Sunday, January 07, 2007

Concord Coalition: Whats Not to Like ?

Generational fairness

The Concord Coalition is taking advantage of the lame duck President and the new Congress to re-invigorate calls for balancing the US government budget and getting our spending under control. The people supporting this initiative are diverse: Bob "Never had a Plan for Iraq that I Wanted to Share" Kerrey, Paul "I Got US Inflation Under Control" Volker, Warren "Me and Graham Got US Government Spending Under Control and I hope to do so Again" Rudman, and Robert "I was Treasury Secretary During the Only Years Since WWII that the US Had a Budget Surplus" Rubin. These people (well most of them) are wise and experienced enough to know the situation is serious and to lend their energy, ideas and reputation for the cause.

The Coalition is asking for several things, most importantly for a balanced budget agreement (like the Graham-Rudman-Hollings act), that would require Congress to cut spending somewhere if they want to increase it somewhere else and reform of the entitlement programs (Social Security and Medi-programs) which soon will be bancrupting the nation without major tax increases. And which will of course, saddle future generations with the debt of this one.

The CC are also hooking-up with the director of the Government Accountability Office, David Walker, who has the mandate to bring government irresponsibility to the attention of Congress and the people, and who has been doing an admirable job of it to whoever will listen. It appears some people are. But still, I wouldnt bet on the Dollar increasing in value any time soon.