Rand Paul heard about an economic concept called “fiscal responsibility” and he’d like to try it out. Now that we’ve given Joe Biden’s miracle plans a shot, which planted us solidly face down in the dirt, maybe it’s time to give the radical idea a whirl.
Take responsibility for a change
Nothing about our grim economic picture will change until lawmakers start to take some fiscal responsibility. Our Libertarian Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul, always seems to come up with great ideas. The only problem with them is that they’re usually difficult to put into action, so nobody listens.
This one is no exception. He’s trying to make a point that yes, it will be painful but waiting won’t help and will only make it more painful. The best thing America can do is swallow the bitter medicine and get over it.
Senator Paul calls it his “Six Penny Plan.” That sounds easy to swallow but it would have gone down a whole lot easier when his idea was fresh. Inflation, he explains, is only a nightmare because out-of-control government spending is also at record levels. Fiscal responsibility is our only hope for survival.
If we bite the bullet and do it now, we can balance the budget in five years. We should have started sooner, but we didn’t, so that will cost us. Like one of those screaming deals you can only get by clicking the link right now, Uncle Sam hit delete when he saw the offer.
“Five years ago, we could balance our budget with a freeze in spending without cutting anything. Since then, our debt has skyrocketed to $30 trillion with $2 trillion just from this past year.” It’s too late to get out for free. We could have got out for cheap but blew that offer, too. “We are now in a situation that a simple penny, two, three, or even a five pennies per-dollar reduction is insufficient to balance our budget.”
Fiscal responsibility today requires a sacrifice. “It requires six. We cannot keep ignoring this problem at the expense of taxpayers, and my budget will put our nation on track to solve this crisis that Congress created.”
Spending without accountability
Our entire nation is at risk, the senator warns, thanks to the way our leaders keep throwing trillions around like a teen living it up at college on dad’s MasterCard. Accountability, he declares, is the heart of his plan. Reckless spending, he insists, “contributed to Congress adding approximately $11 trillion to the federal debt.”
After that, “statistics show that the annual structural deficit has increased by more than double while interest payments on the debt have exploded by 32%.” Then, there’s that pesky little concept called “inflation.” Currently, that’s at a “40-year high.” Fiscal responsibility is no longer an option.
The first step is, obviously, cut spending. We need to chop “$298 billion in government spending in the first year and $16.1 trillion over ten years.” There goes an arm. If we wait much longer to implement a responsibility program, it will cost us a leg, too.
Paul has detailed plans for all the major budget categories including “defense, international affairs, general science, space, and technology, energy, commerce and housing, social security, and others.”
Garrett Bess, the vice president of Heritage Action, agrees. Both our inflation and debt are a crisis levels because “they’re both being caused by Washington’s addiction to spending.” Democrats don’t have a clue about fiscal responsibility. But then again, neither do Republicans.
Even “with inflation over 8% and a national debt that has surpassed $30 trillion, Democrats in Congress continue to advocate for more spending, which will only make both crises worse,” Bess notes. “Fortunately, Senator Paul has introduced the ‘Six Penny Plan,’ which would cut wasteful spending and put the United States on a path to a balanced budget within five years. Americans deserve a serious plan to get our fiscal house in order, and Senator Paul has delivered.“