Should Congress Balance the Budget Every Year? I Think Not.

[Xenophanes]

Cantor, who backed out of the Biden's budget group has announced that the House is considering a possible new amendment that would require Congress to balance the US budget every year. To that, I say ha.
In a perfect world, this could really help the economy; however, as our government is too divided and thickheaded to collaborate effectively on matters such as the budget, it would do more harm than good. I doubt, however, that it will even be passed, as Cantor does not have enough teapublicans like him to back up the plan. This proposition is just another attempt to get more people behind the Republican Party by 2012 instead of a real attempt to fix the economy. What we need is a real plan to fix the budget, but with the squabbling House and Senate, that would be impossible.

 

[candycorn]

Cantor, who backed out of the Biden's budget group has announced that the House is considering a possible new amendment that would require Congress to balance the US budget every year. To that, I say ha.
In a perfect world, this could really help the economy; however, as our government is too divided and thickheaded to collaborate effectively on matters such as the budget, it would do more harm than good. I doubt, however, that it will even be passed, as Cantor does not have enough teapublicans like him to back up the plan. This proposition is just another attempt to get more people behind the Republican Party by 2012 instead of a real attempt to fix the economy. What we need is a real plan to fix the budget, but with the squabbling House and Senate, that would be impossible.

Yes they should. And every 4 years, on the new President's first year of his or her term, they should start from zero; none of this "Well, you got 3 billion last year, we'll give you $3.2 B this year"

 

[Xenophanes]

Cantor, who backed out of the Biden's budget group has announced that the House is considering a possible new amendment that would require Congress to balance the US budget every year. To that, I say ha.
In a perfect world, this could really help the economy; however, as our government is too divided and thickheaded to collaborate effectively on matters such as the budget, it would do more harm than good. I doubt, however, that it will even be passed, as Cantor does not have enough teapublicans like him to back up the plan. This proposition is just another attempt to get more people behind the Republican Party by 2012 instead of a real attempt to fix the economy. What we need is a real plan to fix the budget, but with the squabbling House and Senate, that would be impossible.

Yes they should. And every 4 years, on the new President's first year of his or her term, they should start from zero; none of this "Well, you got 3 billion last year, we'll give you $3.2 B this year"

Again I call on the fact of how divided our government is. Do you really believe that they could successfully balance the budget every year? I know they had Bush's mess to clean up, but their inability to work together is still a major setback. Entire parties are acting like jealous high school cliques, slandering and gossiping. I really doubt that these people could effectively collaborate every year on such a huge project if they can't even do it now.

 

[Avatar4321]

Not only should they balance the budget, they should produce a surplus to pay off this debt.

 

[hortysir]

Not only should they balance the budget, they should produce a surplus to pay off this debt.

Enough of them have learned the wrath of unhappy voters.
They need to wake the phukk up

 

[Wry Catcher]

Cantor, who backed out of the Biden's budget group has announced that the House is considering a possible new amendment that would require Congress to balance the US budget every year. To that, I say ha.
In a perfect world, this could really help the economy; however, as our government is too divided and thickheaded to collaborate effectively on matters such as the budget, it would do more harm than good. I doubt, however, that it will even be passed, as Cantor does not have enough teapublicans like him to back up the plan. This proposition is just another attempt to get more people behind the Republican Party by 2012 instead of a real attempt to fix the economy. What we need is a real plan to fix the budget, but with the squabbling House and Senate, that would be impossible.

Cantor is a demagogue. Consider if the Federal Government was required to have a balanced budget, how could it react to an invasion, a massive event such as Japan experienced or a 1918 flu epidemic?

 

[Wacky Quacky]

Cantor, who backed out of the Biden's budget group has announced that the House is considering a possible new amendment that would require Congress to balance the US budget every year. To that, I say ha.
In a perfect world, this could really help the economy; however, as our government is too divided and thickheaded to collaborate effectively on matters such as the budget, it would do more harm than good. I doubt, however, that it will even be passed, as Cantor does not have enough teapublicans like him to back up the plan. This proposition is just another attempt to get more people behind the Republican Party by 2012 instead of a real attempt to fix the economy. What we need is a real plan to fix the budget, but with the squabbling House and Senate, that would be impossible.

Cantor is a demagogue. Consider if the Federal Government was required to have a balanced budget, how could it react to an invasion, a massive event such as Japan experienced or a 1918 flu epidemic?

Therein lies the problem. If you require a balanced budget then it doesn't leave leeway for unforeseen circumstances. And even if you allow a provision to go over budget in cases of unforeseen circumstances, who gets to decide what those circumstances are? The very people who are spending us into oblivion right now. They would convince the american people that every little thing was a life or death situation that required going over budget.

