WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- House lawmakers rejected a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution on Friday, in a fresh example of the partisan battle over fiscal issues in Congress. The amendment, which needed a two-thirds majority to pass, failed on a vote of 261-165. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/house-rejects-balanced-budget-amendment-2011-11-18-135960 Amazing, how the US wants to teach Europe " a lesson". Ha, ha, ha.
A comment from the article you linked. **** It's vital for our Government to run on a deficit. Only when deficits are out of control do problems emerge. If we were unable to have deficits the US would not be the country it is now. Lincoln would not have been able to ensure our nation remained united; FDR would not have been able to hold back the scorched earth impact the Great Depression was having nor would he have been able to keep back the iron boot of oppression that were Germany & Japan of old; and Regain would not have been able to hold back a recession from depression or defeat the USSR without firing a shot. This is a needed tool for our Government. From: rmorecstaff
America was/is the most successful economy in all of history... but they need to borrow. What is up with that?
As an aside, the Democrats missed an opportunity here. They should have come out in support of the amendment, and then watched the GOP turn tail on the issue when passage might actually have been a possibility.
The lesson is not to put yourself in a stupid straitjacket because of ideological morons or utopian visions of paradise by --- well, ideological morons. There is no crisis in the UK, who's debt load is larger than that of Spain, because of course they have kept their sovereignty while Spain hasn't. And so on down the line. You can keep your sovereignty and be prosperous or cede it and become a client state of someone else in the name of satisfying the utopian vision of some ideologue. Simple choice.
End US Dollar's reserve currency status and America will turn into a 3rd world country overnight USD is the only factor that prevents america from collapsing
What would the D.C. thugs do if, for example, the states of California, New York, and/or Texas passed a law that said an employer can no longer withhold any federal taxes from a citizen's pay and that they would no longer send any money to Washington nor would they receive any money from Washington? Then, what if they said, "We're independent now"? What would D.C. do?
There is no crisis in the UK (or in the US) because both countries can inflate away their debts by printing more money, screwing all savers and impoverishing people on fixed incomes. What a wonderful thing. I want the vermin in Washington D.C. in a straight jacket. It is fools like you who have the utopian idea that the pond scum in the federal government have both the wisdom to make better decisions than we would ourselves and the right to steal our money to do it. If you want an entitlement, pay for it by raising taxes. Then we'll see how popular the entitlement really is. If you want a war, pay for it by raising taxes. Then we'll see how popular the war really is.
Years ago, there was often the debate about "guns or butter". Can't have both a well-funded war machine/defense industry and spend lots of money on social programs. Then some jerk-wad got the idea, "Sure we can. Just borrow". Now we have guns AND butter... charged on the credit card, of course.... and we all know where THAT eventually leads.