The road to hell is paved with good intentions and thus far our country’s fiscal health has been marred by the “good intentions” of politicians on both sides of the aisle – from budget deficits, bank bailouts, stimulus programs, and increases in Medicare to tunnels for turtles, boats for Hawaii, and “cash for clunkers.”
The President recommends starting a spending freeze in 2011? That’s like a chain smoker or alcoholic saying they will quit tomorrow. If our government was serious about the state of our national debt, they’d stop the spending now. And the President’s comment that, “Spending related to […] Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security will not be affected;” those three programs on their own as they currently stand could single-handedly bankrupt our country. According to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, currently headed by CEO David Walker – former Comptroller General of the United States under Presidents Clinton and Bush (43):
With the oldest of 78 million baby boomers starting to retire, the sum of America’s unfunded liabilities and off-the-balance sheet entitlement promises currently exceeds three times the size of the entire U.S. economy. Medicare and Social Security alone amount to more than $40 trillion. And, the sum grows by an estimated $2 trillion to $3 trillion per year. Today, people are encouraged to spend more than one-third of their entire adult lives in retirement, reducing the share of benefits available to the truly old and needy.
We as a nation have to sit up and recognize the difference between what we want our government to do and whether we have the means to pay for it. Our current state of “bi-partisanship” has lead to both parties squandering our finances on programs they want while in control simply because they can with little thought given to how to pay for it—there are just too many unfunded liabilities. One comment from the President’s State of the Union made this quite clear:
There’s no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains […] Tomorrow, I’ll visit Tampa, Florida, where workers will soon break ground on a new high-speed railroad funded by the Recovery Act.
The difference is that we’re not paying for China’s debt, but China is paying for over 10% of ours – almost $800 billion as of 2009 according to the Congressional Budget Office. That is quadruple the amount held by China in 2004 - $209 billion – in only 5 years. In addition, our existing rail system is already the subject of controversy dating back to the formation of Amtrak in 1971. It was the bailout of its time, saving union jobs through its creation, but at what cost to the American people? In 2006 and 2007 Congress provided Amtrak a $1.294 billion government subsidy according to The Heritage Foundation.
By contrast, Amtrak has asked Congress for $1.680 billion for FY 2008—a significant increase over the FY 2007 subsidy—but unlike the previous year's request, this year's makes no particular commitment to implement major reforms. Indeed, at a time when it should be attempting to follow the airlines' successful lead and seek reductions in the wages of Amtrak's overpaid workforce ($54,000 per year plus tips for snack car workers), Amtrak's new president announced early this year that he will "Strive to achieve labor agreements providing reasonable wage increases."
Projected costs for the new train line mentioned by the President are nearly $1.3 billion assuming the contractor finished on-time and on-budget—money we just don’t have.
When did the government’s role include bankrupting our nation, inflating the US currency, and leaving taxpaying Americans with the burden of the bill? When can Americans expect Republican “leaders” like Congressman Brady get on the attack and challenge some of the proposed policies of the current Congress? It is hard to justify attacking Geithner when you’re one of the individuals who voted for the bank bailout in the first place. Spending has been out of control for a long time – where was our Congressman when Paulson was in charge of the Treasury, before Brady had a challenger in the upcoming Republican Primary on March 2nd?
I plan to trash the jobs bill, cap and trade legislation, stimulus packages and bailouts and simply cut taxes and eliminate the spending altogether. When the government eliminates taxes the rich, poor and middle class all benefit. More money in the taxpayers’ pockets means money is invested, spent, or saved - all of which have positive benefits on our stagnant economy. No matter where the tax cut, there is a net benefit. If you choose to spend it all and not save, that’s your choice, but not my responsibility. America is tired of failed leadership and bad legislation.
There is too much fraud, abuse and reliance on a system that was originally intended to only help those that truly need it. As the President said, “The only reason we are here is because generations of Americans were unafraid to do what was hard; to do what was needed even when success was uncertain; to do what it took to keep the dream of this nation alive for their children and their grandchildren.” It won’t be easy to cut programs, but as a nation we have to take responsibility for ourselves and stop relying on the entitlement programs of the Federal government.
