Let Liberal Billionaires Help With Debt Ceiling

There is only one thing that a government must avoid if it wants to live long on this earth.  It must avoid the situation of Greece and Co.  They must avoid the situation where the government has to offer brutal rates of interest to lenders.

Put it another way.  If you can sell your government debt for a reasonable rate of interest, you are in clover.  It's when you have to pay north of 10% interest that things start to go south quickly.

But right now the US Treasury expected to pay an average of 1.2% per year net interest, or $223 billion in FY14, according to usfederalbudget.us.  Hey, me worry?

No the real problem is a "sudden stop" like they had in Britain under the Stuarts.  That's why the Brits had to call in the Dutch Prince William of Orange and his Dutch Finance.

The problem for the US government if Congress fails to pass an increase in the debt ceiling is a) whether to ignore Congress, and b) what programs to finance.  Oh, the agony!

But I have a better idea.  Let liberals step in and help.  Liberals after all believe with Oliver Wendell Holmes that "I like to pay taxes.  With them I buy civilization."

OK liberals, here's a chance for you to walk the walk.  Just log into eftps.gov and pay the Feds some estimated on your 2013 Federal Income Tax.  Here's the schedule I suggest for my liberal friends.

1. If you are a liberal billionaire, in the Warren Buffet or Penny Pritzker class, I suggest a $10,000,000 payment on eftps.gov.  Remember, the poorest guy on the Forbes 400 is worth $1.2 billion so there ought to be a good 100 liberals in there.   That $1 billion to buy civilization.
2. If you are a liberal centi-millionaire, I suggest a $1,000,000 payment on eftps.gov.  There ought to be a good thousand or so of liberal centi-millionaires.  That's another $1 billion.
3. If you are a liberal earning over $10,000,000 a year, I suggest a $100,000 payment to eftps.gov.  I figure there must be 10,000 of you chaps.  So that's another $1 billion.
4. If you are a liberal earning over $1,000,000 a year, I suggest a $10,000 payment to eftps.gov.  There must be 100,000 of you.  So now we've got another $1 billion.
5. Now let's talk about the lumpen liberals: government managers, professors, executives with non-for-profits.  There must be half a million of you folks.  How about a cool $2,000 payment to eftps.gov for you guys and girls.  That adds up to another $1 billion.

So there we have a quick $5 billion whip-round to tide Uncle Sam over for the week or so before we get a deal on the debt ceiling.  And liberals will like it.  Because by paying those taxes, liberals will buy civilization.

Oh, don't worry, liberals.  eftps.gov is still up and running.  In spite of the government shutdown.

And if that $5 billion isn't enough, hey liberals!  Pony up another $5 billion.  We are talking civilization here.