19 November 2010

Amendment


(Senator Pete Domenici and former budget director Alice Rivkin. Picture Life Magazine.)
I rolled out of bed early. I had walked to the office, part of a new austerity and exercise program that had almost backfired. There is a neat ice-blue Mercedes on the premium used lot at the American Service Center. I had been thinking about the Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution, since the iPod Touch had run out of juice and the audio-book I am listening to was unavailable.

I slowed just long enough for one of the salesmen to attach himself to me and half-convince me that what I needed to do was replace a perfectly fine Hubrismobile that is paid for with a newer one that isn’t.
I don’t know what I am thinking about sometimes. I moved on up Glebe Road shaking my head.
My old Boss Vinnie had forwarded the proposed amendment from Hawaii. I really could not see anything wrong with it as I rolled it over in my mind:

"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens  of the United States that  does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress  shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that  does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States."
 
Vinnie wanted me to forward it to twenty people, with the idea it would go viral and reach everyone in the United States within 48 hours.

I don’t do things like that, since there is enough junk mail as it is, and besides, it is largely a symbolic sentiment.

I do think it seems reasonable that those elected idiots should be subject to the same sort of sacrifices that we are going to be asked to suck up. The arrogance downtown is quite remarkable, with hypocrisy on parade in the Charlie Wrangle affair. The Ethics Committee is going to censure him, as if he had a conscience, and the Committee is pretending that tax evasion that would land you and me in jail can be addressed by reading the charges in front of the House.

It is a sideshow, and only mildly amusing considering what else is going on. The Republic itself is in real trouble. I thought the Odd Couple- Erskin Bowles and Alan Simpson- had launched a leaden trial balloon last week when they presented the draft recommendations of the President’s Commission on Reduction of the Deficit.
 
Alan joked that they had “harpooned every whale in the Federal budget,” and I figured the proposed corrective actions were so radical that none of them would make the final report.

Imagine my surprise when yet another group issued a bold report. This one came from former Senator Pete Domenici and Alice Rivlin, President Clinton’s Budget Director. As an aside, I think Alice is a fox. For a budget director, anyway.
 
Like the President’s panel, Pete and Alice sternly recommend substantial across-the-board spending cuts and the termination of tax breaks for individuals and corporations after 2012.  

For us, that means the end of the mortgage exemption, which would be a huge hit, unless the tax system was reformed as a companion-piece.
 
Everyone seems to be in agreement: the morass we are in is so deep and the alternatives are all toxic.
 
Taxes will go up- or at least the government revenues must- and cuts must be made to entitlements for the big health care programs and Social Security. All this just at the time when me and my pal Muhammed are going to be eligible to start drawing from them. He called me up and said he wanted to stop by and vent.
 
“Correct me if I am wrong, but why weren’t we talking about this when we were getting a bold and expansive health care plan jammed down our throats? And wasn’t the Congress exempted from that?”

“The people we send to Washington are completely clueless,” he said and hung up.

I guess that is why the amendment to the Constitution makes sense to remind those dolts that they are accountable.

When I eventually arrived at the office I turned on NPR on the little clock radio I have to keep the IT guys off me for streaming audio on the computer. They say it hogs bandwidth, and I guess they are right. It forces me to listen to local affairs, as opposed to Colorado or Michigan issues.

I had to chuckle when I heard Rep. Charlie Wrangle’s hilarious account of his ethical challenges. He said he wants to help the other Members of Congress remember their ethics. What a card!

Anyway, I dug into the e-mail queue as I heard someone tell us the Bowles-Simpson approach had been ripped up pretty good, as you might expect. The panel has disappeared behind closed doors where it is safe, trying to hammer out some sort of agreement before the deadline to deliver the final report on the first of December.
 
Pete and Alice’s panel was composed of former governors, mayors, cabinet members and budget experts from both parties. Most of them are centrists, not as far right as the Tea Party would like, or as far left as the “purified” Democratic party. The election purged the conservative Blue Dogs who were swept into office with the President.
 
