AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS ADDICT

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The President and Congress are the actors and we are the audience as the shutdown, debt ceiling, and obamacare political theater is being played out in Washington D. C. We must always remember that everything a politician does and says has to be analyzed from the stand point of what each politician values most. For most politicians they value staying in, and gaining more power above everything. Some may have other motives, but, if we start with this basic understanding of what they are really trying to accomplish instead of believing what they say they are trying to do, our odds of seeing through the political B. S. go up exponentially. Let’s take a look the shutdown, the debt ceiling, and Obamacare from the perspective of their political self-interest.

THE SHUTDOWN

The U.S. hasn’t passed a budget since the President signed an omnibus spending bill in April of 2009. Since then we have been operating on continuing resolutions. When a budget is passed it recommends spending levels for mandatory and discretionary programs. In order for a discretionary program to be funded, an appropriations bill has to be passed, but a mandatory program, like social security, is funded without an appropriations bill. When an appropriations bill runs out and there has been no budget passed, a continuing resolution (CR) is passed which funds discretionary programs at current or expanded levels. If a CR isn’t passed, discretionary programs are cut to essential personal only. Mandatory programs are always funded. As boring as that was, we should have a basic understanding of how your tax dollars are appropriated. Now let’s look at this through the political theater prism.

Each actor is trying to convince you, the audience, that the other actor is responsible for the Government shutdown. They think winning this blame game helps them in their quest to stay in, and gain more power. The President is attempting to make the shut down have as negative  an effect on as many people as possible because he feels he can convince us, with the help of the main stream media, that republicans are responsible for all the negative effects that he chose to inflict on us. He probably never thought he would be in this position because he figured the republicans would surrender like they always do when they get attacked. The only reason they haven’t surrendered is because Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee have inspired small Government individuals to let their voices be heard. If public opinion wasn’t so strong this would have been over weeks ago.

Only about 20% of the Government is shut down, and if the shut down continues, people will begin to figure out we can get along just fine with smaller Government. Government is not the end all and be all that politicians try to convince us it is.

THE DEBT CEILING

Most of the R’s and D’s, in this recent debt ceiling debate, have been on the other side of the debate during previous debt ceiling debates. This point shows it’s all about politics. We are told by central planning progressives, that the U.S. will default when the debt ceiling is reached, this is a lie. The Government is legally bound, by section 4 of the fourteenth amendment of the constitution, to pay the interest on their debt. The Government takes in over $200 billion a month in taxes and pays close to $20 billion a month in interest on the debt. They will have more than enough to pay off the monthly interest on the debt. Politicians want the debt ceiling raised because they don’t want to make the hard decisions about what they will have to cut out of a $3.7 trillion budget, if they are forced to only spend the $2.5 trillion confiscated from taxpayers. This is the equivalent of  passing a balanced budget amendment without passing a balanced budget amendment. Our credit rating would be better because we wouldn’t be going deeper in debt, and the Fed wouldn’t have to electronically print the counterfeit money that is presently being used to purchase Government debt. These are all good things for the country as a whole, but not being able to spend would be the last thing a politician wants. Their power comes from their ability to make rules, and redistribute money. Less money leads to smaller Government and neither party wants less power.

OBAMACARE

Here is the simple truth about Obama care. It is the final step to a single payer government-run health care system. That is the progressives ultimate goal. These central planners want insurance premiums to rise. They also want employers to drop their insurance plans, dump their employees onto the Government exchanges, and pay the fine, or tax, or whatever it is. They want private health insurance to go by the wayside and be replaced by Government insurance, although Government insurance isn’t insurance in the true sense of the word. Government insurance is nothing more than a transfer payment from producers to nonproducers.

Single payer is something progressives have wanted for decades, so it’s more important to them than their political skins. They will do anything, lie, cheat, beg, borrow or steal, (oh yeah, they already have), to implement a single payer system.

CONCLUSION

When it comes to politicians, you have to know what they value most in order to understand what they’re doing. Politicians, 1)  value their power most and will do anything to keep it, 2) value their ideology or vision above everything, including keeping their position of power, or 3) honestly think they are doing what is right. Keep these in mind every time you here a politician open his mouth.

Related Article – Fiscal Cliff or Political Theater? by austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – A Look Behind The Curtain At The Fiscal Cliff Theater, The Jokes On You, by austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – Human Action Reveals The Reality About Political Decisions, by austrianaddict.com.

This entry was posted on October 15, 2013 at 1:02 am and is filed under Government and Politics. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: Continuing resolution, Government debt, Government shutdown, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Political Theater, Single Payer Insurance, United States debt ceiling