Friday, January 29, 2010

Well, the State of the Union Address is over. It’s time to get down to work, or impeding work—depending on which party you belong to. Yesterday the Senate passed a fiscal responsibility “pay as you go” bill by a strict party line vote of 60-40.  I don’t think I have to tell you which party cast the “no” votes. Yes, Republicans are very worried about the deficit. Mostly I think they’re worried that Obama might do something about it. I think they actually like it. Republicans are like little kids who just can’t let go of their deficit balloon. The worse shape the government is in, the more Republicans can run against government. So they managed to get every Senate Republican to toe the line. Bottom line: Republicans have a lot more party discipline than they have fiscal discipline.


Also yesterday, the Senate voted to increase the national debt limit by another $1.9 trillion.  That’s right—on the very same day that all 40 Republicans voted against the paygo plan. But I guess Senate Republicans have developed immunity to irony. What exactly is the message from Republicans here? They’re refusing to let us stop spending—and they’re refusing to let us pay our bills at the same time! The Republicans aren’t against spending… they’re just against paying. And what was their reasoning… or should I say what was their excuse? Republicans generally opposed the paygo rules as a recipe for tax increases. They seem to prefer a recipe for disaster. The total national debt is now $14.3 trillion. To put that number in perspective—it’s $14.3 trillion! The national debt works out to an incredible $45,000 for every person in this country. Pretty soon the only option we’ll have will be to leave the country. “I don’t have $45,000. I guess I have to move to a creditor nation.” It’ll be kind of like when a foreclosed-upon homeowner sends the keys to the house back to the bank. We’ll have to mail the keys to America to the Chinese. Already the government has to borrow 40 cents of every dollar is spends. We’re spending almost as much of China’s money as we are of our own. With borrowing like this, pretty soon the Chinese will be able to tell us what to do. What am I saying? With the latest Supreme Court ruling, the Chinese can already tell us what to do… right after they choose our leaders. Maybe that was the point of the Supreme Cout ruling—the Chinese already own this country, they pretty much deserve the right to choose who runs it. I guess it makes perfect sense to let foreign money influence our elections if we’re running this country on foreign money.