Nation can no longer live beyond its means
The snowballing national debt, which is
now over $13 trillion, pencils out to over $31,000 for every living
American; but as things stand now, Americans not yet living will
end up paying for most of it
Outrage over the debt and its burden on
our children and grandchildren was a leading cause of the
Republican rising in the recent election.
Deepening anxiety over a
deficit-smothered economy contributed to the Democratic waves in
2006 and 2008.
Now, washed in on an epic tidal wave,
Republicans say they get the message. They didn’t do the job on the
debt when it was theirs to do. Given a second chance, they pledge
to get started.
Republicans advertised themselves as
serious budget cutters in the recent campaign, and now they vow to
perform as advertised.
Budgetary solutions may not be easy,
but the math is simple. The federal government is spending about
$3.5 trillion a year, and taking in a little over $2 trillion.
The Republican tide swept across
Montana with perhaps even greater velocity than the rest of the
nation. There is no question about the mandate for cutting spending
here.
That being true, Montanans should brace
for some belt tightening, because 40 cents of every dollar the
Montana government spends comes from our big brother in
Washington.
The most uncomplicated and frequently
mentioned strategy for cutting back is to return federal spending
to 2009 levels. That year Montana received $1.9 billion in federal
aid. On a per capita basis, only six states were higher on the
federal dole than Montana.
In 2010 our federal piece of the pie
jumped to $2.3 billion. That $400 million increase in one year by
itself equates to more than 20 percent of all the money the state
takes in from taxes, and would be a $100 million over-draft on the
$300 million Montana now has “in the bank.”
The impact of such federal cuts would
surely prove the old saying that a government big enough to give
you what you want is big enough to take from you what you have.
Since our state constitution requires a
balanced budget, we won’t have the alternative of going into debt
to compensate for federal cuts.
Our state government will have to
severely cut services or drastically increase taxes, or both. With
conservative Republicans now in control of both houses of the
legislature, don’t figure on any taxing solutions.
Though it pales in comparison, Montana
went through this once before. In 1980 the Reagan wave brought
conservatives to a great victory. Federal budget cuts followed in
1981.
The 1981 legislature, meeting in
January, didn’t reckon on the level of cuts, and spent money from
the feds we didn’t get.
To comply with the constitution,
then-Gov. Ted Schwinden called the legislature into special session
in November 1981 to balance the budget. His recommendation was a 5
cent increase in motor fuel taxes to relieve the state general fund
in federal highway matching requirements so that additional revenue
could be freed up to cover the costs of paying for the federal cut
backs.
Predictably, the Republican legislature
balked at the increased taxes, and the result was a modest $30
million in spending readjustments and reductions. The average
Montanan hardly felt a thing.
This time around swallowing hundreds of
millions won’t be as easy, but the reality is that our nation can’t
continue to live beyond its means. Significant reductions at all
levels of government have to occur.
Nickeling our way out this time will
not be an option for Montana. This time we will feel the pain.
Brown is a former Montana secretary of
state and state Senate president.