How To Solve The Debt Ceiling Crisis

If you’ve had the chance to take a break from chugging intensity and railing lines of fratitude, you might have heard that we have a debt crisis on our hands. Now, I could go into the specifics of how the debt ceiling actually works and an ideological explication of spending cuts vs. increased revenues, but there are half-naked girls outside, so I don’t have time for an economics lesson. In light of our impending need to enjoy the fruits of our non-labor, I’ll just jump right in to my three-pronged solution to not only balancing our budget, but also reducing our debt long-term.

1. When you need to trim the fat in a business, you don’t raise your prices or lower your quality, you first sell off the assets that aren’t performing for you. In this situation, that would be Iraq. But, Dick, how can we sell a country that isn’t technically ours? My answer is simple: if you use the word “technically,” one more time, I’m gonna punch you in the balls with my foot. We’ve pumped more money into that sinkhole than a self-conscious cougar on cosmetic surgery. What have we gotten out of it? A bunch of whiny liberals and higher oil prices. It’s time to cut the cord. Who’s in the market for a hot, sandy, semi-worn country these days? Well, I’m sure Iran would perk their ears up a bit, but I’m thinking we shouldn’t be handing over a whole country full of angry Muslims to another country full of angry Muslims that also happens to hate our existence. However, there is a group that is currently looking to relocate that would definitely be in the market: fundamentalist Mormons. I’m not talking about your nice, “no thank you, I don’t drink caffeine” Mormons. I mean the crazy ones that actually have multiple wives and (probably) secret gun caches. Those guys scare the living shit out of me. So what happens when you throw a hardcore, misogynist religious sect into a country full of hardcore, misogynist religious types? Do they get along? Nope. They fight the fuck out of each other. It’s like killing two insanely religious birds with one stone.

2. Let’s monetize the elections process. Thanks to the 24 hour news cycle and the crazy amounts of private money spent on elections, it’s already a circus, so the US government might as well make some money for itself. There are several female candidates out there who, while attractive, are making their parties look bad. So to solve this, we hold one spot per party open for a female candidate. Then, we do a pay-per-view event where all the female candidate hopefuls bikini wrestle each other until there’s only one winner. It’ll make Europe hate us more, enrage feminists, and give everyone the answer to “I wonder what Sarah Palin would look like in a bikini.” You can’t tell me you wouldn’t dish out $50 and have a watch party for that at the fratcastle.

3. Throw a government-sponsored rager on every major holiday. I’m not talking about fireworks and hot dogs here. I’m saying get all of the best elements from music festivals, the adult film awards, and an international arms expo and put it all into an extended weekend full of beer, girls, music and fighter jet flyovers. Companies representing the best of America will all have booths giving out free shit and, to top it all off, one fraternity will be picked each year to organize these festivals based on said fraternity’s experience with throwing parties, controlling unruly GDIs and general badassery. Not only will all of these events be indescribably awesome, but they’ll also give every fraternity in America just one more excuse to take their partying skills to the next level. And can you imagine how much revenue a nationwide USA party with corporate sponsors and a solid admission price would generate? Again, I could crunch the numbers, but that’s not my job. I’m an idea man.

Now, obviously, none of these things are gonna get done with wet-blanket Obama still in office. So here’s what we do. Take these ideas to each Republican presidential candidate, and see how they feel about them. The one who’s the most on board with our plan gets the fraternity vote and the fraternity money (ok, alumni money). That way, we’ll have our voice heard in the next term, and we’ll be able to narrow all our candidates down to one, party-supportive candidate. I’m thinking Ron Paul. That dude looks like he’s railed a few lines off some strippers in his day.

    1. texasfrat

      Born in/went to college in PA for the record. Still the motherfucking man and my pick for the nomination.

      13 years ago at 6:06 pm
  1. I Piss Excellence

    How any real conservative can support the mainstream Republican party at large in this issue makes no sense to me; their current actions and selfishness, especially in the Tea Party faction, will almost certainly give the 2012 election to Obama. These same people voted to increase the debt ceiling 7 times under W without questioning it, and now all of the sudden they are trying to make us think they are real fiscal conservatives when they absolutely are not. Cantor, the most outspoken Congressman the past few weeks, voted FOR the 2008/2009 bailout (TARP).

    Boehner and Obama’s first deal a few weeks ago that cut $3 trillion in spending while raising $1 trillion in revenue by closing tax loopholes (you know, not raising taxes at all but simply getting rid of mistakes in the code that weren’t intended to be there in the first place) was the best option out of this mess. That deal was actually about the same 85% decrease in spending/17% increase in revenue type of deal that Reagan got in the 1980s to help us out of that mess. But nooooooooooooooo, the fucking Tea Partiers refused to take it because it wasn’t 100% what they wanted. Those fucking rookies won’t compromise, they will only take exactly what they want and nothing else, even if it means we default. Obama had actually been worked DOWN to MASSIVE spending cuts, but they said NO! They’d rather ruin the country than give Obama a penny of what he wants. Pathetic.

