We Do NOT Have a Revenue Problem!

We do NOT have a revenue problem. I repeat, we do NOT have a revenue problem! We have a SPENDING problem.

The debt ceiling debate is a joke! The so called "impasse" is laughable! The level of denial and demagoguery from the Democrat Party is breathtaking!

• In 1940, the debt ceiling was $43 billion. It has been raised 99 times and now stands at $14 trillion. A 32,000% increase!

The federal budget has grown precipitously over the last 70 years under both Republican and Democrat presidents. Anyone who makes the argument that we need to raise taxes because we have a revenue problem is living in an alternative universe and should not be taken seriously. It just proves that they either do not want to think about this problem in a mature, wholistic manner or they just want to spew the Democrat talking points.

• Since 1940, population has increased 232% (132 million versus 308 million). Federal receipts over that same period of time has increased . . . . 35,000% (from $6 billion to $2.1 trillion).

• We tax at 18% of GDP and spend at 23%.

• In 1916, the entire national debt was equal to the net worth of the country’s wealthiest man, John D. Rockefeller. Today, if you combined the net worth of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, it would pay less than three month’s interest on the nation’s debt.
  
• The U.S. total debt is approximately $64 trillion*. The entire GDP of the world for one year is approximately $61 trillion.

TELL ME WE DON’T HAVE A SPENDING PROBLEM. I DARE YOU!!!!

We all know that both political parties use federal spending to buy votes. The Democrats are more brazen about it but the Republicans are just as guilty. There is no way to rein in these irresponsible, kick-the-can-down-the-road, spineless weasels in Washington without systematic, structural change. I believe that means a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. Anyone who argues against it simply does not care about the future economic viability of the United States and ignores the fact that our elected officials in Washington CANNOT be trusted. Our Founding Fathers were very clear – DO NOT TRUST A CENTRALIZED GOVERNMENT. I take their warning to heart.

I know there are pros and cons about the BB Amendment so let’s have the debate and inform the American people. Pass the amendment in Washington and send it to the state legislatures for a vote.

If you don’t like that idea, then I propose an across-the-board cut of all government agencies taking their budgets back to levels of 2000 plus inflation. That would wipe out the spending of the Bush years and Obama’s first and, God willing, only term in office.

Footnotes:

*Approximate national debt - $13 trillion plus state and local debt $2.5 trillion plus unfunded state pensions $3 trillion plus Social Security and Medicare’s obligations over the next 75 years $45.7 trillion.

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=200

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_the_United_States

How to Fix America

I have a very simple solution to fix America. It's a challenge to all voters! It's a choice that every voter must make! Once you make the choice, you must demand that your public servants promote your choice or replace them with someone who will. IT'S THAT SIMPLE.

You either take the conservative position and admit that we are broke, government spending is out of control (under BOTH political parties) and needs to be cut dramatically

OR

You take the liberal/progressive position that we need more government; that we have a revenue problem not a spending problem, therefore raising taxes and attacking the rich is the answer.

One way might save the country the other will definitely destroy it.

That's it! Pick a side! Take a stand! Make some calls and send some emails to your representatives! Talk to your neighbors, family members and co-workers! Vote accordingly!

Side Notes:

• We have historical norms of spending as a percent of GDP that Obama is planning to exceed. We have historical norms of tax revenue collected by the Treasury as a percent of GDP that Obama is trying to exceed although it has been demonstrated to be impossible. How do you reconcile that?
• We have a President who believes that America “would not be a great country” without all our entitlement programs? How do you reconcile that? http://ow.ly/4Av95
  
• We have two political parties that have been doling out favors using taxpayers' money for decades. Both are addicted to it and unlikely to change. See Death of the Two-Party System.
• We have a President who has increased our deficits by astronomical amounts accusing Republicans' vain attempt to cutting the spending of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country. Any sane person knows that the spending will cause us to become a Third World country yet our "leader" (term used loosely) believes in driving us right off a cliff.

You have a choice - the real world where adults solve problems and make hard choices or the Obama-induced alternative universe where more and more government spending, regulations and entanglements in the lives of the average Joe equate to utopia.

The Death of the Two-Party System

A tipping point has been reached in America politics! However, neither of the two major parties realizes it. In case you haven’t noticed, there has been a paradigm shift in American politics over the last decade. Allegiance to party is dead!

I am perfectly aware that Washington is still run by the Republicans and Democrats but their power is waning. They simply do not realize their pending extinction. Let’s take each party separately.

The Republicans:

Currently the Republican Party is run by, what many have coined “the establishment Republicans”. Think Mitch McConnell, Orrin Hatch, Lindsey Graham, John Boehner, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, and Eric Cantor. These are the same people who drive the nomination of uninspiring presidential candidates such as Bob Dole and John McCain. They spend their days reading polls, listening to their consultants, playing it safe, and protecting their incumbency status rather than doing the right thing.

The modern Republican Party officially ended when Bush uttered the infamous words “compassionate conservative”. For some reason he felt compelled to distance himself from all of the “uncompassionate” conservatives.

Conservatives do not require an adjective before the label. They are conservatives PERIOD; end of story. On top of Bush’s “compassionate” comment throw his out-of-control government spending (education department, prescription drug benefit, military) and the nomination of John McCain and the full-blooded / uncompassionate conservative crowd threw up their hands in disgust. Thus the birth of the Tea Party!

