Fiscal irresponsibility wins another round

With all the brouhaha over the apparent demise of health care reform when the Democrats lost their supermajority in the Senate, you might have missed the story of another defeat the president suffered in congress this week. His proposal to create a bipartisan panel to suggest a plan to address our deficit problem was defeated in the Senate when it won only 53 of the required 60 votes it needed for passage. That story was no doubt deemed less than exciting by our news media, but in the long run it may have more dire consequences for the nation than anything else that happens in congress this year.

The president’s proposal was to create a bipartisan commission that would suggest a “tough medicine” plan to get our government back onto a sound financial footing. Whatever plan that this commission came up with would have had to be approved or disapproved by congress in its entirety – no additions, no subtractions.

It’s the same method that was used in deciding which military bases to close in past years. The idea is to take an issue that is very difficult for congress to deal with because of its inherent unpopularity with voters and allow a group of people who aren’t worried about the next election cycle to draw up a comprehensive plan to address the problem.

We can predict with some certainty what the plan this commission would have come up with would have looked like. There are only two ways that we could possibly get our spending under control – with steep tax increases or steep spending cuts, especially to Medicare and Social Security. But we’ll never get to see that plan now.

Analysts say the proposal was voted down because too many Republicans couldn’t stomach the idea of tax increases and too many Democrats couldn’t live with steep cuts to Medicare and Social Security. It’s not hard to see where we are going to go from here.

If the Republicans in congress can’t live with tax increases and the Democrats will not consider seriously curtailing their beloved entitlement programs, there is no way progress will be made on the deficit issue any time soon. If congress can’t even agree to create a commission to address the issue in a bipartisan manner, there is zero chance that they are going to piecemeal any realistic deficit reduction plan in their usual chaotic way of doing business.

Most likely congress will continue on the path that they are currently on until some external event forces them to take drastic action. The best case scenario would be reaching that point a few decades down the road when the interest that has to be paid each year on the national debt becomes so large that it starts to eat up all other spending. But things could go off the rails long before then if the people who buy up our debt (lately a lot of which is in the hands of foreign investors, especially the Chinese) decide that the United States in no longer a good credit risk and demand immediate, drastic action.

If that happens, we will be in uncharted territory. All we can say is that it will be bad. Very bad. It’s never a good thing for a country to be unable to make good on its debt obligations, but it’s a lot worse when other countries are holding majority stake in that debt. You are suddenly left to the whims of your creditors and if you are to survive, national sovereignty has to be the first thing to go.

It will be interesting to see how this issue will be addressed in the 2010 congressional campaigns. Do you think any serious candidates will promise to raise taxes and/or make deep cuts to Medicare and Social Security if they get elected? I’m guessing not, even though they know it would be the only responsible (and sane) thing to do.

Some advice for the anxious young

I came across an item in the news this week that made me stop and do a double take. According to a new study based on the results of a psychological questionnaire that has been given to college and high school students since way back in 1938, young people today suffer from anxiety and other mental health issues at a rate that is five times higher than they did during the Great Depression.

Think about that for a minute. The Great Depression! People had some very good reasons to feel anxious back then, including not having jobs, places to live, or enough food to eat. And yet we are raising children who are five times more anxious than the children of that era were. It seems counterintuitive at first blush.

But if you’ve spent any time with people in their teens and twenties lately, you’ve probably noticed this phenomenon yourself. Many young adults seem restless, irritable, and dissatisfied, and it’s not because they are homeless or underfed. It seems to have a lot more to do with life not meeting their unreasonably high expectations.

Most young adults expect life to come to them and deliver the things that they want with minimal effort on their part, and they quickly become frustrated when that doesn’t happen. And it’s not really their fault, because in many cases we have raised them to believe that is how the world works.

We give them everything they need, everything they want, and then give them a little more, all the while trying to shield them from any pain or discomfort. Eventually, they make their way out into the world and find that the rest of the universe is not quite so preoccupied with making them happy. And then, very quickly, they become frustrated.

I’ve been alive for 43 years and counting, and I’ve endured my share of disappointments. But each one of them has taught me something., and I’d like to share a few of the lessons those disappointments have taught me with the young and the not-so-young who feel like the world is against them and that life will never live up to their expectations.

1. The universe was not designed to make you happy. Sometimes things will go your way, sometimes they won’t. It’s like that for all of us. You aren’t special.

2. As a rule, the rest of the human race is not looking out for your best interests. All the people around you are wrapped up in their own situations most of the time, and only occasionally will your wants and needs cross their minds. Most of the time, that includes even family members and close friends.

3. Acquiring things does not make you happy, at least not for long. The pleasure you get from money and the things it can get for you is notoriously fleeting. Love, friendship, working hard at something you enjoy, taking care of your spiritual side, helping out someone who in genuinely in need – those are the kinds of things that can bring you lasting satisfaction.

4. You live in a country where you have a high degree of personal freedom and a wealth of opportunity to pursue your dreams. You may very well come up short, but you’ll find that the pursuit is still worthwhile. In fact, it’s what life is really all about.

5. Remember that the world is in a constant state of flux. That means that good times won’t last, but neither will bad times. You will never reach a point in life where all your problems are resolved and you enjoy a state of perpetual bliss. It’s a rollercoaster from start to finish, and you can either enjoy the ride or squeeze your eyes shut and pray for it to be over. If you live long enough you might learn to be grateful for both the joy and the sorrow, since one can’t exist without the other.