Beer Coolers and Deficits
The south Texas wind is relentless. Pushing the truck around a bit, though not as badly as the Santa Ana winds in the L.A. area which nearly knocked the thing over a few months ago, it rearranges debris across the landscape. I'm at a truck stop in Alice, Texas, not to be confused with Alice's Restaurant, where the story tells us that the proprietor actually attempted to pick up after himself. Here, the person who picks up after himself is immediately marked as an outsider. Walking into the restroom, I saw that the person who was walking out had left the water running in the sink. Not his responsibility, I guess. A few minutes later, another customer went to the beer cooler, extracted his favorite brew and then left the large glass door wide open as he walked toward the cashier. Not his responsibility either, I suppose. “It's okay, I'll close it for you,” I called out, prompting him to turn and mutter, “Sorry.” Curious, I watched him at the register. It seemed the genius had picked up the wrong size beer, and he told the cashier that he really wanted a twelve-pack instead. Then he just stood there with that vacuous stare you would expect from Timothy Geithner at a tax audit while another employee fetched the twelve-pack for him. But at least he paid for the beer himself, which is more than can be said of the political class that has been screaming all week about the horrific prospect of having a little less of your money to spend.
During a week which culminated in a deal to cut $38.5 billion from the federal budget over the remainder of the fiscal year, the deficit for this week alone increased by $54.1 billion. According to the Bureau of the Public Debt, the week started with a debt of $14.2101 trillion and ended with a debt of $14.2642 trillion. So the cuts to the remainder of the Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11) budget fall $15.6 billion short of the deficit spending that took place just this week. According to the President's own budget, the interest on the national debt in FY11 alone will be $247 billion, of which this negotiated budget cut makes up only a little over 15 percent. And for this paltry drop of water in an ocean of debt, this fiscal fart in a thunderstorm, you'd think that Republicans were engaged in a truly malevolent enterprise like, say, the rationing of health care.
Saying that this was a “Civil War” fight, the always plucky (if confused) Jesse Jackson added, “You have those who believe in states' rights and those who believe in a more perfect union.” If spending money your unborn descendants have yet to earn makes for a “more perfect union,” one shudders to contemplate the level of debt that qualifies for divine perfection. The angel Gabriel would have to pawn his trumpet! But it's the rhetoric that instructs. A cut in FY11 expenditures that falls short of a single week's deficit rises to a “Civil War?” If we cut the equivalent of a full week's deficit from a year's budget, would that qualify as a World War? Would one less vacation for President Obama rise to the level of a skirmish?
The heavy hitters of the thoughtful left were in full-throated panic mode, having what an old gag Cajun letter described as a “nerving smashdown.” Nancy Pelosi claimed that Republicans are, “...trying to starve millions of senior citizens,” presumably the same senior citizens the President wanted to feed pain pills to last year. Meanwhile, some group called the Coffee Party is blowing grounds through its nose, writing a letter to Congress that includes this little gem: “As you wrangle over how much to hurt our quality of life and jeopardize our future, consider ways to create jobs and invest in our future.” Any claim that one's quality of life, future or present, is jeopardized by a budget cut that barely covers 15 percent of the interest on this year's debt is laughable nonsense. Likewise, anyone who depends on the federal government for a job and future has much to learn. The Coffee Party is in desperate need of decaff.
This week's exercise has been instructive: The left has become a caricature of itself. Their arguments are unserious. They appreciate neither the calamity that awaits this country if we don't get our fiscal house in order, nor the fact that their empty scare tactics fail to resonate with an increasingly engaged and informed public. The public is more receptive to fiscal sanity and constitutional governance than at any time in recent memory. Republicans need not be so squeamish when it comes to telling the truth to the public and taking the fight to the statist. Perhaps, like a certain trucker in south Texas today, we are growing tired of picking up the mess left by others, whether in truck stops or in the finely appointed halls of power.
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
I, for one, am ecstatic that Republicans have heroically left the cooler door 70% less open than the Democrats did.
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
And less filling.
Dec '10
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
Beautifully written again, Dave. I'm happy that something is happening even though it would have been interesting to load missiles onto submarines purely for the love of country for a few weeks. All that being said, until the budget drops back to pre-stimulus levels they still have accomplished nothing. I know Mitch Daniels rankles a lot of people, but he's right that no fight matters more than getting our finances straight.
