GOVERNMENT SPENDING HAS TO SLOW DOWN!

Here are a couple things that you really need to know and pay attention to. Spread the word if you agree. Now is the time to let your Congressmen Congresswomen know what you think.

First of all, you are aware of the Sequester cuts in spending that are supposed to start in March if nothing else is done. I am saying that even though they might be tough to swallow for some areas, overall this is the best thing that can happen. That is of course, unless Congress figures out a way to work together and readjust the cuts. Good luck on that!

We have to quit spending so much money that we have to borrow. The increases in debt  need to stop and the only way to do this right now is to stop spending by the Government. We have raised tax rates at the end of last year so now it is time to cut spending. Right?

That was the deal, raise taxes and cut spending. Well what do you think Obama and the Democrats want to do? Cut spending? But no, they have not put forth a plan (other than the Sequester) to cut spending at all! They want to raise taxes some more! Something has to happen and that is why we should just go ahead with letting the Sequester happen. Maybe it will jar some sense into the “spend at all costs” Democrats.   

Here are three  examples of government spending gone totally out of control; and not just spending by the Democrats but all parties:

·         Take three minutes to watch this video; it will scare you and make you angry; we have to stop the spreading of government programs that employ more and more people and create more and more regulations that strangle the American economy;  http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=xOAgT8L_BqQ&feature=player_embedded

·         Per the Wall Street Journal on February 19^th, 2013 the government cell phone program has spent $2.2 BILLION in 2012; this us up from $819 Million in 2008. That is an almost tripling of the size of this program in only four years.

·         Look at the salaries in the federal government in terms of average size compared to the private sector:   https://iqconnect.lmhostediq.com/iqextranet/view_newsletter.aspx?id=102293&c=VA07EC Now while I am not a fan of Eric Cantor he does lay out for all of us what is going on in Washington right now. The current administration has given an across the board pay raise to all employees when the average government employee already makes more than the average private sector employee. First of all, across the board pay raises eliminates the initiative to perform better and get MERIT pay raises, which is what the private sector uses. Second of all, right now when most private sector employees are not getting any raises, why should the government hand out a raise to everyone across the board?    

Thanks for listening and reading. If you got this far you are concerned. Lets do something about this. Let your representatives know how you feel. When it comes time for the next election, pay attention to what the candidates are saying, then vote for someone who wants to reduce the scope, size and spending of our government. 

THE DEBT CEILING AND CONGRESS

Ok, what we know is that Congress needs to vote to raise the debt ceiling of the United States of America by August 2. Our debt will be $14.29 Trillion at that time and we still need to have room to take on more debt!

Why do you think we need to have room to add more debt? Well, the answer is simple. 18% percent of every dollar the government spends goes to interest. Yes, that is right; it goes to pay interest on the existing debt. So what is happening is that the debt never gets reduced; it only goes up because we don’t have a surplus of revenues over expenses.

To put this in simpler terms; it is just like the mortgage loans that were made to help create our current economic crisis. They just paid interest and in many cases did not even pay enough to cover the interest so the balance of principle went up. That is where our country is right now. To put it in even more simpler terms; no economic unit can continuously spend more than it takes in. That is the road to bankruptcy!

Now the parties are arguing about how to fix the current mess that they and their predecessors created. The Democrats want to cut some spending and raise taxes by eliminating the Bush tax cuts among other things. The Republicans want to cut a lot of spending and leave taxes alone. All this is in return for raising the debt ceiling, which is a conceptual problem all by itself. So they have been at a standoff.

Before I go any further, do you know that all the income taxes paid in this country are paid by only 50% of the people? What, how can this be? Well, with all the entitlement programs and all the tax breaks for low earners and low tax brackets themselves that is how it all works out. Now, I will grant that much of this is needed. But, taken as a whole, 50% don’t pay any taxes? The burden of running our massive government (a problem in itself) falls on only one half of the tax paying public!

Now back to the question of how to get everyone off dead center and make something happen by August 2 because if nothing happens by then do you have any idea of the economic turmoil that will be created? The bond market goes crazy and interest rates sky rocket because no one has confidence in US government bonds. The stock market probably craters due to the anticipated effect on our economy. We will see a recession like we have never seen before both in terms of degree and length!

We currently have grown adult Congress people acting like children; not just the Democrats but the Republicans as well. In fact, our very own (I live in Virginia) Eric Cantor is leading the way in childishness.

What is the right solution? Seems kind of easy doesn’t it. Only agree to raise the debt level if substantial expenses are cut (3 to 4 Trillion) and ok, yes, let’s close a few tax loopholes (there are many to choose from). While we are at it; let’s pass a balanced budget amendment. Also, let’s take the payroll ceiling off Social Security Earnings and make the cost of living formula more realistic. Make some changes in Medicare to reduce costs. Most important, if we close some tax loopholes, some of those must be to increase the percentage of people actually paying taxes.

Lastly, we need to make some changes in how Congress works. For example, they don’t have the same health care plans as we do, they don’t have to abide by insider trading rules (nor does their staff), they get a full pension after working in Congress for only 4 years, they vote themselves raises when they want to, they take advantage of overseas travel for themselves, their spouses and their staff, etc. All this needs to change!

What can you do? Several things. First of all you can write or email your Congress people and tell them to quit playing games and get something done. Second of all, if they don’t, vote them out. In fact, until they quit acting like children on all issues, we should keep voting them out until we get some people in there who want to do good things for the country instead of trying to get reelected 24/7!

