My Summer Vacation: By Barack Obama

It could have been like this:
July 12, 2011
Statement by the President:

Despite the fact that Congress has approved every penny of our country’s budget expenditures, a determined minority in the Republican House has decided to attempt to hold the country hostage to their Cam0paign against Medicare and Social Security by refusing to raise the debt ceiling to accommodate those already approved expenditures. Should they fail to pass a debt ceiling increase, very drastic cutbacks will be needed in every aspect of our expenditures. In view of Congressional inaction, that duty falls on the President.

I have therefore directed my cabinet to prepare a contingency plan for that eventuality. It is an extremely painful contingency that will hurt virtually every American. In particular, it will be necessary to furlough most government workers and cancel most government contracts. We will continue to honor our obligations on government debt. Our soldiers will continue to be paid and supplied. Most government facilities not running at a profit will be closed, including all parks and recreation areas, and all non urgent services. All military contracts not needed to supply our soldier’s near term needs will be suspended, as will government payments to schools, state highway programs and similar activities.

Unfortunately, even these very drastic cuts will not permit us to balance our near term budget. I bitterly regret that Congress’s reckless action will also force dramatic reductions in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid payments. Social security payments will be capped at $600 per month. Medicare and Medicaid will only pay for emergency or life sustaining care.

The President has done what he can to prepare for this. It is now up to Congress to decide if they really want to launch the country in this direction. My family and I will now take a brief vacation – I want to be rested for the big mess to deal with should I return to find Congress still bent on this suicidal plan.

If you find these measures as unacceptable as I do, let your Congressperson know. The ball is in their court.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anti-Libertarian: re-post

The most pointed critique of social security and liberalism in general is the libertarian critique. The problem with libertarians, for a liberal, is that we have too much in common. We both believe in individual rights, tolerance of individual differences, and dislike government prescription of religion. The basic difference, it seems to me, is the different answers we give to Cain's (with thanks to the Captain - my original version had the corpse asking the question!) famous question: "Am I my brother's keeper?" That's not really my basic bitch against the libertarians though. My real complaint is the same as my complaint against most religion - its premise is a fraud. For those who can't stand to wait for the punchline, I believe that trying to implement libertarian principles leads to tyranny or social disintegration. Demonstrating that takes some historical (and pre-historical) context. For all but the last 15,000 or so of the 100,000 years the human spec
Read more

Uneasy Lies The Head

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown ........... Shakespeare Henry IV, Part II. So it is with us and our slightly distant primate cousins , so it seems. A 9-year study of wild baboons in Kenya by Princeton University and the Institute of Primate Research may turn conventional assumptions of alphas males upside down. The study found that alpha males have high testosterone levels, which allows them to dominate other baboons, get access to more food, and attract better mates. This is expected. Surprisingly, though, the alpha males also have high levels of stress hormone glucocorticoid, which scientists measured from their feces samples. In fact, the stress of alpha baboons was on par with low-ranking baboons. The convention wisdom is that access to food and females provides life security and thus less stress for dominant males. Conversely, weak males who are constantly threatened by starvation and physical violence from stronger males are thought to be more stressed. The st
Read more

We Call it Soccer

The US played its best, and maybe only good game of World Cup, but lost thanks to brilliant goalkeeping by the Swedish keeper and the bizarre method soccer uses to settle ties when three US stars could not put the ball on frame from the 12 yard spot.  At the end it came down to a blocked shot that spun in by maybe a couple of centimeters. Well, that's football - too much like life.   Which brings me to a modest proposal.  Replace the thirty minute overtimes with as many 7-player 15 minute periods as needed to settle it.  Scoring should be much easier with fewer players.
Read more