Cap and Freeze

Tuesday January 15th, 2013   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 7:48am PDT   •  


  • The President of the United States
  • The U.S. Senate
  • The U.S. House of Representatives

Here are the key responsibilities of each entity:

By law, the President of the United States is required to submit an annual budget proposal to the U.S. Congress no later than the first Monday in February each year.

By law, both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are required to submit their own budget proposals for a vote in their respective bodies no less than six weeks later, after which negotiators from each branch meet to resolve differences between the proposals in conference.

Let’s stop here before going any farther, because it seems that only one of these three entities is doing its job. Let’s start with the latest news from the White House:





Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate is also setting a similar record for budgetary incompetence, as it has failed to act to even begin fulfilling its mandatory responsibilities under the law for more than 1,357 days. Here’s the news from last October, when it had been only 1,279 days since the U.S. Senate last acted to fulfill its legal requirements:





Now, back to the White House, where the President is seeking lawmakers to boost the nation’s debt ceiling before the federal government overspends it, as it doesn’t have a budget to follow:



So, here’s a suggestion for dealing with all these derelict politicians and avoiding these possible consequences. First, take the President’s suggestion and decline to tie a debt limit increase to cuts or entitlement reform. Instead, set the debt limit to increase once a month on autopilot so that the amount of the increase is tied to the average monthly rate of growth of the U.S. population between the two most recent U.S. Census counts (2000 and 2010 at this writing).

Then, increase the debt limit beyond that level only if and when a budget for the U.S. government is passed into law.

What this suggestion will do is cap and freeze the national debt burden for individual Americans where it is at today, at roughly $52,140 per person, unless the U.S. Congress and the President mutually act to increase that burden beyond that level. Because really, given how much money it spends today, is there really any need for the federal government to spend more than that per American?

Meanwhile, the total national debt would grow at about 1% a year, roughly the rate of population growth, which is a lot slower than typical economic growth, and which would be way down from the average 11.6% compounded rate of growth recorded during the President’s first term in office. The difference would be staggering, as the national debt would grow at a pace where it would double in size once every 72 years, instead of keeping at its current pace where it is on track to double in size every 6 years.

Left alone over time then, the debt burden per individual American would become more and more manageable as people’s incomes increase as the economy grows, even if the U.S. Senate or the President continue to be derelict in their legally mandated duties.

Unless, that is, they actually get around to complying with the law and doing that whole budget thing.

Featured Image:
Source: White House Office of Management and Budget

Facebook Twitter Youtube



January 2013
« Dec   Feb »