Nuff said!

HARRY REID STILL DOESN’T GET IT

Did you see “Meet the Press” on NBC this past Sunday? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was one of the guests. He was interviewed by David Gregory, the host of the show.

One of the questions had to do with the Tea Party. No, they were not talking about the little play party that the Obama girls had the other day. And no, they were not talking about the Colonists throwing barrels of tea in Boston Harbor several hundred years ago.

So, unless you have been living in Outer Mongolia for a couple years, you know that the Tea Party Movement had a profound political effect on the makeup of our Congress in our recent elections. It had a big part in making the Republicans the majority in the House of Representatives and getting closer to majority in the Senate.

Old Harry was shaking in his boots as he was in a very close election and barely won, as was the case with many incumbents. But many other incumbents went down to defeat. Many of these defeated Congress people were Democrats but some were Republican as well.

The question put to him was: do you think the Tea Party will be a lasting part of our politics in this country? Reid’s answer was that the Tea Party emerged because of the country’s economic problems. He went on to say that the Tea Party will no longer exist when the economy improves and that it is getting better every day.

Harry, you are not listening to the people. You are not paying attention to what just happened. Are you so senile that you can’t see what is going on?

This is the point. The Tea Party is neither Republican nor Democrat. It is American! This is the point that Harry Reid is missing. The people are tired of their Congress people not listening to them. They are angry that their Congress people do not have the same rules as they do. For example, they don’t have the same health care plans, they don’t have to abide by insider trading rules (nor does their staff), they get a full pension after working in Congress for only 4 years, they vote themselves raises when they want to, they take advantage of overseas travel for themselves, their spouses and their staff, etc.

This is why so many incumbents went down to defeat and why it will happen again in the next election. If the incumbents don’t get the message, then someone new will take their place. The people want to be heard and they want to be really represented by their Congress people.

It is not just an economic issue. The Tea Party will be here as long as our Congress people do not listen to their constituents!

This is the point Harry, do you now get it?

I WAS JUST WONDERING WHY……………

If the new Health Care proposal is going to cost over a trillion dollars, how is it going to reduce the deficit? I have yet to see an explanation that is understandable that explains how this will happen.

Can someone tell me why Goldman Sachs is being put under the gun for the mortgage meltdown and for trying to make money for their shareholders? Did they make all these people take loans that the people knew they couldn’t pay back? Did they induce the public to sign false statements about their income and job stability? Isn’t this just another example of people and government trying to blame someone else for their problems? Why can’t we just stand up and take responsibility for what each of us do?

Why is the President now establishing a “deficit reduction” committee? Right after he and the Democrats just spend trillions on the new Health Care bill. I can tell them how to reduce the deficit if they would just ask me! Instead I will vote out everyone who is coming up for election.

Why do the Democrats really think that they can tax the ones who make money and give to the poor and that this will solve all our problems? Are you kidding me?
Here is a very appropriate clipping on this, from 1931 no less:

You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy
out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for, another
person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to
anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody
else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work
because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other
half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is
going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of
the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."*

Adrian Rogers, 1931*

Don’t they know that capitalism is what makes our country great? once again, and you have seen this from me before, we need to vote the Democrats out this fall and consider voting out ANY incumbent!

STOP THE OVER-TAXING OF PROFITS!

Everywhere you look, there is talk of taxing profits! From Barack Obama, from Nancy Pelosi, from Barney Frank (two of the most farcical and stupid members of Congress), from most of the Democrats; all they can see with their greedy eyes is taxing and regulating their way to prosperity.

Are you kidding me? Did they ever take ANY economics courses in College? Did they ever look at the historical patterns of surpluses and deficits in this country?

With the exception of war years, we have had surpluses most of the Republican years and deficits during the Democratic years. We need to make an exception for the George W Bush years however. The cost of his wars in combination with the recession has resulted in huge deficits. Now these deficits are being grown by the Obama administration.

Everywhere you look you see more and more taxes proposed. Tax the banks because they are now making money. Tax the hedge funds. Tax the options industry. Tax the insurance industry. What the heck, let's raise taxes on those few people who still have jobs and make money by eliminating the Bush tax cuts!

Not only create more taxes, but let’s restrict bonuses! Bonuses make people work harder and figure out how to make even more money for their company; and themselves too! But hey, that is what capitalism is all about. We are not a socialist country yet although that is what the Democrats want us to be.

Let’s give everything to everybody and those that can make the most money can support those that don’t want to work so hard. This seems to be what the Democratic motto is.

What they are trying to do is stifle the creativity in business that results in more people being hired! What? I thought they wanted to hire more people? Only if they will support the rest of us.

Not exactly, what they want to do is to hire more people to make things. Well folks, I have news for you. Our competitive advantage in making things went away a long time ago due to The Labor Unions and due to lower labor costs in other countries. Our competitive advantage is in finance and business services and technology and innovation. If we stifle the ability of our companies to innovate and create and if we remove the financial incentives for them to do so, then we will die. As surely as other fallen societies in history, we will fall from dominance to being dominated.

What can we do? We can defeat every incumbent Congressperson who is running for re-election this fall. We need to get them all out and start over. Especially defeat any Democrats running for re-election. We need to get our country back to running on innovation, initiative and capitalism!