Peggy Noonan: Can Washington Meet the Demand to Cut Spending? – WSJ.com

Peggy Noonan is a shrewd woman whose views,  on the issue of government spending, are coincidental with mine.  Our current deficit, and national debt will not be “fixed” by increasing taxes… we must finally address the spending side of the equation.

Peggy Noonan: Can Washington Meet the Demand to Cut Spending? – WSJ.com.

Support grows for tackling nation’s debt – washingtonpost.com

Some say that the only way to ratchet down the debt is to increase taxes.   Now  that’s a satisfactory solution to me.   With over 50 percent of my income already going to Federal, State and Local taxes, I’m really in favor of that.  How about cutting spending, how about cutting programs?

Big government, in its search for equality amongst the masses on the one hand, and its financial support of big business on the other wants me to give more…   Oh yeah, I am really in favor of that.

Support grows for tackling nation’s debt – washingtonpost.com.

My Problem with the Democrats

Not too long ago, I promised to offer a reciprocal post to “My Problem with the Republicans,” so here goes.

The Democratic Party is the longest living political party in the United States and one of the oldest political organizations in the world.  It’s roots are in the Democratic-Republican Party of Jefferson and Madison.

Jefferson and Madison would not recognize the party they created, however.  Both of these men were believers in limited government, limited taxes, and personal freedom and responsibility.  The Democratic party today does not share these views.

Having, in my previous post, reviewed the party platform for the Republican Party, I must say that it is, at the least, a tangible document:  Short, simple and precise.  One can glance at the Republican party’s platform, and rather quickly determine the views and principles of their party.  This does not mean, however that they necessarily adhere to them.

Conversely, the Democratic platform is 57 pages long, and is filled with many laudable, noble and truly bone-headed  ideas.  For instance:

Our government’s policies–many designed in the New Deal era–have not kept up with the new economy and the changing nature of people’s lives. Democrats believe that it is time for our policies and our expectations to catch up.  From health care to pensions, from unemployment insurance to paid leave, we need to modernize our policies in order to provide working Americans the tools they need to meet new realities and challenges.

I read this as:  Intrusive government policies that have through good intention made us into the largest debtor nation in the world’s history need to be revised, improved upon and added to.

They are failures of a broken politics –a politics that rewards
self-interest over the common interest.

Adam Smith, in his seminal work The Wealth of Nations, described how it is self-interest that promotes the common interest in a free-market system.   Are we capitalists, or communitarians?

The idea of limited republican government  in a laissez-faire capitalist system is what made this country into the greatest nation in the world.  After the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB)  and the income tax, big government became the norm.  A government with a near endless supply of money (fiat money created out of thin air by the FRB)  is a dangerous entity indeed.  There is no end to the mischief that it may incur.

We reject the notion… that Social Security is a disgrace;  we believe that it is indispensable. We will fulfill our obligation to strengthen Social Security and to make sure that it provides guaranteed benefits Americans can count on, now and in future.

We will make quality, affordable early childhood care and education available to every American child from the day he or she is born.

We will make college affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit to ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans.

We will invest in American jobs and finally end the tax breaks that ship jobs overseas. We will create an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to provide for our next generation of innovators and job creators; we will expand the Manufacturing Extension Partnerships and create new job training programs for clean technologies.

The above is just a small sample of  what the Democrats would like to do with our tax dollars, our children’s tax dollars, our grand-children’s tax dollars… ad infinitum.  This at a time when our national government debt is 12 trillion dollars (How much money is this?  According to the National Debt Clock:  If you make one dollar every second, you will have a million dollars in twelve days. You will be a billionaire in 32 years, but it will take you more than 31,000 years to make a trillion dollars), and when this debt is expected to double in the next ten years, how can any responsible political party in this country make  statements like these? They are either out of their minds, or they are lying through their teeth.

