As the presidential and congressional campaigns take on more momentum heading toward the nominating conventions and Labor Day, sugar-coated promises are filling the airwaves. It is easy for politicians to pander if they aren’t required to say how they plan to pay for the programs and proposals they set forth as temptations for the voters.
Perhaps we should keep a few facts in mind as Election Day nears. During the last two months, inflation has accelerated to a rate that would approach 10 percent on an annualized basis. That means the earning power of American workers is being eroded at a rate not seen in years. Rapidly rising commodity prices and government policies of pumping more “liquidity” into the financial markets are the main causes of the current higher levels of inflation. The federal government is doing nothing to rein in the inflation it is helping to create. As a consequence, the standard of living for most Americans is being reduced with each passing month.
For the month of June, the federal budget deficit totaled almost $110 billion. It is expected to stay at extremely high levels for the foreseeable future because the federal government continues to spend at a record pace while revenues can’t keep up due to the weakening of the economy. The estimate of the Medicare and Social Security projected long-term shortfalls is $37 trillion. It is hard to envision how much money $37 trillion actually is. For comparison, consider that the current federal budget contemplates spending $3 trillion. That means that it would take the entire federal budget outlays of 12 years at the 2008 expenditure level just to balance the books for what we will owe in the future for two of the major entitlement programs. Consider the enormity of those numbers. If the federal government held spending to a net zero increase for the next 40 years or so (fat chance!), we would still be $37 trillion in the hole if we live up to the promises we have made to those who are retired or will be during that time frame. So how do we pay for it?
Don’t expect any politician running for office to attempt to answer that question. “Taxing the rich” is one proposal but doubling the tax on Americans who make $250,000 or more a year wouldn’t make a dent in the astronomical budget problems (and could add to the softening of the economy). To say that presidents and members of Congress have shown no interest at all in cutting the budget would be a classic understatement. Automatic cost of living adjustments, unchecked entitlements, earmarks, defense spending boondoggles, subsidies and bailouts rule the day in Washington.
The most likely answer to the question of “how do we pay for it” is a sad one. Those of us who are over the age of 50 won’t contribute much to the solution of the problem. At some point some of us might have to wait an additional year or two before we can collect Social Security, but for the most part, the problem will be passed on to our children and grandchildren. They will see their taxes go up, governmental services decline in scope and quality, and the national defense become increasingly more precarious.
They can thank previous generations and the politicians elected by them for the travesty that lies ahead if men and women with brains, integrity, and a conscience don’t take over Congress and the White House and put an end to the fiscal insanity rampant in Washington.
I wrote the following 6 years ago, it was the conclusion of an essay I included in a report covering a range of topics that I presented to Congressman Rodney Alexander at the time; - - - - * Common denominators attributable to all disasters natural or manmade aside from the loss of life which is irreplaceable, is that they affected structurally inferior works intended as protection from the elements, and those constructed works cost more money to replace today than they did to build 15 years ago…. The logical approach to more effectively offset these types of problems with their associated losses which will be incurred to an even greater extent in the future would be to build stronger, build smarter, build faster, and build with less costs involved than was accomplished 30 years ago….. This can be achieved. I believe that what I possess and what I can additionally bring into fruition is good for basic national interests, necessary for enhanced national security, and would be a benefit to mankind in general. * - - - - I suppose, in looking back, that those were among the basic nuances which prompted me into the earlier actions involved with the patent and development of the technology I had unveiled to a member of the United States Army Corp of Engineers 4 or 5 years before my meeting with the (ha-ha) ‘good’ congressman….. At that earlier time, there was only the protection of a small subdivision located outside of Lafayette in an old rice field from the annual threat of flooding due to rain water that ended up in the ‘bowl’ it was built upon after draining from surrounding properties that was of immediate issue…….. Ahhh,,, ‘the writings on the wall’……. or in a report long forgotten and stuffed either in a wastepaper basket, or perhaps but doubtfully, at the back of some file cabinet drawer somewhere……. The only record of it having ever even been written in the first place floats around in cyberspace, compressed within one of the 160 + million websites in existence today….. And that has been available for the masses to view for almost 2 years now…. I know, because I cut and pasted that portion from my website to this dissertation…….. And today a Bayou Buzz ‘staff’ writer proclaims; “The federal government is doing nothing to rein in the inflation it is helping to create. As a consequence, the standard of living for most Americans is being reduced with each passing month.”… In an attempt to reinforce that position the writer proclaims; “To say that presidents and members of Congress have shown no interest at all in cutting the budget would be a classic understatement.”…….. For all the lathering and frothing in the above article I can only stop to ask; “What part of WE THE PEOPLE….. is it that the writer does not comprehend?” The “WE” parts of that brief sentence are THE individuals, and THE various states, and those ARE the WE in THE federal government scheme of things……… So it would seem to me, that some writers should be contemplating the formatives of the WE faction in state versus federal jurisdictions, and that some of them should be writing in a more enlightened fashion and doing a little more to contribute to the wholeness of the many……. Especially when I consider some of the additional commentary included in the above article; “The most likely answer to the question of “how do we pay for it” is a sad one. Those of us who are over the age of 50 won’t contribute much to the solution of the problem. At some point some of us might have to wait an additional year or two before we can collect Social Security, but for the most part, the problem will be passed on to our children and grandchildren. They will see their taxes go up, governmental services decline in scope and quality, and the national defense become increasingly more precarious.” To which I say; “Speak for yourself”……. I may be getting ready to push 50, and perhaps in consideration for the scope and scale of the problems we are laboring under I personally may not be able to solve all of them (nor have I ever contemplated attempting to do so) but I can at least contribute several hundred million or several billion in value directed towards a cure, and the preventive values could easily equate to several hundred billion over the next couple of decades……. And there is one piece of the puzzle……. And every bit as meritorious if not more so than the group of ‘goofies’ that are on their way up north to beg GM after 7 or 800 jobs were slated for ‘cuts’ in an attempt on their part to ‘shore up’ losses that are only domestic in nature because the European sector of GM is kicking butt……… But this is not going to happen, because people on an individual level, are not calling upon their representatives at a state level to initiate steps or processes that can ultimately manifest solutions on the federal level…. So open your eyes a little wider to the world that surrounds you, in fact, put on some rose colored glasses, grab a six pac of Pacificos and contemplate what the is of the matter really is……….. I think that is about as good an Rx as I can give to any anal retentive I come across….. Written by ..................STRONGCONCRETE..................
on 8/15/2008
REPORT SPAM OR ABUSE
