Smart bombs: Get out of the kitchen

Oh no! Not the kitchen table analogy again! Here is White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett explaining to TV host Rachel Maddow how American families solve budget woes:

“They’re sitting around the kitchen table, Rachel. You know this. They’re trying to figure out how to make ends meet.”

Do we know this? Would these be the same kitchen summits that led to a negative savings rate in this country? Or, the adoption of subprime mortgages? You know, the ones with no down payment and no requirement to disclose an ability to pay up. Is the kitchen table where those “put it on the credit card” discussions take place, too?

Congress is hardly a model for fiscal responsibility, but it’s not like that kitchen table is a solution. And, by the way, was that paid for with cash?

Those were the dayS. “I fondly remember a time when real Republicans stood for fiscal responsibility. Apparently, those days are long gone for some of those in our party.”

That was U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., bemoaning a failed effort to persuade colleagues to adopt pay-as-you-go budgeting in 2004. Only three other Senate Republicans joined his effort to ensure that any new government spending would be offset with cuts elsewhere or a tax increase. The following year U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, became a “pay-go” devotee.

On Thursday, the Senate passed pay-go on a strict party-line vote, 60-40. There wasn’t a single Republican who voted for it, not even former supporters McCain, Voinovich, U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.

Yep, Sen. McCain, those days are gone, but why?

A. Must. Never. Raise. Taxes.

B. The case for significant spending cuts is too hard to make.

C. Deficits and debt aren’t all that scary.

D. Future generations will have more money to pay for our spending.

E. If budget discipline is achieved, the president and congressional Democrats will get credit.

F. “Yes” votes would obstruct an obstructionist agenda.

G. Divided government rocks!

H. Can’t complain about partisanship with a bipartisanship vote.

I. Other.

A stand-up guY. There are a couple of instances in the book “Too Big To Fail” where then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson holds strategy sessions on what should be done about the Wall Street meltdown and the participants assume that he wants to kick the problem into the next administration. He quickly sets them straight, noting the gravity of the situation and his responsibility to address it.

Whatever your thoughts on the bailout and economic stabilization efforts, you have to admire his focus on the problem rather than the blame. We need more public servants who think that way.

Pay to play. The new option to pay an extra $5 when you renew your vehicle license is gaining enough support to forestall state park closures, according to the Seattle Times. So far, 51.5 percent of car owners are paying up.

In the 2007-’09 budget, 66 percent of the state parks budget came from the general fund. Now it’s 30 percent, with the donations making up 47 percent. It’s an effective way to gauge interest in a particular government service, because if donations wane, parks will start closing.

It would be nice to have a local version, where Spokane County residents could voluntarily kick in money for street repairs. Utility bills are a possibility, but there would have to be a guarantee that the money would be spent on potholes. Then again, many payments are set up as automatic deductions.

We need someone smarter than me to figure this out. That shouldn’t be hard.