Either The United States of America comes to grips with the realities of the problems that we face with regard to financing the social and military programs to which we are currently committed, and begin to address this through a return  to more limited government, a government that simply cannot be all things to all people, we will face a crisis that may very well destroy this country as we know it.  Let us not forget that Rome’s greatness was achieved during its Republican period, and lost during its period of Empire.

In this time of economic transformation and crisis, we must be stewards of this economy more than ever before. We will maintain fiscal responsibility, so that we do not mortgage our children’s future on a mountain of debt. We can do this at the same time that we invest in our future.

The political and economical stewardship of  our politicians in Washington has led us to this time of economic transformation and crisis.  More  well meaning government intervention is not the answer to our problems.

The definition of maintain is “to keep in an existing state.”  This presumes that fiscal responsibility has been the norm up till now.   However we already have a mountain of debt and have already mortgaged our childrens’ future.  This is sheer blind hypocrisy.

I could go on and on with this.  The 57 page policy and platform document is filled with truly absurd, nonsensical and impractical  statements, particularly regarding our current national status.  More of the same is not the answer to our problems.  And although I have no wish to insult the Democrats or my Democratic readers (if there are any) the party’s vision for the future offered in this document is laughable.  The Democratic party, unfortunately offers nothing but more of the same.

Limited government, personal and community responsibility,and  personal and economic freedom made this country the greatest nation in the world.  Large government, national and international social welfare and a rising streak of militarism will destroy us.

Economics vs. Politics – Frank Chodorov – Mises Institute

A very interesting historical view of what might happen To America if we do not return to the principles of limited government and personal/economic freedom that made this nation great.

Economics vs. Politics – Frank Chodorov – Mises Institute.

Economic Freedom, Property Rights and the Fair Tax

To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

Thomas Jefferson

A number of my forbears came to America in the 1600’s as indentured servants.  Their transport to America was paid by someone in Virginia, and in return they agreed to work for a period of 7 years, whereupon at the end of that term, they completed their indenture and received a small lump sum of monetary recompense.

Today we are not so fortunate, the liberty my forefathers obtained is no more.  Our indenture lasts the entire of our adult life.  Every year, working American families contribute somewhere between 15 and 50 percent of the income they earn to their Federal government. Economic freedom means that everyone has a right to their person and their property.  In his book, Revolution, Ron Paul remarks that

…anyone going into someone’s home and taking his money at gunpoint, regardless of all the selfless, wonderful things he intended to do with it, would promptly be arrested as a thief.  But for some reason it is perfectly acceptable for the government when it does that very thing.  We have allowed the government to operate according to its own set of moral rules.

There are many problems with the income tax.  With a tax code that is almost 10,000 pages long, it is nearly impossible for any person even tax professionals to have a complete understanding of its complexity.  It is estimated that there is an underpayment of taxes of nearly 100 billion dollars annually.  Not because people try to cheat, but because they don’t figure the tax properly.  Every year, Money Magazine gives a complicated tax form to around 100 cpa’s every year, have them complete the return and then return it to the magazine.  No two returns are alike, and the tax liability differs significantly, often by tens of thousands of dollars.  If these guys can’t get it right, how can a regular citizen be expected to file his or her return properly? The costs of administering the IRS this year is around 11 billion dollars.  Blackmarket operations… that is transactions on which taxes might be owed, but not reported is reported to be in the hundreds of billions in lost tax revenue annually.  Business costs for tax planning and preparation is also reported to be in the hundreds of billions annually. Not only is our tax system immoral, it is in many instances inequitable,  highly complex, difficult and costly to manage, and fails in many instances to capture the tax it is designed to capture.

One alternative that is currently being looked at is called the Fair Tax.  I find this a very interesting alternative.  A consumption tax, it has mechanisms built in that actually increase the income of those on the lower income scale.  It also offers ways to control your taxes by paying tax only on new items.  You would not pay the tax on an old home, or car since the tax has already been paid on those items. The Fair Tax is worth looking at.  I encourage you to click one of the links in this blog and review the materials on the website.