Video: McCotter says the debate is between bankruptcy and solvency
posted at 12:15 pm on April 11, 2011 by Ed Morrissey
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) brings the budget debate to this basic question: will we continue to spend money we don’t have, or will the federal government return to responsible management after decades of debt expansion? After wryly thanking the Fox anchor for repeating the hyperbolic and demagogic comments of Democrats over the issue of entitlement reform, McCotter explains that Republicans may not have all the answers — but so far, the GOP is the only party offering any answers. That puts the issue in stark relief — will Americans cheer for solvency or bankruptcy?
The Democrats’ doing nothing and spending everything approach means that we’ll have bankruptcy; the Republican reform approach means that we’ll have solvency.
It may take another election to determine just how seriously the American people take this, but indications from Democrats are that they may have finally realized that the nation has arrived at a watershed moment. Obama now plans to roll out a do-over on his budget projections just a few weeks after submitting his latest to Congress, which didn’t even address entitlement reform. Until that happens, Paul Ryan has the high ground as the only one talking the language of actual spending reductions and fiscal reform.
This isn’t a debate over Grandma eating dog food or applying a “scalpel” to entitlements any longer. With debt approaching 100% of GDP, the debate is whether we will choose bankruptcy over common sense, and time is running out on solutions that hold the pain of reform to moderate levels.
Blowback
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Titanic. Deck Chairs. I want to repost this, for its brilliance:
Exactly, when the leg is putrifying you use a saw to hack it off, otherwise the patient dies. And you know what, most people would rather be alive with one leg than dead. So it is with our government. It is better to amputate the gangrenous leg now in order to save the patient. Liberals want to keep covering up the rot with perfumes and makeup, all the while assuring the patient that someday he will get up and walk again and he should not listen to that mean old doctor who wants to hack off his leg.
rockmom on April 11, 2011 at 10:08 AM
Paul-Cincy on April 11, 2011 at 12:16 PM
The narrative has shifted. It’s about cutting now.
That alone is a victory for the GOP.
fossten on April 11, 2011 at 12:17 PM
No matter, Bush’s fault…
right2bright on April 11, 2011 at 12:17 PM
good job on bringing it back to a basic dichotomy. black and white.
ted c on April 11, 2011 at 12:18 PM
Is this called a mulligan?
a capella on April 11, 2011 at 12:21 PM
“His latest lie” is more accurate.
VegasRick on April 11, 2011 at 12:24 PM
Ah, but leave it to a certified loose cannon loon like Nancy Pelosi to make it just that type of debate! In her case, all it takes is one simple speech to pop the top off that can of worms!
pilamaye on April 11, 2011 at 12:26 PM
With millions filing bankruptcy because they can’t or don’t want to pay their bills don’t really see an ill effect to filing bankruptcy. So I don’t think those that have filied will mind if the US filies they figure if nothing bad is really happening to me it can’t be so bad for the US.
I know people who have filied bankruptcy and are still getting loans and credit cards and are so back in the hole they can’t pay them off. It’s pathetic. How can they pay to keep a float pay just enough to float.
Brat4life on April 11, 2011 at 12:27 PM
But Michael Moore said “We aren’t broke. We are awash in cash!”
catmman on April 11, 2011 at 12:27 PM
I just told my husband I want Ryan and Walker to make little hybrid Wisconsin babies to take over the country to get stuff done.
sammypants on April 11, 2011 at 12:28 PM
Freedom
Serfdom
Take ya pick.
blatantblue on April 11, 2011 at 12:28 PM
Thad McCotter is a great guy, but he is an incredibly uninteresting guy.
ted c on April 11, 2011 at 12:28 PM
Thaddeus rocks. The “new civility” indeed.
John the Libertarian on April 11, 2011 at 12:29 PM
First, cut the earnings of all federal employees raking in over $100,000 in wages and benefits by 20%. (The federal average is over age $101,000)
Then keep cutting all the deadwood Departments, et al, until we have fiscal sanity restored.
We’ve reached the end of this ridiculous Washington scene… time to yell CUT!
profitsbeard on April 11, 2011 at 12:31 PM
This is the Fox News the Left complains about? The interviewer sounded fresh from MSNBC.
rrpjr on April 11, 2011 at 12:33 PM
Let me be the first to predict that even after The One unveils his latest attempt at “fiscal responsibility”, that Ryan will still have “the high ground as the only one talking the language of actual spending reductions and fiscal reform”.
