The debt monster

"Until we learn how to control our "off switch", we will never get better. I don't care whose tax plan is used."

By now, we have all heard just about everyone's tax plans should they become elected. Some sound good, some sound not so good, and one sounds like Armageddon. But I think I might have some bad news for the American public. It does not matter whose tax plan gets enacted (assuming that any of them do), it will not be enough. In fact, if Bernie Sanders had a plan which taxed everyone at 100%, there would still be some in the chattering class who demand more.

My good friend Ben keeps me grounded whenever I talk about taxes. He reminds me it is the spending that counts. Control the spending, and taxes will follow. He could not be more right. If that was the case under a Ted Cruz Administration, where individual tax was capped at 10% and the business tax at 18%, wonderful things could happen. That is, if we lived within our means. However, if we continue to spend more than we take in, this will all just be a fool's folly. We will still be on the road to ruination, bankruptcy and misery.

Case in point. Do you remember that in 2014 we hit a real milestone? For the first time, taxes collected hit $3 trillion! Now that is a chunk of change! I bet we put a huge hole in our debt that year! Not really. We still spent $3.5 trillion. And many on the Left were claiming victory as that number held steady from the year before. However, we did still add 1/2 trillion dollars to our debt. What is the lesson learned? The appetite of the beast is insatiable.

We have a real problem. And I will use the language of people who are trying to kick any sort of addiction. And trust me - as far as debt is concerned, this nation is hooked. Until we learn how to control our "off switch", we will never get better. I don't care whose tax plan is used. Until spending is truly controlled, we will continue to have a huge national debt problem.

One of my long time friends who is a bit to the left of me loves to remind me of what happened under Ronald Reagan. The debt grew. And my answer always is "yes it did". However, it grew in large part due to President Reagan's scotch drinking cribbage pal, Tip O'Neill. Tips seemed to have forgotten the deal. The one about holding spending AND having the tax cuts. So we had economy stimulating tax cuts and run away spending at the same time. The same could happen under a President Cruz if Congress loses its way (again).

The real saviors of this Republic will be us, the American people. It is we who get to elect Congress. And if we continue to elect boobs who flunked basic math and logic, then we get what we get. However, if we elect Constitutional conservatives, then we stand a chance. That is, if the representatives we elect have a functional "off switch".