“I could end the deficit in 5 minutes. You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP all sitting members of congress are ineligible for reelection.” -Warren Buffett
We might have problems with American government, but we must remember that we elect our leaders. This means the debt/deficit problem is the responsibility of the people (us). We owe it to ourselves and the world to not be indifferent to government affairs. I’ve stepped back from following politics for many reasons but I saw this quote and it struck me as a serious option to keep the American government responsible because it would force them to balance a budget just like every person, business, charity, organization and animal must do–this means they couldn’t keep passing the problem on to the next generation while making it worse. So I decided to act.
If you agree, I first ask that you share the quote or the post with your circle. Communication and idea-sharing amongst the people is step one.
Getting a congress to pass that law would be difficult, but if every American called and told them to pass it or they won’t get their vote…bla bla bla you get the point, not even going to waste time!
(several minutes later)
Ok, I did my part on step two:
I consider it civic duty to call up one’s representative and share that idea with them (if you agree with Buffett’s idea–not trying to push my view on anyone here). The call was nice–I didn’t get to speak with the senator himself, as expected. But the people who answer the phone are passionate about politics, and I took just a minute or two to discuss the idea with him. He said he liked the idea and we agreed that it’s worth passing around to his colleagues, as fellow American citizens and not just Republicans or Democrats. I did mention to him that this potential law has moved to my number one slot because I think it would do the most good (to let him know I wasn’t calling to shoot the breeze).
If you like the idea, doing your part for step two is easy: http://www.house.gov/representatives/
If you’ve read this far, the ball is in your court! Act!
“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” -Plato





Big investors like Buffet are the ones controlling the deficit in the first place! A law like this would only give the corporate elite in this country more power.
Pingback: skeptical political inquiry – September 29, 2011 | Ruseweek