Finneran: Certifiably Nuts

Finneran: Certifiably Nuts

Debtor’s prison.

That’s the remedy which comes to mind when I consider the ongoing spectacle in Washington D.C.

Lock them up and throw away the key. By the way, “them” includes Republicans as well as Democrats.

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Debtor’s prison fell out of fashion through the obvious recognition that a person sitting in jail could never possibly earn the money needed to pay off whatever debts he owed. But there was and is an equally obvious recognition that the spendthrift sitting in that cell is prevented from running up ever increasing additional debts.

All of this came to mind during last week’s televised debates. Those debates can be summed up as follows:

CANDIDATE ONE: My administration will commit $50 trillion dollars to free stuff:

CANDIDATE TWO: My administration will commit $100 trillion dollars to free stuff;

CANDIDATE THREE: My Honorable opponents are shortchanging the American people. My administration will commit $500 trillion dollars to free stuff and we will deliver that stuff to their front porch;

BETO O’ROURKE: All of the above, in Spanish.

Are there any grown-ups left in Washington D.C.? You remember grown-ups, don’t you? They used to exist, usually in the person of your mother and father. To the childish cries of “I want, I want….” or to the childish questions of “why can’t we do this or do that……”, Mom or dad would patiently explain that we don’t have the money for a new car, or a new house, or for a trip around the world.

Later on, as teenagers, when we asked for stupid teenage things, Mom and Dad would forego the patient explanation of fiscal reality and shoot a withering look at their dunce-like sons and daughters. No words were needed and even we, as stupid teenagers, knew the real deal of finance.

Might the vast field of 2020 candidates get to the level of stupid teenagers’ grasp of reality? Is that too much to ask?

We are a very broke nation. Broke. It’s a strong word to be sure, with real meaning for grown-ups. We are spending money we do not have. We have been doing it for a long time and there is no end in sight. I think of the phrase “spending like drunken sailors” but I don’t want to offend drunken sailors. After all, they can only spend what’s in their pockets. The 2020 candidates are spending everyone else’s money at rates that would make drunken sailors look like models of Amish probity.

The 2018 federal deficit was almost 800 billion dollars. 800 BILLION!

The interest we pay on the national debt is almost 400 billion dollars a year. 400 Billion! And it’s rising every year. We fight ceaseless wars on credit cards. We run innumerable “programs” on those same credit cards. Our kids and our grandkids should have us locked up. We have maxed out.

We have a strong economy and we’re still running massive yearly deficits. Nary a nickel has been saved in a reserve account. Republicans want further tax cuts, thereby reducing revenue. Democrats want even more spending, thereby running up our annual deficits as well as the national debt.

Bernie Sanders and Bill de Blasio preach the morality of 70 percent tax rates! No other candidate puts a blast on these two Communist cranks. Is their silence acquiescence? Is their silence assent?

Such is the state of our nation in the year 2019.

Bring back debtor’s prison.

 

 

Tom Finneran is the former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, served as the head the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, and was a longstanding radio voice in Boston radio