A Note From Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun Magazine 7/30/11
"Instead of being such a wimp, Obama could even now simply announce the following plan for what will happen if the debt limit isn't reached: he will pay the social security, medicare and other benefits to those Congressional districts whose representatives voted to raise the debt limit and not to those which did not. And similarly all other federal services. Military installations in the Congressional districts whose representatives did not vote for the raising of the limit will be immediately shut, and all military personnel outside the U.S., starting with Iraq and Afghanistan, will be ordered to return to the U.S. They play hardball, so could a progressive Democrat, if we happened to have one in office, which we don't. If the Supreme Court ordered him to not follow this path, he could tell them to enforce it on their own, because he has the Constitutional responsibility to defend the U.S., and this is the best way to do so."
The one biggest place we are bleeding money is in military and security spending, not entitlements. Let's not get the nation deeper into debt or bankrupt in order to enrich the war profiteers. END WAR NOW AND BALANCE THE BUDGET!
"Instead of being such a wimp, Obama could even now simply announce the following plan for what will happen if the debt limit isn't reached: he will pay the social security, medicare and other benefits to those Congressional districts whose representatives voted to raise the debt limit and not to those which did not. And similarly all other federal services. Military installations in the Congressional districts whose representatives did not vote for the raising of the limit will be immediately shut, and all military personnel outside the U.S., starting with Iraq and Afghanistan, will be ordered to return to the U.S. They play hardball, so could a progressive Democrat, if we happened to have one in office, which we don't. If the Supreme Court ordered him to not follow this path, he could tell them to enforce it on their own, because he has the Constitutional responsibility to defend the U.S., and this is the best way to do so."
I think Rabbi Lerner's idea about NOT paying SS or Medicare in the districts that voted to cut benefits, is a GREAT IDEA! He must have learned from the shenanigans of Governor Scott Walker who, no sooner than the picture ID voter registration law passed, promptly closed the DMV offices in Democratic districts, and used the money saved to extend DMV hours in Republican districts.
Personally, I disagree with the revered Rabbi about ordering military personnel home. I think the part about all military personnel outside the U.S. be ordered home is the correct action right here and right now, NOT only if the Congress votes us deeper into debt. As a successful manager of money, I understand the concept of cash flow. Debt is a risk that needs to be taken short term and only if there is no other way to pay. Solving a deficit crisis with more deficits is nuts. That's reminiscent of the folks who refinanced their mortgages in order to put money in their pockets to continue to make their mortgage payments. Everyone I know who did this all lost their homes.
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