C-C-C-Cuts!

The Debt Commission released its initial report today and people are either extremely unhappy and not bothering to hide it or somewhat lukewarm to their proposals, because they're going to risk pissing off an awful lot of people if they adopt any particular combination of them.

First of all, I'm glad to learn that there was a Debt Commission in the first place- at least someone had some spark of a good idea somewhere in Washington D.C. but even if it is a Presidential Blue Ribbon Window Dressing, someone has to put these ideas to paper and someone has to start the debate, because one way or another, we're going to have to trim the size of government to get out of this. The British have already come to that realization (more on that in the next post) and we're not going to be far behind, I think.

Second of all, to the meat and potatoes: what has everyone in a tizzy? Behold, this link to the Huffington Post. But basically, they're talking about raising the retirement age, cutting Medicare benefits and the defense budget- all manner of truly nasty things that will piss a lot of people off. Paul Krugman weighed in with this pithy quote:

So you’re going to tell janitors to work until they’re 70 because lawyers are living longer than ever.

He has a point- but I have an answer: why do the lawyers need social security to begin with? Shouldn't they have gobs of cash saved up for retirement? So yes, it's a point, but let's means test for Social Security- like welfare, the idea should be not to be on Social Security but to have it there if you need it- that's what I think of when I think of a 'safety net.'

Raising the retirement age is inevitable. I've long accepted that- after all, I'm going to live longer and I have to work my ass to pay for the retirement of all the Boomers, so it'll probably be longer. No problem there.

I haven't read the whole report, primarily because I don't particular want to be bored to death by legalese for hours at a time and end up wanting to poke my eye out with a spoon- but there's waste a plenty to be had in our government. The Defense Department has plenty to go around. If our education system is predicated on the idea of local and state control, does the Department of Education need to be the size it is? And Homeland Security needs a serious rethink- and the entrenched bureaucracy needs to be swept out the door. That's the real battle that I'm waiting to see- we need (and despite what Conservatives would have us believe, we want- ask a Senior fulminating against government waste if we should cut Social Security and that inherent contradiction will be made clear) a certain amount of government- just efficient, cost-effective government, which we for sure don't have know.

The latest plan of 'quantitative easing' by the Fed (whatever the hell that means) is proving to be less than popular internationally, so I expect cuts of some kind will be forthcoming- probably painful ones.