Like Button

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Crisis Averted

Okay, so here's the deal. Our representation in Washington has managed to avoid our debt crisis. They did so by raising the debt ceiling ... wait ... what am I missing here? Oh, I see, they say that over the next 10 years we will reduce our $14.3 trillion deficit by $2.1 trillion, a 14% decrease. Hold on a minute. Apparently the expectation is that we'd be at $28 trillion in 10 years, so that $2 trillion would come off that amount, not the current amount. Okay, a 7% decrease. This is accomplished by increasing the debt ceiling ... wait, wait, that's not right. Oh, I see, by working together on a larger plan to cut the federal budget deficit ... at some point ... because that $2.1 trillion isn't currently on the books. That won't come around until November.

Announcing this near-miss collision with disaster, President Obama said, "It is an important first step to insuring that, as a nation, we live within our means." So, let's see how that works. The federal government will take in about $2.6 trillion this year and spend $3.7 trillion. So we see how, working together, the two partisan parties have managed to bring our nation to living within its means ... oh, hold on ... oh, man, math is not my strong suit, I guess. Or not the Congress's strong suit. Or the president's? Or is he just saying, "Well, you guys need to live within your means, but we intend to borrow what we want to pay what we want for what we want. If it gets too tough, we'll just take it from whom we want." But, like I said, math is not my strong suit.

Look, there are those who think that "my party" will save the day. It doesn't much matter which their party is. They expect that if "my party" gets its way, we'll be fine. I think it's abundantly clear that we won't. It's a good thing I'm not the kind of guy that expects the voters or the "right party" to save us.

No comments: