On Obama and Debt Ceiling
This week, President Obama outlined a call to action, in which he urged Congress to pass a budget, while asserting his intention to not talk to Congress about raising the debt ceiling. While many in government might see this as typical partisan positioning and blame, I'm willing, in this case, and for no reason other than rhetorical exposition, to give Obama the benefit of the doubt, and take his statements somewhat literally. That being done, I find myself in surprising agreement with the president and his bold plan to get the country back on the right track.
For far too long, the country has hobbled along with continuing resolutions, while continuing to spend far more money than it collects, incurring ever-increasing debts on the backs of future generations. Obama, however, is now drawing a line. Over the last couple of months, he has managed to put a temporary stop to the bleeding, by ordering the Treasury Department to keep the national debt constant for over three months now, through various accounting and temporary measures. Sure, some of these measures could be considered ridiculous, quasi-legal distortions of reality, but it's really all the president can do without affecting the day-to-day gigantic waste which is the federal government.
But Obama wants more, and he seems determined to get it. By refusing to discuss raising the debt ceiling with Congress, Obama is implicitly saying he doesn't want to debt to rise above the current level, ever. What he wants, then, is for Congress to pass a budget which actually limits spending to income, and dispenses with the need for the various accounting trickery which has put us in our current position. What he's asking for, neigh demanding, is a real limit on government spending right now, through whatever means necessary.
I wholeheartedly support this concept. I would urge the president to do whatever he can, in real terms (not just accounting terms), to help with this effort, while Republicans and the scant few other adults in Congress work on a more permanent solution. Things like furloughs, forced reductions in spending, severe cutbacks on obscene violations of the Constitution such as the TSA... all of these things should be on the table, as the president considers how to implement the hard limit he himself is strongly advocating and steadfastly pushing. Lead the way, Mr President; show the Congress that you are not afraid to cut huge swaths out of government spending, to make real progress toward your goal and self-imposed necessity of not raising the debt ceiling again while you are president. If you have the power to unilaterally start wars, as you claim, certainly you have the power to stop at least some of the Constitutional abuses you have created and/or presided over.
In the meantime, I would also urge Congress to heed your call, and pass a balanced budget. Yes, it may strip out some of the additional costs necessary to implement Obamacare, but those costs were unnecessary anyway; after all, it was Obama himself that said Obamacare would save money, not be another enormous unfunded government handout cluster-fuck. Yes, it might require some sacrifices in government "services", such as the $50,000,000,000+ we spend annually to violate the American people's Constitutional rights, in the intelligence services alone. Yes, we might have to chop out the entire Constitutionally repugnant shit-pile that is the TSA... such are the noble sacrifices necessary to not continue to pile $1,500,000,000,000 of additional debt on our children's backs every single year of Obama's miserable colossal failure of a presidential tenure.
Together, though, you can do it. You, the incompetent, malicious, and downright evil government, can band together and pass a budget which rises to the level of a grade school child learning to spend within their allowance. President Obama has laid out the vision... if you can just get your heads out of your collective asses long enough to see it. I have faith (metaphorically, not literally).
For far too long, the country has hobbled along with continuing resolutions, while continuing to spend far more money than it collects, incurring ever-increasing debts on the backs of future generations. Obama, however, is now drawing a line. Over the last couple of months, he has managed to put a temporary stop to the bleeding, by ordering the Treasury Department to keep the national debt constant for over three months now, through various accounting and temporary measures. Sure, some of these measures could be considered ridiculous, quasi-legal distortions of reality, but it's really all the president can do without affecting the day-to-day gigantic waste which is the federal government.
But Obama wants more, and he seems determined to get it. By refusing to discuss raising the debt ceiling with Congress, Obama is implicitly saying he doesn't want to debt to rise above the current level, ever. What he wants, then, is for Congress to pass a budget which actually limits spending to income, and dispenses with the need for the various accounting trickery which has put us in our current position. What he's asking for, neigh demanding, is a real limit on government spending right now, through whatever means necessary.
I wholeheartedly support this concept. I would urge the president to do whatever he can, in real terms (not just accounting terms), to help with this effort, while Republicans and the scant few other adults in Congress work on a more permanent solution. Things like furloughs, forced reductions in spending, severe cutbacks on obscene violations of the Constitution such as the TSA... all of these things should be on the table, as the president considers how to implement the hard limit he himself is strongly advocating and steadfastly pushing. Lead the way, Mr President; show the Congress that you are not afraid to cut huge swaths out of government spending, to make real progress toward your goal and self-imposed necessity of not raising the debt ceiling again while you are president. If you have the power to unilaterally start wars, as you claim, certainly you have the power to stop at least some of the Constitutional abuses you have created and/or presided over.
In the meantime, I would also urge Congress to heed your call, and pass a balanced budget. Yes, it may strip out some of the additional costs necessary to implement Obamacare, but those costs were unnecessary anyway; after all, it was Obama himself that said Obamacare would save money, not be another enormous unfunded government handout cluster-fuck. Yes, it might require some sacrifices in government "services", such as the $50,000,000,000+ we spend annually to violate the American people's Constitutional rights, in the intelligence services alone. Yes, we might have to chop out the entire Constitutionally repugnant shit-pile that is the TSA... such are the noble sacrifices necessary to not continue to pile $1,500,000,000,000 of additional debt on our children's backs every single year of Obama's miserable colossal failure of a presidential tenure.
Together, though, you can do it. You, the incompetent, malicious, and downright evil government, can band together and pass a budget which rises to the level of a grade school child learning to spend within their allowance. President Obama has laid out the vision... if you can just get your heads out of your collective asses long enough to see it. I have faith (metaphorically, not literally).
You're clearly thinking this through, not just against President Obama regardless of what he does.
ReplyDeleteI have not followed this budget debate. They always seem to end up with people sanctimoniously calling for saving money but cutting things they never supported in the first place.