So I am tired of hearing the same old spill regarding tax cuts and the need to make them permanent. The latest quote and final straw in our fiscal policy disaster that has been promoted by the Administration (and IMHO is fiscally irresponsible) is the notion that:
"The good news is that this year Americans will once again keep more of their hard-earned dollars because of the tax cuts we passed in 2001 and 2003."
What total bullshit.
This statement would be true if we didn't have a budget deficit! Americans are not keeping more of their hard-earned dollars, they are actually just delaying spending the dollars.
Why is this such a hard concept for people to understand... It is the same simple idea of borrowing against the future. We Americans are no keeping more of our money; we are actually spending more of it, and just not realizing it.
Every dollar we keep in "lowered taxes" and borrow to deficit spend is a dollar that that we are paying interest on. It's not like we are never going to have to repay those dollars. And those dollars just get more expensive over time...
Our nation's leaders preach the gospel of fighting terrorism, fighting terrorists, stop abortion, save life, stop homosexual marriage, blah blah blah blah.
what about the finanical terrorism that is the result of unbridled spending on the war machine? what about the financial terrorists that are wreaking havoc on the supply of free capital necessary to fund entreprenurial ventures by soaking it up in government bonds? This is what I want to know about...
How long will it be before our nation's leaders come to terms with the atrocity that they are performing on our future economic situation? Will the irrationality persist until we have to make hard choices like cutting spending on arts so we can pay down debt built up by the wars on terrorism and drugs?? Or will we deficit spend to the point where we have to actually think about the amount of money being spent on the department of defense and the wars?
I will say that I think the percent of government spending on defense is a little ridiculous - but only becuase imagine if we had used the billions of dollars spent on developing say the Joint Strike Fighter on say... i don't medical research? I would be happier... But the point here isn't politics - it's fiscal responsibility.
If we as a nation decide we need to spend money on something, we should have to PAY FOR IT AS WE SPEND IT, unless there's some dire emergency. I often ask myself if I am the only person who doesn't want to pass on my debt to future generations?? Why should we cut taxes and increase spending? Does anyone else worry or think about fiscal recklessness of overspending... What happens if the economy encounters another depression, will we have the available credit to spend our way out of it?
So enough ranting, here are some solutions I have thought about:
A PAY-GO amendment requirement government spending cuts to be paid for as they are made, and government expenses to be covered as they are spent.
-or-
A balanced budget amendment requiring the federal government to have a balanced budget like most state governments. With the balanced budget requirement only able to be overrode by 2/3's or 3/4's of both houses (it should be a rare occurrence). or maybe even creating an oversight process requiring a majority of the state legislatures to approve an out of balance budget for the federal government...
-or-
The implementation of a national VAT to provide government funding.
-or-
An amendment requiring pork projects (which are a political reality) to be infrastructure improvements or things that will bring a positive return in the future or imporve the body of knowledge.
-and-
I think surplus budget revenue should be used in 3 ways:
1/3 as a principal payment to retire some of the debt
1/3 as infrastructure and long-term economic development funds to the 2-4 poorest states, aka build a new interstate through southern WV or build a renewable energy plant in missippi or higher education or advanced training in an area.
1/3 to a rainy day fund.
but these are just somethoughts. I am just so tired of hearing I am keeping more of my hard earned money... It's just total bullshit...
I am no more keeping my hard earned money when I only pay 1/2 my credit card bill and leave the other 1/2 to collect interest, i have that much more to pay next month...
In search of federal fiscal sanity,
a concerned progressive