What's really going on in the debt ceiling talks

The current debate over raising the debt ceiling has suggested something interesting about where we are in our politics today. We are actually considering ways to cut back government growth. Imagine that.

Consider how quickly things have changed. Just last February Pres. Obama submitted a budget that would have increased the debt drastically, spending more money than any previous budget in U.S. history. The Senate rejected that in May. Then, just three months ago he called for an increase in the debt ceiling without any spending cuts, without any attempts to slow the runaway debt.

But today the same man calls for debt reduction. Of course, he also asks for an increase in taxes. The problem with these two concerns is the history of what happens when they both are brought forward. The increase in taxes always takes place immediately while the proposed cuts in spending are stretched out into the future and never quite materialize.

So how did Obama do when he offered to consider cuts in spending? Well, judge for yourself. Negotiations which were chaired by Joe Biden, our current Vice President, came up with a grand total of $2 billion in spending cuts. That was all. To put that amount in perspective, the federal government spends $10 billion each day. Of course, that was nothing but a drop in the bucket, so today we find ourselves locked in a struggle over the debt ceiling.

What I find really interesting is the suggestion that free-spending, big-government programs may be on their way out. Look at European countries such as Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland. Then look at places a little bit closer, like Illinois and California. As George Will says, "Entangled economic and demographic forces are refuting the practice of ever-bigger government financed by an ever-smaller tax base and by imposing huge costs on voiceless future generations."

That statement bears repeating. Will is saying that economic problems as well as a lack of population growth are bringing to a close the idea that you can have bigger government by squeezing money out of fewer people and kicking the can of huge deficits down the road to a future generation.

So, my hope is that this liberal philosophy of taxing endlessly to keep a larger and larger number of people dependent upon the government is reaching a dead end. People are waking up to the fact that economic growth under this system cannot generate enough money to keep up with the growing entitlements.

We will see in next year's election if enough Americans have awakened to this fact: Obama is using these negotiations to finance the blowout spending of his first two years by insisting on tax increases. That’s not the way to go.