What’s more powerful than Washington’s spending habits? Math
January 22, 2013 at 8:54 pm in News by Dustin Siggins 6 Comments
Over the last week, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has stated two things that are controversial only in Washington. The first was last Tuesday, when he outlined the real situation surrounding the debt ceiling:
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) claimed Tuesday that a Republican-led refusal to raise the debt ceiling could be a “wonderful experiment” in forcing the government not to spend money on “stupid things.”
During an interview with conservative radio host Sandy Rios, Coburn downplayed warnings from economists, President Barack Obama and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who have suggested that Congress’ failure to raise the federal government’s statutory borrowing limit would prove economically disastrous for the nation. Coburn argued that because some entitlement payments would still go out amid a government shutdown or debt default, Republicans shouldn’t fear a move to reject raising the debt ceiling.
Unlike the fear mongers who want the spending to continue, Senator Coburn gave Rios straight talk (emphasis added):
“We’re going to collect $200 billion a month if in fact the government were to not extend the debt limit,” Coburn told Rios. “Social Security would be paid, Medicare would be paid, the essentials would be paid. It’s the non-essentials that wouldn’t be paid, it’s the $250 to $300 billion a year in stupid things we do that we wouldn’t pay. It’s the programs that aren’t an absolute necessity that wouldn’t get funded, the things that would be a necessity would get funded.”
Coburn continued, seemingly urging lawmakers consider a vote against a debt ceiling increase.
“It might be a wonderful experiment, regardless who wins the next election or not, just to see if we could live on the money that’s coming into the Treasury and not have to borrow against the future of our children,” the Oklahoma Republican said.
Now, earlier today, the Senator said some more basic truths all Americans need to hear. From National Review’s website, a clip of Senator Coburn on MSNBC:
It doesn’t matter what mode he’s [President Obama] in, and it doesn’t matter what mode the Republicans are in. There’s a power greater than both of them – it’s called math. And the math is going to consume us….
Ultimately, we’re going to do something about those things [the spending problem]….[T]he longer we delay, the solutions for these very big problems, the more painful they’re going to be.
Late last year, this blog has criticized Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) for his willingness to raise taxes on the American people. To be fair, the Senator has all but admitted he wants higher taxes merely to garner support from Democrats for spending cuts and entitlement reform, which is a step above Speaker Boehner’s willingness to compromise on taxes for its own sake. However, it’s still a morally and fiscally wrong solution to what Senator Coburn has correctly said is a spending problem.
To the detriment of the country, most of Washington knows what Senator Coburn knows, but won’t admit it. In Washington, the “stupid things” like unused grant money and duplicated programs seem impossible to cut. Senator Coburn is correct, though, that unless the stupid things are cut, and the unconstitutional things are cut or at least shrunk in size, we will see a financial reckoning unlike anything the nation has seen before.
The math has always indicted our professional politicians, now to get anyone with the integrity to do something—–
How can the Republicans be suspending the debt ceiling. That is beyond my ability to comprehend.
I always thought a suspended ceilings had to do with bailing wire, sheet metal angles, and fiberboard—–come to think of it, about the level of engineering we see in DC nowadays.
We need to make a firm statement. No more debt. Not for any reason. Force the government to grow up and live within the means the economy can realistically be expected to afford. Shut the government down when it runs out of money. A government shut-down is the only thing the Democrats and RINOs understand.
NO MORE DEBT. NOT FOR ANY REASON.
A shutdown will be played to the Senate and administration advantage, the only way I can see it to work is if Congress combines it with impeachment, as the Constitution defines the causes allowed to impeach as “high crimes and misdemeanors” the assertion of willfully indebting the nation for political gain is, in my mind, legitimate, due to the fact that no effort is even proposed that would even balance the budget, much less retire debt, WITHIN the tenure of either the administration or the senates tenure.
With that in mind, to accuse the sitting senators of complicity is entirely in order, and would change the dynamic of grungy harry granting smelly barry absolution.
The prosecutions of Marcus Tullinius Cicero are standard fodder for aspiring! lawyer in all western countries, Those in his efforts to sustain the republic against Verus and Sulla are prosecutions of corrupt patricians. I strongly suggest they be read by those in the TEA party, as they are as real against corruption today as they were in 66 BC.