THE TAX-MORE-SPEND-LESS MERRYGOROUND
(….accompanied by braying jackasses and trumpeting pachyderms sound effects)

Just like the rest of Congress the –Super Committee- isn’t going to produce anything that will help resolve the country’s financial mess.

None of them, absolutely none, have the political cojones to get off of the tax-more-spend-less merry-go-round of arguments about it….accompanied by braying jackasses and trumpeting pachyderms for sound effects. And just like the rest of our glorious Congress they’re kicking the problem further down the road to 2013 (figuring that by that time it will be someone else’s problem. So….round….and round….and round….it goes, and where or even when it will stop….nobody knows.

Actually they’re both right, and the solution to the problem is exactly that simple. To get our financial house in order it will take a little bit of taxing more combined with a decent chunk of spending less to accomplish it. The problem is both parties have painted themselves into the ideological corners of having an –either/or – solution, just to enhance their 2012 political campaign maneuvers instead. All of that rather than doing what needs to be done for the benefit of the country as a whole.

Aggravating the situation is their constant use of flim-flam factualities, and distorting rhetoric, apparently intended to keep we taxpayers confused, at arm’s length, and unable to get a clear picture of our country’s situation. To put it bluntly none of them are playing it straight and telling us how things really are.

It would be a much welcomed change if they’d just knock of the BS about it all and tell us: “Here’s the situation, folks. We’ve got X coming in gross revenues. We need Y just to keep the doors open and the basic services in place, and Z….for all the unfunded amenities and extras everyone has come to depend upon. Problem is….Y+Z total more than what we take in from X. Big time! And the resulting gap from that each year creates annual deficits, so we have to go out and borrow OPM to bridge that gap. In turn, what we borrow, plus the interests we have to pay for it, keeps on keeping on piling up onto our national debt load. That’s our reality, folks.”

So the question before us is….what are the best ways and means to fix the situation?

For one thing, we need to seriously consider restructuring our tax code so that everyone contributes to it and get a better yield than it does now. Secondly, any time we come up short in any fiscal year, that deficit should be distributed proportionately between the three branches of the government. In turn, these would distribute their respective deficit slices proportionately to all of their budgetary units.

When it comes to “cuts”, that’s as fair as it can get, so no one could bitch about it, thus making it a politically neutral -spend less- approach everyone in Congress could support.

Lastly, as part of such reforms, we should also insist that funding/revenues earmarked for one purpose or program should not be diverted from their intended use to other projects or programs. Doing so is a no-no called….misappropriation….and Congress is a very frequent offender of that practice.

Well, if all else fails we might suggest that every member of Congress study a neat little manual entitled – Geckonomics 201 – Fifteen minutes of studying that might give them some clues on how to save us all 15% or more….and not just on car insurance.

Yeah, that should do it!

CENTURION

P.S. My grateful attribution to GEICO.com for the attached advertisement with their little Gecko Guy. It gives me the perfect punch line for this column. It wouldn’t be the same without it!