White House and CBO are arguing over just how bad things are, projecting the ten year deficit to be between seven to nine Trillion dollars - reminds me of an old morbid joke. A doctor tells a patient that he has good news and bad news, patient asks for the bad news first. Doctor tells him that the patient has AIDS, the patient looks very upset and inquires about the good news. Doctor informs him that he has Alzheimer's and the patient relaxes muttering "Phew, at least I don't have AIDS".
Listening to the Congressional Budget Office and White House argue over our projected deficit is both scary and frustrating. Scary because this kind of debt is truly unsustainable, crippling and a destroyer of nations. Frustrating because both Republicans and Democrats have the situation dead wrong. Obama in his now regular tiring routine, accuses the previous administration of saddling the nation with crippling debt - I guess he thinks taking a page out of FDR's handbook is the way to go. News Flash, people are catching on to your shenanigans and blaming Bush will only get you so far. Yes, Congress during the Bush administration spent like drunken sailors while Bush was busy deciphering messages from the almighty, but Obama's spending makes Bush look like an amateur.
Problem with a vast number of Republicans is that they still subscribe to trickle down economics as the panacea to all of life's problems and unfortunately they have abused the concept of tax cutting so badly, that a good number of Americans vilify anything to do with Bush or Republicans. Yes, cutting taxes does work and yes it will stimulate growth, business creation, employment, etc, but the amount of lost revenue in combination with new growth does not by any means provide a license to tack on additional spending. Why? Because natural business cycles over the course of hundreds of years suggest that recessions will happen, whether you have intervention or not, therefore during these recessions government revenue will decline as businesses close down, products disappear, demand changes, etc. If after cutting taxes, spending does not shrink, government will find itself between Iraq and a hard place. We as a nation need to step back and seriously evaluate what we are doing, because this spiral of increased government spending, entitlements, taxes and wars will lead to our demise, just ask the Romans.
Instead we have an administration that blames Bush for spending, but in the same breath spends more than any other administration in the history of America and in record time to boot! Obama claims that his 787 billion stimulus package is the reason our recession has been stifled, but predicting when recessions start and stop is like predicting our deficit within 10 years. Catch my drift? Obama then wants to sell us on a two trillion dollar health reform package, not because it will improve our system, but because it will give him the warm fuzzies. Not to get all "wee-wee'd up" but Congress not the President controls spending, a good number of these entrenched old timers must be removed and 2010 might be a great start.
We need people in Washington, in both chambers of Congress to approach matters in an entirely new fashion. Instead of battling pork (which is certainly important) or reducing inefficiency in some random federal agency, we need people to question entire departments and age old methodologies. We need to question our entitlement programs and really ask the hard questions; can we afford to continue living the way we are operating? More importantly, why is our government the size that it is and what can we do to shrink it and not the kind of shrinking that happens to a newly bought t-shirt, amputate some ligaments kind of shrinking.
Here are some ideas that I will certainly write about in the future.
- Get rid of Social Security: No more than a Ponzi scheme, foisted upon the American public during the Great Depression, broke, ineffective and woefully expensive.
- Shut down the IRS: Thousands of employees whose sole purpose is to understand the most convoluted and crazy tax code ever devised. Final effect of the progressive tax code? Rich hide their taxes, the poor do not pay them and the middle class gets screwed. Instead, implement a flat tax, a set percentage of one's income and be done with it. Yes, Turbo Tax might be out of business, but it's for the best.
- Get rid of Medicaid: The brother of Social Security, a child of LBJ's Great Society that needs to be put down. Broke, corrupted and ineffective.
- Minimize military bases around the world: We have too much involvement around the world, plain and simple. In the name of "protecting our interests" we have, pardon the pun, gone far beyond the call of duty. This one is a favorite of Ron Paul zealots, please stay away, I do not subscribe to your lunacy.
- Close down Department of Agriculture: Why should our government be subsidizing sugar? Why do we need to pay farmers anything? If people want food, farmers will grow it. Stop sticking your tentacles where they do not belong!
- Stop fighting the war on drugs: A war we cannot win is a war not worth fighting, a war that we should not have waged in the first place makes the situation critical. We can save billions by directing federal agents, police officers, prisons and our justice department to handle actual criminals - like people crossing into our country illegally! Why are we hemorrhaging money on controlling substance abuse? Absurdity to the extreme!
- Close down Department of Education: We most certainly do not need federal involvement in education. Give citizens their property taxes back and provide school vouchers, you will be surprised how private schools can impact the quality of education.
