Government is not the doctor

The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.

Patrick Henry

The budget debate is largely politics and not reality.  If the outlay is $3,771 billion and the revenues are 2,609 billion, resulting in a deficit of $1,090, why is the heated discussion focused on cutting $62 billion.  Are they serious?

The mandatory programs like SS and Medicare total $2,109 billion and interest on the debt is $240 billion (Total $2,349 billion).  Why isn’t the discussion about cutting a trillion dollars from the budget?  The drunken spending spree is over.  Total debt is almost equal to out GDP, and…Even if every salary was taken by the government, we couldn’t pay off the debt.

Now I realize that the bank has no problem lending money at a rate up to three times my salary to buy a house.  But is that really a smart move on my part?

If we use the same logic and apply it to Government investment (read spending), do we really get a reasonable return?

Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.

Thomas Jefferson

In a recent Politico report, there is a wide gap between public perception and reality.  Rasmussen has similar results:

“There are widespread misperceptions about the state of the federal budget. A majority of voters incorrectly believes the federal government spends more on defense/foreign aid than it does on Medicare and Social Security (63%). Also, a similar majority (60%) incorrectly believes problems with the federal budget can be fixed by just eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Voters do not casually agree with these untruths – at least 40% strongly agree. Further, less than half (44%) believe Medicare and Social Security costs are a major source of problems for the federal budget (49% disagree).

“The waste in government is a strong concern to voters – again 60% believe fixing the waste will solve the nation’s budget problems, and voters say that a mean of 42% of each federal dollar is wasted.”

BTW, Security is 5.6% of the budget.

For the Politico report see: http://www.politico.com/

For analysis see: http://www.johnmauldin.com/

The poll is supported by Rasmussen despite what has been reported on NBC and CBS:

As Republicans and Democrats in Congress haggle over the budget, most voters would rather have a partial shutdown of the federal government than keep its spending at current levels.

A surprising 25% believe that a Government shutdown would be good for the economy.  (I’m pretty sure that I’m in that category).  I know that it’s mind numbing but, you can see the budget here: http://www.gpo.gov/

Government is not the doctor, it is the disease.

H.S. Fern

Why is no-one concerned about this fiasco which is the Federal government’s budget? Why is everyone buying the patently ridiculous notion that the American economy will “grow its way to prosperity, and out of debt”? Why is no one freaking out over the incredible monetization of the Federal government debt that is being carried out by Ben Bernanke and the Gnomes at the Federal Reserve?

I have a theory—unscientific, but I think it’s true:

The American people have thrown in the towel. They collectively realize that the shit is gonna hit the fan big time. So in this little window of time before The Big Splatter, everyone’s pretending that nothing’s wrong, everything’s fine—we’re doing hunky dory, couldn’t be better. Any bad news—like the monster deficit? Ignored, blatantly.

You know those gamblers in Vegas, who go there and blow their house on the black jack tables? And then they go around town buying hookers and blow left and right, partying hard until the dawn, acting as if they didn’t have a care in the world? At least until the night runs out?

That’s the United States.

The Big Splatter

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

Edward Abbey