What About Austerity?
I found this Boston Globe op-ed piece on the financial bailout
It is amazing that the bailout bill has managed to pick up earmarks. This supposedly critical spending bill in a time of financial crisis has acquired the smell of bacon! As the piece’s authors state, what we – the US government and the American People – need is to return to sound financial practices. The bailout may free up some more capital and get our credit markets moving again, but without some serious changes, we’ll just find ourselves facing a bigger problem a few months from now.
Where is the US government going to find 700 billion dollars? Tax cuts are not going to dig us out of this hole. Our national debt is as big as it has ever been, and the federal budget is in deficit. Our country needs to balance its books and pay its bills the same way we learned in school.
- Don’t spend more than you earn
- Don’t borrow money you can’t pay back
- Don’t be wasteful
Politicians too often delay doing the hard things because they are up for re-election. Yes, I pay a lot on taxes. Of course I could use a tax cut, and I’d be silly not to accept one. But cutting revenue without cutting costs is ludicrous! Our children will have to shoulder the burden of the increasing debt!
Does this mean we should get rid of Social Security, Medicare, and other government programs? Should we drop plans to ensure everyone has access to affordable health insurance? No. What we need to do is trim the fat. Make the government programs efficient. Close loopholes. Stop wasting money. We cannot continue to spend more than we earn.
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