It's impossible to make our elected officials honest about the budget, they'll find a way around it every time. We just need to start electing more honest people. But since the american people don't care about electing honest people it won't happen anytime soon.

 

[auditor0007]

Cantor, who backed out of the Biden's budget group has announced that the House is considering a possible new amendment that would require Congress to balance the US budget every year. To that, I say ha.
In a perfect world, this could really help the economy; however, as our government is too divided and thickheaded to collaborate effectively on matters such as the budget, it would do more harm than good. I doubt, however, that it will even be passed, as Cantor does not have enough teapublicans like him to back up the plan. This proposition is just another attempt to get more people behind the Republican Party by 2012 instead of a real attempt to fix the economy. What we need is a real plan to fix the budget, but with the squabbling House and Senate, that would be impossible.

Yes they should. And every 4 years, on the new President's first year of his or her term, they should start from zero; none of this "Well, you got 3 billion last year, we'll give you $3.2 B this year"

Just think, under that system GW would've had to have raised taxes for his wars rather than handing out tax cuts that we couldn't afford.

 

[Wry Catcher]

Cantor, who backed out of the Biden's budget group has announced that the House is considering a possible new amendment that would require Congress to balance the US budget every year. To that, I say ha.
In a perfect world, this could really help the economy; however, as our government is too divided and thickheaded to collaborate effectively on matters such as the budget, it would do more harm than good. I doubt, however, that it will even be passed, as Cantor does not have enough teapublicans like him to back up the plan. This proposition is just another attempt to get more people behind the Republican Party by 2012 instead of a real attempt to fix the economy. What we need is a real plan to fix the budget, but with the squabbling House and Senate, that would be impossible.

Cantor is a demagogue. Consider if the Federal Government was required to have a balanced budget, how could it react to an invasion, a massive event such as Japan experienced or a 1918 flu epidemic?

Therein lies the problem. If you require a balanced budget then it doesn't leave leeway for unforeseen circumstances. And even if you allow a provision to go over budget in cases of unforeseen circumstances, who gets to decide what those circumstances are? The very people who are spending us into oblivion right now. They would convince the american people that every little thing was a life or death situation that required going over budget.

It's impossible to make our elected officials honest about the budget, they'll find a way around it every time. We just need to start electing more honest people. But since the american people don't care about electing honest people it won't happen anytime soon.

We need to hold the people we elect accountable. It starts with getting the bribes - oops - campagin donations out of the process. A budget is a plan prepared with the best interests of the company, family or nation in mind.

Any member of the Congress who accepts funds from any recipient of government largess must report on there web site the name of the recipient, the amount received as well as any promises offered. Anything of value or conflict of interest not reported should be investigated by the ethics committee and the DOJ.

 

[Wry Catcher]

Citizen United v. FEC is a great threat to our Republic. Unlimited funds are now available to influence our decisions with no legal remedy or sanction for lies, half-truths or inuenndos broadcast by monied interests. That decision alone made our representative republic a plutocracy.

 

[Wacky Quacky]

Cantor is a demagogue. Consider if the Federal Government was required to have a balanced budget, how could it react to an invasion, a massive event such as Japan experienced or a 1918 flu epidemic?

Therein lies the problem. If you require a balanced budget then it doesn't leave leeway for unforeseen circumstances. And even if you allow a provision to go over budget in cases of unforeseen circumstances, who gets to decide what those circumstances are? The very people who are spending us into oblivion right now. They would convince the american people that every little thing was a life or death situation that required going over budget.

It's impossible to make our elected officials honest about the budget, they'll find a way around it every time. We just need to start electing more honest people. But since the american people don't care about electing honest people it won't happen anytime soon.

We need to hold the people we elect accountable. It starts with getting the bribes - oops - campagin donations out of the process. A budget is a plan prepared with the best interests of the company, family or nation in mind.

Any member of the Congress who accepts funds from any recipient of government largess must report on there web site the name of the recipient, the amount received as well as any promises offered. Anything of value or conflict of interest not reported should be investigated by the ethics committee and the DOJ.

Holding elected officials accountable is a good start. Call me when the majority of american people care enough to make it happen. Right now they're too busy dancing like puppets, trying to beat the other party.

It starts with US! Not a new law, not a new regulation, not a new committee, but the american people changing the way they choose their leaders.

 

[Avatar4321]

Citizen United v. FEC is a great threat to our Republic. Unlimited funds are now available to influence our decisions with no legal remedy or sanction for lies, half-truths or inuenndos broadcast by monied interests. That decision alone made our representative republic a plutocracy.

Yes because groups of people being able to voice their mind and donate freely to the causes and people they choose is extremely dangerous.

