The one thing we can’t blame Mark Zuckerberg and excessive screen time for is the Republicans’ inability to pay attention to the deficit for longer than a Democrat is in the White House. This has been a problem of theirs for longer than smartphones have been smarter than their users.
And speaking of not-smart, the GOP tax cuts, plus the budget that was just passed and signed by Donald J. Tumblewig, are turning out to be the most stupidly irresponsible fiscal documents in memory. Public debt now consistently exceeds the size of the entire U.S. economy.
This is the kind of thing you should contemplate doing only in a crisis. So, actually, it makes sense now, because the Republican Party is in a crisis of hypocrisy and abdication of responsibility. The chasm of debt Republicans are creating will always be smaller, they calculate, than their chasm of ethics, and any federal bankruptcy of the treasury will pale compared with their own bankruptcy of character.
The Social Security Trust fund is now projected by the CBO to run into the red in 13 years. Yes, add that 13 to your age and see what that means for you. If your current financial plan calls for you to be dead in 13 years, that’s a good plan. For anybody else, or their kids, not so good.
But the Republicans, while bankrupt morally, are not bankrupt of ideas. Their idea is of course the one they always use. Wait for the Democrats to be back in power and then insist the Democrats fix the problem.
I say we help them put this plan into effect at the earliest possible opportunity.
