Listening to the soothing words of our president as America saunters toward debt- and welfare-state-induced collapse, I recalled a passage from Corrie ten Boom's "The Hiding Place."
It was early in World War II. The prime minister of the Netherlands, where the ten Boom family would spend the coming years hiding Jews in their home, addressed the nation by radio. He gave assurances that Germany would not attack and that Holland would be able to stay out of the war.
Corrie ten Boom's father turned off the radio.
"It is wrong to give people hope when there is no hope ...," he said. "The Germans will attack and we will fall."
A few hours after the prime minister spoke, bombs were raining across Holland. The country fell in five days.
I'm not to the point of thinking there's no hope for the U.S. economy. Unlike the Dutch government in 1940, Congress isn't without options to avert calamity. But that may be a distinction without a difference. If the political will cannot gel to make the choices to head off disaster, then it's scarcely better -- and even more heartbreaking -- than if there were no choices to make.
The deal passed by Congress provides for 2 trillion-some odd dollars in deficit reductions -- over 10 years -- and roughly equivalent added borrowing -- almost immediately.
See anything wrong with that picture? While the new borrowing is a certainty, spending cuts may be little more than a mirage; a future Congress can wait until the public is less focused on debt and undo them, after the borrowed money is long gone. And even if all the promised reductions materialize, total U.S. debt still is projected to rise by $7 trillion in the coming decade.
Our president says this debacle is a "significant down-payment to reduce the deficit."
No it's not. It's fiscal mockery, and he can get away with it only because Americans who refuse to accept that two plus two equals nine are outnumbered by the multitudes who take his words at face value or who see Washington as an ever-blooming money tree.
I can respect the sincerity of someone who grudgingly believes this deal is better than nothing, but I cannot agree with that view. Like promising peace just before the bombs fall, creating a false perception that we're seriously reducing the debt is worse than nothing.
It saps whatever motivation exists to give deficits the bloody nose they deserve. When the next crisis arrives and the hard choices we avoided this time around are even harder, Americans who now are only following the debate when they take a notion will ask, "But didn't we already deal with that?" The answer will be, of course, no. But by then there may no longer be a reservoir of enthusiasm for getting real.
Congress hasn't solved anything. (Now there's a remark that applies to more than just spending.)
The debt tumor is metastasizing, and Washington is passing out Tylenol and candy canes. Our square dance down the primrose expressway to bankruptcy continues.
Guns vs. helpful guns
Speaking of debt, I'm indebted to readers who pointed out that I was wrong to state last week that guns are usually unavailable to law-abiding Norwegians. I should have written that guns are usually unavailable to law-abiding Norwegians for self-defense.
While The Associated Press, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times et al. report that regulations are strict in Norway, Norwegians can acquire some types of guns for hunting, shooting competitions and such.
But sundry restrictions on firearms in Norway mean that for most practical purposes, guns may not be used in self-defense.
"The rules for having a gun at home have been tightened in recent years, with gun safes becoming mandatory ...," the Los Angeles Times reported. "The end cap of guns must be removed before storage, and those without a gun safe must remove components of the weapon before it is stored, essentially disabling it. In addition, Norwegians have been told the vital parts of the weapon should be locked up separately."
These requirements would tend to make it impossible to use your gun for protection if an armed intruder burst through your door -- or into your summer camp.
Still, readers were right to point out my inaccuracy. Norwegians can have guns -- just not in a way that does them any good when mass murderers drop by without phoning first.