Our government is spending us into the poor house. Not just you and me, but our children and grandchildren. Once again we are being fed the Keynesian line that we have to spend our way out of this recession. Well, the democrats have been in power and spending like it's Monopoly money since 2007, with the amounts really racheting up once Obama took office and they truly had free rein.
Last year VP Joe Biden tried to sell us on spending money to keep us from going bankrupt. My nine year old, upon hearing Biden's theory said, "That's silly! Everyone knows you can't spend more money if you run out of money! He's crazy!" That's my little sunshiny ray of hope for the future! Too bad our government can't grasp something a nine year old sees as basic common sense.
This is now the longest recession since the Great Depression, which I find rather telling. It is widely accepted now that FDR's New Deal - massive government spending and intrusion into the free markets - crippled the recovery in the 1930's. Unfortunately, our current administration is using the New Deal as their road map through our present crisis (and oh so cleverly called it the 'New New Deal'), which is most likely why this recession is dragging on into it's third year, when most recessions last 8-12 months.
That is the problem with Progressive revisionist history. Their habit of changing history to suit their political ends sets us all up for disaster. If you don't learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it. Unfortunately, we are in for a harsh lesson if our government continues on this path - something they seem determined to the point of obsession with continuing.
President Obama offered his budget for 2011 today. Apparently his talk about discretionary spending freezes next year was just more hot air, because his 2010 budget was for $3.6 trillion, and his 2011 budget is for $3.8 trillion. How did he manage to put in a spending freeze and yet still increase the budget by $200 billion (while simultaniously bragging about cutting $20 billion, to boot)? What's even more mind-boggling is that people are actually going to buy that line he's selling. Another amazing thing is the short turnaround on this broken promise. Usually a few months pass between the lie being sold and the reality coming to light. This one only took a week. The only thing transparent about this administration these days is it's dishonesty and spin.
Apparently, there is $100 billion in jobs stimulus in there somewhere - a nice little trick. They wanted to create a whole new stimulus package, but, when the idea went over like a lead balloon with the public, they just snuck it in, as is becoming standard operating procedure with this administration. Unfortunately, we need job growth now, not some time in 2011. Interesting timing on that one, too. Congressional dems need to have something to bring to voters by this summer or they risk losing reelection - this plan wouldn't help them. Which means that the 2011 job plan is solely to assure that The One can get reelected. Every rat dem for themselves, eh? I guess Congressional dems are betting it all on the stimulus bill creating jobs over the summer. Good luck with that!
This budget, like most everything else this tax and spend administration has passed so far, is bloated and ridiculously expensive, with the added bonus that it will add $1.6 trillion to our already out of control deficit. Oh, goody. What are we up to now? About $600,000 per household?
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty wrote an op-ed today in Politico. I encourage you to read it. It certainly starts out with a bang:
The U.S. attorney general recently announced that the Justice Department is beefing up its efforts to fight financial fraud such as Ponzi schemes. Good. The agency should start by reviewing the spending habits of the federal government, which is running the largest Ponzi scheme our country has ever seen.
He's absolutely right - this
is a gigantic Ponzi scheme. Except instead of taking the money of investors who volunteered their money in hopes of getting rich quick, our money is being taken from us against our will, and it isn't just
our money - it is
generational theft. As yet unborn children and grandchildren will be paying for this for decades, if not longer. If Bernie Madoff deserved to go to jail for stealing $50 billion, what should be the sentence for $1.3
trillion? This budget will cause us to have a
deficit that exceeds our GDP by October 2011.
That is sheer insanity.
At this point, I am at a loss as to how to get them to rethink their ways. We protest, they ignore. We call in, they shut off the phones. We send letters and emails and get form letters in return, reassuring us that our "representatives" will do what they feel is best, no matter what the majority of Americans want. All we can do is continue to protest, call and write, and, of course, VOTE.
But just voting in 2010 is not enough. We need a Six Year Plan. The House is up for reelection every two years, but the Senate only reelects one third of their body every two years. It would take three election cycles to clean house, and that is exactly what we need to do - clean house. We need to keep our eyes on the prize - we need to keep our memories sharp and vote out any incumbents who have voted to rob us and our posterity of our hard earned money. Not just this year, but until every last one of those lying, corrupt thieves are gone.
A revolution was fought in this country because of taxation without representation. If our elected officials in Washington refuse to listen to the will of the majority of the people and insist on implimenting an unpopular agenda, they are no longer representatives.
We went to war in 1776 over a penny tax imposed upon us by a tone deaf monarch and his arrogant, overreaching government who refused to hear the concerns of those being taxed. Adding insult to injury, the tax money was to be spent back in England, so the taxpayers saw no direct benefit from the increase. We are now being subjected to
trillions in taxes, passed in bills that we are not allowed to read by "representatives" who are only interested in their own political gain and are doling out the money from their giant slush fund to donors and cronies. Our tone deaf, arrogant government, when faced with the fears of the people, belittle, demonize and dismiss.
Thomas Jefferson had it right - When the people fear their government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.
Our public servants have lost their fear. It's time to remind them who is the boss. We fired the warning shot with Scott Brown's election. They have decided to double down and try to fool us again on the campaign trail with more false promises and spin.
They will not reform, so they must be removed.
It's time to remind them that this is a government of the People, by the People and
FOR the People.
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BUDGETING REALITY
