Shared Sacrifices Will Solve the Debt Crisis
Democracy and Power 106: A politician receives no financial gain for good policy or punishment for bad policy.
It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong. – Thomas Sowell
A politician’s rewards are immediate – power, prestige, and perquisites.
Shared Sacrifices Will Solve the Debt Crisis
In the Wall Street Journal, Steny Hoyer, the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, acknowledges the enormous and every expanding debt, and calls on Americans for “shared sacrifices.”
First, Hoyer states: Americans are rightly outraged over our nation’s fiscal situation. Then Hoyer says the debt was not totally created by the Obama Administration. This is true.
Next Hoyer puts his thirty years of political obfuscation to good use. Citing the CBO, he claims the recent healthcare legislation is on “a path” to bring down costs. Contemptibly, he does not say the CBO was required to respond to selected question created by Congress to produce the rigged results.
Hoyer then touts freezes on discretionary spending and pay-go rules. The spending freeze is miniscule and the pay-go rules have already been broken. As Hans Sennholz, an Austrian School ecomomists, once noted:
Wherever politics intrudes upon economic life, political success is readily attained by saying what people like to hear rather than what is demonstrably true. Instead of safeguarding truth and honesty, the state then tends to become a major source of insincerity and mendacity.
The truth is many Republican and Democratic Congresses and Presidents have created the debt, and now Hoyer is asking all Americans and future Americas for shared sacrifices:
Recovering from years of borrowing is one of the hardest tasks a nation can face. History is full of great powers brought low by unsustainable debt. Avoiding that fate isn’t just the commission’s or Congress’s work. It’s incumbent on all of us to resist easy answers and look reality in the face. Fiscal issues have always been tests of national character, and I trust that we have the character to pass.
Now let’s meet the real Representative. Steny Hoyer ia a consummate politician who, during thirty years in Congress, has obtained great power by actively participating in creating this dangerous debt. Hoyer, similar to most Democrats and Republicans, gained power and influence by being a loyal party member. He forged mutually corrupting relationships with special interest groups, particularly the federal employees. And he “brought home the bacon” for his constituents. The following quote is from his official website:
Congressman Hoyer’s service as Majority Leader makes him the highest-ranking Member of Congress from Maryland in history. Now serving his 15th term in Congress, he also became the longest-serving Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland in history on June 4, 2007.Congressman Hoyer’s experience, know-how and strong work ethic have led to increasing responsibilities within the House Democratic leadership. Prior to serving as the Whip in the 108th and 109th Congresses, he served as Chair of the Democratic Caucus – the fourth-ranking position among House Democrats – from 1989 to 1995. He is the former Co-Chair (and a current member) of the Democratic Steering Committee, and served as the chief candidate recruiter for House Democrats from 1995 to 2000. He also served as Deputy Majority Whip from 1987 to 1989.
Through his committee assignments and leadership positions, Congressman Hoyer has aggressively advocated for his Fifth District constituents and also is a respected voice on national and international issues. After being elected Majority Leader, Congressman Hoyer took a leave of absence from his seat on the House Appropriations Committee, where he previously served on the Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury and Housing, and the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies.Through his work on the Appropriations Committee, Congressman Hoyer has secured funding for numerous important projects in the Fifth Congressional District that he represents (Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties and portions of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties) and throughout the State of Maryland. He also has worked to ensure that the military bases in the Fifth District not only survived base closings but grew and thrived.
On the Transportation, Treasury and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, Congressman Hoyer became widely recognized as a national leader on issues affecting Federal employees and retirees. In addition to guiding FEPCA to passage, he fights year in and year out for fair pay and benefits for Federal employees, and has secured funding for telecommuting centers that save money and reduce traffic congestion.
He also has been a strong proponent of Federal law enforcement efforts that fall within the Subcommittee’s jurisdiction, securing funding for innovative crime-fighting projects such as the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program, Gang Resistance Education and Treatment Program, and the Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative. In addition, he is a long-time supporter of the COPS on the Beat Program, which has meant more than $30 million in Federal funding to hire more than 700 police officers in the Fifth District.
On the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, Congressman Hoyer championed education and funding for the Class Size Reduction Initiative, Head Start, and teacher training programs. He has also been an advocate for increased funding for childhood immunization and for full-service schools, which provide a range of important services for students, especially in the years of early childhood.
Obviously, Hoyer is a very competent person and for thirty years he successfully gained political power and influence. Along with every member of Congress, he knew they created the fiscal crisis we’re facing. Power and prestige prevailed over good policy. Now, when the debt is dangerous, he calls on shared sacrifice. He ends his article with this hypocrisy: Fiscal issues have always been tests of national character, and I trust that we have the character to pass.
Only when politicians are penalized for the misappropriation of other peoples money will the problem of debt not continue to occur.
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