Barbara, 39, has three children. He eldest, Sam, now turning 16, has gotten his first drivers license. For his birthday, his Uncle Bill has given him an old beater to drive around. Barb wants Sam to help run errands like buying groceries, so she gives him as a birthday gift, a credit card.
Now, Barb is a very strict parent, and she wants to make sure that he does not overspend. To that end, she gives him a very strict budget. She tells him to spend this much on food for himself, this much on clothing, this much on school supplies, etc. She also tells him to buy groceries for the family and some other things they need, as well as a few personal items for herself. She promises to pay for all of this.
Now, the end of the first month comes, and the credit card bill is a shocker. Sam’s run up a huge charge, into the thousands! Barbara confronts him. He pulls out his Excel spreadsheet, nicely formatted and accurate. It shows that he only spent what his mother told him to spend, to the dollar, and the majority of the expense were for things he bought for the family.
Unphased, Barb demands that he gets his spending under control. She tells him that if the charge is as high next month, she will not pay for it. He asks what he should stop spending money on, and she says that he should stop spending so much money going to the movies with friends and buying clothes he doesn't need.
The end of the second month comes. The bill is again a shocker; in fact, it is three times as high as last month! Furious, Barb storm into his room. She demands that he explain himself. He pulls up the spreadsheet again.
“This month,” he explains, “I only bought the cheapest lunch available at the school cafeteria, every day. I did not buy any new clothes and never went to the movies. I also earned some money. Remember when I helped Mrs Bimble with her computer problems? She gave me $40 for that.”
“So that’s what that $60 from the electronics store was for?” Barb shouts, spitting in anger.
“Yes, but Mrs Bimble paid me $100, so I came out $40 ahead,” he says back, trying to keep his voice down.
“I don’t want any excuses Sam. Why did you spend so much this month?”
“I spent much less this month than last month,” he retorts, gritting his teeth but not matching Barbara’s rage. “I only spent what you told me to. Most of the spending was for the family. And most of the credit card bill is carried over from last month, since you forgot to pay.”
Indeed his math checks out. But Barb doesn't care. She screams that she’ll call the bank, cancel the card, and he’ll have to go hungry at lunch time. She warns him that a bad credit rating will follow him forever. She threatens fire and brimstone, but when he asks, meekly, if she can at least pay him back for all the groceries, she shouts, “NO!”
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In case it wasn't already obvious, the credit card is the debt ceiling. Sam is the Obama administration, and Barbara represents those in congress who are now threatening to not raise the debt ceiling as a budget negotiation tactic. The groceries are major government spending like medicare and defense, while Sam’s lunch and clothing are minor programs like PBS and NASA. The work for Mrs Bimble represents certain ways in which the government can easily profit from spending, which tend to get cut anyway when budget hawks are on a rampage.
Threatening to not raise the debt ceiling does not bring our spending under control, just like demanding that Sam pay for groceries but not paying the credit card bill does not do Sam and favors. In fact, Barbara is ruining Sam’s credit rating. In the same way, the threat of the debt ceiling only ruins our credit rating, which puts us in a worse place. In fact, the threat actually causes the exact problem that it is attempting to solve: America will only be unable to borrow more money when creditors believe we are unfit to pay; and such legislative budget fights are exactly what makes us look unfit to pay.
Nobody is against balancing the budget and getting our spending under control. Nobody wants to have to pay a huge credit card bill years down the road. But it is not easy. We are in a triple bind as a country: we don’t want to raise taxes, we don’t want to cut large government programs like medicare and defense, and we don’t want to run up a huge debt. Each aspect of this problem touches different interest groups, and they will all fight to the death to get their way.
Along the way, small but excellent government programs get lost. These programs, which are less than 20% of budget, and some of which can actually save us money in the long run, are used as token gestures; congressmen can brag that they saved $6 million by not funding a bridge, or $9 million by not funding a research program. These are pennies in a $3.6 trillion dollar budget. A few million here and there literally makes up less than one one-hundred-thousandth of the budget. Bickering over these minor expenses is a waste of time.
All I ask is that we bring some sanity back to the budget process. All I ask is that we not blame the Obama administration for a problem that has been decades in the making. All I ask is that we not destroy our future trying to save it.
