National Debt Discord Pushes Me to My Limit

Don’t get me wrong; I am not happy with the national debt and spending should be curtailed in order to right our financial house. My grievance is with how politicized the issue has become.

Take C-SPAN’s morning call-in program. I listen daily, and people were only interested in talking about the debt. Most callers started with a dissertation on whose debt it really is.

The conversation goes like this:

Moderator: “Hello George, calling from New York on the Democrat line.”

George: “Hi. Yeah. I’m just calling to say that we wouldn’t be in this problem if it wasn’t for the Republicans. And most of this debt - in my opinion - is from Trump so, Republicans shouldn’t be making a big deal about it.”

Moderator: “Ok George. Next caller. Republican Cindy from Dallas.”

Cindy: ”Oh. Hi. Yes. Well, I am totally in favor of capping the spending so Joe Biden can’t keep throwing our money away.”

Moderator: “Ok folks. That’s it for this week.”

I mean, this went on for months and months. Call after call after call after call. Only occasionally would someone acutely mention that the debt belongs to America and not to some American political subdivision.

Now that it’s done, let’s look back and assess: Observation One

I have to give some points to President Joe Biden, who dragged this thing out till the absolute last minute. Yes, he got criticism from everyone. But think about it. We are polarized as a country, as are the House and Senate. Running down the clock was the only way anything was going to get done. Whether Biden planned it this way or it was a serendipitous outcome of procrastination, it worked.

Observation Two

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) also gets points, this time for holding his position and achieving a small but historic financial curtailment. The heavy handed ultra-right House members need to give him a break and recognize that none of them could have done a better job. In fact, they would have failed miserably.

Observation Three

When I was a kid, this is the type of logical conclusion we would see when both sides found uncomfortable - yet stable - ground. It was not uncommon for Congressman Ben Gilman, a Republican, and Congressman Maurice Hinchey, the Democrat, to join forces to produce an American outcome like this one.

I am hoping that the Hudson Valley’s newest congress members, particularly Lawlor, Ryan and Molinaro, remember that Ben and Maurice had it right and that is why we had their backs, regardless of party. In fact, many people wouldn’t have been able to tell you which party the two lawmakers belonged to. None of us in the Hudson Valley want to hear that America is at war with a political party. We just want you working together.

Observation Four

We probably need to continue to curtail our spending and, at minimum, hold the line for a few years. This will allow our credit rating to stabilize, inflation to fall and Republicans and Democrats to find some time to work together on things that don’t have a dollar sign directly involved with their success.

One area trumpeted by the Republicans and fought for by Speaker McCarthy with some success was lifting limitations that slowed projects with long and meaningless processes that result only in paperwork, lost opportunity and devalued investments.

The construction industry often views federal budget cuts as a negative for future work, but in this case they don’t have to be. An old adage says that if the government gives you a dollar, it’s worth 50 cents. Much of that devaluation is attributed to the red tape preventing projects from getting accomplished at the best value. If the efficiencies proposed can be implemented correctly we may actually see a boon in investment and projects.

Observation Five

Lastly, much of our borrowing of late has been at high interest rates, internationally dependent, and for short term social programs with little or no guaranteed long-term projected usefulness. That’s like swiping a credit card for dinner or other short term consumables. No one in their right mind should be doing that, and neither should our country.

When we borrow it should be for infrastructure and capital investments with long term impacts and benefits that extend long beyond the term of the loan period. Buildings and infrastructure more than meet that threshold, and repatriation of manufacturing makes sense also because it creates opportunities for independence and further stabilizes national security.

It’s really kind of simple. When we look at things in a factual reality and through the lens of a shared American responsibility, the solutions to our problems are quickly revealed.

Now let’s hear from our next caller.