The great conceit of the federal government
November 16, 2012 at 3:57 pm in News by Dustin Siggins 11 Comments
In 2008, Main Street was forced by Washington to bail out Wall Street through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Now, with the debt accumulated by TARP and other federal attempts to spend our way out of economic doldrums crushing the nation, the politicians want the taxpayers to bail out the federal government. Which leads to the following question: Why should successful, law-abiding Americans be forced to pay more of their incomes into a system that clearly will not use their dollars effectively, efficiently, or morally?
This is the great conceit of the federal government, yet proponents of tax increases ignore it. While spending continues to be irresponsible, we the people are supposed to send more money to Washington to try to balance out the effects of this behavior. Never mind that this involves trusting Congress to actually use the extra income to reduce the deficit and not put it towards new spending.
So, no, D.C. You won’t get any more of our money by increasing tax rates. If you want more money, cut spending and do tax reform. You’ll get the double whammy of less federal interference in the economy and a greater ability for private citizens to flourish. Oh, and you’ll be closer to actually staying within the bounds of the Constitution, something most federal politicians are unfamiliar with.
What spending should the government cut specifically? Social Security, Medi-Care, military, education? I’m not sure about Social Security and Medi-Care because a good percentage of the Tea Party is collecting it. Military spending?
If Congress can’t make that decision, like the Constitution requires them to do, then cut every goddam line item in the federal government an arbitrary ten percent until the government gets back down to a size the economy can actually pay for.
I’d start by firing every “czar” and getting rid of all that staff.
Then, I’d get rid of the DEA. That operation is an obvious failure.
Get rid of the Department of Education. That will cut the overhead created by the federal government, and the money can be sent directly to the states. No school district will see a penny less if the Department of Education is eliminated.
There is no reason the FBI should be involved in foreign intelligence. Change their charter to what it was before Clinton changed it to include foreign intelligence when he gutted the CIA with his “human rights purge”.
The bottom line is, almost every government expenditure line item has to be cut to get spending back under control. I can’t think of one line item that won’t have to be cut.
… and, let’s fix Social Security right here and now:
IF YOU DIDN’T PAY INTO SOCIAL SECURITY, YOU DON’T GET ANYTHING FROM SOCIAL SECURITY.
The Democrats hijacked Social Security and turned it into a catch-all welfare program, while the weak Republican leadership just watched and did nothing. That leadership must change.
Now that we’ve fixed Social Security, what other problem do you have?
Dealing with the Democrats and RINOs is like dealing with spoiled children. They have no concept where the money they spend comes from. To them, everything belongs to them.
It’s time to make them grow up. They have to realize money doesn’t grow on trees. We need to force them to live within their means.
NO MORE DEBT. NOT FOR ANY REASON.
The receipts for 2012 equal 2.47 trillion dollare.
The debt at the end of 2012 is 16.4 trillion dollars.
Let’s put that into its proper perspective:
If the annual income of a household is 50 thousand dollars, for that household to be in the same fiscal shape as our government, it would have a credit card debt of 332 thousand dollars.
There isn’t a debt counselor in the world that would advise that household to borrow more money. The fact is, they would have to sell their new car, most of their furniture, stop going out to eat, and begin to like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
It’s time for our government to grow up and face reality. There isn’t enough money to do everything they want. They have to do what anyone out here would have to do. Spend less, a lot less.
Congress needs to grow up. To do that, they need to put leadership in place that will lead us back to fiscal sanity.
Paul Ryan should be our next Speaker of the House. We’ll at least get a budget after not having one since Obama took office.
NO MORE DEBT. NOT FOR ANY REASON.
I agree – we need to cut spending. Fiscal conservatism and reduction of debt should be our main concern. I think we all agree this is the case. But my question is where? Do we as a nation go off the fiscal cliff and allow tax increases and across the board cuts?
Billy:
The decision to go off the fiscal cliff was decided last summer. The Bush tax cuts are history. The only question is whether the cuts for those making less than 250K will be extended during the lame duck session or in January.
To me, the real issue isn’t about the tax rates, it’s about loopholes and exemptions. Romney’ tax rate is 34.5%, yet for the last two years (atleast) he has paid an effective rate of 14%. It really doesn’t matter if the tax rate is raised to 100% if the loopholes allowing an effective rate of 14% remains in effect.
There are three parts to this solution:
1) Increase revenue: This can be accomplished by increaseing tax rates AND revising the tax code to eliminate loopholes and exceptions.
2) Reduce spending: All department (including Defense) need to be on the cutting board. My suggestion wold be to firect all Department Secretaries and Managers be directed to find 1% reduction from the 2012 base line. There is no doubt in my mind that each and every department can find 1% of their budget in waste,fraud or abuse WITHOUT hurting too many people in need of that Departments services.
3) Focus all energy on JOB CREATION: This is the biggest and best method to increase revenue by increasing the tax base. Additionally, it increases the number of consumers available to buy products and services.
Call me an optimist (or a fool), but now that the election is over, I believe there will be less resistance by Republicans (they no longer have the notivation of making Obama a one-term President) Additionally, Obama will be more open because he no longer has to worry about upsetting his base. If those two reasons aren’t enough, the country has suffered greatly over the past two years and is in dire need of action. I think all participants realize that and will now act.
I would guess that you are a lot more educated than the suppositions in your post indicate. I am going to state something that you actually know and are well aware of, but intentionally write as if it isn’t relavent:
There is a difference between individual tax and corporate tax. Two different sets of rules apply. “Romney” is a corporation. He’s a capitalist. He will have business exemptions that wouldn’t apply to a person who is supported by a salary alone.
I like the idea of Congress establishing a graduated income tax scale with identified exemptions. However, Congress (the majority of the poeple in Congress) have demonstrated total incompetence on this issue. Given that Congress (the majority of people in Congress) are unquestionably incompetent, we need to generate a simpler system.
For the first time in my life, I am in favor of a flat tax.
EVERY individual over the age of 18 must file a statement of income.
From that statement of income, a flat tax rate is applied across the board to everyone.
That rate is determined by how much money the government spent during that tax year.
EVERYBODY pays for the government.
Then, everyone will have some skin in the game.
We’ll see how everyone votes when everyone has to pay for what they vote for.
I agree DB I think a flat tax is both reasonable and fair. No exemptions.
What really appalls me is that people that paid not taxes at all get tax credit and tax refunds. Hiding entitlements in the form of more welfare within taxes.
Also the government likes to double dip. Take for example the mileage taxes the Administration has consider. We already pay taxes on the gasoline we use. Also the tax they sneakily added into home sales to help support Obamacare. The government digs deeper and deeper into our pockets. And comes at us at every angle as if we are incapable of doing the math.
DBWriter, what in the bloody hell are you talking about? The elections’s over. Take a chill, or focus your energy on something positive.
You seem to confuse me with the Muslim Brotherhood visitors Obama invites into the White House.
It’s a photo of an Arab holding up the head of an American he just decapitated.
If you bother keeping up with events in the world, this wouldn’t be the first time you’ve seen this photo.
Inadvertantly, you are evidence of how ignorant of historic facts the American population has become. You didn’t even recognize the photo. It was broadcast around the world on every international news network. … well, CBS, ABC, NBC and MSNBC didn’t broadcast it.
When Obama invites the Muslim Brotherhood into the White House, this is the type of person he’s allowing to influence our executive branch.