TUPPER: Daugaard’s comparison has valuable, and unintended, lessons
December 13, 2012 at 1:48 am in The Daily Republic
The federal government is like a $24,000 wage earner who is spending $35,000 per year and has $163,000 on a credit card. Continue Reading
The problem with most analogies like this, is that the majority of them are ineptly applied to dress up an argument like an ill-fitted suit. They hardly ever are useful in making a compelling point one way or the other. The analogy used by Daugaard is at best, useful only in bringing the numbers down to an understandable level for the sake of comparison. For me that’s about as far as it goes and here’s why.
We’re not exactly talking about a child needing an apartment or a car, who is racking up debt on a credit card. Oh how I wish it were that simple. The apartment and car are actually big government programs which many have differing opinions on how effective or needed they are. The apartment and car are programs which are working but also many which are bloated, ineffective and rife with fraud. The apartment and car are bail outs and stimulus packages, billions of dollars to countries that hate us, pet projects for politicians and wild parties for federal workers. Seriously, I could go on and on but I think the one thing most reasonable folks can agree on is the fact that our government wastes a ton of money.
So while it seems true enough this “teenager” might need a second job at some point, absolutely first and foremost the kid needs to stop blowing money he doesn’t have. Do you think the responsible parent might question why the kid needs a new car right off the showroom floor when a perfectly good used car will suffice? How about that plush two bedroom apartment in the high rent district with the imported Italian floor tiles. Come on, really?
So then what of the “parent” in all this. Seems to me the parent who is demanding the kid get a second job is the same parent that is encouraging all the lavish spending. Frankly this so-called parent isn’t really suggesting that the kid get a second job, what the parent is suggesting is that all the neighbors get a second job so the kid can pay for all the stuff the parent wants to buy.
I think it is true that all of us want to get out of this mess. The controversy and debate is how exactly to do that. I’ll pay more taxes gladly but I’d like to see some tightning up of fraud and waste in return. How about some give and take. I don’t get a very warm fuzzy feeling about give and take or possible spending cuts when the President asks for an end to the debt ceiling. Should we be teaching Chinese to our children?
In our analogy the dutiful Tupper parent would scold the beligerent child with the admonishment that you must get another job to earn more so we can spend more. As a parent that’s not what I would tell my child to do. But then, this current crisis and debate has nothing at all to do with parenting does it?
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No, it’s not about parenting…..but for the sake of discussion, how about this.
The “parent” is BIG BUSINESS and the “child/teen/whatever” is Congress.
The parent is telling the child “Even though you work for me, your going to have to get a second job because you’re not getting any more from me. I give you everything and all you want is more.”
Now the thing is the parent is sitting fat and pretty in their off-shore getaway and the child just wants what it feels is owed to it. Now the other siblings say, “No,your bleeding dad dry so what you should do is take it from the employees of Dad’s company. Tell everyone that the union is killing us (even though they are making record profits). If they don’t give it, doesn’t matter to us, there are other countries that will”.
Look, if we have such a BIG GOVERNMENT that spend like a drunken sailor, why is so hard to find places to cut?
What are all the entitlements that are “bloated, ineffective and rife with fraud”. Medicare? No that’s your crazy uncle’s business that over charges everyone to put us into the position we are in. Social Security? The program I’ve paid into my whole life and the “child” saw as a cash cow trust fund? Possible.
Stimulus and bailouts were necessary “business expenses” to keep us afloat and are really a VERY small part of the problem.
Come on, you know what the problem is…..fix it.
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