Congressional Challenge: Define 'Austere'
Bonnie Alba
February 01, 2006
Treasury Secretary John Snow recently announced that a ?quite austere? budget proposal will be forthcoming from the White House in early February. That remains to be seen. It all depends on what Snow and Pres. Bush mean by ?quite austere.?
Like almost every president in the last 100 years, they first overspend, then promise to rein in the deficit and produce a surplus by the time they leave office. What they don?t tell you is that the current National Debt is pushing $8 trillion with no end in sight.
Bringing down the deficit is good, isn?t it? Of course. But it is only a symptom of the larger problem of the National Debt. The deficit is current debt, overspending in any given year. The National Debt is the accumulation of debt over decades. The fact is that the debt is never paid down. Why not? Because the feds only make interest payments on the debt.
Example: Say you have a credit card with no cap on borrowing or charging; you never worry about maxing out your account. Hypothetically you could keep charging and borrowing against it your whole life. When your statement comes each month, you pay only the interest charges and never pay on the actual debt you owe --- and you are able to pass that debt on to your children and grandchildren. Is this sane?
This is Big Brother government?s accustomed lifestyle --- borrow and spend driving up an unpayable debt. This is insanity. It doesn?t matter whether you are a Democrat or Republican or any other party, this is not beneficial to our country.
Since the early 1900s when Congress talked the people into withholding taxes from their individual incomes to support the federal government in its supposed endeavor ?to better our country,? there has been no relief from the federal government?s bite from our hands feeding their habitual greed. After the implementation of Social Security and the Great Society ?welfare? programs, the extraction of hard-earned income taxes from citizens has ever increased with periodic up-and-down reforms. The congressional borrowing and spending game continues its climb of Mt. Olympus placing our 21st century nation at greater financial risk than ever before in history.
Congress has never stuck to any cap on spending --- their bookkeeping carries an aroma of ?smoke and mirrors? deviousness, hiding the real spending figures. Witness what they have done for decades with Social Security withholding taxes: They led the people to believe Social Security was a ?Trust Fund? with surpluses earning interest for future social security recipients. Exposure of truth: For over 50 years, all surplus social security tax revenues have been spent on ?other things? leaving only empty and worthless IOUs and increasing the National Debt. Not to mention future citizens left holding the empty bag.
The other side of the coin is the American people acquiesced to government?s neediness for our hard-earned dollars. And we the people have appropriated the borrowing and spending game on an individual level. Witness the continuous climb of personal debt to heights that would confound the conservative ?saving? citizens of the first half of the 20th century. Bankruptcy has become the normal way for individuals to seek relief from their fall into borrowing and spending beyond their means.
Is it any wonder Americans have less confidence in their elected representatives, less than ever before? The ongoing lobbyist influence-peddling scandals involves both Republicans and Democrats, but these are just mild symptoms of the underlying congressional corruptive slime inside our Capitol. Also, if government departments and agencies, now used to big annual budgets, are suddenly told to do with less, listen for the whiners to come out of the woodwork.
When Pres. Bush?s ?quite austere? budget proposal is sent to Congress, we can be sure Congress will balk at any effort to rein in their spending appetites. Just as they have done in the past, they will attempt some devious accounting on paper, move expenditures around, so that actual extra spending is hidden.
Austerity? means ?Tighten Your Belts.? Rein in the spending, make do, no frills, no extras. Well, the concept is great, but the result may be disappointing when the Congress continues bellying up to the budget feeding trough joyfully ?oink-oinking? all the way.
This continuous roller-coaster of financial borrowing and spending doesn?t look like it will end soon. The principles of limited government and balanced budgets no longer exist in Big Bro?s vocabulary. So when Pres. Bush?s ?quite austere? budget proposal arrives on the desks of Congress, take a good look. Is it ?quite austere?? Or, is the word ?austere? about to gain a new meaning?
2006 Bonnie Alba
Like almost every president in the last 100 years, they first overspend, then promise to rein in the deficit and produce a surplus by the time they leave office. What they don?t tell you is that the current National Debt is pushing $8 trillion with no end in sight.
Bringing down the deficit is good, isn?t it? Of course. But it is only a symptom of the larger problem of the National Debt. The deficit is current debt, overspending in any given year. The National Debt is the accumulation of debt over decades. The fact is that the debt is never paid down. Why not? Because the feds only make interest payments on the debt.
Example: Say you have a credit card with no cap on borrowing or charging; you never worry about maxing out your account. Hypothetically you could keep charging and borrowing against it your whole life. When your statement comes each month, you pay only the interest charges and never pay on the actual debt you owe --- and you are able to pass that debt on to your children and grandchildren. Is this sane?
This is Big Brother government?s accustomed lifestyle --- borrow and spend driving up an unpayable debt. This is insanity. It doesn?t matter whether you are a Democrat or Republican or any other party, this is not beneficial to our country.
Since the early 1900s when Congress talked the people into withholding taxes from their individual incomes to support the federal government in its supposed endeavor ?to better our country,? there has been no relief from the federal government?s bite from our hands feeding their habitual greed. After the implementation of Social Security and the Great Society ?welfare? programs, the extraction of hard-earned income taxes from citizens has ever increased with periodic up-and-down reforms. The congressional borrowing and spending game continues its climb of Mt. Olympus placing our 21st century nation at greater financial risk than ever before in history.
Congress has never stuck to any cap on spending --- their bookkeeping carries an aroma of ?smoke and mirrors? deviousness, hiding the real spending figures. Witness what they have done for decades with Social Security withholding taxes: They led the people to believe Social Security was a ?Trust Fund? with surpluses earning interest for future social security recipients. Exposure of truth: For over 50 years, all surplus social security tax revenues have been spent on ?other things? leaving only empty and worthless IOUs and increasing the National Debt. Not to mention future citizens left holding the empty bag.
The other side of the coin is the American people acquiesced to government?s neediness for our hard-earned dollars. And we the people have appropriated the borrowing and spending game on an individual level. Witness the continuous climb of personal debt to heights that would confound the conservative ?saving? citizens of the first half of the 20th century. Bankruptcy has become the normal way for individuals to seek relief from their fall into borrowing and spending beyond their means.
Is it any wonder Americans have less confidence in their elected representatives, less than ever before? The ongoing lobbyist influence-peddling scandals involves both Republicans and Democrats, but these are just mild symptoms of the underlying congressional corruptive slime inside our Capitol. Also, if government departments and agencies, now used to big annual budgets, are suddenly told to do with less, listen for the whiners to come out of the woodwork.
When Pres. Bush?s ?quite austere? budget proposal is sent to Congress, we can be sure Congress will balk at any effort to rein in their spending appetites. Just as they have done in the past, they will attempt some devious accounting on paper, move expenditures around, so that actual extra spending is hidden.
Austerity? means ?Tighten Your Belts.? Rein in the spending, make do, no frills, no extras. Well, the concept is great, but the result may be disappointing when the Congress continues bellying up to the budget feeding trough joyfully ?oink-oinking? all the way.
This continuous roller-coaster of financial borrowing and spending doesn?t look like it will end soon. The principles of limited government and balanced budgets no longer exist in Big Bro?s vocabulary. So when Pres. Bush?s ?quite austere? budget proposal arrives on the desks of Congress, take a good look. Is it ?quite austere?? Or, is the word ?austere? about to gain a new meaning?
2006 Bonnie Alba
Print
Email
