Thoughts on the debt ceiling.

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A lot of fuss and feathers going on. The fringe leftists who brought us to this and who, when the shoe was on the other foot, cried about a “failure of leadership” while voting “no” on the GOP efforts to increase the same ceiling, a move I opposed then… as now... demand that we bury ourselves further in debt, having incompetently failed to do a budget last year, hoping it will become some sort of GOP fly-paper... the sort of scorched earth policy favored by the Nazi's in World War 2.

The vacuum of leadership in the United States today is frightening. Those in charge seem incapable of understanding the problems confronting us, and they seem equally incapable of putting the country first, ahead of their political futures.

So, no one wants to take the tough vote.

No one wants to do what has to be done, because the democrats and the media will play whack-a-mole with anyone coming up with any approach that reflects the realities confronting us.

The president’s plans have failed. We’re buried under a mountain of debt and the democrats demand the right to make the pile even higher.

We see our future. It’s spelled “Greece.” It’s spelled “Italy.” It’s spelled “Ireland.”

The economies of these countries were designed to do precisely what Obama has done, and is doing: force a massive expansion of government and debt.

The debt ceiling discussion and even the concept of “budget cuts” is a joke, since no proposal (And where is the president’s specific list of cuts? Where’s anyone’s?) actually CUTS the budget… it merely reduces the rate of increase.

This, of course, is one of the biggest problems we have: No one… on either side… tells the truth… the complete truth. Every word is strained through the filter of incredulity. Every word is parsed, examined, dissected as both sides look for the silver bullet to harm the other side while our nation has become collateral damage.

So, the result of the decades of lies, exaggerations, and “strategies” is that we know when anyone from either party is behind a mic there’s a very good chance that what we’re hearing is not the truth.

When, for example, the president told us he couldn’t “guarantee” that social security checks would be sent out, he was lying.

He was lying… deliberately… to frighten the elderly. “Fright” is a frequently used tool… typically by both sides of the political equation. But this was an unusually despicable example of the meme.

So, the left postures because they have never swerved from their desire to inflict socialism on this country; in this instance, Obama has broken out his nonsensical class warfare/class envy shtick.

Underlying all of this, of course, is the deliberate failure of the democrats to propose any budget… particularly when they controlled all 3 branches of government.

That was both a deliberate and political move, because they knew how bad it was, and they knew that if they were even to attempt to take the necessary steps to fix the country, that they would be branded for decades with the destruction of our economy.

So, they punted. Even now, Obama knows he’s going to have to do some very unpopular things… so even HE is making the efforts to punt beyond the next election… so the platter of manure he causes won’t land on him.

Instead, they’ve trashed our economy, buried us in a mountain of debt, bailed out their friends, and laughingly call for this bizarre concept of “shared sacrifice” when they do nothing of the kind.

Three local democrats commented on a local Facebook page, in response to the observation that we need to cut:

Come on--- the top two percent can afford a little more to help us out of this hole that Obama added to but which was not of his making -- I'll pay more and so should others who can aford[sic] it - it's almost a matter of patriotism.

I'll pay more, too Mark. Raising revenue is just as important as spending cuts. Hi income households don't create the kinds of jobs we hope to bring to Vancouver. After all, you can only hire so many housekeepers, so many gardners,[sic] so many cooks, etc. And those are all low paying jobs. Household income is an entirely different matter than business who may or may not choose to hire employees. And taxes are at a 60 year low.

The solution is not rocket science, it's both raising taxes and cutting spending.

The D's need to suck it up and cut spending, and the R's need to understand that we need to let the Bush tax cuts die and go back to previous taxation levels. Until recently, our nation has always raised taxes during wartime… but we’ve been at war for a decade now, currently fighting in 3 theaters simultaneously, and no one wants to pay for them.

Utter nonsense.

To me, the main problem isn’t the joke of the so-called “debt ceiling.” That’s a worthless construct, cast aside by out-of-control, arrogant jerks like, say, Tim “The Liar” Leavitt… as evidenced by the 19 times (The fringe leftists can’t avoid reminding us) the debt ceiling was increased during the Bush Administration.

That makes precisely zero difference or sense to me; if the GOP was wrong 19 times during the Bush Administration, (and they were) that doesn’t make the dems right to do it now.

Why don’t we just eliminate the debt ceiling altogether? It’s as worthless as Obama’s resume, so what’s the point?

I see the economic destruction descending on Europe. Instead of becoming LESS like that, we’re becoming MORE.

Democrats, who have no problem whatsoever spending money that belongs to others (Here, locally, for example, they want to bury us under a $10 billion mountain for their worthless bridge replacement/loot rail scam) because they feel the need to extort money wherever and however they can… tell us such crap like “Come on--- the top two percent can afford a little more to help us out of this hole that Obama added to but which was not of his making”

The self-delusion of this kind of nonsense is obvious.

