David Broder is not my favorite columnist, as he is generally much too liberal (oops, progressive) for my taste. That’s why when I was perusing the Sunday Enquirer’s Opinion pages and Broder’s picture appeared next to an article entitled “Debt Threatens to Take Nation Down” I knew this was a Broder article I had to read.
The gist of the article is that a bipartisan list of thirty-four of the nation’s top economic thinkers (people like former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker) have issued a warning to President Obama and the Congress that if they don’t get serious about restraining the out-of-control-spending and the huge resulting national debt, the consequences will be “unfathomable” and the “American economy will likely be in ruins.”
The letter goes on to say that the huge national debt makes it virtually impossible “to deal with future crises, could push up interest rates, threatens economic recovery, threatens to slow the growth of wages, depress living standards, make the United States even more dependent on foreign lenders, and leaves us vulnerable to a shock wave if those lenders (China) lose confidence in our ability to repay the loans.”
This group of economic experts proposes setting up a mechanism which will require that Congress stops adding to the debt by either restraining spending (good luck on that) or that taxes be raised (a terrible idea).
So how has our illustrious Congress been in the spending restraint department recently? You need look no further than the healthcare debacle taking place in Washington right now. Obama/Pelosi/Reid are bound and determined to ram through a government takeover of one-sixth of the economy by any means necessary. Needing 60 votes in the Senate, and being a couple short, Reid bought off Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas with $100 million, bought off Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana with $300 million (the Louisiana Purchase all over again), and most outrageously bought Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska’s vote by giving the residents of Nebraska a free pass on Medicaid costs, at the expense of the other 49 states (including Ohio). Interestingly, Ohio Democratic Governor Ted Strickland, when asked about the special deal for Nebraska at the expense of the rest of the country, called it “unseemly and selfish”, but said of course that he supported passage of the bill anyway!
And remember, the money they’re throwing around isn’t their money. It’s your money, your hard-earned tax dollars. They may have printed the money, but they sure as heck didn’t earn it.
The article concludes by stating that not dealing with the out-of-control-spending and resulting debt “poses such perils to the nation’s future that the risk is unacceptable.” And “when Congress last week ducked it’s responsibility again by deciding to enact a temporary two-month increase in the debt ceiling, the need for a shock treatment like this report couldn’t be plainer.”
So, is their any reason for hope that this Congress might get serious about restraining spending and doing something about the growing national debt? Let’s check their record thus far. Bailouts and takeovers of banks, insurance companies, and the auto industry (with your money); Cap and Trade, Cash for Clunkers, a healthcare government takeover of one-sixth of the economy, and on and on. No, the best predictor of future performance is past performance. And this Congress has been a fiscal disaster.