Tag Archive for debt

I’ve Had Enough Change

August 9, 2011 Editorials One comment
Emerald’s Gem Box
Emerald Greene Publisher

Our government raised the debt ceiling and said they were going to “cut spending.” The scary thing in all of this was how many of our elected officials were excited over this “breakthrough.”

Raising the debt ceiling – ha – just what America needed.  Now our government can spend more money that we do not have; our national deficit can rise even more; new/higher taxes will be placed upon us common folk; and the economy will sink even lower.

Cutting spending – ha again – the two things I heard the most talk about in cutting spending was our military and Medicare; the two things we don’t need to cut. The military – the ones who keep us free and safe.  Medicare – the ones (people) who gave us life and paved a way for us; and now we are going to take away from them?

Where are the spending cuts for all the money we are giving other countries? It was reported on August 8 that “President Obama has approved $105 million for humanitarian efforts in the Horn of Africa to combat worsening drought and famine. White House press secretary Jay Carney says the money will help provide food, shelter, water and sanitation and health services to those in need” or some cuts on the people that are bleeding this country dry by being on welfare when they are capable of getting out and working like the rest of us (and before you get your pen ready to write me hate mail – I know some people actually need disability or some source of welfare, but we ALL KNOW that the majority of welfare is being spent on citizens who know how to “work the system”); or how about a salary decrease for our Washington officials so they can feel the sting of unemployment and a bad economy like the rest of us.

We, the average American citizen, have to live our lives on a budget.  We only make so much money and we can only spend so much money. We HAVE to pay our electric bills, telephone bills, water bills, gas bills, car expenses and house mortgages and hope there is enough money left at the end of the month to buy groceries for us and our children. If we don’t pay our bills then we suffer the consequences; such as having our utilities disconnected or the car/house repossessed. We don’t have the luxury of raising our debt ceiling. If we don’t have enough money at the end of the month then we either have to get a second (or third) job or downsize our lifestyle. Why isn’t our government held to the same standard as we have to live?

And if our country isn’t falling apart enough, now America has lost its AAA rating and the Dow fell the most it has fallen in two and a half years.

And where is our President?  He is standing before us blaming Bush, blaming the Republicans and blaming the Tea Party. He even made statements referring to the fact that we all go through “bad times;” we have earthquakes and our Dow will rise and fall. Ha again. It’s time he steps up to the plate and acts like a CEO should. He needs to quit blaming others and take responsibility for the mess America is in and do something to start fixing it.

Last week, during a speech, the President said, “When I said, ‘change we can believe in,’ I didn’t say ‘change we can believe in tomorrow,’”

Well, I for one have had enough “CHANGE.”

Until then….see you around the town.

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Downgrade

August 9, 2011 Editorials Comments Off
National Security
Joe Boyles – Guest Columnist

Last week’s downgrade of United States Treasury bonds by Standard and Poor’s is historic.  S&P has been rating our government bonds since World War I; this is the first downgrade.  The other two international rating agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, have not followed suit … yet — but can similar action be that far behind?

The fundamental reason behind the downgrade is our public debt, now approaching $14.5 trillion.  This level of debt is about 70 percent of our gross domestic product.  That’s bad, but the future looks even bleaker as the Obama Administration projects annual deficits in excess of a trillion dollars for as far as the eye can see.  This is unsustainable … which the S&P recognized when they downgraded our bonds from AAA to AA+.

The battle over the debt ceiling which concluded (temporarily) before the August 2nd deadline was a precursor to the downgrade.  The president and his party wanted a balanced approach which would include raising taxes on “millionaires and billionaires.”  (Jargon rhetoric like this makes my head explode.)  The Republicans countered with spending cuts and no tax increases.  I’m not certain who “won” the debate, but I am certain that we’ve turned the corner on the debt ceiling – no longer will Congress blindly raise our “credit card” limit as they have done dozens of times without some sort of debate on the prudence and what must give.  The days of blank check spending are over.

If that message needed reinforcement, then S&P delivered the coup de grace with Friday’s action.

Meanwhile, the president appears feckless in his response.  No president can control the economy, but he gets credit for times when things go well and blame when they don’t.  Right now, he’s getting a lot of criticism.  Will this hold true 14 months from now when the course of the next election is set.  Who knows what will happen between now and then, but economies are like aircraft carriers at flank speed – it takes time and space to slow and turn them around.

Let me give you a formula for getting this economy rolling again.  First, let’s decrease federal spending.  That means tackling entitlements and reforming them for the 21st Century, not the New Deal and Great Society they were created for.  Second, let’s reform the tax code and make it flatter.  Remove a bunch of silly loopholes that accumulate through lobbying by special interests.  Third, let’s pull the shackles off business in the form of health care mandates, environmental rules based on poor science and general regulation.  Fourth, let’s begin domestic energy (oil and gas) exploration and production and watch tens of thousands of jobs be added to the economy.  Then, let’s stand back and watch the American economy grow impressively and lead the world as it should.

Do I believe that Barack Obama can provide the leadership to make these things happen?  In a word, no.  He is ideologically incapable of closing the gap between the possible and the likely.  His quiver is empty.  The revolver is spent – no bullets, silver or otherwise.

While the American economy is headed downhill in a hurry, the president is out raising obscene amounts of money to finance his billion dollar reelection bid.  Seems out of touch, doesn’t it?  Who’s to blame for the economic morass?  According to Obama, everyone and everything but him.  More signs of unreality.  What solutions does he offer?  More spending on unemployment insurance, investment in green technology, blah, blah, blah.  You know Mr. President, if you keep digging the debt hole, sooner or later you’ll end up in China … where most of our dollars are headed anyway.

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