Published: April 11, 2008 11:06 am            

Here’s a political pipe dream: Stop at zero

Steve Boggs

sboggs@cnhi.com

Tune out the noise this election season. Nobody’s telling you the truth, and that won’t change no matter who gets elected. Even if it did, we as Americans probably don’t want to hear it in the first place.



Universal health care? Baloney.



Fix Social Security? As if.



Tax rebates and tax cuts for education? Forget it.



Expand the military? Good luck.



None of these proposals can go anywhere until one simple thing is done first: Stop at zero. In only two of the past thirty years has the U.S. government taken in more than it spent. As a result, our government owes $9.2 trillion in debt. This past year, the interest on that debt alone was $406 billion. That’s more than the annual budget for education, transportation and all branches of government combined.



It’s a staggering number. So much so that when we hear shortsighted solutions like cutting foreign aid, or ending NASA, it generates quite a chuckle. Both of these programs are less $4 billion. A lot of money, but only a speck in a $3 trillion budget.



The big spenders? Defense. Health and human services, otherwise known as Medicare. Oh, and there’s that one program called Social Security, which is not even supposed to be a part of the federal budget – as either an expense or revenue – but it is.



Most of the U.S. debt is held by foreign banks, investors and governments. In other words, the Chinese and Middle Eastern oil producers own more of our government than we do.



Who should we blame for this situation? Try looking in the mirror. Our elected officials do not have the wherewithal to stop at zero because we won’t allow them to stop at zero. We all want to cut spending, just not our spending. Until that changes, the government will have deficit spending each year and the national debt will continue to rise.



Can it be fixed? Absolutely. More than 35 states do it every year. They certify an amount for appropriations, then divvy up the till to whatever wheel squeaks the loudest. But they stop when they’re out of money, plain and simple. Zero means zero. If you don’t have it, you can’t spend it.



If and when fiscal discipline returns to Congress, our spending will be reduced by $200 to $400 billion a year. We will all yell and scream, because we’re often spoiled and shortsighted. But only with fiscal discipline can the U.S. government, Republican and Democrat alike, move the needle in the right direction.



The noise you year these days is all about party politics. “Cut taxes and spur growth.” “Raise taxes on the rich to fund health care.” “Raise Social Security taxes and put it in a lock box.”



A what?



Forget that kind of hype. Here’s a simple, but necessary pipe dream to believe in: Stop at zero.



Millions of people do it all the time.

        

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