My house has a main water shut-off valve out by the street. Your house probably does too. Inside our houses, we have a valve at every sink and tub remaining closed until water is needed. It’s a sensible arrangement that gives us reasonable control over the size of our water bill.
The United States government is much like an insane version of that with two factions constantly at war over how much water (tax money) should be pumped into the system and which taps should be turned on and for how long.
If you believe in over-simplifications, you might believe that the Democrats are determined to spend, and the Republicans are equally determined to cut spending. As over-simplifications go, that one has a grain of truth to it. Democrats are determined to maintain current levels of spending on social programs and Republicans would like to cut them. Don’t get me wrong. In reality, the Republicans are just as determined to spend our money as the Democrats. They just want to spend it on other things. Neither side is interested in meaningful bi-partisan spending cuts. Neither side has any interest in taking any steps in the direction of a balanced budget. Both sides just want more control over the spending of our money. Whoo Hoo! Let the party continue!
The last vestiges of bi-partisan governance in America disappeared back in the late 1900s.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) was founded in June of 1981 by two members of Congress, one Democrat, and one Republican. The non-partisan committee board of directors includes former Members of Congress and directors of the Office of Management and Budget, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Federal Reserve. The Committee focuses on many issues including deficit reduction, entitlement reform, fundamental tax reform, and improving the budget process.
The committee works hard on common-sense recommendations which would benefit the country and end the endless and unproductive squabbling. Unfortunately, the committee’s recommendations are simply ignored since they do not meet the current partisan requirements.
In case you haven’t noticed, prices and interest rates are about to go up because of America’s partisan bickering. The increased financial negativity will be driven by the mere threat that we might default on our loans. The semi-annual and totally unnecessarily repetitive fiasco known as the Debt Ceiling Crisis is just one good reason to put a stop to the current hyper-partisan atmosphere.
Proposed: Let’s do that, before these knuckleheads argue us into a corner we can’t get out of.
Abolish the debt ceiling.
Leon: I am agreed that the debt ceiling is a recurring problem. The only thing I can imagine that might be worse is removing it completely!