/Image via www.inaugural.senate.gov
Only a couple factors are holding back the U.S. economy, and the leadership of the federal government is one of them. Given the suffering many Americans and billions around the globe have endured since the Financial Collapse of 2008, the performance of the Congress in particular is at best inept and at worst treasonous.
March 1 is the deadline for the latest Washington brinkmanship over the federal budget. Right now and probably for months to come, the ongoing uncertainty over federal taxing and spending is akin to adding a Red-White-and-Blue migrain on top of the world economy's European Debt Crisis headache.
The essence of the U.S. government is separation of powers. The Preamble to the Constitution is one sentence long, then Articles One, Two and Three lay out the powers of the Congress, the President and the Supreme Court. The Founding Fathers were a smart bunch: They clearly stated how the government was intended to work upfront and in no uncertain terms.
The branch of government responsible for setting the federal budget, which is a mess in desperate need of a cleaning, is Congress. There is not a single word in the Constitution giving the President powers related to the economy. In contrast, the first words in the section of the Constitution defining the powers of Congress say: "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; to borrow money on the credit of the United States; to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States ..."
No comments:
Post a Comment