Big Lie Number Four

Tea Party Patriots is releasing a four-part series of statements regarding the U.S. debt ceiling which explain the organization's opinion the topic. Here is part 4:

Big Lie Number Four

"The intricate financial details of running the entire United States Government are so complicated that the average American just isn't capable of understanding how it works.  It involves thousands upon thousands of byzantine and interwoven variables that are so delicately balanced they can be easily disrupted by one false move, setting off a cataclysmic chain reaction of economic disasters that will cripple the world's monetary system. Handcuffing congress by not allowing us to raise the debt ceiling just shows how simplistic, unsophisticated, ill informed, and child-like you Tea Party Patriots are.  Those of us in congress are far better equipped to make these kinds of decisions.  So just go back to your daily lives and let us run the country."

When you're standing face-to-face with a member of congress and they tell you how great they are at running the economy, it's difficult not to laugh so hard that you temporarily lose consciousness.  But many of them manage to say it with a straight face.  It's almost as if they honestly think they know what they're doing.

To a Congressman, the thought of taking budgetary advice from average Americans who balance checkbooks, run businesses, live within the limits of their financial means, and stop spending before they run out of money is outrageous and insulting.

They are the rulers after all.  Who are we to question them?

But deep within the subconscious mind of every Congressman is the truth.  They are horribly insecure because they are in way over their heads, they have very little idea what they're doing, and they are scared to death that someone (especially their other buddies in congress) will discover that they secretly don't understand the convoluted logic.  So they all pretend.

It's time to snap them out of it.

Ockham's Razor is an old, widely used axiom that says when you have two competing ideas
the simplest idea is usually the best.  This is especially true when there's no evidence to support the more complicated idea.

Let's look at how Ockham's Razor applies to the debt ceiling issue.

IDEA 1 (from congress):

It's so complicated that we can't explain it to you, but trust us we should raise the debt ceiling.

IDEA 2 (from Americans):

It's incredibly simple. There's no more money.  So do not raise the debt ceiling.

Congress has a really, really, really bad track record when it comes to managing money. There are no examples of real life situations in which congress was prudent, frugal, and efficient. There's also no proof that congress learns from past mistakes and doesn't repeat them. Their complicated solutions haven't worked, ever. But they keep trying them.

There simply is no evidence to prove that congress is qualified to make unsupervised decisions about how to handle our money.

On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence that millions of Americans (the ones congressmen think are unsophisticated) successfully operate households and businesses every day and have done so for over 200 years using a very simple financial principle.

When you run out of money,
stop buying stuff.

Ockham's Razor

Idea 1 = complicated + no proof

Idea 2 = simple + lots of proof

Idea 2 Wins!!

Congress, you're out of money.
Stop buying stuff.
And don't raise the debt ceiling.
PERIOD.