Muhammed needed a cup of Dazbog Russian-roasted coffee on the way to his job teaching economics at the local community college. He threw down his briefcase and took a load off.
 
“I am not trying to upstage Simpson-Bowles,” he said. “And Pete and Alice have made most of the same points. They ought to be commended for their courage in saying things are really hosed up and major change needs to be made. They are proposing,” he said, extending his hands and ticking off points with his fingers:

“One-year payroll tax holiday in 2011 to stimulate the economy.
Cut tax rates
Add a Value added tax (VAT).
Rein in Medicare costs.
Fix Social Security.
Freeze discretionary spending, starting in 2012, once the economy is rolling again.”

“Never going to happen,” I said. “You ought to issue your own report,” I said, lighting up a Lucky and tossing the match out the back door onto the balcony.
 
“Make it a joint one,” he responded. “We brand it as the Muhammed-Vic Panel. That way it covers both the economic structure and the national security perspective.”
 
“I like it,” I said grimly. “Someone has to talk truth to power.”
 
I have known Muhammed since we were in High School., and he has always been a firebrand, ready to scale the barricades.

He looked back at me with a flash on anger in his blue eyes. “When we alter the budget, I want to protect and increase the category of Government Spending reserved for Executing Terrorists and Embassy Bombers. They are threatening my family and I am not going to sit still for it.”
 
“You’ve got a point,” I said. “You can cut defense and intelligence funding, but it sort of helps if the war you are fighting is actually over before you do it.”
 
He pulled up a chair at the dining room table and grabbed the oversized calculator that came from the VFW in exchange for one of their endless series of pleas for donations. I didn’t ask them to send it and demurred.

Muhammed’s fingers danced across the keys. As he calculated, he made notes.
 
“OK. Here’s the deal. In our Budget Plan we are gong to take a bold stroke.  By way of background, between 1960 and 2007, Government spending was usually right around 20% of the gross domestic product- GDP. It now stands at 25%.  So, by my calculations, we have to cut Government spending by 5% of GDP.”
 
“Shoot, that is going to require whacking about $650 billion in spending per year out of the President’s Budget, and then keep Congress from larding it up again. That is just about what the Department of Defense cost back before we went on our adventures in the Middle East.”
 
“First, our statistical lackeys need to find the cuts while protecting programs that provide for National Defense, Security and promote economic growth. All others are subject to the machete.”

He looked at me pensively, his eyes luminous behind his wire-framed glasses. “Second, we lower tax rates for individuals and businesses. Then let the economic growth create an increase in tax revenue that will give us the other $650 Billion per year to balance the budget.”
 
“Bingo.”
 
“See, this is actually kind of simple. Our plan requires no tax increases. If you want to raise tax rates on the top 1% and want to do it either for fun or to “get” them, that is OK, but it is not necessary so long as you raise revenues. Some people want to tax Paris Hilton, since Lindsay Lohan isn’t worth going after any more, that poor kid. Do you have anything to add?”
 
“Just this,” I said, tossing a letter I got from the state on the table in front of him. “We gotta make this mandatory, like the health care coverage. Muhammed’s eyes widened as he read the letter:
 
“Dear VIC SOCOTRA,

Thank you for your subscription to Mega Millions!

This is to confirm your subscription to the next 104 Virginia Lottery Mega Millions drawings, which are held on Tuesday and Friday. If you win the jackpot with a subscription, an official from the Virginia Lottery will contact you with instructions on how to claim your prize. If you win a prize over $10 you will receive a check within two weeks. Prizes of less than $10 are accumulated, and you will receive one check for accumulated prizes at the end of your subscription period.”
 
He smiled when he finished it. “Perfect solution,” he said. “You really only have to win once and all your problems are solved.”
 
“Yeah, I think we could eliminate Social Security altogether.”

“Figure the odds,” he said.
 
Copyright 2010 Vic Socotra
vicsocotra.com | Subscribe to the RSS feed!