Some Staggering Figures

Published on April 11, 2005 By Gideon MacLeish In Politics

OK, folks, do me a favor. Look at the secondhand on your watch right now.

Look at the secondhand again when you finish reading this article. Then calculate the number of seconds you spent reading this article.

Divide the number of seconds by five. Multiply your result by one million.

That is how much the federal government will have spent in the time you were reading this article. ONE MILLION DOLLARS every FIVE SECONDS.

That's right...in slightly more time than it takes an NFL running back to run 40 yards, the US government will have spent another million dollars. That, any way you slice it is too much.

As I have stated many times before, the burden for this year's BUDGET is a staggering $8566 per man, woman and child in this country; the national debt is more than TWICE that number. These are numbers that we have no realistic hope of ever repaying; nor, it seems, do we even have such intent.

And yet, there are many, many Americans clamoring for MORE to be spent. When asked where we will receive that money, they simply answer that we must increase taxes on the rich, apparently ignorant of the fact that every dollar taxed on the wealthy will be charged to us in the form of higher consumer prices. These people aren't fools, you know.

The tax burden on the average US citizen is BEYOND excessive; it is appalling. We NEED a "pay as you go" system that does not allow the US government to spend more than they receive.

Put simply, we need to cut up the US government's credit card. It is what would be done if you overextended yourself, and it is what MUST be done where our government is concerned. Their reckless spending is bankrupting America, and it is a debt which future generations will be required to repay. It is basically the child's game of "hot potato" in play. It's a lot of fun, unless you're the one caught holding the bag.

And whose generation would we consign to live in abject poverty? Can you look in your child's eyes and tell them you wish them a WORSE future than that which you have? Or at the babies in your local hospital's nursery and wish for them a future of servitude for two centuries of reckless overspending by a runaway government?

The time, dear friends, to make a change is NOW. and it is your children's future that depends on it.

Comments (Page 2)

kingbee

on Apr 12, 2005

Dare I say the 80's? I don't remember plague and famine in the 90's

in the short term and within limits it was survivable. i doubt the japanese are gonna give it another shot tho. nor the argentines.

bakerstreet

on Apr 12, 2005

On a lighter note, I first saw this on the "Recent JoeUser Articles" list, so I didn't see the section or the author. I thought it was porn... and I clicked it. psychoanalize away...

Dr Guy

on Apr 12, 2005

We also have to accept that there is egregious waste at the state level, whose slack is taken up by the Federal government. How much should we cut of the national debt before we look and see how much state waste effects it?

The waste is not at the state level per se, but in the way the feds distribute their largess. Having worked in and around state and local governments for 15 years (most of them as a contractor), I saw the feds dispense grants with very specific guidelines on how the money is spent. For Instance:

Chapter 2. The grant says that "Up to 10% may be spent on administering the money".

Ok, how would you take that? If you are a normal person, you would beleive you can spend no more than 10%, but you can also spend less if you dont have to spend 10% to administer the money.

IN the state Bureaucracy, the bureaucrats take that to mean they MUST spend 10% whether they need to or not!

Government removes the profit incentive from the money and in so doing, they remove all incentive to maximize the return on the dollar. By its very nature and definition, A dollar spent by the government is fraught with waste as often the money can be more effectively spent, yet there is no incentive to do so.

Dr Guy

on Apr 12, 2005

Who elected Greenspan? Who does he answer to? Not a soul but the money counters his bank employs.

Abolish the Federal Reserve, and refuse to pay them another penny in interest, ever. Problem solved.

Greenspan is nominated by the president, and is answerable to him. But during the term, he is very autonomous. But you are wrong that the fed is a private concern. It is a government concern chartered by the US government.

In addition, you are also wrong that the interest is due to them. Most of it is due to the Social security administration, and foreign government bond holders.

The Feds 'manage' the money through regulating the banks and S&Ls. It truly has no power other than those regulations and setting the prime interest rate (the interbank rate). To vilify the Feds is to not understand the moderating influence it has on the cyclical nature of banks.

But it has no power of taxation, or confiscation. It is a paper tiger that most presidents realize. It can do some harm, and it can do some good. But only by tweaking at the edges, not wholesale intervention.

kingbee

on Apr 12, 2005

I thought it was porn... and I clicked it. psychoanalize away...

und so...i vonder who's kissinger now?

Gideon MacLeish

on Apr 12, 2005

who exactly is doing the clamoring?

Read COL Gene's blog, with its call for tax increases, for a start.

Frankly, yes, the transition to a fiscally responsible government stands to be a painful one. I don't advocate immediate, drastic downsizing, but rather gradual, continual restructuring that eliminates jobs through attrition and decreases spending proportionate to the decrease in tax. "Borrow and spend" is as irresponsible as "Tax and spend"; we need to tighten our belts before they get tightened FOR us.

I believe it was you, kingbee, who made the statement that we are becoming the most preeminent third world nation in the world, and it was an astute observation. We are on a track that we MUST correct, or the consequences will be dire.

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