America Sold Down the River Again With the Debt Ceiling Vote

Do you find yourself humming that tune? “I don’t know why, I don’t understand how you sold me down the river...” If so, I hope that you learned your political lesson. If anyone is shocked by the results of the debt ceiling vote, then they have much to learn.

After weeks of the dog and pony show coupled by horrendous acting, America ends up with a bill that increases spending and adds to the debt. Surprise, surprise! I only wish that the dreadful drama would cease. Now, we have Democrats saying this bill is far too extreme because it “cuts” too much, Republicans are good little stooges for “compromising;” and the tea party is destroying America by putting too much pressure on “moderate” Republicans. Shall we translate this nonsense? All right then…

Let’s begin with the tea party because they play the largest role in this charade. I’ve said time and time again that those who TRULY want to see government’s stranglehold on the economy diminish, it will NOT be accomplished through the Republican Party. It’s no surprise that “establishment” Republicans such as Eric Cantor and Mitch McConnell voted for this turkey, but a good number of so called tea party members also voted in favor. Shall we examine presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann’s caucus for a sample? Of the 60, a whopping 32 of them (including the beloved Allen West) voted in favor; and these are just members of Bachmann’s caucus! Other tea party favorites such as Paul Ryan voted in favor as well. I’m not sure what Democrats fear because the majority of the tea party is on their side; however, it’s important to dupe the voting masses into believing they are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Calling them terrorists fits the bill!

Now, we’ll sift through the pure nonsense from leftists like Paul Krugman and Democrats who voted against this bill because the spending cuts are too deep. First of all, this bill doesn’t cut spending. What it does do is cut money that HASN’T been spent yet. For example, if the U.S. plans to add $10 trillion to the debt over the next decade, the “spending cuts” in place will only allow $7.5 trillion dollars to be added to the debt. This does not even come close to satisfying credit agencies, which is what all of the fuss was over in the first place. In order for the U.S. to maintain its triple-A rating, $4 trillion must be trimmed from the deficit according to Standard & Poors.

Welcome to leftist math! Harsh spending cuts come from cutting a silver lining off of spending INCREASES! Put simply; imagine if your spouse tells you that he/she has saved the household $250,000. When you ask how so, he/she tells you that buying a Ferrari next year won’t happen, so can we borrow more money now for that vacation in Aspen? Yes, it’s just that simple folks.

The new bill only addresses cuts in discretionary spending, and worse, the bulk of these cuts are pushed back towards the latter part of the decade. In other words, no cuts will take place until after the 2012 election. How convenient! Also, this “committee” could change hands over the years, which means that any of the proposed spending cuts can be rendered null and void by a different Congress. Therefore, when the American people throw the Republicans out and re-elect Democrats for more “hope and change,” they can revise this bill. If that’s not enough, there have been SEVENTEEN bipartisan committees since 1982 assigned to reduce spending. All seventeen have failed, obviously. What makes anyone think the 18th will succeed?

In addition, discretionary spending is NOT the problem. Entitlements, defense spending and spending for all of these “emergencies” that arise ARE the problem! There are no provisions in this bill that even try to establish limits in these areas.

After all the smoke is cleared; and after all of the “tough talk” by the GOP that fooled so many, this is what we wind up with – barely a 20 percent cut to INCREASES in spending! I love bipartisanship; don’t you? The sad thing is that time is running out for lawmakers to kick the can down the road. How much longer are you going to watch lawmakers contribute to the demise of the U.S. economy? Arguing over whether or not this explosion will hit in 5 or 20 years is completely irrelevant. Who cares how far down the road the end of the cliff is?! Are we going to keep on driving towards it?