by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
So, President Obama’s bipartisan deficit commission
headed by former Wyoming Senator Alan K. Simpson
(R) and former Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine B. Bowles
(D) has issued its preliminary report.
It is a stark, sobering document. It says, in glaringly
specific ways, that we as a nation have blithely spent too much
too long, unconcerned like Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Newman:
“What me worry?”
Well, we have partied and now wake up to a colossal
headache of global proportions. Now what?
President Obama, understanding that Congress needs
help with this hot potato,early on in his term issued
an Executive Order on the matter. Per this order, a panel of
18 members was created; 12 are members of Congress.
Six are private citizens of impeccable pedigree. Fourteen
of these commissioners must agree before the panel can send
any recommendations to Congress, which they must do
shortly.
What the commissioners recommend… so far
The commissioners were given a breath taking charge by the
president: either recommend $4 trillion dollars in budget cuts and
savings and/or raise that sum in tax revenues. Everything
was on the table; nothing was sacrosanct and inviolable.
In short, “deal with it, boys and girls, for the good of the nation!”
The commissioners, selected for a gravely serious purpose,
took the matter seriously, and have produced a serious document…
the more so since others both within the Congress and out
continue to play “gotcha politics” on the matter. Not so the
commissioners. They set about their vital work with a will
that promises to be sadly lacking in a Congress which will
ultimately decide on what to do. Here is the heart of what
they reported.
Item: deep cuts in domestic and military spending
Item: gradual 15-cents-per-gallon increase in the federal
gasoline tax
Item: limiting or eliminating popular tax breaks (including
the home mortgage deduction) in return for lower rates.
Item: benefit cuts and an increased retirement age for
Social Security.
It is all sensible, logical, necessary and desirable.
It is also DOA because only the commissioners have
the will to make changes… and they don’t have the
power to save a penny or increase tax revenues
Thus, under the heading “Fools rush in where angels
fear to trend”, here are my thoughts and recommendations.
Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea, take note.
1) We live in supremely selfish times where no one is
willing to give up anything. “Ask not what you can do for your
country. Ask what your country can do for you.”
I start from the proposition that making the necessary
changes to the budget will arouse the wrath of
Americans nationwide, whatever Tea Party budget-
balancing tenets they espouse. Everyone entering into this
necessary budget shrinking debate should expect
two certain things: up front high-blown patriotic rhetoric about sacrifices
willingly made ; behind the scenes bare knuckle fighting of the crudest
variety to protect the haves… no matter how grossly illogical
and piggish their benefits.
2) Tackle Social Security first. It is the easiest to
rehabilitate.
It is time someone told the American people,
who treat tampering with Social Security as the third
rail in politics (touch it and die), the truth. The entitled, immovable
age of 65 is the cynical legacy of Europe’s most successful
politician, Prince Otto von Bismarck. He’s the man who
engineered the unification of Germany. Looking for a
way to undermine the burgeoning late 19th century Socialist
movement (very strong in Germany) he asked actuaries
to find a number where most men would be dead and
only voteless women left. Pensions would begin then.
Otto and his conservatives get the credit… but have to
pay little! Actuaries said age 65 would do the trick… and so it has
remained.
Since Bismarck’s day, however, there have been huge
improvements in health and longevity, thereby making the
number 65 less an “entitlement” than a fantastic
gift from the government for many years, to the detriment of
succeeding (and rightly concerned) generations who foot the bill.
Note: Congress should bite this bullet early and deep. Whereas
the president’s commissioners want to raise the age by
gradual stages to year 69, instead make the magic number go to 71
for those in reasonable health who can work. It’s the right thing.
3) Make each member of the Congress take a pledge to
eschew “gotcha politics” on this matter. In our brutally tit for blood-letting
tat Congress to say A (like “you voted to slash military spending”) immediately
fuels the opposition to return (B) a blow of equal or greater
intensity (like “you voted to gut all domestic spending programs”). This gets
us no where and fuels national rage about “do nothing” congresses.
Members of Congress raise money to clobber each other.
That’s what they do. They’ve been doing it since Minute 1
of the new republic. Now some aspiring statesman should,
in the name of getting to yes with this budget imbroglio,
say “basta!” and ask all members, on both sides of the
aisle, to join him and appreciably move towards the
solution we must have. Make working together politically
attractive and a “must”; do this and the politically pusillanimous
who constitute the core of the Congress will rush to embrace it.
4) Urge the president to spend his (admittedly diminished)
political capital to solve this problem — even at the risk of
losing a second term.
Americans love big men who focus on big things
which benefit the nation in big ways. Let our now
wounded president do this and secure a truly
significant and majestic legacy.
President Obama could rise to the occasion and say,
“The issue of securing a balanced, lean, fair budget and
with it the sound future of the nation is so
important, I intend to make it my Number 1 priority.
It is crucial that America get this benefit,
and if it costs me my second term, so be it. It is the
right thing to do.” (P.S. Not only would this be
statesmanship in the grand manner, but this wounded
man would sail to a second term and a legacy of
substance and real worth.)
5) Explain to America what is at stake. Then sell it to
the nation.
John F. Kennedy’s father, Joseph Kennedy, was a marketing
man. He stayed behind the scenes, raised money and gave
sharp, sensible advice. Before the crucial Wisconsin primary
in 1960, he told his son Jack that they would sell him “like
soap flakes.” They did… he romped in the primary…. and got
a crucial boost on the road to the presidency.
President Obama et al need to do the same thing now.
Hire the best marketing brains on earth… brainstorm every
benefit. Then go out and sell it to the nation. This matter of the budget
is not the most difficult problem this country has ever faced;
it’s entirely solvable. What is necessary is to enlighten Americans,
enlist their support and show them what to do. Then lock the Congress
in a room and tell them to cut deals until the deed is done. And
because cutting deals is what they do best, in due course the
thing will be done. Then spread the credit, take the White House
photographs… and start the next spending spree. For that is the
American way!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., www.worldprofit.com where
small and home-based businesses learn how to
profit online. Attend Dr. Lant’s live webcast
TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed
visitors to the website of your choice! For details
on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling business books,
go to www.jeffreylant.com
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