The People’s Balanced Budget Amendment

Have you taken the Balanced Budged Pledge?

Problem: the federal government keeps spending more than it takes in:

One proposed solution: amend the Constitution to require that the budget be balanced every year.

Austerity in Europe, Delusional Washington

Mark Steyn, as usual, is must-read material:

As Obama made plain in his threat to Gran’ma last week that the August checks might not go out, funding nonproductivity is now the principal purpose of the modern state.

Republican Leaders Make Two Great Points

Speaker of the House John Boehner at a press conference today:

. . . the fact is that House Republicans have a plan. We passed our budget back in the spring, outlined our priorities. Where is the president’s plan? When’s he going to lay his cards on the table?

Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell today on the floor of the Senate: 

The National Debt

A credit-rating agency warned yesterday that the United States may not be able to make good on its debt.  The agency said the odds are one in three that the United States will lose its AAA rating in the next two years, which would make it harder for the United States to borrow money, at higher interest, triggering a catastrophic debt spiral.  NRO’s Kevin Williamson gives some good background and explanation, while NRO editor Kathryn Jean Lopez points out that if you read National Review, you would have seen this coming.

On “Winning the Future”

A writer at National Review Online has more on America’s looming debt crisis, and a warning that Washington politicians may have to choose between balanced budgets in the near term and the structural reforms needed to make America solvent in the long term.  Normally, I wouldn’t bet on politicians’ choosing the common good in the future over what makes them look good in the present, but America isn’t dead yet; so here’s hoping.

Getting Serious

Charles Krauthammer has a good column today about America’s debt crisis, and hope for the future.

We have heard everyone — from Obama’s own debt commission to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — call the looming debt a mortal threat to the nation. . . . We can see the future. The only question has been: When will the country finally rouse itself?

Amazingly, the answer is now.

I know, I’m amazed, too!