See, this is what hacks me about the "big two" parties (dem & rep).
I remember, when Clinton was president, the "balanced budget" was a HUGE priority. The Democrats were the big, bad guys because they couldn't muster a budget that reduced deficit spending. The Republicans ran in 1994 with fanfare and a "Contract with America" that proposed, among other things, just that. It was a PR coup for the GOP. The government shut down over the differences between the Democrat and the Congressional Budget, and the GOP shouted that a balanced budget was a priority for America.
My how times have changed.
Trusting in the amnesiac tendencies that Americans tend to have as regards to politics, the GOP continues to increase their deficit spending further and further. The $2.57 TRILLION (that's TRILLION, as in $2,570,000,000,000) budget does not even include expenditures for the war in Iraq, guaranteed to be quite costly to say the least. And that's just one year's budget.
To put it in terms the average American can understand, the $2.57 trillion proposed budget equals:
- $8,566.67 for every man, woman and child in America (giving a family of four an average liability of over $34,000...past the median income for said family)
- 50 times Bill Gates' net worth.
The end result of such excessive spending is simply: bankruptcy. We cannot maintain current spending levels without DRASTICALLY increasing taxes on Americans. As the dollar continues to fall on the international market, the crisis intensifies even further. We need to return to our call for fiscal responsibility and press for the President and Congress to commit to a budget that RESPONSIBLY manages our money in as efficient a manner as possible.
Respectfully submitted,
Gideon MacLeish