Sally is a teenage girl who loves to shop. Clothes, purses, things to decorate her room with — it doesn’t matter. If she wants it and can go shopping for it, she’s going to get it. Even though Sally’s father isn’t made of money, he is all too willing to oblige her spending habits. He happily gives her cash everyday to keep her content.
But Sally soon realizes that no matter much she spends or what she buys, her father will always give her the cash she needs. It’s an odd arrangement; no one else she can think of gets this kind of treatment. But as long as she can do it, why stop?
Eventually, Sally’s father starts to see a problem with his system. His checking account is empty, his savings are depleted and most of his credit cards are maxed out. It would make sense for him to cut Sally off. She has enough stuff already. But remember, Sally and her father have an odd arrangement and don’t do things logically. Instead, Sally’s father starts a new credit card account and begins giving Sally ever more money to spend, which she does, and his debt goes through the ceiling.
Of course, the story of Sally and her father is ludicrous both in theory and in practice, but it is exactly what President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats want to do with the coming debt crisis. Just as Sally’s father opened up another credit card to deal with his debt and his daughter’s unsustainable spending, President Obama wants to raise the debt ceiling and “increase revenues,” which is clearly liberal-speak for raising taxes. If Obama and the Democrats really wanted this to happen, they’d cut taxes on all Americans and close tax loopholes to promote economic growth, which would create more wealth for the government to tax as a whole.
But that makes too much sense.
And what logic is there behind giving Sally more cash? That fails the logic test as well, and is analogous to what would happen if Democrats and the president got the higher taxes they want. If taxes were raised, Democrats would in all likelihood spend whatever extra tax revenue the treasury collected. With higher taxes and a raised debt ceiling, what need would there be for them to push for lower spending and a balanced budget?
If President Obama is serious about “getting this done” and fixing the debt crisis, he should realize that even if Speaker John Boehner came out in support for higher taxes, his caucus would never back him up. But Republicans would support a plan to simplify the tax code and close loopholes, if it also included significant spending cuts.
The president and his liberal colleagues must stop pretending to live in the world of Sally’s father, where out-of-control spending and debt can be solved by raising the borrowing limit and giving more money to Sally. Sally has a shopping problem, and Washington has a spending one.
Brandon Kiser is a Kentucky conservative student and political blogger. He is founder, editor, and chief blogger at The Right Sphere, a hub of conservative blog updates and news.