The federal budget debates taking place in Congress demonstrate that reality hasn't penetrated the Washington, D.C. beltway.
They're talking about whether and to what extent public broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts should be funded from the public treasury. That's really not the issue as the public treasury is empty except for the borrower's copies of all the IOUs it has issued.
The government is broke and up to its keister in debt . . . and the debt level is soaring higher with no end in sight. Therefore the real issue is what is important enough to fund to warrant going even further into debt.
Irrespective of what one thinks about public broadcasting and the arts endowment, they are, at best, nice things to have. They are luxuries and not by any means essential necessities.
Given the state of our public finances, the government should be doing just what individuals and families do when in reduced financial circumstances:
1. Spend only on necessities -- things that are truly essential.
2. Cut out any and all frivolous expenditures, irrespective of how enjoyable any particular nonessential luxury may be.
Such common sense thinking appears to be beyond the capacity of politicians, academicians, and journalists -- those who can (and are willing and eager to) finance their dreams with other peoples' money and by impoverishing future generations.
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