July 10, 2011
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Congress: Stupid is as Stupid Does
This morning, as usually for most Sunday mornings in the Cheshire/Architect household, we had the Sunday political talk shows on. The topic d’jour was of course the debt talks taking place here in DC-land. The deal is that something needs to be done about the debt ceiling as we’re scheduled to crash into it in early-August.
Watching the Republicans and Democrats fight back and forth about this whole thing is pretty crazy. Rick Santorum was on one of the shows that I was watching and he said something smart (and bless his heart, he doesn’t say smart things too often!). He said something along the lines of Washington doesn’t do anything until there is a crisis. Sad, but true. Even though we seem to be at the point where something needs to be done but no one seems to be willing to compromise or to come up with something daring. It’s crazy. Cut spending or cut taxes or cut benefits. No one seems to want to do any of it.
It’s hard not to be frustrated. Compromise should be one thing that politicians should focus on. It’s ridiculous that our elected officials don’t seem concerned with actually working this out.
What do you think? Do you think the government is going to be able to do something before we run out of money?
Comments (20)
Something? sure they’ll do something. But I bet it will be the wrong thing
They are all morons if they don’t work together. Obviously we are going to need to cut programs and I hate to say it but raise taxes. I hope it is not just a few small cuts and a whole lot of raising taxes.
It is tough to say but we are going to have to cut social security, medicare and the military. There is no way around the fact we have to actually cut programs.
Not unless the government gets its head out of its arse. You can’t have you tax cuts and keep all of your benefits or spending money too, but it seems like nobody in a position of power is willing to say it loud enough to be heard.
It’s very frustrating that I am held accountable for my bad financial decisions in a way that those making them for the United States have never been. If I over-extend myself, then something else suffers, end of story. I don’t get to borrow money to make up the shortfall. I can’t just write IOU’s for utilities and groceries. I can, however, end up destitute and homeless. Why is it that people in power are not held to the same standard? If you screw up, you’re out of a job. Screw up a lot, and you may find yourself in much hotter water.
But, y’know… In the end, they’ll just cut programs that help prop up the bottom 10% of our population and everything will be okay again. Right? Augh.
They spread chaos to gain control. That’s my theory.
@trunthepaige - Probably
@TheTheologiansCafe - I think the best solution has to be a mix of cuts and raising taxes (hopefully corporate). You can’t get around the fact that we have a lot of heavy programs that are going to have to be cut. Action needs to be taken.
@Prolixity_Split - Whatever they do, it needs to be something a little more out of the box than what they’re doing now. It’s crazy that they’ve allowed the country’s spending to get this out of control. Like you said, we’d all be in huge trouble if our own finances were that crazy!
@Colorsofthenight - It’s not to the point of chaos though. It’s just reached the stupidity level…
@TheCheshireGrins - the government doesn’t care because it’s got the system enslaved. All we have to do is invade a few more countries and suck them for all they are worth.
time for me to bitch. I don’t care about this shithole country. They tried to kill me for a dollar.
I tried to fight the tide to survive.
They tried to kill me then I became part of the psychotronic warfare prevention program for my homicidal ideas. I’ll eventually go postal.
Feel safe.
I wasn’t able to take out America yet, but I will damnit.
The debt ceiling and budget are two different animals that should NOT be tied together.
This shouldn’t even be an issue – the debt ceiling should not be used as a hostage by the GOP to force the Dems to do their will. No party should be using the debt ceiling as a gun- if the situation were reversed, I’d call out the Dems.
The fact is if the GOP wants tax breaks and entitlement cuts, they should campaign about it – if they win the Senate and Presidency, then they will have the peoples mandate to do what they want. The same deal goes to the Dems. Both sides need to leave the debt ceiling out of the discussion and just approve it being raised, as it always has been.
The fact that the GOP refuses to act more responsibly and use it as a gun against the Dems says a lot about how they feel about getting their way over the economic stability and security of America.
You don’t play chicken with the country’s ability to pay its debt.
