The current negotiations over the debt crisis are not unlike a husband and wife quarreling when the family has reached the limits of its credit and must do something immediately. The husband charges the wife with spending too much on the household and the children. She yells back that he spends too much money on golf and fishing trips in the summer and hunting trips in the fall.
He tells her to get a job and add some money to the budget. She says that if she gets a job they will have more expenses – babysitting, better clothes for her, transportation, and meals out while she is at work. She asks if he is willing to do half of the housework if she is working full-time outside the home. It would be better if he got a second job part time.
They go back to arguing over cutting spending. If they are going to solve their problem and become solvent, both are going to have to make deep cuts in the spending AND one of them will have to get another job. They may not do what is necessary and resort to divorce, foreclosure, and bankruptcy. More domestic debt crises end this way than by making draconian cuts in spending and finding an additional source of income.
Congress is deadlocked between Republicans (the husband) who think that the crisis can be solved by making drastic cuts in the Federal budget. Democrats (the wife) want to increase taxes for the rich and the big corporations. The Republicans are right in calling for cuts in the Federal budget – where to cut will be the sticking point. The Democrats are right in calling for increased taxes. What neither side is willing to face is that to really make this nation solvent, we must raise taxes for everyone and make large cuts in spending.
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