Third Party & Independents: Archives

David:

While I am not a fan of the high spending ways of the US government, I think it also safe to say that some of the expenditures of the last couple years have been virtually mandatory. We all want better homeland security—that costs money. Congress voted to approve the war on behalf of the country—that is taking money. The damage that 9-11 did takes lots of money.

All that aside, though, it appears to me that politicians on both sides are simply dumping their pork into the budget. I expected Republicans to try to curb high spending, as is more the norm, but they have gone overboard.

Additionally, I never believed the Clinton surplus numbers were accurate, nor do I believe that the Bush deficit numbers are accurate. All are projections based on the economy at the time, and as such are the equivalent of me basing my retirement on today’s interest rates, and then extrapolating them out for 30 years or so. Had i done so in Carter’s tenure, and expected 20-30% returns forever, how mistaken I would have been.

Perhaps we can remove ALL the politicians and start over? That seems to be the only method I know of to effectively curb federal spending.

Joe said, I think it also safe to say that some of the expenditures of the last couple years have been virtually mandatory

Agreed. I would not include Iraq in that statement but we can agree to disagree on that.

Congress voted to approve the war on behalf of the country—that is taking money. The damage that 9-11 did takes lots of money.

Again we agree. We should throw all those congressional bumbs leaching off the tax payer out come November, their self-appointed pay raises and all. Agreed.

The Republicans have been drunk with power and thus their steering of the ship of state is hardly following any discernable path or road. They got the keys to the treasury from the people and are raiding it as if it were there own pantry.

It is not often I agree with ultra-conservatives, but on the specific point of halting the sprialling national debt, I am on their side.

I can now say with hindsight, that the Congresspersons who called for the Soc. Sec. lock box were absolutely clairvoyant and on the money with regard to protecting the interests of Americans. Bush is spending that SS surplus like a 6 year old in a candy shop and mom’s credit card.

Very well, Joe. You agree that a good portion of government spending is unaviodable or desirable. So what is your attitude about the Bush tax cuts? Do you realize the fiscal crisis we are headed for, and the role of these tax cuts in that crisis? Sure, pork is bad, but you can’t really escape the budgetary necesssities of the current role that the US government plays in our lives. If you disagree with Medicare, Social Security, etc, just say so, but don’t blame all our problems on pork, because the problems run much deeper than that.

Can we cut the stupid farm subsidies yet?

Across the board? I hope not. Targeted to large corporate farms, I certainly hope so.

Rationale: While we import a huge amount of food for our consumption, it is not necessary for American sustenance. A prime target for terrorists is agriculture. Should it become necessary for a few months or longer to curtail or end agricultural imports due to contamination threats or events, I would like subsidies like those for insurance for smaller specialty farms and small to mid-size family owned farms to be assisted under circumstances where catastrophe wipes out their crop.

Smaller farms would be more nimble in plowing under their current crop and producing another on relatively short notice. Therefore, for security, I would hope that those subsidies that protect small to mid-size farms from going under would only be cut-back to that level which will still permit a profitable operation.

I absolutely would like to see dairy subsidies ended. I would certainly like to see subsidies to ADM and their rivals ended. I would like to see subsidies to the beef and pork industry cut back or ended.

We are talking heavy duty political fallout though if subsidies are ended or curtailed across the board. It would need to be a staged and geographically targeted strategy so that the entire nation’s agricultural communities are not affected all at once by the ending or curtailment of subsidies.

Now we can add another half trillion dollars to the numbers above with Bush’s 2005 Budget proposal. The Republican Congress is not about to substantially deny their incumbent President in an election year.

That will put us close to 8 Trillion dollars national debt by Sept. 2005, and counting as fast as our little calculators can go.

Like lemmings to the sea millions upon millions of American’s follow this President’s agenda of fear and patriotism, even unto the destruction of our quality of life for decades after he leaves office. It truly is an amazing sociological event.