The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is Wrong for America
Posted by Michael A. Kamperman on April 25, 2010
Former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., and Erskine Bowles, former Clinton White House Chief of Staff are leading President Obama’s deficit cutting effort known as The National Commission of Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. This Commission is nothing but a Trojan Horse that offers the allusion of one thing but will deliver another. In a noble attempt to save American finances the Commission is going to prolong the current depression for decades and kill any hope of growing our way out of troubles. The Commission will try to sell us on the virtues of paying as we go, balancing the budget, and reducing our debts. They will argue this makes us safer in the long run and will be best for our grandchildren. Balderdash! Our children and our grandchildren will suffer disproportionately from such a fools errand. They are suffering now. New York City is looking to lay-off 8,500 teachers next year. Current state law requires them to honor union seniority rules. This means almost all of the Teachers let go will be in their 20′s. It also further dims the already bleak job prospects for soon to graduate and recent still unemployed college graduates. Not to mention the children in New York City Schools will be pushed into classrooms with higher student/teacher ratios despite all of the best research showing the single biggest factor in improving student performance is lower student/teacher ratios. New York Cities plans are being repeated all around the country. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of teachers could get pink slipped this summer. Education is the most important way to make America safer, more prosperous, and more democratic in the future, not deficit reduction. And let’s face it, in the end the Commission will call for cutting future entitlement benefits while sticking our children and grandchildren with the bill for current benefits. Count me as one who already considers anything the Commission recommends as dead-on-arrival.
The U.S. is currently spending less than 2% of GDP on debt service. To achieve a balanced budget in the current debt-induced deflationary depression would require a combination of draconian spending cuts and tax increases that would cut GDP by 10%, or more. After we balance the budget we will still have the debt and we will still be spending 2% of GDP on debt service. Communities like New York would have to cut a lot more than just 8,500 teachers to achieve these goals. We need the national dialogue to go in the opposite direction it is now heading.
President Obama should be commended for showing leadership and appointing two well meaning leaders to tackle a difficult issue. But sheep are easily led over a cliff. Having the guts to lead and the vision to lead in the right direction are two different things. The country should be going in the opposite direction. We should be lowering the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare to 60 to open up jobs for those in their 20′s with so much to give who are left to sit at home with mom and dad. We should be lowering student/teacher ratios and setting a goal for America to have the number one primary education system in the world. We should not be worrying about paying off a 30 year mortgage in 3 years when one spouse in the house in unemployed. Especially when we have a trust fund know as the Fed that can print us a check anytime we need one. Austerity is wrong for Greece and it is definitely wrong for America.