- Close down Department of Energy: If you do not know what this department does or how it affects us, perhaps it should not exist.
- More...
They may sound crazy, but I am pretty sure I can convince you on at least half of these within one article on each subject. Either way, it cannot possibly be crazier than accruing a 7-9 Trillion dollar deficit, right?
Comments
Good to see you here at examiner, Arkady.
Good to see you here at examiner, Arkady.
Good stuff Arkady, need a younger Ron Paul now to take advantage of this vacuum.
Shallow Thoughts without thinking through the consequences. Systems aren't perfect, but to recklessly abandoned them is a solution of a elementary school drop out. Please don't waste your time perpetuating stupidity and write something worthwhile.
Thanks Fletch, I agree - I heard some of Rand's stuff and he sounds fantastic. Does not have the aura of crankiness and derangement that his dad seems to be afflicted with. Who knows, maybe Rand also believes Israel created Hamas and I am sure he probably has the same crazy followers, but he sounds great.
C&B, some amusing irony considering that you prepared to sling personal insults without actually hearing any of the arguments behind them. Obviously I am prepared to handle individuals who are stuck within the status quo and comfort themselves with equally pedantic statements such as "systems are not perfect". I am not prepared to handle people who have no ability or mental capacity to even consider thinking about an idea, let alone understand one.
Also SHUT DOWN grants, subsidies, and government funding for ethnic lobbies and organizations such as LaRaza, NAACP, Hispanic Chambers of Commerce and all other racially based Chambers of Commerce, Southern Poverty Law Center, MALDEF, and on and on. There is no reason that the American taxpayer should have to fund ethnic specialty focus groups such as this. It would save billions!
cag, I will take it a step further. Congress should pass legislation to significantly damage if not remove lobbyists out of Washington. Just like there is a separation between church and state, there should be a separation between corporation and state. The groups you listed are most certainly on the top of list of culprits.
nine billion, seven billion, either way doesn't matter to the traitors who's trust the American citizenry has put into office. Instead, they are planning amnesty and citizenship for millions of foreign illegal alien nationals, Wall Street bailouts, free medical(at u.s.citizens expense) for those foreign illegal alien nationals, and AN OPEN BORDER TO THE WORLD. SOME LEADERS.
The Corbett Report
August 26, 2009
In an interview released today by Digg & the Wall Street Journal, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was pressured about the growing popular movement to Audit the Fed spearheaded by Texas Congressman Ron Paul. A visibly uncomfortable Geithner attempts to dismiss the question by stating “I’m sure people understand that you want to keep politics out of monetary policy.” When Geithner is again pressed on the issue, he makes the stunning assertion that conducting an audit of the Federal Reserve—something never before done in its 96 year history—is a “line that we don’t want to cross,” proclaiming that such a move would be “problematic for the country.”
Geithner’s response that auditing the Fed would give politicians dangerous control over American monetary policy is mistaken at best and a deliberate lie at worst. Allowing the public to know what happened to their $24 trillion in bailout money! Complete story on infowars news website!
Even the $9 trillion estimate is based on ridiculous assumptions (the economy will rebound miraculously in spite of Obama's heavy-handed efforts at expanding Federal control of the economy, Congress will cut back on spending). If Obama is re-elected, and the Democrats retain control of Congress, you can expect a much greater national debt.
That is very true, all these estimates and in fact all estimates in general are based on assumptions of certain projected figures to continue increasing and growing. Generally when people ignore historical examples of what happens when the free market is choked off, they continue making outrageous predictions while searching for scapegoats to explain why their predictions failed. Something drastic has to happen to American politics in order for this trend to finally cease.
I agree with the vast majority of your cure to the 7-9 trillion dollar deficit. Most of what you mentioned should be evident to politicians. Unfortunately they seek more complicated routes. They have been seeking these routes for quite sometime now and everything is just getting worse and worse and worse and worse until eventually it will reach WORST. Definent cause for everyone to put their whole faith in "Jesus Christ" because I have read the book of Revelation and I am seeing signs all around me that these are the last days. No man knows the time or hour but through Jesus Christ teachings and parables, he warns and explains to us the signs of the last days. We can't put our faith in this government. There is a government incomprehensibly beyond this government and it is ruled by 1 KING, KING of all kings and that is Jesus Christ.
You have some good ideas, but the special interests won't let any of it happen, at least not in my lifetime. And by the way, people must understand just how evil and/or stupid Obama and the Dems are. Prepare yourselves for what's coming because things are likely to get VERY ugly.
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