First, “a little more” is an unending amount that will never satisfy those who, well, don’t have to pay it.

In this instance, those who feel compelled to demand a “little more” from others should, of course, set the example… and donate a few million to the government themselves, because apparently the fact the FIFTY ONE PERCENT OF AMERICANS DIDN'T PAY A DIME IN FEDERAL TAXES is meaningless to them.

Second is the truly bizarre idea that this train wreck isn’t precisely and exactly of Obama and the democrat’s making. The way this works for the left is that since the economy is crashing over a cliff, no one with a “D” after their name bears any responsibility whatsoever.

If, on the other hand, the Empty Suit HAD managed to turn it around instead of lying and showing us how incompetent he actually is; why, then, the democrats and Obama would get ALL the credit, because, well, naturally, everything bad is the GOP’s fault, and everything good is the direct result of the messiah’s efforts.

Third, the very idea that the only jobs developed by the rich are housekeepers, gardners[sic] and cooks shows a somewhat racist, stereo-typical view of the world surprising in what is alleged to be a more modern day democrat. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Overlooking investments, stocks, construction, furnishings, educations, property and other taxes PLUS the fact that the top ten percent of wage earners pay something on the order of 50% of all taxes has no impact on the left; because no matter HOW much they pay… it’s never enough for the party of class warfare and class envy.

When someone on the left says something bizarre like “-- I'll pay more and so should others who can aford[sic] it - it's almost a matter of patriotism…. I'll pay more, too Mark,” I’ve got to stop and ask: so… how much extra money have you, personally, sent to the federal government for them to spend as they see fit?

None?

Why not? You damned sure don’t have any problem spending the money of others.

The solution is to cut… period.

Cut the pay of federal workers back to the levels and staffing of 2008.

It’s a real yuk-fest to see how much money the empty suit is paying for the White House staff.

Odd, isn’t it? The idea of “shared sacrifice” only seems to apply to the uber rich, and not to the tens of thousands of federal workers making bank since the empty suit took over. Where’s his proposals for federal workers to take pay cuts commensurate with the rest of the economy?

Why is it that those of us who actually PAY their wages have to sacrifice, but those of them who receive the benefit of OUR labor… don’t?

Three years for unemployment? Are you KDDING me?

The last comment, which is dead wrong on it’s face, includes: “The solution is not rocket science, it's both raising taxes and cutting spending.”

It’s not, of course. It’s cutting, period. It’s cutting the payroll. It’s cutting the benefits. It’s cutting social security. It’s cutting medicare. It’s cutting the programs utilized by illegal aliens. It’s cutting the budget for congress and the White House. It’s eliminating departments like Education.

For the leftists, they believe people are “owed” this nonsense.

They are not. And until we can get past this bizarre “entitlement” society, we are doomed to fail. And if we increase the debt ceiling as the leftists demand so they can redistribute our wealth as THEY see fit… thereby ignoring the stark realities of a collapsing Europe… We’re doomed anyway.

Insanity is defined as, among other things, doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome.

Thus, raising the debt ceiling is insane on its face, since that just gives the green light to the president to finish spending us into bankruptcy.

And what happens when we nail the ceiling again? When Obama was voting on that very project, he referred to it as a “failure in leadership.” Why was it a “failure of leadership” THEN, but NOT a “failure of leadership” now?

Because of the rank hypocrisy of those leading us.

When I was on legislative staff and constituents would complain, I would tell them that the most effective complaints came with realistic solutions.

Caving on this issue, no matter how it’s dressed up, is just the same business as usual approach that got us in this mess in the first place.

Adding a few trillion more to the fake ceiling will just move us down the road until we confront this mess again… and again… and again… until we’re in so much debt our money is Weimar worthless. We see our future and we refuse to acknowledge it.

If those running the show do not put the country first… ahead of everything else, including themselves and their careers, then we are doomed. Right now, we’re cursed with a president who has no personal investment in this country, who did nothing to deserve the job we foolishly gave him and has proven a level of incompetence that is frightening in its breadth and depth.

We cannot raise the debt ceiling. To raise it is to cave into those blinded by the reality confronting us, the reality that doing what the left wants is a band aid approach to arterial bleeding.

Cuts are what we need. We need to cut a massive amount of government. Everything must be on the table.

And I mean everything.

The left obviously lacks both the courage and the vision to do what has to be done. Instead, they focus on political advantage, fear and class warfare.

Blinded by the politics of it all, they and their ilk refuse to acknowledge that we have the luxury… now… to do what must be done.

Their way guarantees disaster… but pushes it down the road.

And that’s the choice we face as a nation: we can suffer some and feel some pain now… or we can just keep doing what we’ve been doing and feel the unbearable agony of the democrat plan latter, assuredly after the Liar-in-Chief is re-elected.

The longer we wait to do what we must, the fewer our options will be. And making the “richest 2% pay a ‘little bit' more” isn’t going to make any difference now… or then.
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