Chris of Rights on April 11, 2011 at 12:38 PM
It’s Obama or America. You can’t have both.
Chris of Rights on April 11, 2011 at 12:39 PM
Yeah it is. I got a huge pay cut the last 2 academic years and at least the next one. By huge, I mean $400 a month, and it’s been a blow to my finances, let me tell you. But you know what I’ve done, I’ve had to do?
SPEND LESS so I remain more or less solvent. It sucks, but you do what you have to do, both me AND the gubmint.
Bob's Kid on April 11, 2011 at 12:40 PM
One of my all time favorite Congressmen. Wish he would move to the Daytona Beach,Fl. area to be my rep. One of the smartest guys in Congress. And it didn’t hurt my feelings talking on the House floor using Led Zeppelin as a reference.
adamsmith on April 11, 2011 at 12:40 PM
Where wasThad McCotter when Barry was passing out money to GM? Standing in line with his hand out.
Big Orange on April 11, 2011 at 12:41 PM
The first tenet of warfare has been achieved. Tactics have changed and now the Dems have to respond to a kink in their reality. Good for the Tea Party and GOP!
In other words, get ready for the White House and their slimy, grotesque MSM minions to twist itself into traction with Mega Barf laden Spin.
The only problem that fewer and fewer people are listening to O’s siren song.
Oh, BTW: McCotter speaks softly and carries a BIG stick.
Jack Deth on April 11, 2011 at 12:42 PM
Modern Liberalism can make a person feel really great about themselves. It’s nice to pat oneself on the back.
The problem is that Modern Liberalism (Progressivism, statism, socialism, whatever you want to call it) does not, can not, and will never work over an extended period of time.
It did not work 500 years ago. It did not work 80 years ago. It will not work 100 years from now.
It will not work in Europe. It will not work in America. It will not work in S. America. It will not work in Asia.
Every country on earth will have to move to the right. Otherwise the poor and less fortunate will continue to be punished by technocrats & elite “planners.” Good intentions are irrelevant when all is said and done.
Every developed country is moving to the right, right now. Except America. We’re lurching left. Sad and pathetic.
visions on April 11, 2011 at 12:43 PM
Portugal had to choose between austerity or insolvency.
The people chose insolvency.
If the vote was put to Americans today, how would they vote? I, for one, am not confident in the outcome.
Rebar on April 11, 2011 at 1:02 PM
I am. They would choose insolvency, but I consider that a good thing. We’ve lost the debate, and now we have to follow their social policy to it’s logical end once again. Who knows if we do it enough times then maybe someone somewhere will realize it doesn’t work. This cannot be avoided. It must happen.
DFCtomm on April 11, 2011 at 1:05 PM
The Big Government vision rose to heights in the 60′s and 70′s, but the base for it started decades earlier and if the basis of it isn’t addressed, you will never get to solvency.
The concept Rep. McCotter brought up at the start of his remarks about this being a new age of freedom for information, jobs and investment are key: why do we believe that anyone should retire with government help? This notion was used as part of the Bismarckian state to build the power of the state via ‘good works’. Unfortunately the economics capability wasn’t up to snuff in the 19th century and how that works in reality is horrifying. Demographics, changes in life expectancy and the ability of investment markets to reach down, further, meant that a dirt poor factory worker was no longer beholden to his employer for retirement. The pension system from companies was the target of SSA, so that government would do this for companies, and yet the advances in communications, banking and vehicles for investing meant it was taking on those ‘responsibilities’ just at the dawn of the era when individuals were gaining the ability to do so on their own to an extent never before possible. The intermediaries cut, the cost of the intermediary to the transaction, is a killer in government even if it did ‘invest’ money: the accountability structure and burden is heavier than in any other set of instititutions so that they are accountable.
Governments don’t invest, of course, so we pay out of current funds… private individuals do invest and can look out for their own best interests and plan for a ‘retirement’ if they want one. Microsoft coders and engineers from the first generation retired as millionaires, even billionaires, then came back to start new companies because retirement is deathly dull. That means there are no guarantees in life for anyone… because the cost of that guarantee is the reduction of liberty and the slow grinding to insolvency of society by its government.
ajacksonian on April 11, 2011 at 1:06 PM
We are on the cusp of no return
Insolvency seems to be the goal of the Marxists in the White Houe, but they are fools, because war is just as likely as writing a new constitution. The egotists in the Executive Branch are assuming they will still retain power after the collapse.
