Sorry, I can’t get excited about Congress kicking a lateral across the field to keep the ball in play. Lifting the debt limit buys some time for the wheels of fortune to turn in America. We are up against the wall, searching for sustainability and truly unaware that the game has changed.
America’s new game is about living within our nation’s capacity to govern that is determined by our discipline to accomplish essential outcomes for all citizens while ensuring a good life in the absence of poverty. Dr. Rodger and I wrote about that in 2010 in Smart Data, Enterprise Performance Optimization Strategy, Wiley Publishing. It is about government creating a vibrant economy from smart strategies, policies, laws and regulations that guide us to living within our means. We predicted our present circumstance, but could not stop or effectively influence the powers at hand, but we did not give up.We remain a capitalist economy, however it is also mixed in that it is regulated by government of the people in a partnership. Our laissez faire history turned out to skew the wealth into the hands of a few at the expense of the Middle Class, and that requires modifying the economic model to what I describe as the optimized sustainment model.
- Some people who deliberately don’t work hard and apply themselves become a burden, and for that they deserve disdain.
- Some people are truly unable and lack capacity to care for themselves and they deserve assistance.
- Some people have inherited wealth and means in the absence of having earned it, and for them the expectation and standards for accomplishment are proportionately higher.
Capital is needed for invention and business that is investment. Persons who fail to invest in American business and industry and seek to earn a living on escalating property and land value alone deserve less favorable treatment that is expressed in higher taxation. Investments that result in successful enterprise and employment opportunities deserve more favorable treatment. That is what is meant by balance of consequences.
Some jobs, vocations, and professions deserve higher valuation than others based upon their impact on society such as healthcare workers, teachers, emergency services and law enforcement. Sustainable economics is operating in the context of our partners on the planet as our fate is shared by how we live.
“Senate votes to temporarily suspend federal debt limit
By Lori Montgomery, Updated: Thursday, January 31, 4:03 PM
Congress gave final approval Thursday to a plan to temporarily suspend the legal limit on the national debt, permitting the Treasury Department to keep borrowing and lifting the threat of a government default until early August.
The measure, approved by the Senate 64 to 34, now goes to the White House for President Obama’s signature. Without congressional action, the administration had predicted that the Treasury would run out money to pay the nation’s bills by early March.
Five truths and five myths about the debt ceiling: Post staff writer Neil Irwin lays out some facts about the debt limit, while former government official Bruce Bartlett clears up some falsehoods.
VideoPost economic policy reporter Zachary Goldfarb stops by to explain which bills the government will and will not pay if the debt ceiling isn’t raised.
The House passed the bill last week, days after Republican leaders announced that they would not try to use the moment as leverage in their battle with Obama over the federal budget. But House leaders said that they would not vote to raise the $16.4 trillion debt limit — a politically dicey proposition.
Instead, they offered a novel plan to suspend enforcement of the limit through May 18. Under the measure, the Treasury Department can simply ignore the debt ceiling and keep borrowing to cover the cost of Social Security checks, the military payroll, interest payments to the nation’s creditors and other obligations.
On May 19, the debt limit will kick back in and automatically reset at a higher level, reflecting the additional borrowing. Treasury officials can then begin taking what they call “extraordinary measures” to continue paying the nation’s bills."
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