 

[Avorysuds]

Cantor, who backed out of the Biden's budget group has announced that the House is considering a possible new amendment that would require Congress to balance the US budget every year. To that, I say ha.
In a perfect world, this could really help the economy; however, as our government is too divided and thickheaded to collaborate effectively on matters such as the budget, it would do more harm than good. I doubt, however, that it will even be passed, as Cantor does not have enough teapublicans like him to back up the plan. This proposition is just another attempt to get more people behind the Republican Party by 2012 instead of a real attempt to fix the economy. What we need is a real plan to fix the budget, but with the squabbling House and Senate, that would be impossible.

Yes they should. And every 4 years, on the new President's first year of his or her term, they should start from zero; none of this "Well, you got 3 billion last year, we'll give you $3.2 B this year"

Just think, under that system GW would've had to have raised taxes for his wars rather than handing out tax cuts that we couldn't afford.

Wow, good point! Obama would have had to raise taxes for expanding Afghanistan, not leaving Iraq and starting 2 new wars... Also he would have had to raise taxes for spending near a trillion dollars on, nothing! But instead he gave out "tax credits" and passed the Bush era tax cuts again!

Very good point!

 

[Cuyo]

Balanced budget is not always the right answer, just as it's not always the right answer for a household or a business; Ergo, no we shouldn't (and won't) be required to balance it every year.

But I think it should be balanced during good times. Didn't we have a president that did that in recent history and began to service the debt? What happened to those surpluses?

 

[Wacky Quacky]

Balanced budget is not always the right answer, just as it's not always the right answer for a household or a business; Ergo, no we shouldn't (and won't) be required to balance it every year.

But I think it should be balanced during good times. Didn't we have a president that did that in recent history and began to service the debt? What happened to those surpluses?

Bullshit. It's always a the best practice for a household or a business to have a balanced budget. It's incredibly stupid and irresponsible not to. The government can get away with it because they have other countries willing to buy our debt, and they can print their own money.

 

[whitehall]

I really like Cantor but it seems that the pressure is getting to him. Watch out when politicians start talking about amendments to the US Constitution. An Amendment ain't gonna happen and bringing it up means that they admit they can't do the job we elected them to do. Wouldn't it be be so much easier if they could sit back and let fiscal responsibility fall on the Constitution. They would find a way to screw up that too.

 

[syrenn]

Cantor, who backed out of the Biden's budget group has announced that the House is considering a possible new amendment that would require Congress to balance the US budget every year. To that, I say ha.
In a perfect world, this could really help the economy; however, as our government is too divided and thickheaded to collaborate effectively on matters such as the budget, it would do more harm than good. I doubt, however, that it will even be passed, as Cantor does not have enough teapublicans like him to back up the plan. This proposition is just another attempt to get more people behind the Republican Party by 2012 instead of a real attempt to fix the economy. What we need is a real plan to fix the budget, but with the squabbling House and Senate, that would be impossible.

Just like the rest of us.... You balance your checkbook after every check you write.

 

[grunt11b]

There should be a constitutional mandate that forces congress to balance the budget every year, as soon as the new budget is signed into law, it should be within the guidelines of being a constitutional budget. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Contumacious]

Should Congress Balance the Budget Every Year? I Think Not. ].

Is a Balanced-Budget Amendment Desirable?

Posted by Lew Rockwell on November 7, 2010 12:27 PM


Actually, it's just Republican eyewash, since the federal government does massive "off-budget spending." That is, the official deficit is always far smaller than the increase in the national debt. I do not believe there is any political solution to what the evil entity in DC has foisted on us, nor am I fan of process reform in general, but here is one idea that, if it could ever be enacted by some fairy godmother, would make sense: freeze the national debt. But even that wouldn't cure our ills. We need to follow Ron Paul's advice and end the wars and the empire. That is step one to fiscal and moral sanity.

.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Cantor, who backed out of the Biden's budget group has announced that the House is considering a possible new amendment that would require Congress to balance the US budget every year. To that, I say ha.
In a perfect world, this could really help the economy; however, as our government is too divided and thickheaded to collaborate effectively on matters such as the budget, it would do more harm than good. I doubt, however, that it will even be passed, as Cantor does not have enough teapublicans like him to back up the plan. This proposition is just another attempt to get more people behind the Republican Party by 2012 instead of a real attempt to fix the economy. What we need is a real plan to fix the budget, but with the squabbling House and Senate, that would be impossible.

Cantor is a demagogue. Consider if the Federal Government was required to have a balanced budget, how could it react to an invasion, a massive event such as Japan experienced or a 1918 flu epidemic?

Anyone with common sense knows you can't budget for emergencies. But with a balanced budget those emergencies would be less likely to overwhelm our financial situation and be much more manageable.