Kasich predicts national budget disaster without balancing action now

Second of a three-part series

COLUMBUS

A little more than a year ago, Gov. John Kasich joined the Republican leaders of the Ohio Legislature in a ceremonial letter signing, noting the state’s adoption of a resolution urging President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress to pursue a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

Days earlier, state lawmakers gave their final approval to the resolution calling for a constitutional convention, making Ohio the 20th state in the nation officially on record in support of an amendment barring the federal government from spending more money than it collects.

“Eighteen trillion dollars — at what point do things start falling apart?” Kasich asked during a recent speech before chamber of commerce groups. “We know right now that our foreign policy leverage is reduced because we’ve got the Chinese that own ... our debt. You can’t keep spending what you don’t have and get away with it. We’re so strong as a nation, we’re surviving. ... If you delay this thing so long, the kinds of things you’re going to have to do in the middle of a cataclysmic financial crisis will be devastating. It’s going to happen, folks. So if we can delay this and put this discipline in and start to eat away at this thing, we’re going to be so much stronger as a country.”

He added, “To me there’s no more important issue.”

Read the complete story in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.