The Speaker of the House of Representatives has announced that Republicans must sacrifice to avoid default by raising the debt ceiling. I have several issues with Mr. Boehner’s statement.
- Not raising the debt ceiling does not mean default.
- Raising the debt ceiling $1 trillion and cutting $1 trillion in spending results in zero: 1-1=0. If the net result of the proposal is zero, then cut spending now and do not raise the debt ceiling. I understand it is not this simple but it could be done.
- Why didn’t he propose this for the past two debt ceiling raises?
- Why didn’t he propose this earlier than the eleventh hour?
- And most important of all, what are the sacrifices that he expects his fellow Republican Congressmen to make?
David DeGerolamo
John Boehner Says Republicans Must ‘Sacrifice’ to Avoid Default
The top Democrats from the House and Senate met with President Obama at the
White House this evening, as House Speaker John Boehner told his Republican
members it is time to make “some sacrifices” to avert a debt crisis.
The late-day activity came as financial markets started opening around the
world and reacting to the breakdown of negotiations and missed deadlines.
Boehner, R-Ohio, had promised to unveil his “new measure” to avoid a debt crisis this
afternoon in an effort to calm the Asian financial markets. He did not. But the outlines suggest there is still work to do.
The speaker would increase the debt ceiling by a trillion dollars and cut spending by a trillion dollars. That is a short-term fix that would allow the country to borrow money
and pay its bills through January.
During that period Boehner’s plan calls for the appointment of a 12-member
Congressional Commission to come up with an additional $3 trillion in cuts and
revenue increases through tax reform.
What is unclear is whether Congress would be forced to vote to raise the debt ceiling again.
“We can’t adopt an approach that leaves the threat of default hanging over
the country for another six months or so,” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said
today on ABC’s “This Week.”
NO, I think it is that easy. Get out of the wars/peace keeping/police act missions around the world for two years. Cut all outside aid to other countries. Cut all incoming alien traffic unless they are coming in for education that they are paying for themselves. If babies are born here that doesn’t make them a citizen unless the parents have green cards and have applied for citizenship already. Send all illegal aliens back over the boarders. Cut all spending to anyone unless they are a US citizen. All citizens and non citizens must always carry a photo ID. Only citizens can vote in elections and must prove they are citizens. Remove all pork spending unless it is to secure infrastructure. Open government contracts to non union domestic companies. All politicians must pay for their own health care, transportation, and remove all other perks they took. All politicians will surrender their privileged retirement and pay for it themselves. Politicians will not be paid their salary unless they have a balanced budget and the budget can never be more than a percentage of the GDP at any time. All politicians can only serve for two or four terms. Remove the IRS and put in a modified flat/consumption tax on every dollar made/received, distributed and double that for every dollar taken out of the country. Tax all imports the same as what the opposite country is taxing our exports. Remove all oil drilling contracts from other then US companies and open exploration to only US companies that open refineries on US soil. Last but not least, voucher out of public schools in order to bring back our creativity and learning ability.
Other than the contracts, these are all simple things to do but a career politician will not do it due to his reelection fund. These are things that need to be fixed before our country can even start returning. Is there one politician speaking truth?