I truly dislike politics. The whole push and shove and tug of war at the expense of the public, of the tax payers. It makes me crazy. Work together people! Figure out the best and most practical thing! Be smart and consider the present at the same time you look toward the future! Heh.. All politicians (well, 90%) should wear a sign that says “does not play well with others (unless scratching someone’s back)” … Okay… End of rant. peace always
This reminds me of when my sister and I used to fight over the tv channel as little kids. We didn’t have a remote, so essentially we *were* the remote. Personally, I want our economy on my channel of preference, but by gosh we’ve already lost the batteries to the dang remote and I’m just waiting to see whether it’s the GOP or the Dem’s that throw it straight through the screen.
… and on a non-analogy note, I expect we’re past choosing between cutting spending and raising taxes. It’s gone on long enough that it’s most likely going to take both.
@SoullFire - Perhaps they shouldn’t be tied together in legislation but I think that we at least need to discuss them with regard to one another. We didn’t get into this debt overnight; there’s a good reason that we are where we are right now. Regardless of what we do with the debt ceiling (raise it or don’t raise it and risk a shutdown of sorts), running our budget the way that we’re running is not sustainable. As a taxpayer, I would feel more comfortable knowing that Congress has a plan for smart budgeting before they simply raise the debt ceiling. Unfortunately, as it looks now, they’re not going to have a good plan agreed upon before we hit the ceiling.
@peacenow - Haha, I saw someone wearing a shirt down here that says “Plays well with others.” Maybe we should get together on your idea and make t-shirts for Congress that say the opposite like you said
@heidiclare - I think it is going to take both as well. It’s not going to be a 100% win situation for either side but that’s compromise!
Greece 2010 = USA 2011
@TheCheshireGrins - Agreed that the budget needs to be discussed with common sense and collaboration from both sides, but an artificial short deadline of tying it to the approval of the debt ceiling shows the absence of both.
As you have stated, we didn’t get here overnight, and a solution is surely not going to come at a moment’s notice either. One thing we know for certain- that anything rushed upon by our government is more likely a big mistake rather than a success.
We risk more than a shutdown if the debt ceiling isn’t raised. It means the US goes into global default – as in investors by other countries in our treasury bills and other US backed “guaranteed” products won’t be guaranteed any longer. We will certainly get a downgrade rating by Standard and Poors and lose our AAA rating – a historical 1st.
Bernanke and Paulson the Treasury Secretary thought it was “safe” to let Lehman Bros go into default and what resulted was the near collapse of our entire economic system.
Now the stakes are even higher with Bernanke and Geithner both proclaiming it would be disastrous to let the US default on its debt obligations.
If Lehman Bros’ default triggered the 2008 meltdown, what will a US default trigger? I hope we don’t have to find out the hard way…
Yay, this was in today’s sub email. Maybe Xanga isn’t malfunctioning as badly as I thought.
Regarding your post…I’m counting on them solving it before the month is out. I just have to trust they will. They look like knuckleheads while they get there, but I have to rely on them getting there. Failing us is not an option.
God, I hope we get something done.
I hate to sound rant-y, but what is ridiculous about the whole disagreement is (IIRC) is that the our Tax Rates are at their lowest since the 1950′s! .
To be fair, I do think we need to make cuts in spending. But I also think at the very least we need to close the tax loopholes.
The Republicans didn’t seemed concerned about the debt when they were in
charge and got us into two Wars where costs spiraled out of control
I hope to God they do!
Well, while I haven’t been following it that closely (thank goodness) I understand that the Democrats have proposed something – somewhere along the lines of $2 trillion in deficit reduction made up by about 83% cuts and 17% spending increases, while still keeping the Bush tax cuts in place. It seems that the Republicans are refusing to allow for any revenue increases and to claim that we can somehow get improved fiscal order without some revenue increases is just fiscally ignorant – our taxes are lower than they have been in decades and even the great and glorius Ronald Reagan realized that taxes sometimes need to be increased.
@TheTheologiansCafe - And what I don’t understand is why Republicans seems so unwilling to acknowledge that some revenue increases will have to be part of the package. Considering that the proposal from the President is something like 83% cuts and 17% revenue increases and that the Republicans’ own research shows that the historical average has been 85/15, it seems like they have their heads in the sand.
Sometimes you have to just break the glass. –BTB
There’s got to be a balanced approach. No one wants to pay more taxes but that has to be done. If I was making a ton of money, I won’t mind paying a bit more taxes. Tax cuts don’t really do much to stimulate the economy.