If the House agrees to the Senate deal on raising taxes on individuals making $400,000 or more and couples earning $450,000 or more -- and that's a big "if" -- the so-called fiscal cliff will have been averted for now. But more confrontation lies ahead because Congress hasn't fixed the real problem: entitlements.
Does anyone believe the president when he claims increasing taxes on 1 percent of the country will bring the budget closer to balance? It's a lie, and he and all the Democrats know it. Name a time when increased revenue has been used to pay down debt and reduce interest payments.
When Congress gets its hands on more money, it spends it. I have used this analogy before, but it is an apt one. Money is to Congress like blood is to Dracula. Neither ever has enough and always wants more.
There is only one way to fix this and that is to vote out members of Congress who are the problem. But so many are invested in the idea of entitlements -- those politicians who provide them and those who receive them -- I doubt anyone has the nerve to give up anything. And that's the real problem. It's "me first," not America first.
I'm Cal Thomas.
Publication date: January 2, 2013
