Almost eight days ago, acting in my previous capacity as math professor I sent you a message titled " I've Done the Math" in which I told you that in order to have the deficit decline toward zero over some number of years, it was sufficient to adopt a simple rule. That rule, first articulated by the Republican House Speaker John Boehner in May of this year, is that for every increase in the debt limit, an equal decrease be made in future spending over the desired period of decline.
At that time, I said that this point seemed not to have been made by any other observer of the debt ceiling battle.
That has now been remedied. In the Wall Street Journal today, none other George W. Bush's Office of Management and Budget Director and now Ohio Senator Rob Portman tells you I was right. He proposes that we make permanent what he calls the Dollar-for-Dollar rule. I agree that we should make it permanent, but I propose that we call it the Boehner Rule.
Of course, if we don't make it permanent, we'll never get any cuts at all. They always be back-loaded as they are in the deal we just got, and we'll never get to them.
However, it's a simple enough rule to explain to anyone, and it would set us on the path to a balanced budget.
It is also a policy simple enough to be included in a Balanced Budget Amendment as a transition plan after adoption, and to be adhered to after any emergency excursion of expenditures above tax receipts.
Stick with me, and I'll show you the path to the harbor.
You can follow the smell of buckskin and war paint.
