Republican John Kasich Leads Charge for Balanced Budget Vote
Posted by CircuitGuy 7 years ago to Government
Below are excerpts. Emphasis is mine. People were rightly complaining about borrowing $450 billion a year the past few years. Now that the party of gov't spending/intrusiveness/borrowing controls Congress and the Executive Branch, we're talking about doubling that to $1 trillion a year! That's approaching the level of borrowing during the recession of 08-09, when Democrats controlled the gov't and claimed the borrowing was motivated by Keynesian theory to increase aggregate demand, "priming the pump" and softening the spike in unemployment due to recession. Do people who reject Keynesian theory as a reason to borrow $1 trillion a year during a recession find another reason to borrow $1 trillion/yr during an expansion period?
I heard Republicans say a structural deficit of $450 Million would eventually lead to a crisis. I heard them say the fiscal deficit is the twin of the trade deficit. They were absolutely right. It's a fact, not an opinion. I wish they had meant it. It's show-business for ugly people though.
There's always an theory to explain why now is a good time to go deeper into debt.
I support Gov Kasich's call for a balanced budget amendment. Lloyd Leonard laughs at Kasich's candor in saying an amendment "provides an excuse to members when they face pressure to spend." But Gov Kasich is right on the money. It would force politicians to say, "sure we could do that, but we'd have to update the withholding tables, so paychecks would go down starting next month." Maybe people are less keen to pay for someone else to go fight evil-doers or whatever when the the price tag is immediate.
-----Excerpts----
"The issue is not a partisan issue," Kasich told The Associated Press in an interview. "It's about economic growth and our children's and our grandchildren's future."
"You can't go on racking up this debt. It's really, really hard to deal with," Kasich said. "A balanced budget amendment forces Congress to make difficult decisions and it provides an excuse to members when they face pressure to spend. There's got to be a willingness from both parties — particularly on the Republican side, now that they control everything."
That notion is far from universally accepted, even as Republican President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are debating a federal budget that endorses deficits adding almost $10 trillion to the national debt over the coming decade.
I heard Republicans say a structural deficit of $450 Million would eventually lead to a crisis. I heard them say the fiscal deficit is the twin of the trade deficit. They were absolutely right. It's a fact, not an opinion. I wish they had meant it. It's show-business for ugly people though.
There's always an theory to explain why now is a good time to go deeper into debt.
I support Gov Kasich's call for a balanced budget amendment. Lloyd Leonard laughs at Kasich's candor in saying an amendment "provides an excuse to members when they face pressure to spend." But Gov Kasich is right on the money. It would force politicians to say, "sure we could do that, but we'd have to update the withholding tables, so paychecks would go down starting next month." Maybe people are less keen to pay for someone else to go fight evil-doers or whatever when the the price tag is immediate.
-----Excerpts----
"The issue is not a partisan issue," Kasich told The Associated Press in an interview. "It's about economic growth and our children's and our grandchildren's future."
"You can't go on racking up this debt. It's really, really hard to deal with," Kasich said. "A balanced budget amendment forces Congress to make difficult decisions and it provides an excuse to members when they face pressure to spend. There's got to be a willingness from both parties — particularly on the Republican side, now that they control everything."
That notion is far from universally accepted, even as Republican President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are debating a federal budget that endorses deficits adding almost $10 trillion to the national debt over the coming decade.
The real problem, however, will come when interest rates rise and it becomes impossible to fund our old debt obligations with new debt. That's when the whole thing collapses. It's a house of cards waiting for someone to jiggle the table.
But a balance budget amendment would not necessarily result in the end of the welfare state. They would tax to replace borrowing.
Potentially, but tax hikes have ended many a political career. I'd still rather force them to tax the people directly than subject them to the slavery of deficit spending year after year.
Taxes and borrowing are a false alternative that must be addressed head on, not by shift and shaft.
Sure. The so-called "third wheel" of politics. The hard facts are that the People were sold a false bill of goods and someone has to come to terms with it. It's a difficult thing to be willing to face the fact that the rainbows and unicorns are more fiction than fact.
"Taxes and borrowing are a false alternative that must be addressed head on, not by shift and shaft."
Agreed. Taxes should always be direct and apply to everyone. No third party taxes which shift around or defer the costs onto others such as FICA or even corporate taxes. Borrowing is even worse because it economically enslaves everyone.
hoocudanode, they'll say.
I don't care if it is doomed - it raising the issue and gets people talking about the most important issue.
The National Debt is the only existential threat to America.
Every thing else can be worked through and reformed given time.
But the debt isn't even a ticking time-bomb - it is a short lit fuse.
You can't stop a freight train at once. What we need to do is to grow the economy. I think the best way to do that is to remove regulations that are dragging it down -- removing regulations is free, actually better than free because it saves some money.
As for Trumps infrastructure plan, I don't feel its the same as Obama's -- he just wanted to find a way to spend a lot of money to get cash out there. I think Trump really wants to fix things -- building things is his orientation.
But at the moment, they are -- and they are not being properly maintained. I do not see us winning the "privatize the roads" battle in the current political climate, so at least fixing them isn't a bad idea.
Should the GOP cut government to balance the budget? Of course they should, but neither party ever will.The writers of the NY Times don't even have the courage to put a byline on this dishonest hit piece. Cowardly statist scum, one and all.