Shutdown Now; Shutdown Later

Today, all it takes to end the government shutdown in the US is a vote by Congress.  Within 15 years, it won't be so easy.

In 15 years, a vote by Congress will be largely irrelevant.  There won't be enough money to pay our bills, no matter what Congress does.

It will be at that point, that the government will inform the oldest Americans that the safety net that was promised is no longer there.  Having convinced these folks when they were younger they did not need to save and provide for their old age, the government will announce (surprise, surprise) that old folks should fend for themselves.

The politicians, who are creating this coming nightmare, will be comfortably relaxing in their wealth and old age and will blame all of this on "rich people" and "greedy Wall Streeters."

But the reality is that no level of government is setting aside the requisite resources to fund the future obligations embedded in social security, medicare, medicaid and public pension plans all over the US.  It is easy to promise things to folks in the future and to hope that unborn children will be happy to pay for all of this.  But, at the end of the day, the numbers don't add up.

One virtue of the current shutdown is that it focuses attention on the real problem -- a shutdown in 15 years that no amount of negotiating can avoid.  This doesn't worry the President and his allies because disaster is not going to occur on their watch and they are good at shifting blame.  But, for the country, the current shutdown is nothing compared to what is on the unavoidable horizon.

John Harwood Fesses Up

John Harwood, supposedly a reporter by trade, held an exclusive interview with President Obama yesterday.  Harwood works for CNBC.  Today on CNBC he provided his listeners with a typical example of his (and NBC's objectivity) in reporting the news.  He argued that Republicans were 'psychopaths' and that President Obama was perfectly reasonable and was 'asking for nothing.'

It's good to see that Harwood is willing to openly admit that he has no objectivity in reporting the news from the White House.  It is something we have always suspected.

Even Becky and Joe recoiled from Harwood's summary of the issues and pointed out to Harwood that he was lacking in objectivity. 

No one should rely on this kind of news reporting, if the truth is what they are seeking.  John Harwood is little more than a spokesman for the extreme left wing of the Democratic Party.

This Aint Nothing

"This Aint Nothing" goes the great country and western song of a few years back.  I was thinking about that song as the deadline passed for Congress to reach a budget deal.  What happens 15 years from now?  No vote can save us then.  Medicare will be out of money and social security will be bleeding as well.  Then what?  That's the real budget crisis.

In a country choking on unaffordable entitlements, the Obama Adminstration has crammed down one more unfunded entitlement on a wary public.  This simply makes the clock tick faster toward America's impending insolvency.

The US is on track to go broke.  Whatever happens now is irrelevant unless it tackles the entitlements.  Putting this off, even for a year or two, makes it almost impossible to fix and guarantees the country's eventual insolvency.

So, why not fight now?  Shut down the government.  That's better than business as usual, which simply guarantees an eventual shutdown that no Congressional vote can then alter.

If the Republicans cave, then they deserve to be defeated in 2014.