The government aught to run things the way we do

What amazes me about the debt limit debate, more than anything else, is the simple fact that if I run out of money I have to pay debts off before I can start spending again. It’s really a simple proposition, don’t spend more than you can afford to pay. It is unfortunate that I have had to learn this lesson the hard way. I am only some what joking when I say that I have tried the Keynesian model personally and it doesn’t work. See I, like congress, spent myself into oblivion in my twenties and am now desperately trying to clean up the mess that has been made. It’s why I had hoped the GOP would do a better job holding the line. After all, if I can’t spend my way out of a debt crisis in my private life, how on earth am I supposed to believe the government can?

The recently passed “deal” which is supposed to identify 2.1 Trillion in cuts by Thanksgiving while allowing for a debt ceiling increase through 2013, to me, is a serious joke. After all we’ve been hearing all week that Moody’s and S&P have stated that we will get a downgrade in our credit outlook if we fail to cut 4 trillion from the budget. This deal is only going to “identify” 2.1 trillion in cuts, I can’t really see any specifics yet and that has me worried.

When Reagan was pushing the Democrat controlled congress for spending cuts they agreed to the cuts only for increases in taxes. Reagan yielded to the tax increases and the spending cuts never came. I can guarantee you, based on history, we can expect the exact same behavior from the government. So in the end what is likely going to happen here is that the spending will continue, and the cuts won’t come, at least not as long as the Democrats maintain the Senate and the White House.

What bothers me the most about this is that so many of our elected leaders can’t see this the way it aught to be seen. They need to look at the budget the same way they would look at the budget in their homes. When they run out of credit can they give themselves a credit limit increase? No! Of course not! So why is it that the government can? Technically they can’t, not without serious consequences for us. If those spending cuts don’t come they will be met with a further devaluing of the dollar as they print and borrow even more to maintain their insane spending addiction, that means you and I will experience further inflation, and that means a significant increase in our costs of living.

It would be great if Washington’s talk about caring bout average everyday folks like you and I were more than just empty campaign jargon. If they really cared they would take the debt crisis a lot more serious than increasing their credit limit coupled with a likely empty promise to cut spending later.