Big Government
Government needs to be reduced in size and scope. The reality is that our Federal government is really only supposed to provide two main things, policy setting, through legislation and defending the sovereignty of our Nation, through a strong military to protect us from enemies foreign and domestic. We have strayed mightily from our beginnings and the time has come to find our way at least partially back.
When people complain about big government, they usually talk about how it interferes in their lives. It threatens to take away our liberties and dictates what can and can’t be done. This is true but the fact of the matter is we can’t afford it. It is too big, inefficient and full of waste. The right hand has no idea what the left is doing. I have seen instances where organizations have been given massive grants and then start spending the money on crazy things far outside the realm of the grants’ intent. They do this because if they don’t spend the money the government will take back what wasn’t spent and they will have a reduced grant the following year. What is wrong with the government getting money back? The debt load is overwhelming, 13.2 trillion dollars and increasing by the second. The interest payment on this debt for the last fiscal year 2009 was $383,071,060,815.42 or about 32 Billion dollars per month. (http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/ir/ir_expense.htm)
In real terms, the annual interest payment on the federal debt is more then the Gross Domestic Product of all but 22 nations. This number doesn’t even include the unfunded shortfalls in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that total roughly another 100 Trillion dollars. Now you add in this massive healthcare bill that cuts Medicare by a third in support of people who don’t contribute to our society? This is insanity! It is now projected by the Congressional Budget Office that by 2020 the interest payment on the National debt will be about $916 Billion per year or more than $76 Billion per month, with a total national debt of about $20.3 Trillion. This was calculated On March 5, 2010 before the passage of the healthcare bill so expect these numbers to rise. http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/112xx/doc11231/frontmatter.shtml
As disturbing as all of this is, it misses the main point about big government. It is non productive and large parts of it should be abolished. It has to feed off of the people in the private sector to survive. We as a Nation would be better off financially if we were to eliminate a portion of the federal government and put them on unemployment. It would cost us less to pay the unemployment, then to pay the salaries, benefits and into the pensions. For instance, take the Department of Energy. It was formed after the oil crisis on August 4, 1977 in order to end the United States dependence on foreign oil. This department has been in existence for 33 years and has accomplished nothing! This Nation is more dependant on foreign oil then we ever have been. The Department of Energy has an operating budget of $24.1 billion and this year gave Nissan $1.4 billion to build the Nissan Leaf car! If this isn’t government waste, I don’t know what is. In addition, why is the DOE giving money to a foreign company anyway?
A smaller Federal Government and elimination of the massive waste would greatly decrease the amount of deficit spending. We as a Nation, need to get leaner and more efficient. I think this is the main point that people miss when looking at big government. The fewer people working outside of government to support it the bigger the problem becomes. Ninety percent of the jobs created with stimulus moneys have been government jobs. The healthcare bill has 17,000 jobs in it, for the IRS! It is projected that 169 new agencies will be needed to run this new healthcare plan, more government excess! This is all just throwing fuel on a raging inferno. Every government job that is created puts us in a deeper hole. It doesn’t bring us closer to any solution. Each one is a nail in this Nations coffin that eventually will spell the end for us as a Nation. We need to reduce the size of government starting with the repeal of this healthcare bill. I believe that I have presented a framework for true reform of the system that doesn’t involve one penny of tax payer money. We then need to go through agency by agency and trim the fat or outright eliminate agencies all together. Then we need to create private sector jobs that will now support the leaner establishment and help to reduce the debt.
If you aren't mad enough yet take a look at this video about our governments sweet heart deal for its banking friends. http://www.youtube.com/user/fiercefreeleancer#p/a
If some of these numbers seem to large to even comprehend, take a look at this example. http://www.wimp.com/budgetcuts/
When people complain about big government, they usually talk about how it interferes in their lives. It threatens to take away our liberties and dictates what can and can’t be done. This is true but the fact of the matter is we can’t afford it. It is too big, inefficient and full of waste. The right hand has no idea what the left is doing. I have seen instances where organizations have been given massive grants and then start spending the money on crazy things far outside the realm of the grants’ intent. They do this because if they don’t spend the money the government will take back what wasn’t spent and they will have a reduced grant the following year. What is wrong with the government getting money back? The debt load is overwhelming, 13.2 trillion dollars and increasing by the second. The interest payment on this debt for the last fiscal year 2009 was $383,071,060,815.42 or about 32 Billion dollars per month. (http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/ir/ir_expense.htm)
In real terms, the annual interest payment on the federal debt is more then the Gross Domestic Product of all but 22 nations. This number doesn’t even include the unfunded shortfalls in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that total roughly another 100 Trillion dollars. Now you add in this massive healthcare bill that cuts Medicare by a third in support of people who don’t contribute to our society? This is insanity! It is now projected by the Congressional Budget Office that by 2020 the interest payment on the National debt will be about $916 Billion per year or more than $76 Billion per month, with a total national debt of about $20.3 Trillion. This was calculated On March 5, 2010 before the passage of the healthcare bill so expect these numbers to rise. http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/112xx/doc11231/frontmatter.shtml
As disturbing as all of this is, it misses the main point about big government. It is non productive and large parts of it should be abolished. It has to feed off of the people in the private sector to survive. We as a Nation would be better off financially if we were to eliminate a portion of the federal government and put them on unemployment. It would cost us less to pay the unemployment, then to pay the salaries, benefits and into the pensions. For instance, take the Department of Energy. It was formed after the oil crisis on August 4, 1977 in order to end the United States dependence on foreign oil. This department has been in existence for 33 years and has accomplished nothing! This Nation is more dependant on foreign oil then we ever have been. The Department of Energy has an operating budget of $24.1 billion and this year gave Nissan $1.4 billion to build the Nissan Leaf car! If this isn’t government waste, I don’t know what is. In addition, why is the DOE giving money to a foreign company anyway?
A smaller Federal Government and elimination of the massive waste would greatly decrease the amount of deficit spending. We as a Nation, need to get leaner and more efficient. I think this is the main point that people miss when looking at big government. The fewer people working outside of government to support it the bigger the problem becomes. Ninety percent of the jobs created with stimulus moneys have been government jobs. The healthcare bill has 17,000 jobs in it, for the IRS! It is projected that 169 new agencies will be needed to run this new healthcare plan, more government excess! This is all just throwing fuel on a raging inferno. Every government job that is created puts us in a deeper hole. It doesn’t bring us closer to any solution. Each one is a nail in this Nations coffin that eventually will spell the end for us as a Nation. We need to reduce the size of government starting with the repeal of this healthcare bill. I believe that I have presented a framework for true reform of the system that doesn’t involve one penny of tax payer money. We then need to go through agency by agency and trim the fat or outright eliminate agencies all together. Then we need to create private sector jobs that will now support the leaner establishment and help to reduce the debt.
If you aren't mad enough yet take a look at this video about our governments sweet heart deal for its banking friends. http://www.youtube.com/user/fiercefreeleancer#p/a
If some of these numbers seem to large to even comprehend, take a look at this example. http://www.wimp.com/budgetcuts/