Star Parker tells it like it is. This country is filled with cowards. If we want the government to provide a service or a benefit, then we should pay for it. If we choose to spend $3.8 trillion per year, then taxes should be increased enough to generate $3.8 trillion of revenue. It really is that simple, but politicians are cowards and promise the people the services and benefits without the cost. They have left that up to the Federal Reserve and the kindness of foreigners. If you made every American pay the taxes required to fund $3.8 trillion of spending, they might decide they don’t need $3.8 trillion of spending, and that would result in less government bureaucrats, less government intervention in our lives, less policing of the world, less war, less power for politicians, and less profits for the bankers and arms dealers that run this country. This farce will go on until it can’t go on anymore. We’ve passed the 90% Debt to GDP level and there is no turning back. The real fiscal cliff awaits.
Time to stop the debt charade
Sunday, December 9,2012
The crisis du jour in Washington now dominating the news, the so-called “fiscal cliff,” is but the latest in seemingly endless political crises that we shouldn’t be having.
We get two different kinds of problems in life: the real ones — the struggle to work and improve the quality of our lives — and the ones we bring on ourselves through poor behavior.
The more time we must deal with the latter type, the less time and energy we have to tackle life’s real problems and challenges.
The political crises that emanate from Washington are invariably problems of the type that result from poor behavior. And this latest, the fiscal cliff, is no exception.
Let’s recall that the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to occur in January — the fiscal cliff — are the result of the failure of Republicans and President Barack Obama to agree on a budget deal as a condition for raising the debt ceiling last year.
Why do we have to keep raising the debt ceiling? Because politicians are afraid to be honest with the American people and immediately raise taxes to pay for all their new spending. So instead of raising taxes and paying for our new bills when we incur them, they just borrow the money.
Anybody who doesn’t pay the full balance on a credit card bill each month knows what this is about.
Except there’s one big difference. You run up your credit card bill on your own account. You are the one who is on the line for your own bills.
Politicians run up bills on our account. We’re on the line for what they spend.
They could just be honest. When they have their wonderful ideas about what they want to spend our money on, they could go right to taxpayers and say, “We are going to spend X for Y, so we will raise your taxes by Z to pay for it, OK?”
They don’t do this because they know it is not OK. Politicians know that the money they are spending ultimately will come out of every American household. And if they go to those households, to those actually responsible for paying the bills, and the heads of those households know they don’t have the money, they will say, “No. Don’t spend the money and don’t raise my taxes.”
So politicians don’t ask.
And our constitution, which originally was supposed to protect the property of citizens, is now so degraded that they can do this.
They just spend the money and borrow on our behalf — often from those overseas, like the Chinese — to pay the bills.
Then they tell the American people about all the great ideas they are spending money on: Bail out companies that have failed. Promote green energy. Extend unemployment benefits so you can collect for four years. And so on.
It all sounds so wonderful and innovative and compassionate. And even better, somebody else is paying for it all. We think.
Now our debt, at over $16 trillion, is bigger than our whole economy — more than 100 percent of our gross domestic product.
Investment guru Bill Gross, of PIMCO in Newport Beach, Calif., has been writing that the “new normal” for economic growth in the U.S. will be below its historic average.
He cites research by Harvard economists Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff that shows that “for the past 200 years, once a country exceeded 90 percent debt-to-GDP ratio, economic growth slowed by nearly 2 percent for an average duration of nearly a decade.”
Part of Obama’s proposal to bypass the fiscal cliff is to get rid of the requirement that Congress must approve increases in the debt limit. I wonder why?
It’s time for responsible behavior and hard choices. If we can’t just cut spending, let the fiscal cliff kick in.
Star Parker is an author and president of CURE, Center for Urban Renewal and Education. She can be reached at www.urbancure.org.
Pirate Jo says:
I’m pretty sure we never would have gone into Afghanistan.
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10th December 2012 at 12:16 pm
Kill Bill says:
Obama and Boehner already know they will raise the debt ceiling well above what tax revenues can create or more spending can decimate.. What they havent decided is who gets what percentage of the gold mine and who gets the many feet of the shaft.
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10th December 2012 at 1:09 pm
Pirate Jo says:
It’s all about me getting what I’m entitled to.
If I am living at the poverty level but want kids, well I should just be able to have them anyway, and the rest of you should pay for it, because having all the kids I want is a basic human right, and what kind of monster are you to suggest that only rich people should have kids?
And I want to retire, and it shouldn’t matter if I saved any money or not, because I paid into Social Security all those years and I want my money back. Retirement is a basic human right, and what kind of Third World country is it when people have to work past the page of 65?
If I get sick, the rest of you should pay my medical bills, because I can’t afford to, and what kind of country lets people die just because they get sick?
And since this is a First World country, I deserve the same standard of living as everyone else, and that includes the full spectrum of utilities, a cell phone, and whatever kind of groceries I prefer.
Those of you who disagree with me must hate poor people. There isn’t enough money, you say? Well money’s just paper. People are more important than money. And you aren’t paying for it anyway – that’s going to be someone else’s problem, someone who is probably under the age of 10 or hasn’t been born yet, and that’s fine because each generation has its own troubles – we shouldn’t expect their lives to be perfect. Besides, younger people owe it to their elders to take care of them.
Have I covered everything, or was there something I left out?
I hate politicians as much as the next person, but it is too convenient to simply blame our problems on them. They are doing exactly what we elected them to do, which is to provide us with all the free stuff we want. Do you REALLY think the American public would be happy if expenses and revenues were brought to match? You’ve got to be kidding – the expectations and sense of entitlement are bigger than any other bubble out there.
