Capping weeks of intense negotiation, this week congressional leaders delivered a solid, immediately applicable plan for the recovery of American fiscal discipline. Its highlights include complete phase-outs of Social Security and Medicare by 2025, aggressive and actionable plans to close five Cabinet-level agencies over the next two years, and genuinely independent audits of every office in the country receiving a federal dollar.
Ha, ha! That’s ridiculous, of course. Instead, what really happened is that same old, time-honored mutual masturbation, so vigorously and fervently enjoyed by Demoblicans and Republocrats alike. In this marvelous wonderland, a reduction in the rate of spending increase is a “cut.” Stanching the bleeding 3% instead of 2% is “a hard choice.” Promising to meet again (in three months) to underscore the seriousness of the problem is “progress.”
If there is any shred of genuine hope…you know what? There isn’t. I had some treacle cued up here, but on what rational basis would I deliver it? When I went to bed last night, my government was still borrowing more than $41,000 every second. (That’s not what it’s spending, dudes and dolls; that’s only what it’s spending that it doesn’t have.) That’s every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day. While you stood groggily waiting for your English muffin to toast this morning, your government borrowed another $8,000,000. Did you go to a movie this weekend? Your government went $300,000,000 deeper into the hole while you were in there.
If you could trust the claim (which you can’t, but let’s play like), a trillion dollars’ savings over ten years sounds pretty good, until you realize it’s not even a year’s worth of the current rate of borrowing.
I no longer harbor any illusion that we’re not heading for a years-long big hurt. Any more, my hope is that it’s somehow serious enough to shake us from this apathy, but still recoverable with the rediscovery and sustained application of genuine American values.
You know, I’d kind of like for two little boys who live at my house to have a United States of America.
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to quote Greg Gutfield “So this budget debate’s a lot like using Febreze. Masking the stench doesn’t erase the pile of crap at your feet.”
Sounds like you are in support of some kind of Satan Sandwich or something. 🙂