Don’t Greek Us Bro

“Cry ‘Havoc!’  And let slip the dogs of war.”  This is a famous line from William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar.   It appears that the Congressional Budget Office have been brushing up on their Shakespeare.  For in their annual Long-Term Budget Outlook they have predicted that the debt will consume 76% of GDP by 2021, and in different scenarios the debt could be as high as 101% of GDP in ten years.  These figures have placed those in the CBO into such a panic that they are now urging Congress to begin to adopt austerity measures.  Austerity measures call for a reduction in government spending but also an increase in taxation.  However, if these dogs are let loose we shall see that they are not easily caged.


If you have ever wondered what the face of austerity looks like, one need only to look at the present state of Greece.  Due to Greece’s present economic conditions other states have come to the conclusion that they will give Greece another bail out on the condition that Greece adopts more austerity policies.  As one can imagine these measures have outraged the Greek people, which has caused all of the riots seen ravaging the country today. 


To fix our economic mess newer and higher taxes are not needed, but rather tax and spending cuts are needed.  The only way to get us out of our current predicament and our future one as the CBO predicts, there must be a change in the mindset of those in Washington.  Austerity measures only give more revenue for the politicians to spend. However, cutting government spending and taxes empowers the citizenry to spend their money on either goods or services, which will help boost GDP and create more jobs.  By doing this Congress will have to change their spending habits and with the increase of tax revenues that would result, they would be able to pay down our national debt.  Thus saving us from the apocalyptic end as the CBO so predicts. 


TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress: “No Debt Ceiling Hike Unless You Also ‘Cut, Cap & Balance’ Federal Spending!”