Making Sure our Government Manages our Money Responsibly

Perspective detail: Making Sure our Government Manages our Money Responsibly

Perspective 1: Limit Their Choices: Put Systems in Place that Make it Harder for the Government to Spend Recklessly

According to this point of view, since we can’t always trust politicians to use good judgment, we should create rules and procedures that require them to act responsibly. In other words, the more leeway we give politicians and government bureaucrats, the more likely it is that they’ll waste the nation’s money.

Therefore, we should:

Therefore we should:

Live within your means. Pass “pay-as-you-go” legislation, meaning that if a spending bill is passed, it must be offset by either a spending cut someplace else in the budget or a raise in taxes to cover the new expenses.

The Amendment approach. Pass a balanced budget amendment. Most states have this and it simply makes it illegal to run a deficit and run up debt.

Set tough, long-term financial goals. Right now, the federal government has projections but no actual long-term targets for reducing the deficit and paying off the debt. Other countries have legally binding plans to pay down their debt or to set limits for spending and taxes.

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