Dead Heading With One Hit

Writing an effective political article can be a task for someone on the conservative side. Reading all the sources available then thinking through the issues and plugging in facts to support what you put on paper isn’t a breeze. . So lets take a look at the stark reality of the present situation on spending cuts.

I’ll pose a few questions along the way. Why do we presently have a $14.3 trillion deficit with another 1.7 to be heaped on top of that just this very year? Is it because we haven’t taxed enough or because we are spending too much? If the federal government is borrowing 42 cents for every dollar it spends, what does that tell you? That taxes aren’t high enough? You have to be crazy even to go there.

Lets project that over to how you run your household. Try that tactic in your day-to-day finances and watch the outcome. You have “X” amount of your hard earned dollars coming in. Many times that is a fixed number, So in order to sustain, or try to sustain, a standard of living that you cannot afford you go on a borrowing spree and lose sight of reality. But you want to keep on doing it. So you look around and decide that it might be best if you pick your neighbor's pocket. Your neighbor probably isn’t going to be too thrilled with that idea.

Take a few minutes and watch this very powerful video where a member of the House pounds the nail dead on its head about what is going on in Washington DC. See you back here in a few.

Being short sighted seems to be a disease with many people in this nation these days. Need I remind you that you are going to die someday. I don’t know if the streets of heaven are paved with gold, but I do know that the streets here are not. A tax and spend Democrat will surely be in heaven if they are. But, in the meantime, the rest of us remaining here aren’t rolling in the dough. I happen to have to pay taxes unlike the 50% of Americans who don’t pay one red cent. How about we correct that whole concept?

Lets take a look at the numbers and the facts for a change, just for S & Gs. The total budget in 2007 was a meager $2.728 trillion and with revenues collected the budget deficit was but $160.7 billion. So four years later the Office of Management and Budget projects a total budget of $3.771 trillion and an additional $1.597 trillion will be added to ur children’s, grandchildren’s and their children’s credit card. In that four year period there has been an astronomical increase of 893%. Yeah, run your household that way. How can that be when the tax rates remained the same during that period? That’s almost a no brainer question but not quite.

Granted part of the problem with the increase of $1,436 trillion is the recession. It’s still upon us BTW. As revenues fell from $2.567 trillion in ‘07 to a projected (tricky word there) $2.174 trillion in ‘11 there is a shortfall. The shortfall amounts to $393 billion if you do the math. So the question then becomes, “What accounts for the additional increase of $1.043 trillion? You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out - SPENDING increased by that amount.

So lets look at it this way. The problem is tied to too much spending to the tune of 72.6%. So you’re sitting there at the dining room table and scratching your head? You better not be. That’s what our elected officials are doing for you. Yeah, there is now a Head Scratching Czar up there. The only saying about lying down with dogs and getting fleas comes to mind. Washington DC is crawling with the critters. Back to the dining room table now.

You know you’re spending 72.6% of income you don’t have. What are you going to do? I suggest to you that you do the prudent thing and decrease your household spending by a least 72.6 %.The way this country works is that you make up the other 27.4% by creating jobs in the “private” sector, enacting legislation that promotes economic growth and not stifle it and encouraging the world at large to invest in the greatest nation on earth. Viola! It isn’t a matter of pulling a rabbit out of the magic hat.

Lets look at the economics of this, even though I’ve been accused of knowing nothing about the subject. There is absolutely no way that the debt can be paid with tax increases. It’s impossible. Treasury bills are sold with a maturity of up to 30 years so project it out for 30 years. If an attempt were made today to make repayment, it would cost US tax payers, those of us who actually pay taxes, about $900 billion a year in principal and interest to do so. Wrap your head around that for a minute.

If we do nothing and the deficit skyrockets to $26 trillion, as projected, by 2021 (that’s just 10 short years away) we’ll be in deep kimchee without a pair of chop sticks. Historically interest rates on T-bills rise by a 5% average. So lets kick the can on down the street once again and it will rise from $900 billion to $2 trillion. But wait! If it rises to $50 trillion it’s only going to cost those who have to pay it $4 trillion. That’s just fro the repayment of the debt mind you. Peanuts, right? We’ll all be long gone by then so it becomes someone else’s problem. Now if that isn’t a helluva an attitude to walk through life with.

Just do this if you have the guts. Gather all the children, grandchildren and great grand children around that same dining room table you’re sitting at. Then try to explain to them why you have allowed their future to be mortgaged to the hilt. There is no explanation other than “it was all about me kids.” But it isn’t. This is really all about them. You see, I don’t want to see anyone die but you will, I will and so will all those people with their hands sticking out wanting what we don’t have to spend.

Today will be a good day. I'm going jump on the big Iron Horse, ride in a poker run to benefit a hospice project, let the wind blow in my face and not have a care in the world. That is until I get back home and in the world of reality once again. Have a great weekend.