“Barney the Plumber” is just a regular guy, but he has an understanding of the national debt crisis that eludes most politicians. Not surprisingly, “Barney” sees it as a massive plumbing problem.

The debt is a like a building about to self-destruct by flooding. On the top floor of the “Capitol Apartments” a bathroom tub is full, almost to overflowing, with “national debt-water.” Additional debt-water is gushing in from the “bond-spout;” the “spend-water” faucet is wide-open; and the “paid-debt” stopper is stuck firmly closed.

Although aware of the problem, the building’s executive management refuses to repay debt-loans to release some of the debt-water down the drain. The management is also unwilling to close the spend-water faucet; and the tub’s debt-water level continues to rise. To make matters worse, a leaky “debt-interest” shower-head is steadily dripping additional debt-water into the tub.

“Barney” recognizes the depth of the problem. The stagnant debt-water has become a health hazard to the building occupants. In its murky water live unsavory things such as speculators, money-changers and politicians, all waiting for their chance to pollute the environment. If the bathroom is not re-plumbed, the debt-water will inevitably overflow and cause great damage to the building and its occupants. Did I mention that the management has let the insurance policy lapse?

Amateur plumbers have tried the duct-tape and jury-rigging approach. The “Bernanke bypass” quantitatively-eased some of the debt-water out of the tub, passed it through a “reserve debt washing” system and back into the debt-water tub. The “Geithner cover up” conceals the tub contents so that the “Chinese Laundry” on the ground floor would not detect the tub’s ripening odor.

The Obama & Associates Roto-Clog & Septic Tank Company recommends slowing the debt-water accumulation by high-jacking tax-water from the wells of rich people. Unfortunately, there is a limited amount of tax-water that can be drained from the rich-wells without running them dry. O&A also proposes “investing” in rainclouds to stimulate more tax-rain.

The “Ryan Water Management” proposal is somewhat better. It would reduce spend-borrowing to slow the rate that water flows into the debt-tub. This would delay the day when the debt-tub runs over—but the end result would remain the same—the tub will eventually overflow. Even this temporary solution is unlikely to be implemented because some of the building tenants are afraid that they would be discommoded by repairs.

The “executive property manager” is uninterested in making the needed repairs, and denies that urgent action is needed. “Barney” thinks he might be postponing upkeep until his replacement can take the blame for the disaster.  Or perhaps he and his friends want this building to collapse so that they can build an entirely new—more socialistically acceptable— structure on what is “left” after the building collapses.

Several candidates are trying to win the executive manager’s job. Perhaps one of them will find a way to avert the looming deluge. But success is unlikely because the building owners — and their noisy, but non-paying renters— are being told that making repairs will cause them to lose their bathroom privileges.  Too many owners would rather remain ignorant of the impending deluge than be inconvenienced by repairs. “Barney” concludes that sharing bathroom bilge cleanup is not nearly as popular as sharing someone else’s wealth.

“Barney” is a realistic professional and he understands that—one way or another—the costs of repair must be paid; and the longer we wait, the higher the costs. He knows that to save the building we must: (1) fire the amateur plumbers (2) turn off the spend–borrowing faucet and “quantitative easing” fraud, (3) pull the plug on the debt-water tub (it will take years for all the rancid water to drain out); and, most important, (4) hire a new executive property manager.