With major debt ceiling, sequestration and tax policy debates on the horizon, should conservatives call the President’s bluff on the matter? Or should they try to undermine the President’s self-proclaimed “balanced approach” preference to deficit reduction by combining major spending cuts with tax increases?
...It is my view that conservatives should call the President’s bluff and tell Democrats we want two things if they really want a debt ceiling hike and avoidance of sequestration: First, spending reductions of at least $600 billion annually for ten years – including medium reductions in the Department of Defense and aggressive entitlement reforms – and at least $100 billion annually in tax loophole closures and equivalently lower income tax rates. Second, we want a balanced budget by the time the 2014 fiscal year starts. If we don’t have a public promise by Obama and Reid (in addition to signed legislation) for all of these goals by the time the day of the debt ceiling arrives, we default on our debt. Plain and simple.
The weakness of this approach would be the media’s predictable reaction – which will almost certainly include accusations of “hostage-taking” and intransigence on the part of conservatives. We would need an effective media strategy to deal with this, with a focus on three areas:
◼ Explain the coming fiscal cliff that will hit the country if we don’t balance the budget very soon, and how that fiscal cliff is especially likely to devastate young people, AKA the Debt-Paying Generation. If the President doesn’t agree to our spending reductions and tax reforms, we’ll let the cliff arrive sooner (and thus force spending reductions, tax reform, etc.) rather than later, since later means we’d have added trillions more to the national debt and thus reforms would be more drastic.◼ The President's Budget, the National Debt, and Ramen Noodles: The Debt-Paying Generation Speaks - Bill Beach and Dustin Siggins/Huffinton Post
◼ Explain how this approach is a compromise. Many conservatives don’t want to raise the debt ceiling at all, and so strong spending and tax reforms in exchange for raising the ceiling are a compromise.
◼ Make certain the American people understand what the implications of a debt ceiling are. During the debate over this last summer, many liberals blamed former President Bush for the “need” to raise the debt ceiling, saying his spending and tax policies led to the deficits responsible for the debt ceiling hike. However, this is the inversion of what a debt ceiling actually is – instead of being a floor related to future spending, a debt ceiling is merely the nation’s credit card limit. As such, we don’t need to raise the debt ceiling because of past spending…but instead because of future spending, much like a credit card limit allows a holder complete freedom to that point. Once the limit is hit, the spree is over. Raising the debt ceiling again and again without changing spending patterns shows Congress is not serious about instituting any kind of spending discipline, and this will prove costly to the nation in the long run.
Everyone pays a price for higher debt, mostly through slower economic growth, higher taxes and a lack of entrepreneurial independence. But it is those people under the age of 30, the Debt-Paying Generation, will pay the highest price as their entire lives are dominated by paying down our nation's massive debt.
