As the Bush administration proposes backstopping mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a $300 billion line of credit and Congress contemplates another economic stimulus, the question is who will bail out the government?
“People seem to think the government has money,” said former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker. “The government doesn’t have any money.”
A rare consensus has developed across the political spectrum that the government’s own fiscal affairs are precarious, with an astonishing $53 trillion in long-term liabilities, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Both parties are guilty. Which ever party that tries to place the country on a sound financial footing is denogogued by the other. Try to deal with Social Security and the democrats accuse the republicans of wanting the throw the old folks out onto the street.
In addition both parties have learned that you have to give the voters largess to buy thir votes. Look at the current campaign with all the spending that Obama and the democrats propose to do.
And only in Washington can a reduction in the rate of growth in a program be labeled as a cut.
Who is John Galt?
(Note to elves, this isn’t a one liner – it’s quite packed with meaning.)