I am in agreement with the several people who suggest we take our country back, but “back” to me probably means something different than to them.
In terms of fiscal responsibility, I”d like to go back to 2000. It may make people unhappy, but that was the last year the country operated at a profit and actually had a surplus even with a tax reduction in the mid-1990s.
Bills got paid, needed programs got funded, unemployment was below 5 percent, things were calm and steady, national debt was close to $5 trillion and we enjoyed a growing economy. Take a look at the 2000 budget and compare those numbers ? correcting for population and inflation ? to the budget of 2008. Impressive difference, but not nice.
A track of the reduced revenue and increased spending that began in 2001 and continued gives new meaning to fiscal irresponsibility. Trying to correct the problems is costing an ungodly amount and a lot of those problems could have at least been lessened with some exercise of fiscal responsibility.
Taking back our country is not going to be easy or comfortable, but we have worked hard to earn the right to be uncomfortable.
A lot of programs and entitlements are going to have to be reduced and/or eliminated.
Defense and national security spending is particularly out of line while some programs dealing with education probably need strengthening.
And, whether we like it or not revenue has to be increased substantially to overcome the need to borrow. The immediate goal cannot be a balanced budget. We need to operate at a considerable surplus long enough to offset the cumulative deficits and decrease the national debt. Let”s remember that there is a great difference between reducing the deficit and reducing the national debt.
Then, at some point the country can consider a true balanced budget ? one that considers revenue a function of needed spending, not the other way around. When a budget is agreed to, automatically an appropriate tax level is authorized.
Again we the people have allowed this situation to develop over the last 10 years. It is our fault that we are now AA+, unemployment is still higher than 9 percent, and so on. And it is we who have to fix things by taking back our country.
Guthrie “Guff” Worth
Lakeport
