MountainMornings

I’m no Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist/columnist for the New York Times, but when I heard our President tell some hot-headed Congressmen it’s time to, “…eat your peas,” well I just had to laugh. There are no peas in farmer Bob’s garden yet, but thought you would like to see what some little seeds have sown.

Here is what Krugman said about paying down debt recently: “Between 1993 and 2001, federal debt held by the public fell from 49.2 percent of GDP to 32.5 percent of GDP. What stopped the paydown of debt wasn’t liberal big spending; it was demands from conservatives that the surplus be used to cut taxes. George Bush said that a surplus means that the government is collecting too much money; Alan Greenspan warned that we were paying off our debt too fast.”

Obama likes putting the art of compromise – which is let’s face it, every politician’s and parent’s job – into perspective for us ordinary people. I would give the toddler Bride a choice – swirly skirt or pants to pre-school? The Rocker could pick apple juice or milk? The point being, yes, you do have some control over your life (ie the economy) but you can’t run around naked in public or starve (or bankrupt the country)! This is what parents (leaders) do. This is why we elected him.

But telling Congress to behave right before an election, is like trying to get a toddler to eat his peas on a hundred degree day, with a swimming pool within eyesight…just a fence hop away.  After all, actually being re-elected must take precedence over  running the country. Even we ordinary citizens get that!

Will any hail/mary/debt/reduction/scheme Grand Bargain last? Maybe if the Dems keep control of the Senate and the White House. But let’s think ahead folks, Krugman warns that any agreement, “will be torn up in favor of privatization and big tax cuts for the wealthy as soon as the GOP has the chance.” Some elected officials will just never see the garden from the peas.