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What the Commission should produce is a contingency plan for balancing the budget immediately. America mustn’t wait for some cosmic intervention a la Klaatu to create such a contingency plan. A plan would be needed in national emergencies caused by terrestrials, such as war. Not the limited wars we’ve been prosecuting for the last nine years, but total war. And when the Chinese decide to stop buying American treasuries, America will also be in “Klaatu country” — forced to take a meat cleaver to the budget because we have no plan.
A contingency plan to immediately balance the budget would isolate and minimize pain. Such a contingency plan would list those budget line items that would be surgically excised in their entirety. It would also have to come up with formulae for how the remaining items, including entitlements, would be reduced. A serious contingency plan would specify how to balance the federal budget overnight.
If faced with a crisis requiring painful cuts in federal spending, most Americans would expect Congress to cut pork and earmarks before Defense. A contingency plan would itemize our values, forcing Congress to at long last prioritize, and it should be made public. Without a contingency plan, the Commission’s recommendations will be another exercise in evasion and deferral, and shouldn’t be taken seriously.
America used to have a plan for everything. Nixon had a plan for taking over the Saudi oilfields. We probably even had a plan for invading Canada. But recently, Defense Secretary Gates confessed to not having a plan for Iran. Let’s hope that isn’t true.
If you think the Commission should produce a contingency plan for balancing the budget immediately, email them at commission@fc.eop.gov, or visit their website.
Jon N. Hall is a programmer/analyst from Kansas City.
