Yesterday, the Super Committee of Congress announced their failure to reach any agreement on cuts or revenue increases to begin to move toward balancing this country's budget. The Republicans are blaming the Democrats for wanting more money, and the Democrats are blaming the Republicans for refusing the allow the Bush tax cuts to expire. I'm sitting here thinking that both sides are saying they will do nothing until after next year's election. Who in this is looking out for the good of the country?
I want to ask, what is so hard about raising the retirement age for full Social Security to 68 by 2020? Why not include all wages in Social Security, not just the first $106,000? Why not admit we have military bases in this country that are underused and do not need to exist and consolidate the system of training and deployments? Why not admit that some of our social programs have furnished subsidies for people who no longer need them? Why not admit we are producing a society where the values of work are no longer touted and in which we need to retool for a global economy? Why not stiffen what we teach in our schools so that Johnny and Susie are prepared to compete in math and science with Chinese, Indian, and Brazilian students? Why not sit down and pass a true federal budget, not just keep the country operating at the same levels on continuing resolutions? When did we actually have our last full-blown federal budget? It seems to me that we are missing the boat in the name of electoral politics. I don't believe our country can wait until 2013 to begin addressing our challenges while we have government by gridlock.