    John McCain hit the nail on the head today: “The idea seems to be that if the House GOP refuses to raise the debt ceiling, a default crisis or gradual government shutdown will ensue and the public will turn en masse against Barack Obama…. Then Democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced-budget amendment and reform entitlements, and the tea party hobbits could return to Middle-earth having defeated Mordor. This is the kind of crack political thinking that turned Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell into GOP Senate nominees. The reality is the debt limit will be raised one way or the other…. If conservatives defeat the [GOP] plan, they will not only undermine their House majority, they will go far to reelecting Mr. Obama and making entitlements that much harder to reform.”

    A-fucking-men, Maverick.

    13 years ago at 1:10 am
    1. lillynlabs

      Thank God it’s not just the liberals that realize this. Sandwiches all around.

      13 years ago at 1:27 am
    2. The Piker

      The most well-written thing ever posted in any section of this site. I’d have been happy to be hazed by a man like you. Frat on, sir.

      13 years ago at 9:21 am
    3. Swim in FRATatoriums

      I wasn’t sure there were people on this site that knew what compromise was. Good job.

      13 years ago at 10:26 am
  2. Lee

    Ron Paul hung around Reagan enough for me to know he’s one of us. Plus the guy was a doctor with a real degree, not some liberal arts toilet paper like obama. That Lamda Chi from Texas has my vote. I don’t see anyone else beating Obama.

    13 years ago at 7:01 am
    1. Bro Reilly Frator

      Could have been just a typo, but being a Lambda* I’ll say it anyway. As for Ron Paul I don’t think he can beat Obama because he has no filter. He brings up his crazy irrelevant ideas to much and loses a lot of conservative followers. Hell even liberal/moderate followers too. I believe Huckabee was our only hope, but I think he decided to sit this one out because of the slim odds of winning for any Republican. To me the only chance now would be Perry, but only if he gets in the race now and quits delaying. Not competing in debates because you are too busy watching the college world series is FaF but not going to get you any more votes.

      13 years ago at 9:48 am
    2. StayFrattyAlum

      I like Ron Paul – a lot. However, I think he’s perceived as a too radical to get the nomination. Maybe a VP spot would get him in so he could get to work?

      The fact is that Libertarians represent the principles that the GOP was founded on much better than modern Republicans.

      And I’ll say it again..wow, Obama has a Law Degree from Harvard. So what? He has NEVER worked in the private sector, and is a career politician. How is he supposed to be pivotal in US economic policy?

      13 years ago at 12:12 pm
    3. America Fuck Yeah

      Not arguing the Presidents value on economic issues, or how he is doing on his job. I am just saying lets not call a Harvard Law Degree toilet paper.

      13 years ago at 1:29 pm
    1. Billy Fradison

      it’s a shame, Paul and Johnson (and maybe Perry) are pretty much the only people in my opinion that aren’t too stupid or too far radical right. We really need a fiscal conservative social moderate to take down Obama.

      13 years ago at 2:24 pm
  3. Fratastic1600

    The government should just start selling cocaine. There will always be a strong market for blow

    13 years ago at 8:02 am
  4. Tom Petty Jr

    Completely way off topic here but I’m interested to see if anyone else has heard any news about the natural gas reservoirs that have been discovered in PA. I have heard from several local companies/people in the area that drillers have tapped into gas reservoirs, in between the limestone and shale, massive enough to provide enough natural gas to power the entire U.S. in excess of 100 years, yet their is little to no news on this currently. Drilling companies and other private corporations have been buying up land everywhere and I find it extremely interesting that I can’t find a single news story on this subject. I only bring it up because it could drastically help our economy and reshape our energy policies.

    13 years ago at 12:59 pm
    1. The Piker

      Marcellus Shale. I work for a company that drills it. Actually, I use Cad to help design some of the piping layouts to bring it down to Southeastern PA. It will not reshape the energy policies, it will just allow us to drill for natural gas in the Chesapeake Bay region for a while longer.

      13 years ago at 1:03 pm
    2. The Piker

      There are companies in the South and West trying to acquire some of the land, so I am not sure how they plan on getting the gas to their regions, but if they can, it will take a lot of stress off of the electric and coal industries.

      13 years ago at 1:09 pm
    3. KSDeltaXi

      I work for Chesapeake Oil and Gas in Oklahoma and they have spent around a billion dollars in the past year buying up mineral rights. They also have a large operation in Ohio. The deposits have been around for quite awhile but the new drilling options available for Natural Gas (Fracture wells, horizontal drilling) are making these one difficult wells a much more feasible and possible way to acquire these minerals. It’s one of the bigger natural gas deposits in the North. If you’re interested, google Chesapeake Natural Gas Ohio and you should yield some results. I’ll be heading up there to look at some sights this weekend actually.

      13 years ago at 1:02 pm