Why Not Shut Down The Government?

By Attorney Jonathan Emord
Author of “The Rise of Tyranny” and
“Global Censorship of Health Information” and
“Restore The Republic“
September 23, 2013
NewsWithViews.com

In a government debt crisis, the only thing worse than a weak and feckless spendthrift President, like President Obama, is a strong and efficient spendthrift President. Having no detailed plan to balance the budget and save the nation from drowning in a sea of ever mounting debt, the President defers to a dysfunctional Congress for the answers, and Congress has none. We are told that come September 30 the government will shut down. We are supposed to be horrified, gasp and cower at the prospect. Truth be told, if our elected officials refuse to lead by proposing and adhering to a program of substantial governmental downsizing, a prolonged shut down is the next best way to bring about such a plan or, if not, at least to cut the budget and relieve corporate America of some regulatory burdens.

President Obama has never proven that he has what it takes to lead in a crisis. He is too risk averse, too calculating, too distant from Congress (even from his own party leadership), and far too distrustful of a free market. He has never presented a detailed plan to restore fiscal stability to America. He cannot do so and still support the massive expansion of the federal government that he so desperately advances. He, the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate, and his liberal base of support cling to costly government programs and entitlements that are entirely unaffordable without admitting that fact.

Obama is content to leave American business under an enormous regulatory and tax burden. Indeed, he is adding to that burden every day, encouraging a continuous stream of new regulations from each of the over 250 federal agencies, including a veritable avalanche of tens of thousands of pages of regulation for Obamacare implementation alone.

Under this heavy regulatory and tax burden, the private sector is quaking. Businesses, particularly small and medium sized ones, are unable to expand, keeping the economy on the brink and denying the voracious government the tax revenues needed to satisfy its ravenous appetite.

While the inept handling of the fiscal crisis is not Obama’s alone (Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress are likewise to blame), a dysfunctional President in the midst of the present crisis is appropriately assigned primary blame.

If by September 30, Congress and the President have not passed a stopgap spending bill to keep the government funded, the government will not be able to meet all of its obligations and, by about October 15, it will be forced to shut down non-essential functions. If there is no agreement to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling, the resulting government shut down will not stop entitlement spending for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, etcetera. If there is not agreement by October 15, then the government will be forced to reduce spending to the amount of money government takes in from taxes, fees, fines, duties, and other revenue raising mechanisms. 

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