S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on concerns about the government’s budget deficit and rising debt burden.
This is not a statement about the rancor of the process that just transpired to raise the debt ceiling. This is a statement about the system the US Government is using to fund itself. Forty cents of every dollar spent by the US Government is borrowed. S&P seems to believe that this is now unsustainable even for the US Government and that the President and Congress had better come up with a different formula for paying for things.
It is totally cynical and dishonest for our leaders to hide the true cost of government services from the taxpayers by borrowing money to balance the books. Most people see the amount of the “national debt” as a nebulous number without real meaning. S&P’s action demonstrates that it does have real meaning and the meaning is bad.
We need a balanced budget amendment requiring budgeted government business to be supported by current revenues. It should further require that all government activities be reflected in the budget. There would need to be circuit breakers to allow the government to borrow in the short term to pay for unexpected extraordinary items until tax levies or other current spending could be adjusted. However, all borrowing would have to be short-term and require a super majority of Congress to approve the initial issue and any subsequent roll-over.
Furthermore, there should be a single flat rate for the taxation of all individual incomes and all wage earners should have to pay some amount of income tax. It is very easy for voters to elect people who will promise to raise someone else’s taxes. It takes all of the pain out of the decision. The only way to truly vote intelligently is to have to suffer the consequences of your vote. The candidate who campaigns to give you more will have to admit to having to take more from you in order to do it.
The bluff that we can continue to run budget deficits and heap up our national debt has been called. The people want to know whether our leaders are going to show or fold.
actonnation 