More Sign and Drive

Whenever one turns on TV as of late there are advertisements for sign and drive from various automobile companies.  These ads make it seem like all one does is sign his or her name and then drives away with a new car.  There is no mention of payments or what the results would be if no payments are made.  Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress have taken this, sign and drive, approach to their job of managing the government’s spending.  Congress voted for and “signed” on spending for the goods and services as well as other payments made by the government, but when the bills are due for payment, there are those on the right who are no saying “we have spent too much and we are not going to pay these bills.”  The time to decide too much was spent is not when the bills are due but when the votes were taken to authorize the spending.  For example, when Congress voted for the Bush tax cuts in 2001, that was the time to say no.  When Congress voted to spend money on a war in Iraq or Afghanistan was the time to say no.  Now is not the time to say no, however.  Now is the time to pay the bills that have arrived after Congress previously approved the spending.  The damage to the American economy and the world economy by saying no after the fact is potentially devastating.  It is expected to put the economy back into a deep recession or depression.  Many who are expecting to receive payments from the government will be unable to meet their obligations and be forced into default.  It is hard to image the chain reaction of financial ruin that will follow if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling and fails to permit the government to meet its financial obligations.  Everyone concerned should realize that the debt ceiling has nothing to do with spending.  Congress has authorized the level of spending that has resulted in the current deficit.  It is also the job of Congress to authorize the payment of those bills that are the result of spending at the current level.  While cutting spending may have an effect on future debt ceilings cutting future spending will have no effect on the need to raise the current debt ceiling.  If there are members of Congress who do not understand the lack of a relationship between the current debt ceiling and future spending they are economically ignorant and incompetent to serve in Congress.  When signing and driving for a new car, payments on that car are required just as when signing spending legislation payments towards those bills are required.  Republicans should know better than to walk away from the bills they previously authorized.