Spend Now, Think Later

"We just have to spend some significant money."
"We'll just have to use our best judgement..."

So spoke Senator Max Baucus (D., Spendthrift) when asked by CNS News what the Congress needs to do to quell queasy economic seas. The astute reader will note several things about the senator's two statements above. For instance, hasn't Congress already spent "significant" money? Or have we moved away from deficit spending the past few years, and I just didn't notice? No, I think spending "significant" money is well within the competency of even this Congress, the worst in history. Apparently Baucus expects our blessing for plans to expand even the current bloated spending.

On the second statement, well, doesn't it speak for itself? After all, when you think of the current do-nothing Congress, what word comes to mind before "judgement?" Okay, okay; Poor, appalling, abysmal, lack of, these are all good choices. The people who bloated the current deficits and brought the mortgage meltdown upon our heads now demand another trillion or so of our dollars to mend the damage they caused. Excuse me if I don't fall over myself writing you a check, and praising the judgement of you and your colleagues, Senator.

The senator followed his pronouncements with these gems:

“We’ve got to pay down the debt, (it) is getting bigger and bigger. The question is, when are we going to start paying the dues? We have got to start paying them.”

Senator, my head starts to hurt when I attempt to reconcile your plans to spend significant money and "pay down the debt." Where is this magical trillion dollars coming from? Sure, you'll take some of it from us now, with tax hikes of many sizes, shapes, and colors. More will come from borrowing. Which, Senator, increases the national debt. Sorry that I have to be the one to break that to you. Finally, inflation is the final arrow in Washington's quiver, allowing the Fed to print more money and use these dollars in the future to pay interest on the ever-increasing debt.

Does any of these three actions--tax hikes, debt hike, inflation hike--seem likely to hike us into prosperity? What do you think?

If you answered yes, you just might be clueless enough to be a U.S. Senator.