Obama reportedly is about to ask for yet another increase to the debt ceiling in a "matter of days."
Didn't we just do that a few short weeks ago?
Solve a debt problem with more debt? Yeah, that oughta work!
The national debt is now as big as the entire US economy! And nobody in Washington seems to care! Few voters seem to even know about the problem. Of those voters who do, most don't seem to care so long as they get their government cheese.
Washington clearly is out of control.
The lack of restraint is so severe that I am convinced that a "Balanced Budget Amendment" will not help. Congress, the Whitehouse, and the federal courts will ignore the amendment just like they ignore everything else in the Constitution unless it's convenient.
An 18-percent-of-GDP limit, as proposed in at least one Balanced Budget proposal is essentially a guarantee to spend 18% -- regardless of whether that level of spending is legal or justified! This is not a limited-government policy! I don't want it etched in Constitutional stone that the Federal State will be 18% of the national economy!
Dr. Walter Williams calls the proposed balance budget amendment a "cop out". I agree. It does not require Congress to eliminate unconstitutional, unnecessary, or unwise programs. It only caps that spending at an arbitrary level. That spending will continue to fund activities that are not the constitutional purview of the central government (education, health care, social services, intrastate commerce, running car companies, gun control, war on drugs, energy, funding state and local projects, etc.).
Sad history shows that politicians have little regard for the Constitution. There must be immediate and extremely unpleasant consequences for any congressman or president who ignores any limits imposed by a balance budget amendment or anything else in the Constitution. We already have legislation that requires a balanced budget. A balanced budget law enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 requires that "Beginning with fiscal year 1981, the total budget outlays of the Federal Government shall not exceed its receipts." How's that working out? Without teeth, the law is worthless.
Because of its out-of-control spending, the United States of America is long overdue a USSR-style collapse. Nevertheless, power-hungry politicians are either in pathological denial, desire the collapse, or simply don't care.
The vast majority of federal spending is unconstitutional and immoral! The primary cause of this crisis is the complete and utter disregard of the US Constitution, particularly the 9th and 10th Amendments. I also say the bulk of federal spending is immoral because it necessitates and justifies theft of property (earnings of taxpayers) for redistribution to persons (including and especially federal bureaucrats) who have not earned, and do not deserve, that stolen wealth. It is also immoral because recipients of that stolen loot are deprived of incentive and necessity to achieve and only grow bitter because they don't get enough stolen wealth.
The central government only cost 2-3% of GDP up until about 100 years ago except for periods of war. (For example, in 1910, GDP was $33,400 million and total federal spending was $839.9 million or 2.5% of GDP!) Yet, it provided all the services the people needed and asked for! Why, then, must government hog 20% of GDP to provide services that are best handled by a free market and by the people themselves -- if they are needed at all?
Obama said, "We don't need a constitutional amendment to do our jobs. The Constitution already tells us to do our jobs and to make sure the government is living within its means and making responsible choices....We don't need more studies. We don't need a balanced budget amendment. We simply need to make these tough choices." While he was actually asking for more debt to fund unconstitutional spending, those words are exactly correct. Obama clearly did not really mean that the nation's leadership should follow the Constitution as written and intended. What he meant was that Congress do his will and follow the Constitution as he wants it to be twisted.
The solution is simple:
1 - Baseline budgeting must be abolished.
2 - The entire central government must immediately be audited to identify and permanently eliminate all agencies, programs, laws, rules, regulations, policies, judicial rulings, executive orders, etc. which violate the original intent of the Constitution.
3 - All politicians who propose, or vote for, anything which violates the original intent of the Constitution must promptly and permanently be removed from office and forfeit any and all retirement compensation or benefits.
4 - All judges who make ruling that are inconsistent with the original intent of the Constitution must promptly and permanently be removed from the bench and forfeit any and all retirement compensation or benefits.
5 - All further attempts to increase the debt limit must be soundly rejected.
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