Meet Russell Vought, our new OMB Chairman...

You: impounding funds. Me: cutting the fat, stopping DNC money laundering***

If I were President......

I'd hold a meeting with all 50 governors from every state. Also invite the heads of every state legislature. We'd all meet in a big room with hundreds of cameras and every press camera in DC. There would be a large sign with big, bold letters right at the entrance to the building that says "Check your politics at the door". The meeting would be to propose, AND coordinate, an Article V convention of the 50 states, and their legislatures. I would demand that the states ONLY address two proposed amendments. One would be term limits for both houses of Congress (2 terms would work). The other would be a balanced budget amendment, to be phased in over 10 years.

Take ONLY these two amendments back to your states, propose bills, and vote. Send your laws, if passed, to the Secretary of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. If the Secretaries of both legislative houses receive signed laws from 35 states or more, then that Amendment is signed by me, as President, and it will be added to the US Constitution.

The only way this would work is to INFORM THE PEOPLE of the option, how it works, and why it is important. It will be attacked roundly in the state legislatures. Congress will threaten to withhold funds, politicians will be bribed, and there will be a concerted effort to water down any legislative bill. You HAVE TO TELL THE PEOPLE THIS WILL HAPPEN, and to expect it. Over 75% of Americans from all political stripes, support both Congressional term limits and a balanced budget. It's not political. It's rational and prudent. If this doesn't happen, our future is entirely predictable.

If I had a time machine, and could go back to Philadelphia and talk to the founders gathered to sign our Constitution, the ONE THING I would beg of them is to expand on Article V. Be very specific. Make it a workable, and clearly defined process. IT WILL BE NEEDED.

Re: Those "people" in Philidelphia structured the Fed govt to check and

Tiggity®

Ultimate Clemson Legend [105601]

TigerPulse: 100%

Posts: 69004

Joined: 2002

Well, hopefully phased in over 10 years, we would end up not defaulting

Feb 7, 2025, 10:51 AM [ in reply to With a balanced budget amendment, in the event of an economic downturn that ]

or collapsing. But the #1 goal for anyone in Congress, in both parties, is to get reelected. And ever since Reagan famously asked if you're better off now than 4 years ago, the conventional wisdom has been to spend lavishly on your constituents, and they will vote for you again and again and again and again and.......

And to legislate, or simply ignore, laws that prevent deflation. See, while Congress has been spending like drunken sailors, they have also been embracing free trade, trade deficits, massive reliance on imports, and ignoring illegal immigration or any meaningful immigration reform, leaving that to the Executive to ignore. A lack of term limits, over time, has been MASSIVELY deflationary, and it's all been carefully managed. This allows Congress to spend more and more debt, as long as you keep inflation low, deflationary pressure on the economy with cheap illegal domestic labor and cheap imports made with cheap foreign labor, you can easily service $10, $20 trillion in debt.

The higher the debt gets, the more sensitive it is to inflation, and the more danger there is with ever lowering levels of inflation needed to cause problems.

IDEALLY, we continue to embrace immigration and free trade/trade deficits, while cutting spending over 10 years. If you maintain the deflationary policies of the past, while cutting spending, you shrink the time needed to balance your budget. Attack with tariffs, and kick out illegals, and you add inflationary pressure that will defeat the savings from spending cuts. It's all very dangerous, and we may be too late to do anything anyway. This needed to be done 20 years ago. Heck, 30 years ago.

But doing what I would do is a power play Trump would never do. Trump would rather toss the Constitution (he sees it as weak and useless) and become king or emperor. If you're going down a steep hill on your bike and your brakes fail, you need to stop. Electing Trump is like tossing a stick in the spokes. The bike stops, you flip over the handlebars, and bust your face open. The other option is to use your shoe and gently slow the momentum to a controlled stop. This has the added benefit of saving the bike as well. You may need new shoes, but you won't need facial reconstructive surgery, or a new bike.