Sep '10
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
Very nice piece, Dave. I've met those guys. Leaving the water running especially drives me nuts.
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
And the troops would have done it, of course. But an E-3 with a family needs something more than love of country to pay the rent. I hope the troops can be insulated from the crossfire next time.
Nov '10
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
The grudging agreement of the Democrats to cut $38.5 Billion for the rest of the year while still incurring debt of $54 Billion a week is like a 450-pound guy deciding to eat one less order of fries sometime this year and calling it a diet.
Nov '10
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
Happy travels through Texas, Dave. I'm not a Texan, but my daughters are. Do you know the kids say a pledge to the state flag every morning here? I am not sre how common that is in other states, but in the Southwest that I grew up in, it was not a standard practice.
The wind is blowing here in Austin as well.
Jul '10
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
I was online at my supermarket yesterday - in the express line - where two consecutive elderly women held up 20 people for 10 minutes while they argued about their discount coupons. They were absolutely oblivious to the inconvenience they were imposing upon us.
Say what you like about New York City, but in my twenty years there, I never saw anything like this. In the crowded confines of Manhattan, you learn to be aware that you're merely one among many and that if you don't keep moving, you'll be run over. You also learn that a single person can degrade the civility of a city - and you certainly don't want to be that person.
Mar '11
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
Great piece, Dave, thanks.
...Of course, now I can't get the tune out of my head... "you can get anything you want..."
May '10
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
Dave: we are growing tired of picking up the mess left by others, whether in truck stops or in the finely appointed halls of power.
Thanks for making my day Dave. We need some truck driver common sense in DC. Great post as usual.
Edited on Apr 10, 2011 at 5:56amSep '10
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
The beer-buyer was either stoned and/or drunk I'd wager.
This is why I like the idea of for cause and random drug and alcohol testing for all members of Congress, as well as for all Federal employees who work in D.C. If it's good enough for the private sector...
Alos, why isn't there some kind of morality and/or competency clause in contract form for these people, especially members of Congress?
As an aside, when driving into Wichita this morning, I noticed a tattered wind sock, much of it missing, on a natural gas odorant injection station. We've had several bouts of high winds around here lately as well. Gets irritating.
Kansa Indians = People of the South Wind.
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
Dan Holmes: The beer-buyer was either stoned and/or drunk I'd wager.
... why isn't there some kind of morality and/or competency clause in contract form for these people, especially members of Congress? ...
· Apr 10 at 7:36am
I suspect it's because the Framers were depending on the people themselves to elect competent and moral representatives, hence Benjamin Franklin's retort that they had given us a republic, "...if you can keep it." However, I don't believe that Congress is prohibited from policing itself in these matters. But again, it all hinges on the quality of people we send there in the first place.
May '10
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
If you think that's bad, have you every done regular shopping at a supermarket in Europe? It's the epitome of inhospitable. I recall one specific occasion while I was living in Austria. I waited in line 20 minutes or so, because one of the two checkers decided to disappear right as a long line was forming. Then, when I finally make it to the counter and started unloading my 10 or so items, some lady standing behind me dumped her two items on the belt before I had finished. When I looked back at her, she glared at me and demand that I let her go ahead of me, because she only had two items and was tired of waiting. Needless to say, she waited like everyone else.
Edited on Apr 10, 2011 at 8:00amDec '10
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
"Dave Carter...I hope the troops can be insulated from the crossfire next time...."
The CR passed this week covers the military for the rest of the year, so even if a big battle ensues during the debate over the debt ceiling, the troops are immunized.
There are so many little things that get to me, but the blocking of store aisles, is high amongst them. Folks just stop in aisles, with a cart to one side and lean over to the other side, completely blocking aisles. It's amazing, to me, that they are so oblivious. As is the now common, (in my observation) behavior that is observed when you move to the right side of a sidewalk, or aisle, and the family or group you are making room for then just fills the rest of the space, or moves to their left. In either case, as a society, we are losing some norms that may seem petty, but I am concerned are just the tips of icebergs.
Nov '10
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
Where was this truck stop in Alice? I was there for my first eight months in Texas, but I don't remember where you are referring to - though that doesn't mean a whole lot, since truck stops weren't exactly the places I went to, and could very well be in that part of town I didn't get to very often.
Re: Beer Coolers and Deficits
Tex Best, where US 281 and Bus. 281 intersect.