There are two characteristics of the adolescent mind: It repeats its mistakes, and it cannot resolve irreconcilable choices. The United States of America is now much too old to act in an adolescent fashion, so the only real value that the debt-ceiling crisis has to offer is in the lessons learned.
How did this happen? Five reasons stand out: We fought two long wars without raising revenues — the dreaded "t" word. Even worse, we cut taxes while dramatically increasing military spending. We deregulated financial markets, and banks and investors manipulated the nation's economy into a catastrophe. These were conscious policy decisions. Then the baby boomers arrived on the social safety net's doorstep. And health-care costs skyrocketed.
How do we prevent this from happening in the future? First, do not increase spending dramatically on measures like war without financing them. You finance them by raising taxes. This lesson is therapeutic in two ways: It forces tax-paying citizens to decide whether an invasion really is necessary for our security. And it prevents deficits from soaring.
Second, do not reduce taxes in the blind hope of stimulating investment. We have to reward investment by...
Source: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/next-debt-crisis-6187266?src=rss
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