Spending without limits

With the President’s speech on the budget the line in the sand is drawn and the battle is on.  Unfortunately the battle will be more of sound bites, well-turned phrases than real substance.

 We have heard the words. “Lockbox”, as in we have put your social security money in a secure lockbox!  Well the lockbox was and is looted before the box was shut..  “Spending Caps”, again the spending caps are blown away with this that and the other item to buy votes from the people back home.  Now we have heard the word “Trigger”, as in if we start getting into deficits we trigger the tax cuts to cut out! 

The trigger will go the way of the Lockbox and Spending caps.  Thankfully it will go.   Can you imagine that if the economy falls further we should have a trigger to up the taxes? 

Another favorite phrase is “Pay down the debt”.  Sounds great and it is basic to the 50 and older generation that we should do this.  But if you take notice, there is never ever any specific plan to do this.  It is all hope, and smoke and mirrors.  Basically it is a nice thing to say without saying anything!  There is no bill we have to pay each month, quarter or year.  The only way we pay down the debt is to hope that revenue exceed spending, the difference goes to pay down the debt. 

I would be more receptive to the “pay down the debt” platitude if we had a specific plan with a specific commitment.  We don’t, and unless we do something different we never will.  What do we have to do? 

Put a spending limit on every government action.  Define the spending limit when you propose the benefit. We hear about great sounding programs to help this group or that group or will solve this problem or that one and it will only cost $X.  The problem is that we put the program into effect and there is no money limit.  Take for example Medicare.  We say we will pay for this procedure.  In planning we see that there were only 5,000 of these procedures yearly in the past.  But when an entitlement gets is place we find that there become an overwhelming need for this procedure and it gets out of hand and the program gets out of hand. It is amazing; when something is being paid with OPM (other people money) it becomes very important!  Both Medicare and Social Security were sold to us with the assurance that it would only cost so much, but with no limits.  Both have blown by the sales pitch limits in a very short time and have made shambles of the predictions. But we put something in place, it sounds good, seems reasonable, but there is no limit to what it might eventually cost. 

If Medicare had a spending limit, even if it is $5 billion or $5 kaziillion or whatever it is) and it exceeds this amount the program has to be retooled, cut down or reauthorized at a higher level and there would be votes to do so. 

If someone says we ought to “pay down the debt’.  Say how much and put it in writing, put it in law and make a bill that we have to pay. 

If this was required (a spending limit) it would make lawmakers think a little harder about making grand promises knowing that they will have to be held to task on what they said to sell the idea. It would make planning better, more accurate.  It would control spending and we would know where we stand. 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the phrase “cost overruns” were banished from the lexicon of the government.  The Pentagon would have to rewrite their policy and procedure manual.  The suppliers of the grand new bombers, carriers, etc. might have to work their pencils a little more and be honest for a change if they know that the taxpayers were going to pay this much and not a penny more.  

As it is now, both parties are making grand plans based on 10 year budgets that they know full well that can run away from them without restraint. 

We don’t decide to buy a car no matter the cost.  We go out to buy transportation with so much money or so much in monthly payment.  We have limits.  We fit the car to those limits, not the car and let the limits be damned.  The government can go shopping for the car without the worry about the monthly payments.  When is all done there is all the bells and whistles on that nice new car.  Nice work if you can get it.