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10th December 2012 at 2:12 pm
TeresaE says:
What a novel concept, living within one’s means.
This reminds me of the ONLY time I’ve ever agreed with Nancy Pelosi, it was when she floated (for about 30 seconds) the idea of a War Tax to fund the wars in the Middle East.
Contrary to my screaming brother – who screamed at me when I dared suggest the witch was right – a War Tax would bring every last one of us into the conversation about this bullshit War on Terror.
The IRS knows exactly how many Americans paid tax last year. It would not be hard to take the spending of something, say a war, then divide by the number of taxpayers/businesses, and present them with a bill for it.
I’m thinking an annual bill that comes out right around Christmas and covers the previous fiscal year, that gives the Treasury two full months after the close of business year to assess the damages. Bills must be delivered with the direct phone number and email address of your own representatives, and delivered with a timeline that allows the reps at least two weeks in office before they go on their holiday “breaks.”
This war, along with many other things, would stop pretty quickly as the reps would quickly see what their constituents would tolerate.
Which is one of two reasons why it will never happen.
The other one is basic math. If EVERY taxpayer/filer were issued an annual expenses report, it would be more than obvious that not we cannot afford any new spending, it is impossible for us to afford what has already been spent, plus future promises.
Accountability is the one sure thing that would destroy nearly any modern country.
As long as the PTB can hide behind their do-gooder ideas and refuse to acknowledge the true costs, the charade can continue (for now.)
Funny thing about math and spending, you can only pretend until the day you can’t. That day approaches ever quicker.
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10th December 2012 at 2:20 pm
card802 says:
Admin: “This farce will go on until it can’t go on anymore. We’ve passed the 90% Debt to GDP level and there is no turning back. The real fiscal cliff awaits.”
I agree, nothing of consequence will happen with these fiscal cliff talks, the solution in the minds of our politicians and media continues to revolve around taxes as the answer, while they continue to ignore spending.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/opinion/buffett-a-minimum-tax-for-the-wealthy.html?_r=0
So typical, attack the symptom while ignoring the disease.
Anybody see that spot in the news where A123, a Michigan battery company that received $250 Million in federal funds was just sold to a Chinese company. So the Chinese get the company and we still owe China the money we borrowed.
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10th December 2012 at 2:54 pm
TeresaE says:
@card, I believe they received nearly $1.5 billion in combination federal, state and government motors “grants” and investments. Their NA headquarters are about ten miles from my shop, we did some biz with them but refuse to sign their 100-page purchasing contract that laid out the thousand and one ways my business would end up eating GM’s future problems for a razor-thin profit margin today. Thanks, but no.
So a Korean company, founded on American taxpayer monies are now selling to a fully-owned Chinese subsidiary, the best our tax dollars can buy in research. And will have the GM pipeline to keep their profits full and flowing back to China. Good thing China is our “friend” and better that China hasn’t come out condemning us nor threatening to defend their strategic partners in the Middle East.
Only a matter of time before they return the production to the homeland, thanking the American taxpayer all the way.
A pox on all their houses. Thieving, conniving, bastards all.
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10th December 2012 at 3:05 pm
card802 says:
Teresa,
$1.5 Billion!
And I complained about LG Battery in Holland Mi.
They received $150 Mill from the feds and another $50 Mill in tax breaks.
$200 Million taxpayer dollars, two years later they have yet to produce one battery, 200 employees, $1 mill in taxpayer money per created job. Not a very good return.
HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD) –
“This is a symbol of where Michigan is going, this is a symbol of where Holland is going, and this is a symbol of where America’s going,”
President Barack Obama told a crowd at the groundbreaking, July 2010.
Workers at LG Chem, a $300 million lithium-ion battery plant heavily funded by taxpayers, tell Target 8 that they have so little work to do that they spend hours playing cards and board games, reading magazines or watching movies.They say it’s been going on for months.
When asked, a plant spokesman said the card playing was being classified as “Team building exercises.”
Yes, a pox on all their houses.
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10th December 2012 at 4:05 pm
IndenturedServant says:
“When asked, a plant spokesman said the card playing was being classified as “Team building exercises.””
Damn that’s funny. I laughed for several minutes after reading that. I’m off to bed in a few minutes and I’ll sleep better knowing all is well with the world!
I_S
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10th December 2012 at 4:26 pm
Novista says:
” … of, by, and for the people”
Here’s how it should work: for any spending beyond the existing tax take, an IPO should be floated. If they don’t get sufficient subscription, the spending doesn’t happen. Heh.
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10th December 2012 at 6:20 pm
tbone says:
this whole cliff thing is being handled incorrectly, and obviously the MSM has done an excellent job brainwashing the entire nation.
We need to write our congress people immediately and DEMAND we go over the cliff, we should be in the streets protesting the fact that they are even considering these bland solutions which don’t even put a dent into the $$$ owed. We need a re-boot so let’s hit the switch.
The politicians would shit their pants
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10th December 2012 at 6:28 pm
Buckhed says:
TeresaE…..please don’t wish for a War Tax…we had one to fund the Spanish American War..it was a tax on your phone bill. It was only recently dropped (2006) after 108 years !
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2006-05-25-phone-tax_x.htm
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10th December 2012 at 6:38 am
John A says:
@ tbone: Well said.
Regarding all of this money that has been loaned to “struggling” companies with no real business model: They wouldn’t happen to be on the list of significant Democratic campaign contributors in 2008 would they?
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10th December 2012 at 11:03 am