You have probably heard about the current financial crisis here in the US— the problem of the debt ceiling and the armageddon of “the nation defaulting on its loans.” Or at least that’s what the media and numerous politicians have focused on and defined as “the problem.” It is not.
Not surprisingly, we have lots of politicians who want to raise the debt ceiling. In other words, they want to spend more and throw more money at the problem! Imagine that— a politician wanting to spend more! And where will they get more money to spend? Well, if they can’t raise taxes (not wise during a recession), then they will simply print more money.
Great idea! Just go down to your basement, turn on the printing press and print more money. Why didn’t I think of that when I designed the Inside-Out Wealth program? That would have made it so easy for people to become wealthy! Now all we need is a government program that will provide us these printing presses. Ah yes, we need another stimulus package to help people buy printing presses!
Of course, if we print more money, that will inflate the money that we already have . And that will devalue the dollar so it is worth less and then create inflation for all of the other things we buy. And that will, in the long term, weaken the economy. So maybe that’s not such a great idea.
So what is the problem? If these are the symptoms, what is the real problem? Spending. We spend more than we have, more than we take in. Actually, a lot more! Some statistics about how much we are spending:
Under Clinton, the US Government spent 547 million dollars every day.
Under Bush, that went up to 1.6 billion dollars every day.
Under Obama the numbers have gone up to 4.1 billion dollars every day!
Yes, this is a problem. So why are we spending more than we have? Promises. Politicians promise more than they can deliver. They have made promises to constituents and they stick “earmarks” into bills to pay off for the vote and loyalty of a certain group of people. And why do the politicians promise more than they can deliver and then spend more than we have? Because there’s no limit, no consequence like bankruptcy or jail So there’s no consequences, nothing to stop them from over-spending. Unlike the States, the Federal government doesn’t have a law requiring a balanced budget. Now there’s an idea—living on a balanced budget, you spend no more than you take in!
Well, there hasn’t been consequences until now. Now, the over-spending has grown so much that the consequences are now beginning to show up. And as people are waking up to the problem, they are asking for some fundamental solutions.
Now you and I cannot spend trillions, billions, or millions or even a measly few hundred thousands that we don’t have. Nor can we just print more money. They would throw us in jail if we did that! And why don’t we stop all of this non-sense? Because of the failure of leadership. Ah, yes, finally I get to the subject and title of this article!
Leaders (and politicians ought to be leaders, shouldn’t they?) have a dual responsibility. One, to awaken possibilities of a bright future and bring out the best in people so that we can move over the gap of where we are now to the bright future we envision. Second, to articulate the reality of where we are now and challenge people to face and make the necessary changes so that we can avoid a more painful and problematic future. This is the Axis of Motivation from theAxes of Change Model. First there is the Toward Positive Valuesas a leader awakens people and so plays the role of Awakener as a leader; then there is the Away From Negative Values as the leader confronts and challenges people from the role of Challenger. Both roles are required of every holistic leader.
Now politicians who are unfit to lead do the former and ignore the latter. This is the disastrous formula for more and more unrealistic hopes and expectations as they promise and over-promise and tell people what they want to hear ... but never tell the truth. They never confront constituents with reality, with the constraints and facts that are looming in the background demanding change. Unscrupulous politicians lack the courage to face reality for what it is. Addicted to approval, applause, and fearful of disapproval and lower pole ratings, they refuse to make the hard choices and take a firm but compassionate stand.
Here’s a hard fact, a constraint of reality that the majority of American politicians seem unable to face: No individual, no family, or country can continue to spend more than it has. Do that and eventually there will be bankruptcy, inflation, and economic ruin.
So the problem is not the “debt ceiling,” or default. The core problem is politicians over-spending. So what is the cure? Reality. Facing the facts as they are and making hard choices lest the over-spending, the printing of money, the devaluing of the dollar, the inflation, etc. rise up and shock us. You have to control your own finances. I do. Every family has to learn how to manage the resources that they have. It’s a matter of discipline with eyes-open wide to reality.
The failure of leadership in our politicians is a failure of discipline. They have failed to control spending, to manage the waste and abuse, to set up accountability structures so that what they say will match what they do. It’s disconcerting that so many politicians have learned the gracious art of saying what you want to hear to win votes and gain positions of influence, but not the tough side of leadership. They haven’t learned the courage skill of stepping up for principles even if it puts their career at risk.
But does leadership and discipline living go together? Is that a synergy that’s even possible? Hmmmm. Now there’s another idea.
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