Lunatics? To NOT spend more than what the US can repay? - Granite Grok

Lunatics? To NOT spend more than what the US can repay?

$16 Trillion for our national debt.  A whole ton of money, which I’m not entirely sure that IF (and that is a mighty BIG IF) our CongressCritters and President were truly serious about our financial affairs, we could pay back in any kind of reasonable time frame.  But actions to date have proven that Obama is continuing his policy of Determined Weakness, other Progressives are hoping for a Cloward-Pivens moment, and Establishment Republicans continue to be “Appropriators” (that is, people who figure out how to spend other peoples’s monies).  The only folks that seem to be extremely serious (and scared out of their gourds) are TEA Party type ConcressCritters who realize that a 2% change in interest rates on our debt could Greece look like a lawn party.

So, who is the lunatic here?  I’ll side with Rick Santelli (emphasis mine):

The analyst said that the only obstacle he sees to the continued expansion of the U.S. economy were “lunatic Republicans” who may bring about an “insane technical default” when they attempt to negotiate spending cuts as part of a deal to increase the debt ceiling limit.

 “That’s the worry here,” Evans concurred. “Will we have a self-inflicted wound – a gunshot to the head?”

Right, so forget HOW much is on the national credit card and the “lunatics” that say we need to say stop – we HAVE to keep spending !!!!  These folks are all about paying what we have spent, and I’m ok with that.  What is missing in their equation is the adult part of this – and here, Rick Santelli again lends himself to the “adult in the room” scenario that is absolutely missing here:

What about the lunatics that spent $16.4 trillion and want another check? Aren’t they the crazies, Kelly,” Santelli asked pointedly. “Why are the lunatics the people that say ‘overspending and creating too much debt’ are lunatics?’”

“If you think that we have a Congress that can’t get our house in order, do you think that we’re ever going to be able to worry about a long-term event and plan ahead,” Santelli asked.

“No one, Rick, to your point is making those long-term reforms,” Evans said in partial agreement.

“Childish,” Santelli replied. “We need to get serious about this debt and quit calling people ‘lunatics’ that acknowledge it.”

Indeed.  Those that wish to keep indebting our kids are screaming “we have to pay our obligations that we have already racked up!”.  Obama has already said:

I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they’ve already racked up,”

Yet another strawman from the Straw-Field-Farmer-In-Chief; who IS saying we should just walk away from the national debt, thinking it is just like leaving the house keys under the map and walking away?  No one that I know of – no one.  Obama is trying to make points against an argument that doesn’t exist.  But notice that while he is all about paying what we owe, he isn’t doing the adult thing of saying “and we stop spending what we don’t have”.  Most folks have been in the situation that sooner or later, paying the minimum on the credit card only works until the max is hit – sure you can spend until that max is hit, but when you do, everything about spending stops.  Everything. Regardless if you absolutely want need that purchase to survive.

But an adult first says – in order to get their financial house in order – put the credit card away.  YES, it hurts to not use it.  And yes, it hurts to tell Jane and Johnny that our lifestyle is downshifting until we fix what we broke.  No steak – hamburger.  No luxury.  No outside stuff that isn’t absolutely needed.

Because if we DON’T stop, NOTHING starts to happen.  No money, no nothing else.

Rick is right: the lunatics are those that believe, like Obama, that spending is the way out of debt.

(H/T: The Corner )

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