Tax Trigger? Debt Trigger? The Dead Hand Solution

The U.S. Senate Committee on Finance held a hearing Wednesday to consider “budget trigger” proposals as a preferred way to reduce the current federal deficits and national debt. The Trigger is essentially a mechanism to set budgetary limits tied to specific measures of the economy. A limit would be set and if reached would trigger an automatic response.  There would then be an automatic across-the-board reduction in spending, an increase in revenue or some combination thereof.

These automatic, mindless responses are akin to a dead hand on the throttle and reflect the lack of political determination to address the debt issue. These proposals are a smoke screen, an excuse, a ruse, misguided policy, ineffective, an abrogation of responsibility and just plain old deceptive.