How The Commission On National Debt Reveals Our Political Problems

President Obama recently signed an Executive Order establishing a bipartisan commission to look at ways to solve our national debt problems. It end up showing our political problems.

The national debt in our country is out of control. We here bellowing at the moment about the nearly $14 trillion we will owe by the end of the year. This completely misses the real problem – unfunded liabilities. Are you aware, for instance, that we owe upwards of $38 trillion in unfunded liabilities for Medicare alone? Social Security usually brings in more than it pays out, but that ended this year as the number of boomers retiring and making claims finally started really showing an effect.

Given all of this, we need to deal with our national debt problem and we need to do it now. Republicans have long argued for a commission that could create a binding bill that Congress would have to vote on regarding how to reduce the national debt. To the surprise of many, myself included, President Obama picked up the idea and Democrats in Congress brought it forth for a vote. Republicans then flip flopped and voted against it!

Don’t get me wrong. I am not just pounding on Republicans in Congress. They are swine through and through, but make no mistake that Democrats would have done the same exact thing if the positions had been reversed. This is much like the discussion of how we got to this point with the debt. Are the Democrats or Republicans responsible? The answer is clear – all of them are. Ronald Regan ran up the deficit to shocking levels. Clinton tried to, but gridlock forced him to actually balance the budget. Bush part two passed the prescription bill which is a travesty. Obama has his Stimulus plan and is running a staggering 1.9 trillion annual budget. Yes. Annual!

The bigger issue at this point is whether we can be saved. The politicians are so hell bent on screwing each other over that they don’t seem to care anymore if they run the country into the ground. The blatant flip flop by Republicans in this case on an idea they came up with is nauseating. The Democrats have done similar things and are just as bad. In such an environment, how will we ever find the political will to deal with these huge problems facing us?

It doesn’t look good.

<< Back to National Debt Editorials

Bookmark this page

Delicious Digg Facebook Reddit Stumbleupon Twitter