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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Cal Thomas
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke seemed to be channeling Chicken Little when he warned congressional Republicans that any delay in raising the debt ceiling beyond the current
Continuing America's borrowing and spending addiction will have even greater catastrophic consequences, but people in government don't think this way. For them, all government spending is good spending and any attempt to begin the arduous process of restoring fiscal responsibility is viewed by those with vested interests as greedy, selfish and unsympathetic toward the needs of others. Perhaps advocates of unlimited spending might tell us how much is enough if they can't live on
If
Congressional Democrats, for whom a much smaller debt was a big deal when Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush were in the
On the same day Bernanke made his "catastrophic" comment, House Republicans unveiled their plan to cut
Republicans should argue that raising the debt ceiling would pay for the continued implementation of Obamacare, which the latest Rasmussen Reports survey shows 55 percent of Likely Voters want repealed. Public opinion and a dubious legal future offer an opportunity for such a strategy. The Study Committee estimates a savings of
Rich Galen, former press secretary for Dan Quayle and former executive director of GOPAC (www.gopac.org/), "a national organization dedicated exclusively to electing Republicans to state and local offices" lists on his blog, Mullings (www.mullings.com), some of the committee's recommendations and adds a few of his own, including a 15 percent reduction in the number of civilian federal employees, "accomplished by attrition rather than outright firings." Galen proposes, "Only one new employee could be hired for every two who left until the reduction number was met." (This should apply to all branches of government.) Cuts in programs are also warranted, including "cutting out the Hope VI Program, charged with proposing a National Action Plan to eradicate severely distressed public housing, which "will save
Galen thinks congressional travel should be cut. Each member, he says, ought to get six trips home per year at public expense. "More than that, they have to use campaign funds." The Republican Study Committee estimates cutting other federal travel would save
Ethanol cuts aren't in the
There may well be a "catastrophe," as Bernanke predicts, but it is more likely to occur if we don't reduce our spending than if we raise the debt ceiling and keep on spending with borrowed money.
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Chicken Little and the Debt Ceiling | Politics
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