Politics in DC - While the kids play...

By Bob Edwards

Former Payson Mayor

Former Michigan Legislator

 

 Watching politics in DC is like watching kids playing make believe. The world is heading toward a financial cliff with a national debt of $16.5 trillion plus $123 trillion in unfunded liabilities yet they continue to spend at the level that will add over a trillion per year in additional debt.

Washington clearly has a serious leadership void. Neither Obama, Reid, McConnell, Boehner nor Pelosi have demonstrated the leadership capability or even the desire to cut spending. They are currently having heart attacks over the Obama 2011 sequestration proposal and making wild statements of the disasters that will occur if the sequester plan is allowed to go forward.

It is fun and easy to use a credit card to spend wildly when we can just borrow on the same credit card to pay the bill while continuing to spend. However, the carnival comes crashing down when the amount left to borrow runs out.

The U.S. government, on the other hand, has the ability to delay the crash by printing money, as they have been doing at an alarming rate, but the crash will come, as will wild inflation. We should ask Argentina and Brazil how inflation rates ranging as high as 3000% and 5000% per year worked for them...money became meaningless and the cost of needed products outpaced paychecks.

But that could never happen here because we’re the United States, right?  Not really. China and other countries are already showing signs of wanting to dump U.S. dollars (the world standard) and pulling out their gold from the U.S.  Just being beholden to China, a country that does not have our best interest in mind, is a bit insane.

While the pseudo DC leaders are gnashing their teeth over the sequestration, we should keep in mind that the sequestration is simply tip money...while we are heading for the cliff we are not even balancing the current budget.

I understand we elected these folks and we have the right to have as bad a government as we want, but it would be a bit more comforting if they showed any indication that they actually have a clue.

Is sequestration a crisis that will cause the world as we know it to disappear?  Not really, just a really small step toward delaying an pending economic crash.