Where are the Leaders

I'm sorry but I can't sit around and watch what is happening in washington without chiming in. The folks in Congress, and I use the term "folks" to remind us all that they are not special, they are like the rest of us (whether they believe it or not). Anyway, the "folks" in Congress view themselves as leaders of our country...would you agree? I know a little about leaders. I worked for good and bad leaders during my 23 years in uniform. I have lead men in combat and in peacetime, and I have lead organizations since my retirement. I believe I know what leadership is, and the problem is if I were asked, I would classify the actions of those in Congress as the actions of followers, not leaders. Leaders do not follow party guidance at the expense of those who elected them to lead...followers do. Leaders do not sign absolute commitments "I will never vote to raise taxes" in an environment where they are uncertain of the future, that would be called giving in to bullies and that is not leadership...it is what followers would do. Leaders do not build policies and guidance on "making sure that XXX is a one term President, or that this or that person is not re-elected. That would imply that you are willing to discount things done that benefit the country and that is what followers would do. Call me one of the frustrated majority who is not heard but if you need to raise my taxes so my kids have a job then I say ok, let's figure out how to make it fair. Need to increase the sales taxes on certain items? I say ok as long as you can tell me how it helps. My concern is that if we continue to be "led" by followers then we will become the "former world power" and read about the glory days of America in the history books.

The Cost of Gridlock...or...A Billion Here, A Billion There

Well, the bill increasing the debt ceiling passed. Were you surprised? This after a month of some of the most useless political posturing, showboating and name calling in a long time. We have seen our political system degrade to the point that a handful of elected officials who claim a mandate from the people (but actually represent 4 or 5 percent of voters) can hijack a critical issue for our Nation and use it for their own political ends. And the reality is that after all is said and done, the hard work remains. As Charlie Cook put it in an article yesterday in the National Journal, “The stakes are so high and the performance is so utterly disappointing. The goals of most of the debt-ceiling proposals being debated are so modest that victory would really be a defeat in terms of what needs to be done.” In fact what we accomplished was an increase in the debt ceiling of something like .08% from $14.3 trillion to $16.4 trillion in exchange for $2.4 trillion in spending cuts and a additional unspecified cuts of cuts of $1.5 trillion to be determined by a bi-partisan commission before Thanksgiving.

So my question is this. What is the cost of the fighting for what is right for the party rather than what is right for the Nation? Had Congress been able to work together for the Nation what other business would they have been able to accomplish to deal with issues like job creation or next year’s budget to run the Government. Here a re just a couple of points to consider.

· The FAA’s legal authorization expired on June 23d. While no air traffic controllers are off the job, the agency does have has almost 4,000 employees on furlough and has suspended more than 70,000 construction jobs. Since Congress has decided to start a month long vacation a week early the agency will lose an additional $1.2 billion in airline ticket taxes before Congress returns to work on September 8. In the meantime, FAA safety inspectors are using their personal credit cards and funds to pay for airline tickets and hotels to perform airline safety inspections to keep us safe.

· The treasury has spent an addition $1.2 to $1.5 billion in interest to make US securities attractive in the face of Congressional paralysis.

· Numerous government agencies still have not been given a budget for 2011 (which ends in less than 2 months. While these agencies were funded through a continuing resolution through September 30, that means they can only operate at FY10 levels so all of the small companies and entrepreneurs who would have benefited from new work have been unable to receive a contract this fiscal year. Did I mention that small companies are the largest job creators in the US?

Something has to change. I am not sure what it is but as a voter I have a voice. Perhaps we should start from scratch and fill the House and Senate with new faces. Of course some of the new faces were the reason this crisis happened in the first place. Perhaps term limits would help. What about a third viable party? I wish I had the answer, but I don’t. You can bet on the fact that I will be looking for one.

Where are the Leaders?

The drama surrounding the potential shutdown of the federal government has reached a level we haven’t seen on daytime TV since the OJ Simpson chase. The budget game has been going on now for almost a year with no winner. The goal is to reach an agreement and pass a budget BEFORE the start of the fiscal year. If you do everyone wins. If you don’t pass a budget before 1 October no-one wins. But...to keep everyone from losing you use a budgetary tool called magic.

Actually it’s called a Continuing Resolution Authority or CRA but it works like magic. Under a CRA, the government can continue to operate at the same levels as the previous year. Sounds ok right? Unless of course you hired a few new folks, or gave someone a raise or promotion, or want to start a new program. One of the unique restrictions of operating under a CRA is the stipulation that there can be no “new starts”. If you were not doing it last year then you can’t start it under a CRA. And there is the problem…think about the number of government programs that may start in a given year. It is a lot more than you think. I am most familiar with the Defense industry where a CRA means delays in funding for contracts that you may have been ready to start as soon as the budget was signed and the money was available. Which means layoffs and no new hiring for the many jobs that would have been created to support new programs.

I don’t know about you but I have a problem with that. Congress can’t get past their playground politics and do their jobs, so more Americans are out of work. The longer the CRA runs, the more people lose. Now to be fair, CRAs are not uncommon and they generally aren’t that disruptive, because the budget is usually passed by the first of the year. This year however there are so many juicy political balls being juggled around in Washington that our elected servants don’t have time to notice the impact of their incompetence on the American people. They really only have time to look for opportunities to play “gotcha” and work on the next set of talking points so they can talk over the reported who ask hard questions without answering any hard questions. Perhaps the biggest travesty this year is that we are still without agreement on April 6 when so many reasonable options have been presented. The bipartisan Bowles Simpson deficit commission released their recommendations on November 10, 2010. I am sure it wasn’t a perfect solution but it recommended reductions in federal spending as well as tax changes (reducing many credits and deductions) with a total impact of just over $200 Billion. Congressman Paul Ryan has recently proposed a $2 decrease in spending for every $1 increase in taxes. A bit simplistic but it’s a start and moves us toward the kind of decision that must be made if we are to get out of this mess.

When times are tough we must have leaders who are willing to lead the country rather than a party. We need people who can see past the next election and make the hard calls that although unpopular today, will prove to be right in the end It’s not about winning polls or elections, its about the economy stupid.