Thursday, July 07, 2011

Take debt ceiling fight to the states

The federal debt ceiling has been raised 74 times since 1962. I'm sure someone at this very moment is whining that the Tea Party was silent each time Congress took it up, but the point that is that we certainly aren't being silent now. What was once a quiet vote without debate now has Washington D.C. tied up in knots.

It is time to take that fight to the state level.

Frankfort officials very quietly blew $30 million dollars two weeks ago on bond market shenanigans designed to make Kentucky's state budget appear balanced. You have heard absolutely nothing about this in the mainstream media even though state-level waste should be a greater concern to us because Frankfort can't just print up more money.

Now is a great time to draw attention to the need to tie Kentucky politicians hands to keep them from plunging us even further into debt. They will say that the bond market and the ratings agencies keep them from borrowing too much, but we have been down that road before. Lots of people are talking about the federal debt ceiling now and that should continue at least for the next several weeks. Let's take advantage of that to encourage our friends in Kentucky to contact their state representatives and tell them to set a limit on how much the state can borrow.