Kickin' the Can...

 

 

"Never do today, what you can put off until tomorrow..."

 

(famous satire humor)

 

 

 

Over the weekend, my truck started to leak oil. I called the local dealership and he told me I could either bring it in to have the leak fixed, or just change the oil and put in some STP. By doing the latter, it would be easier and less expensive. The truck would still leak, only not as much. In fact, after the STP wore off, the leak would be as fast, maybe faster than it was before the treatment.

 

Over the weekend, I decided to start a diet. This new diet is going to be easy. In fact, I don't even have to lose any weight. The new diet will allow me to keep gaining weight, only not as fast. There are no goals or rules on this diet, so even though my weight gain will not be as fast, it can revert back at any time.

 

Actually, over the weekend, even though it was a holy time, I did quite a bit of thinking about the unholy mess we have in Washington. With 138 hours remaining until Jan 1, 2013 (yes, we are now down to hours), we have different factions in the two major parties trying to come up with tiny solutions to a huge problem. Every solution mentioned so far does not put a dent, not a scratch, in the problem. I have said before, this problem took decades to develop with many hands forming it. It is not going to be fixed by a 138 hour band aid.

 

In the midst of all my ruminations and mulling on this very important issue, it hit me like a bolt from the blue. How do we know if any solution we come up with will work? Will it be "stout" enough to make a difference? Answer - the National Debt Clock. Everything, every gimmick, every financial trick we have tried in the past has not fooled the old debt clock. It just keeps spinning away. Every fix  we have had has been the diet with no weight loss. In short, every solution we have tried has been a non-solution.

 

Hold on. What I am about to say will sound very basic, maybe too simplistic. Some might even say naive. It boils down to this - for us to know if a solution is truly a solution, the debt clock would stop spinning. Period. For a fix to be a fix, the bleeding first needs to stop. In other words, the debt clock would have to stop. Then for the fix to be truly effective, the debt clock needs to start moving backwards. The speed would not matter, it would just have to move in reverse.

 

How big of a move would this have to be? Consider this - so far this fiscal year, we are spending money faster than last year. Our deficit this fiscal year will eclipse the whopper from last year. Our deficit this year could be as high as $1.7T! So if we carved out only $1T  this year alone (and NOBODY is talking about that amount), the debt clock would continue to spin forward. The $1T to $4T we have heard people talk about is for a period of ten years. Like I said, not a dent, not a scratch.

 

Just this morning for the umpteenth time I heard a pundit say "Oh, I wish we could come to some sort of agreement so we can get on to the meaningful things like guns, immigration and energy". What!!?? This is not important? Truth be known, to really fix this, so it is not an annual stop on our fiscal calendar, will take all year, maybe more. It will change the way we tax, collect taxes, spend and account for spending. It will change everything. It will be a THE game changer. Fix this Mr. President, and it will be your legacy. To not fix it, and we continue to spiral towards Greece, will also be your legacy.

 

"Kick the can" is not longer a game kids play - it the way we do business. Our fiscal mess is the way it is because we like diets that allow us to gain weight. When a "deal" is finally cut, keep a jaundiced eye on ye old debt clock. If it continues to spin wildly, remind your representative in Washington the job is not yet done. Many are ready to pop the champagne cork, but before you take that first sip, first look under the truck to make sure the oil leak has stopped.