Balanced Budget Amendment

[Oldiesfreak1854]

3 days.

I oppose it, because I don't think it's really necessary.  It's always important the governments balance their budgets, and many states that already have balanced budget amendments don't have balanced budgets in practice.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

not while norquistians are a thing.

[bedstuy]

It's an incredibly dangerous idea.  Just imagine the 2008-9 crisis with a balanced budget amendment.  That would have been way worse than the Great Depression.

[TNF]

Oppose

[Franzl]

It's an incredibly dangerous idea.  Just imagine the 2008-9 crisis with a balanced budget amendment.  That would have been way worse than the Great Depression.

[Antonio the Sixth]

One of the most unfathomably, mind-numbingly stupid ideas that have ever been seriously considered.

[Oakvale]

There's a compromise that would allow governments to run deficits during recession but force a surplus when the economy's doing alright, so you end up with a balanced budget over business cycles instead of the idiotic yearly requirement, like in Sweden. That would be worth looking at. I'm not a fan of the standard Republican proposals - fiscal prudence is a good thing, but there's nothing prudent about sacrificing economic recovery on the altar of dogma.

[windjammer]

Oppose obviously.

How to be sure a country won't be able to recover from a crisis.

[SWE]

One of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard

[RedSLC]

Oppose. As others have stated, sometimes the government needs to reun deficits to prevent economic collapse.

[Maxwell]

Oakvale made a good point, and that type of Balanced Budget Amendment I would support.

[AggregateDemand]

We have balanced budget amendments in Texas. They are symbolic and pointless.

Debt is not inherently bad. Debt becomes a problem when people use it to finance frivolous spending and inefficient budgeting. You'll never get an amendment through to stop bureaucratic malfeasance.

[H. Ross Peron]

It's an incredibly dangerous idea.  Just imagine the 2008-9 crisis with a balanced budget amendment.  That would have been way worse than the Great Depression.

[Deus Naturae]

It's an incredibly dangerous idea.  Just imagine the 2008-9 crisis with a balanced budget amendment.  That would have been way worse than the Great Depression.

Yeah, who knows what might've happened! Unemployment might've even gone over 8%.......oh wait.

[bedstuy]

It's an incredibly dangerous idea.  Just imagine the 2008-9 crisis with a balanced budget amendment.  That would have been way worse than the Great Depression.

Yeah, who knows what might've happened! Unemployment might've even gone over 8%.......oh wait.

Without TARP and the stimulus, all the investment banks go and all the commercial banks follow.  All the credit markets freeze and you don't have any ability to do basic corporate finance.  I've talked to a bunch of people who are informed about this, they throw out numbers like 25% unemployment without the bailouts and stimulus. 

[ElectionsGuy]

Strongly support

But I don't think that cutting everything in a short period of time is a smart idea.

[Del Tachi]

Strongly oppose (R).

Modern-day countries with developed economies cannot function properly without a healthy amount of sovereign debt. 

[rosin]

It's an incredibly dangerous idea.  Just imagine the 2008-9 crisis with a balanced budget amendment.  That would have been way worse than the Great Depression.

[Goldwater]

While I do think the government spends too much, IMO a balanced budget is too impractical of an idea.

[Antonio the Sixth]

There's a compromise that would allow governments to run deficits during recession but force a surplus when the economy's doing alright, so you end up with a balanced budget over business cycles instead of the idiotic yearly requirement, like in Sweden.

I can support that if it also forces deficit spending during recessions. No reason why it shouldn't go both ways.

[Supersonic]

Oppose, I don't mind them at the state level, Federally, no.

[PiMp DaDdy FitzGerald]

Strongly oppose (R).

Modern-day countries with developed economies cannot function properly without a healthy amount of sovereign debt. 

[politicallefty]

Strongly oppose. Restricting the government in such a manner would severely cripple this country during even a normal recession.

[Mordecai]

One of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard