The national debt in the United States is becoming problematic. Few would argue otherwise. The steps necessary to deal with the problem are also generally agreed upon by both parties (when the camera lights aren't on). The question then is why is no action taken to fix the problem? The answer is the political catch-22 it presents.
Let's be honest about something up front. Becoming a politician at the federal level is not something done to primarily benefit the people of this country. While there are "good" and "bad" politicians, what I think we can all agree on is all of them look at politics as a career choice. Given this, all have a vested interest in one thing - keeping their derriere in Washington, D.C.! Personally, I don't really have a big problem with this. I think it tends to give voters more power since any politician who aspires to a long career will be hyper sensitive to what the voters in his or her district want.
This approach does have its downside. When difficult decisions must be made, career politicians are loath to do so. Let's consider the first President Bush. He ran on a ticket of no new taxes as we all know. Faced with serious economic issues, he then did the rational thing and raised taxes. We all know how that worked out. No politician wants to be in the same position. When contemplating the fixes to the national debt problem, it is hard to see how a politician can avoid them.
Social Security
The first issue that must be addressed is Social Security. The growing number of retirees is not being replaced by a growing number of workers. In short, the Social Security Funds are being put under pressure. The easy answer to this problem is to raise the retirement age up to 69 or so. Politically, however, this is difficult. Those in their golden years tend to vote in huge numbers. Groups that represent retirees are very powerful politically and it is the rare politician that wants to get on the wrong side of them.
Military
Then there is the military. No politician wants to be depicted as weak or not interested in the defense of the country. And what about those terrorists? Having said all of this, it is rather obvious our military spending is out of control. We spend well over $700 billion a year on it. China, our supposed new big threat, spends less than $100 billion. Throw in the fact we have "slight" technological advances over every other countries military and it would appear we could lop off a couple hundred billion dollars without causing too much pain.
Medicare
The final area that must be dealt with is Medicare. President Obama had a go at this. His plan might be great or terrible. I personally can't say until we see it in action. What I think we can all agree on, however, is the political blowback was intense. Imagine really trying to reform Medicare! It is going to be a nightmare and one that no politician realistically wants to touch with a 10 foot pole.
Hard vs Soft
You undoubtedly have views on each of these subjects. If not, start getting up to speed on them! Regardless, there is no escaping the economic mess we are in. We are hemorrhaging at a rate of $1 trillion plus a year. TRILLION! This can't last long. If we act proactively, we can deal with our debt problems. It will be uncomfortable for many of us, but not brutal. If we just bury our heads in the sand and wait for the markets to slam us over our debt, the outcome will be a hard landing and one that will simply be much worse than anything we saw with the Great Recession. I for one hope our politicians develop some courage and do what is right. Unfortunately, I am not exactly holding my breath on this one.
Let's be honest about something up front. Becoming a politician at the federal level is not something done to primarily benefit the people of this country. While there are "good" and "bad" politicians, what I think we can all agree on is all of them look at politics as a career choice. Given this, all have a vested interest in one thing - keeping their derriere in Washington, D.C.! Personally, I don't really have a big problem with this. I think it tends to give voters more power since any politician who aspires to a long career will be hyper sensitive to what the voters in his or her district want.
This approach does have its downside. When difficult decisions must be made, career politicians are loath to do so. Let's consider the first President Bush. He ran on a ticket of no new taxes as we all know. Faced with serious economic issues, he then did the rational thing and raised taxes. We all know how that worked out. No politician wants to be in the same position. When contemplating the fixes to the national debt problem, it is hard to see how a politician can avoid them.
Social Security
The first issue that must be addressed is Social Security. The growing number of retirees is not being replaced by a growing number of workers. In short, the Social Security Funds are being put under pressure. The easy answer to this problem is to raise the retirement age up to 69 or so. Politically, however, this is difficult. Those in their golden years tend to vote in huge numbers. Groups that represent retirees are very powerful politically and it is the rare politician that wants to get on the wrong side of them.
Military
Then there is the military. No politician wants to be depicted as weak or not interested in the defense of the country. And what about those terrorists? Having said all of this, it is rather obvious our military spending is out of control. We spend well over $700 billion a year on it. China, our supposed new big threat, spends less than $100 billion. Throw in the fact we have "slight" technological advances over every other countries military and it would appear we could lop off a couple hundred billion dollars without causing too much pain.
Medicare
The final area that must be dealt with is Medicare. President Obama had a go at this. His plan might be great or terrible. I personally can't say until we see it in action. What I think we can all agree on, however, is the political blowback was intense. Imagine really trying to reform Medicare! It is going to be a nightmare and one that no politician realistically wants to touch with a 10 foot pole.
Hard vs Soft
You undoubtedly have views on each of these subjects. If not, start getting up to speed on them! Regardless, there is no escaping the economic mess we are in. We are hemorrhaging at a rate of $1 trillion plus a year. TRILLION! This can't last long. If we act proactively, we can deal with our debt problems. It will be uncomfortable for many of us, but not brutal. If we just bury our heads in the sand and wait for the markets to slam us over our debt, the outcome will be a hard landing and one that will simply be much worse than anything we saw with the Great Recession. I for one hope our politicians develop some courage and do what is right. Unfortunately, I am not exactly holding my breath on this one.
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