Don’t expect the borrowing to end

Ed Dornlas, Las Vegas

Monday, Nov. 5, 2012 | 2:01 a.m.

In the wake of the election, regardless of who wins; when the winners are through crowing and the losers are through complaining, the politicians will begin ginning up the next crisis, i.e. the impact of the tax increases from the lapsed Bush tax cuts, the end of the payroll tax holiday, the cutting of defense spending by 10 percent and likely tax increases of the Affordable Care Act.

The public will be invited to join the crisis mentality and demand relief. Here are a few facts to remember when it all starts. Foremost, it’s a government problem. Politicians committed the unforgivable sin of spending more than they had available or had the means to pay back. It’s not the citizenry’s problem because politicians have the ability to solve it themselves in Congress.

It’s a little-known fact that the Constitution makes no limitation on the collection of taxes; the sky’s the limit. Similarly, there is no constitutional limit on borrowing, and of course, there is no limitation on government’s power to cut its spending. Any of these will solve the problem.

What to do? Well, raising taxes will create howls of protest, as will cuts in government spending, so what does that leave? Just the politicians’ favorite solution: put it on the card.