Here is the opening of an excellent article by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters that I found on the New York Times' website. It is another warning of government spending that must be reigned in.
"WASHINGTON — In a federal budget filled with mind-boggling statistics, two numbers stand out as particularly stunning, for the way they may change American politics and American power...
The first is the projected deficit in the coming year, nearly 11 percent of the country’s entire economic output. That is not unprecedented: During the Civil War, World War I and World War II, the United States ran soaring deficits, but usually with the expectation that they would come back down once peace was restored and war spending abated.
But the second number, buried deeper in the budget’s projections, is the one that really commands attention: By President Obama’s own optimistic projections, American deficits will not return to what are widely considered sustainable levels over the next 10 years. In fact, in 2019 and 2020 — years after Mr. Obama has left the political scene, even if he serves two terms — they start rising again sharply, to more than 5 percent of gross domestic product. His budget draws a picture of a nation that like many American homeowners simply cannot get above water.
For Mr. Obama and his successors, the effect of those projections is clear: Unless miraculous growth, or miraculous political compromises, creates some unforeseen change over the next decade, there is virtually no room for new domestic initiatives for Mr. Obama or his successors. Beyond that lies the possibility that the United States could begin to suffer the same disease that has afflicted Japan over the past decade. As debt grew more rapidly than income, that country’s influence around the world eroded.
Or, as Mr. Obama’s chief economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers, used to ask before he entered government a year ago, “How long can the world’s biggest borrower remain the world’s biggest power?”
The Chinese leadership, which is lending much of the money to finance the American government’s spending, and which asked pointed questions about Mr. Obama’s budget when members visited Washington last summer, says it thinks the long-term answer to Mr. Summers’s question is self-evident."
To read the full article, click here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/us/politics/02deficit.html?sudsredirect=true#
Additionally, this morning I read another excellent article giving some perspective on the polarized congress who is supposed to be trying to fix this problem as the custodians of the government. It reads:
"After decades of warnings that budgetary profligacy, escalating health care costs and an aging population would lead to a day of fiscal reckoning, economists and the nation’s foreign creditors say that moment is approaching faster than expected, hastened by a deep recession that cost trillions of dollars in lost tax revenues and higher spending for safety-net programs."
To read that article, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/business/economy/17gridlock.html?sudsredirect=true
Finally, as evidence of Congresses inability to govern, Democratic Senator Bayh has chosen not to run for a third term. I quote, "Mr. Bayh, a centrist and the son of a former senator, used the announcement that he would not seek a third term to lambaste a Senate that he described as frozen by partisan politics and incapable of passing even basic legislation.
“For some time, I have had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating as it should,” Mr. Bayh said. “There is too much partisanship and not enough progress — too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving. Even at a time of enormous challenge, the people’s business is not being done...
“This is colored by having observed the Senate in my father’s day,” Mr. Bayh said. “It wasn’t perfect; they had politics back then, too. But there was much more friendship across the aisles, and there was a greater willingness to put politics aside for the welfare of the country. I just don’t see that now.”
“In my father’s day, you legislated for four years and campaigned for two; now it’s full time. The politics never stops,” he said. “My bottom line is that there are a lot of really good people trapped in a dysfunctional system desperately in need of reform.”
To read that full article, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/us/politics/16bayh.html?sudsredirect=true
Something has to give... Regardless of our political idealogies, we all can agree that cannot sustain the kind of spending we have experienced for the last 9 years. We must think with soberness and realize that the evidence is not political hype - but a real problem that must be corrected.
"WASHINGTON — In a federal budget filled with mind-boggling statistics, two numbers stand out as particularly stunning, for the way they may change American politics and American power...
The first is the projected deficit in the coming year, nearly 11 percent of the country’s entire economic output. That is not unprecedented: During the Civil War, World War I and World War II, the United States ran soaring deficits, but usually with the expectation that they would come back down once peace was restored and war spending abated.
But the second number, buried deeper in the budget’s projections, is the one that really commands attention: By President Obama’s own optimistic projections, American deficits will not return to what are widely considered sustainable levels over the next 10 years. In fact, in 2019 and 2020 — years after Mr. Obama has left the political scene, even if he serves two terms — they start rising again sharply, to more than 5 percent of gross domestic product. His budget draws a picture of a nation that like many American homeowners simply cannot get above water.
For Mr. Obama and his successors, the effect of those projections is clear: Unless miraculous growth, or miraculous political compromises, creates some unforeseen change over the next decade, there is virtually no room for new domestic initiatives for Mr. Obama or his successors. Beyond that lies the possibility that the United States could begin to suffer the same disease that has afflicted Japan over the past decade. As debt grew more rapidly than income, that country’s influence around the world eroded.
Or, as Mr. Obama’s chief economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers, used to ask before he entered government a year ago, “How long can the world’s biggest borrower remain the world’s biggest power?”
The Chinese leadership, which is lending much of the money to finance the American government’s spending, and which asked pointed questions about Mr. Obama’s budget when members visited Washington last summer, says it thinks the long-term answer to Mr. Summers’s question is self-evident."
To read the full article, click here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/us/politics/02deficit.html?sudsredirect=true#
Additionally, this morning I read another excellent article giving some perspective on the polarized congress who is supposed to be trying to fix this problem as the custodians of the government. It reads:
"After decades of warnings that budgetary profligacy, escalating health care costs and an aging population would lead to a day of fiscal reckoning, economists and the nation’s foreign creditors say that moment is approaching faster than expected, hastened by a deep recession that cost trillions of dollars in lost tax revenues and higher spending for safety-net programs."
To read that article, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/business/economy/17gridlock.html?sudsredirect=true
Finally, as evidence of Congresses inability to govern, Democratic Senator Bayh has chosen not to run for a third term. I quote, "Mr. Bayh, a centrist and the son of a former senator, used the announcement that he would not seek a third term to lambaste a Senate that he described as frozen by partisan politics and incapable of passing even basic legislation.
“For some time, I have had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating as it should,” Mr. Bayh said. “There is too much partisanship and not enough progress — too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving. Even at a time of enormous challenge, the people’s business is not being done...
“This is colored by having observed the Senate in my father’s day,” Mr. Bayh said. “It wasn’t perfect; they had politics back then, too. But there was much more friendship across the aisles, and there was a greater willingness to put politics aside for the welfare of the country. I just don’t see that now.”
“In my father’s day, you legislated for four years and campaigned for two; now it’s full time. The politics never stops,” he said. “My bottom line is that there are a lot of really good people trapped in a dysfunctional system desperately in need of reform.”
To read that full article, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/us/politics/16bayh.html?sudsredirect=true
Something has to give... Regardless of our political idealogies, we all can agree that cannot sustain the kind of spending we have experienced for the last 9 years. We must think with soberness and realize that the evidence is not political hype - but a real problem that must be corrected.
1 comments:
This morning Sen. Bob Bennett was on a local radio program and I think he hit the nail on the head (even though I believe most incumbent congresspeople are a big part of the problem). Entitlement programs need to end. That means Medicare, Medicaid, SS, and government welfare in general. They are not sustainable. Maybe we let the current retirees die out and increase the minimum benefit age for the rest of the boomers. The rest of us need to resolve to cut ourselves off from the promise of those benefits. Our weak-kneed politicians won't face the truth of this, but it doesn't change the truth.