History will prove the best thing that ever happened to the
Republican Party was The Tea Party.

The establishment Republicans will not recognize this until the last one is thrown out on his/her ass as they cling to their seats like uncompassionate conservatives cling to their religion and guns.

The Democrats:

The leaders of the Democrat Party are stuck in the 1960’s and they want the entire country to jump in the time machine with them. Look at the band of hooligans that run the Party – Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Maxine Waters, Charlie Rangel, Chuck Schumer, Sheila Jackson Lee, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Dick Durbin, Steny Hoyer, Jim Clyburn, John Kerry, Jay Rockefeller, Gregory Meeks, and unvetted / unappointed czars. They think The Tea Party is a flea despite the fact that 60% plus of the American people relate to the movement. They completely ignore the 2010 election cycle where their ranks were diminished by historical proportions not only in Washington but in governor mansions, state legislature houses and local county commissioner races throughout the country.

• Who represents the future of the Democrat Party? Who is going to usher them into the 21st century?
  
  
• Where are the Paul Ryan’s, Chris Christie’s, Sarah Palin’s, Ron and Rand Paul’s, Michele Bachman’s, Bobby Jindal's, Nikki Haley's, and Scott Walker’s of the Democrat Party?
  
  
• Where are the Rush Limbaugh’s, Sean Hannity’s, Glenn Beck’s, Mark Levin’s, Laura Ingraham’s, and Jason Lewis’ on The Left?

The answer is THERE ARE NONE because the party “of the people” and “for the little guy” is intolerant of a divergence of opinion.

Case in point: Senator Joe Lieberman. How can someone go from a vice presidential nominee to being forced to switch parties in a matter of a few years? Answer: A narrow-minded party with no room for nonconformists, off-the-reservation thinking.

What does the future hold?

The establishment in both parties has survived only because the American public has been asleep since the Reagan Revolution with a short-term awakening from hibernation in 1994 during the Gingrich Revolution. If the American people do not wake up from their complacency and apathy slumber, the two establishment parties are going to take this country right over a cliff. In my opinion, The Tea Party is our last best hope to rein them in once and for all.

If Obama wins the fight, deficits will balloon, energy prices will “necessarily skyrocket” and taxes will be raised; killing an already stalled economy.

If the establishment Republicans prevail, we will probably see a short-term cut in spending but their repeated willingness to compromise with their fellow drunken sailor counterparts on the Left indicate to me that we will see a maintenance of the status quo.

Both parties have doled out favors to their largest donors using OUR money for decades and neither party sees any need to change their ways. However, the America public may have permanently changed when Obama Happened. Uproar like this has not been seen since President Carter bungled his way through his one-term debacle. Millions of people have woken up over the last 24 months and said, “What the hell happened to my country?” Even those who voted for Obama have buyer’s remorse.

Can the Tea Party save the country? Stay tuned.

An Era of Non-Growth

Inspired by Jon L. Johnson’s March 30, 2011 Market Update - http://www.InvestBilling.com

For the past 10 years the US economy has averaged 1.7% annual GDP growth. That is the lowest decade of growth since World War II. One has to ask why.

The U.S. was founded and established on a capitalist, free enterprise mentality, which encourages risk taking in order to make money and give back to society. Liberals, progressives, socialists and communists have been chipping away at our foundation for decades.

• World War II and the subsequent boom interrupted the move to socialism.

• 1960’s – the move resumed with the Great Society programs that massively expanded Social Security and saddled us with Medicaid and Medicare.


• 1970’s – The Decade of the Misery Index! Federal regulations exploded along with inflation and a general malaise.


• 1980’s – Tax cuts, Reagan, less regulation, boom time like the 1920’s.


• 1990’s – Stock market bubble. Welfare reform. Stopped nationalized healthcare. Clinton became a centrist.


• Bush 43 - Compassionate Conservatism was the death knell of the Republican Party. Conflicting ideologies that included massive increases in the federal government intrusion and spending.


• Obama – Explodes debt to third-world levels, surrounds himself with tax cheats, socialists and communists, takes over healthcare, repeated end runs around Congress by labeling carbon dioxide a pollutant, hundreds of thousands of new regulations promulgated by unelected officials and czars with no accountability to the voters.
  

Now what? Will the Tea Party save us? Will the Republican Congress come to their senses and start cutting spending and regulations? Or will the labor unions and Progressives continue to push the country toward a European style economy and lifestyle while the Europeans are moving toward capitalism and less regulations? 1.7% growth is good in Europe but not in the U.S.!

Why Sarah Palin Should Run for President

Four reasons Sarah Palin should run for President.

1. She is more qualified than the current White House resident was in 2006 (two years before the 2008 election).
   
   
2. It will be fun to watch the liberal looneys' heads explode on a daily basis both on TV and in print. Just imagine how many synonyms for "stupid" they will come up with.


3. It will be equally fun to watch the daily conniption fits from establishment Republicans (who prefer to nominate people like Bob Dole and John McCain).


4. Prove once and for all that the National Association of Women really is the National Association of Liberal Women.
   
   
5. She would win!
   

I nominate Sarah Palin for President and Michele Bachmann for Vice President on the newly formed Tea Party ticket. The Republicans don't deserve them.