The Extreme Cost of Government Money-Saving

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By Joel Bowman

05/17/11 Buenos Aires, Argentina – Are you paying attention, Fellow Reckoner? What may well go down as the greatest tragicomedy in history is playing out right before our very eyes.

Lucky us!

Some time today – or was it yesterday? And does it even matter? – The United States of America will crash through its so-called “debt ceiling,” the somewhat arbitrary $14.29 trillion dollar mark above which it must implement “extraordinary measures” in order to keep the lights on and its “services” running. Such are the extraordinary times in which we live. The event – which inspired little more than a rather sanguine “Humph” in the markets yesterday – sets in motion what The Wall Street Journal describes as an “uncertain, 11-week political scramble to avoid a default.”

No doubt about it. The Leviathan is starving, unable to sustain the cost of output the modern welfare/warfare model requires of it. Flailing and squealing under the weight of its own self-imposed obligations, the beast portrays a curious, almost pitiful kind of incompetence, like a slug writhing in the middle of the road on a hot summer’s day. We almost – almost – feel pity for the poor, wretched thing. Then we remember what it is, what it does, and we are happy to see it firmly, resolutely marching down the road to perdition.

Read more: The Extreme Cost of Government Money-Saving http://dailyreckoning.com/the-extreme-cost-of-government-money-saving/#ixzz1Mjw8GBqP