They are so parochial they assume the hinterlands would never fragment, and that enemies, foreign and domestic, would not strike. All these fools can see is a local gravy train of power and privilege, defended by fantasies
What made the French so trust the Maginot line before WWII? They put themselves in the shoes of the enemy and decided they themselves would never cross such a barrier. Those they played chess with themselves, and in such a game, one is always the winner
entagor on April 11, 2011 at 1:28 PM
ROCK ON tea party. It’s the only thing driving this cut spending attitude.
aceinstall on April 11, 2011 at 1:31 PM
So, you are offering them womb service? ;-)
mockmook on April 11, 2011 at 1:37 PM
I know, let’s ignore our real problems fight about abortion instead!
/socon
MJBrutus on April 11, 2011 at 2:16 PM
Screenshot on the homepage says Freddie & Fannie execs earned over 35M since 2008.
Earned?
I would have to go with the word paid.
Viper on April 11, 2011 at 2:54 PM
Unfortunately it’s not put to a vote, the default do-nothing outcome is insolvency through hyperinflation.
slickwillie2001 on April 11, 2011 at 2:57 PM
Thad McCotter is a great American. He’s also got about the driest wit of any public speaker I’ve ever heard.
In a meeting of the minds sort of vein, I’d love to see a dialogue between Rep. McCotter and Victor Davis Hansen.
rokemronnie on April 11, 2011 at 4:06 PM
The Maginot Line succeeded in preventing the Germans from crossing the French/German border, the Germans went through Belgium. Had the french run it all the way to the Atlantic coast, it probably would have kept the Germans out for another five years. That is until Germany had produced the Really Big Gun artillery they designed to dig it out.
Slowburn on April 11, 2011 at 4:17 PM
The amazing this is, I never heard of this guy until he made multiple appearances on Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld which airs at 3 in the morning because of it’s rather crass humor. I never saw him before that and I would watch a lot of cable news. He should have been a regular on news channels to get the GOP message out but it took Red Eye to get him noticed.
Daemonocracy on April 11, 2011 at 4:19 PM
FIFY. Conservative handlers are now herding the elephant down the path it should have been taking all along.
dominigan on April 11, 2011 at 4:20 PM
It should be obvious, Sorros and BO want to break the dollar.
Goerge will make a vast fortune as it declines.
And you’ll be left with squat.
esblowfeld on April 11, 2011 at 5:07 PM
Yep, I’m wondering if the progs plan to collapse our economy in May is tied into the credit limit argument. Whatever it is, I’m sure their favorite Nazi stooge is heavily invested.
slickwillie2001 on April 11, 2011 at 5:34 PM
Alan Simpson was on Your World with Neil Cavuto, this afternoon. The President’s debt commission, has already made recommendations. The Democrats have cover to engage in spending cuts if they truly wanted to be serious and take on any of their duties – the people who elected them expect them to do more than engage in partisan politics. The fiscal health of this country isn’t just one parties’ responsibility.
At the end of video Rep McCotter mentions, the people gave the Republicans the House and left the Senate in the Democrat’s hands….I wonder why that happened? Americans really don’t believe that the House can school the Senate – get them to re engage with us out here, living in 2011, not the 60s and 70s. That an uphill battle dragging some of them into the 21st century. It’s entirely possible that what we are experiencing is one generation refusing to move aside for the next generation. What is the average age of a Senator in the U.S. Senate, and how many of them are North of 70 and just how many aren’t “capable” of pivoting or transitioning to fiscally conservative approach to our federal budget?
Alan Simpson isn’t an especially young man but he seems to get it :) He said that there is something for everyone to hate in the President’s debt commission report. I imagine if you were to bottle the Bowles -Simpson advice, it would probably taste like Castor Oil, sometimes you just have to take your medicine. We tried Hope & Change “A little bit of sugar helps the medicine go down” If we keep taking that sugar pill, we are going to end up on life support.
Dr Evil on April 11, 2011 at 5:59 PM
McCotter Floor Speech Opposing Bailout Legislation
Speaking Democrat: A Primer by Rep. McCotter
McCotter on Iran’s Khamenei: Your Referendum Has Been Held and You Have Failed Your Test
I wish he was on TV more.
Shiny_Tiara on April 11, 2011 at 8:47 PM