting those people that are high risk without health insurance—they want them to die!”).
It’s time for a reboot of the Federal Government, I think. No more life time politicians, I think we need some people that work for a living.
Image from Stock Exchange used under the Standard Restrictions explained at the link.
