It is this reporter's opinion that those vying for the position of president of the United States should concern themselves more with the nation’s rampant uncontrolled federal spending than with Hillary's tears.
A recent report targets our inflation rate as being the worst in 17 years. This is what concerns average citizens as they face the escalating costs of energy and food and the slowdown in the economy.
Our federal spending was completely out of control even before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the other natural disasters occurred. Our nation’s next president faces a $9 trillion debt and that is without major budget cuts or tax increases.
Our debt is rising by $600 per year and could reach $11.2 trillion by the year 2010. The interest alone would cost us about $560 billion.
As I have asked before, Who will pay for this? The responsibility will fall squarely on the shoulders of our children, their children, or their children’s children.
One economist estimates income taxes will need to be raised by 250 percent to meet all current U.S. obligations including entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare benefits.
Currency expert Andrew Gause says that according to the government accounting office, every man, woman, and child currently living in the United States is obligated to pay $145,000 to make good on Uncle Sam’s increasing debt.
Ronald Reagan had the right idea: You can’t spend more than you make.
Alan Greenspan has condemned both parties for their fiscal irresponsibility. He should know: He served as Federal Reserve chairman for 18 years and was the leading republican economist for the last three decades.
To add to the precarious financial state of America, we are now borrowing $2 billion daily from foreign investors to float our economy, as these foreigners accumulate ever increasing portions of American assets.
And what will happen when these foreign investors lose confidence in our ability to pay those commitments and the dollar drops even more in value? Americans are living on credit. It is now estimated that the average credit card balance stands at $9,149.
And we haven’t even discussed the $45 trillion in unfunded obligations.
George W. Bush’s catastrophic pre-emptive war in Iraq is costing us $4 billion a week.
I was one of the first pundits, on radio and television, to warn Bush not to get involved with Iraq. I also urged the Feds to curtail reckless spending before it is too late.
Aside from Bush’s foray in Iraq and its associated costs, the ever-present illegal immigration crisis costs taxpayers a whopping $339 billion per year!
Clinton left us with the first federal budget surplus since the 1960s. President George W. Bush promised to stimulate the economy after taking office, but he has yet to take his foot off the gas pedal as our country sinks into a full-flown recession.
The United States is giving over $6 billion annually to countries such as Israel and Egypt and reportedly, much of the money is going into the pockets of the rich, never reaching the needy.
It is time to put on the brakes. It is time to stop this runaway spending and balance the budget. And it is time that we add a balanced budget amendment to our Constitution. Without it, we rush headlong into financial disaster.
If left unchecked, our fiscal pressures will lead to higher interest rates, lower wages, shrinking pensions, and higher taxes for today’s young people, not to mention slower economic growth, less savings, plunging stock and bond prices, and recession.
We risk a 75 percent income tax rate for future generations . . . or paying $1,000 for a loaf of bread, says my friend Andrew Gause.
We’ve got to put a freeze on federal spending. We have got to stop the invasion of foreigners who are plundering our treasure. We are bankrupting ourselves at home on a spending binge that includes indulging in foreign wars.
And yet Bush says our economy is strong — that our debts are minor compared to our country’s production capability. But others, many of which are financial experts, say we are on the verge of bankruptcy and in danger of becoming a Third World debtor nation.
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