Commentary > Op-eds
Government On Burning Platform
Congress Needs To Stop Spending So Much Money
By Jim Quinn, For The Bulletin
The $787 billion, 1,074 page stimulus bill has been passed. President Barack Obama has signed it. It will have no impact on the economy in 2009. The bill will stimulate nothing but the National Debt. Within months, plans for another stimulus plan will be demanded by the Congress because speed and the appearance of action are how politicians get reelected.
The annual deficit for 2009 is now estimated at between $2 trillion and $3 trillion give or take a few 100 billion. These figures seem incomprehensible to the average person on the street. Some perspective is in order. If we use $2.5 trillion as the estimated deficit that means:
• We’re adding $6.85 billion per day to the National Debt
• We’re adding $285 million per hour to the National Debt
• We’re adding $475,000 per minute to the National Debt
In the time it takes to say Audacity of Hope, we’ve added $25,000 to the National Debt.
Some ideas for consideration follow:
1. Congressmen show no courage to make necessary unpopular decisions because they won’t be re-elected. The founding fathers envisioned representatives who did their civic duty for a short time and then went back to their real profession. Term limits would inject our leaders with a dose of courage. Maybe they would do what was best for the country if they knew that they would only be in Washington for six years.
2. Outlawing lobbyists and PACs would remove the buying and selling of votes in Congress. We must remove the corruption from Washington, D.C.
3. The PAYGO rules that were allowed to expire in 2002 must be reinstituted. These rules would not allow new spending initiatives without an equal cut in other spending. These rules allow Congressmen to say no to constituent demands.
4. The banks that are insolvent will need to be nationalized, investors wiped out and good assets sold off to good banks. The sooner we purge the system of its bad debt, the sooner we can get this economy on a positive track.
5. Dr. John Hussman has a solution for the foreclosure disaster that would not stick the U.S. taxpayer with the bill. Banks could write down the mortgage balance but receive a PAR (property appreciation right) back from the homeowner.
6. The U.S. carmakers need to be restructured within a pre-packaged bankruptcy. They want another $39 billion of your tax dollars. No more taxpayer funds can be wasted on these poorly run companies.
7. A truly non-partisan commission appointed by the President with the power to put forth a comprehensive plan to restructure Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security for an up or down vote by Congress is the only way to create a viable future. Congress must be forced to confront this issue.
8. John McCain’s moderate approach of allowing a path to citizenship seems like the best immigration plan. Most came here to try and live a better life. If they have committed crimes or don’t follow the prescribed path to citizenship, then they need to be expelled from our country. We need to encourage foreign professionals to immigrate to America with incentives, if necessary.
9. If 50 percent of the $1.4 trillion annual military related budget was redirected to debt reduction, energy independence and infrastructure rebuilding, we would actually get a positive return on our tax contribution.
10. A “Manhattan Project” to develop new energy sources that would eliminate the $400 billion per year that we send overseas for foreign oil. The number of high-paying jobs that could be created by building nuclear power plants, wind farms,and converting vehicles to natural gas would be in the hundreds of thousands.
11. A tax system that eliminated all the preferences and loopholes for corporations and individuals while lowering rates would be fairer. Congress and lobbyists use the tax system to push their agendas.
12. The Federal Reserve needs to be abolished. A currency backed by gold or a basket of precious metals would restrict what Congress could spend. This would save us from ourselves. The dollar has lost 93 percent of its purchasing power since Nixon closed the gold window in 1971 and the National Debt has gone from $389 billion to $10.8 trillion, a 2,800 percent increase in 38 years.
Politicians will spend your money if they are given the chance. Let’s not give them the chance.
The annual deficit for 2009 is now estimated at between $2 trillion and $3 trillion give or take a few 100 billion. These figures seem incomprehensible to the average person on the street. Some perspective is in order. If we use $2.5 trillion as the estimated deficit that means:
• We’re adding $6.85 billion per day to the National Debt
• We’re adding $285 million per hour to the National Debt
• We’re adding $475,000 per minute to the National Debt
In the time it takes to say Audacity of Hope, we’ve added $25,000 to the National Debt.
Some ideas for consideration follow:
1. Congressmen show no courage to make necessary unpopular decisions because they won’t be re-elected. The founding fathers envisioned representatives who did their civic duty for a short time and then went back to their real profession. Term limits would inject our leaders with a dose of courage. Maybe they would do what was best for the country if they knew that they would only be in Washington for six years.
2. Outlawing lobbyists and PACs would remove the buying and selling of votes in Congress. We must remove the corruption from Washington, D.C.
3. The PAYGO rules that were allowed to expire in 2002 must be reinstituted. These rules would not allow new spending initiatives without an equal cut in other spending. These rules allow Congressmen to say no to constituent demands.
4. The banks that are insolvent will need to be nationalized, investors wiped out and good assets sold off to good banks. The sooner we purge the system of its bad debt, the sooner we can get this economy on a positive track.
5. Dr. John Hussman has a solution for the foreclosure disaster that would not stick the U.S. taxpayer with the bill. Banks could write down the mortgage balance but receive a PAR (property appreciation right) back from the homeowner.
6. The U.S. carmakers need to be restructured within a pre-packaged bankruptcy. They want another $39 billion of your tax dollars. No more taxpayer funds can be wasted on these poorly run companies.
7. A truly non-partisan commission appointed by the President with the power to put forth a comprehensive plan to restructure Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security for an up or down vote by Congress is the only way to create a viable future. Congress must be forced to confront this issue.
8. John McCain’s moderate approach of allowing a path to citizenship seems like the best immigration plan. Most came here to try and live a better life. If they have committed crimes or don’t follow the prescribed path to citizenship, then they need to be expelled from our country. We need to encourage foreign professionals to immigrate to America with incentives, if necessary.
9. If 50 percent of the $1.4 trillion annual military related budget was redirected to debt reduction, energy independence and infrastructure rebuilding, we would actually get a positive return on our tax contribution.
10. A “Manhattan Project” to develop new energy sources that would eliminate the $400 billion per year that we send overseas for foreign oil. The number of high-paying jobs that could be created by building nuclear power plants, wind farms,and converting vehicles to natural gas would be in the hundreds of thousands.
11. A tax system that eliminated all the preferences and loopholes for corporations and individuals while lowering rates would be fairer. Congress and lobbyists use the tax system to push their agendas.
12. The Federal Reserve needs to be abolished. A currency backed by gold or a basket of precious metals would restrict what Congress could spend. This would save us from ourselves. The dollar has lost 93 percent of its purchasing power since Nixon closed the gold window in 1971 and the National Debt has gone from $389 billion to $10.8 trillion, a 2,800 percent increase in 38 years.
Politicians will spend your money if they are given the chance. Let’s not give them the chance.
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