WELCOME TO OPINIONS BASED ON FACTS (OBOF)
Name | Published |
OVERVIEW | Dec. 28, 2010 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 1 | Dec. 30, 2010 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 2 | Jan. 10, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 3 | Jan. 17, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 4 | Jan. 24, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 5 | Jan. 31, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 6 | Feb. 07, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 7 | Feb. 14, 2011 |
SPECIAL ISSUE | Feb. 18, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 8 | Feb. 21, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 9 | Mar. 01, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 10 | Mar. 07, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 1 | Mar. 14, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 1A | Mar. 21, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 2 | Mar. 25, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 3 | Mar. 29, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 4 | Apr. 04, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 5 | Apr. 11, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 6 | Apr. 18, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 7 | Apr. 25, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 7A | Apr. 29, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 8 | May 02, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY & MORE PART 8
IN THIS ISSUE
1. Introduction - "Well Orchestrated Agenda"
2. National Debt
3. Deficit Spending & Reduction.
I N T R O D U C T I O N
"WELL ORCHESTRATED AGENDA"
With regard to the SPECIAL I posted last Friday, let's take a look at a follow-up about the "Well Orchestrated Agenda." Start with Wisconsin and the Union Bust, then Ohio and Indiana Michigan
Then comes Massachusetts Wisconsin
If Michigan
What is causing this to happen? I believe, it can be summed up in just a few words; GREED, POWER, MONEY. There is a group of people in this country that are really well off. They have more money than they know what to do with, but they want more. They feel that money is power and to some degree they are right.
What is it that has just happened to bring about these new developments? I think it boils down to just one thing. The power of money, that wasn't available before the Supreme Court's ruling, letting Corporations and even foreign Governments give all the money they want to get their own candidates elected to office.
We are certainly in a turbulent time and we all have to wake up to meet these threats. They take just a little bit at a time and see how that works and then expand to the next step. It's not going to succeed here, as it did in Germany, because we have the right and protection of our Constitution, to speak out without being shut up and off to the final end, as in Germany in the late 1930s and early 1940s. So, lets all of us SPEAK OUT without fear of reprisal, at least right now.
N A T I O N A L D E B T
This is not going to provide any answers relative to the subject. I'm just going to set up where we are at this time and then we'll go from there in future issues. Congress has been in recess for the past two week and reconvenes today. So some things will start to happen this week. It would appear that the final solution to both deficit reduction and National Debt will be sometime in the far future. On the other hand, a solution to the National Debt has to be made no later than July 8, 2011.
We will reach the present National Debt cap on May 16, but the Treasury has said it can extend that date to July 8 by withholding payment on some items like funding Federal Pension Trust Fund and others. If an agreement cannot be reached by then THE STUFF HITS THE FAN.
What do I mean by that? First, it means we can't pay our bills. The worst of that is we will default on paying the interest on our debt. The United State United States
Second, the global monetary system is, to some degree, guided by the status of the United States United States
WHY DO WE HAVE SO MUCH DEBT
Back on March 14th, I wrote some thoughts about our National Debt that I think are worth taking another look at in view of our present day problem with the debt.
Many people will say that some of our countries best years were those when Ronald Reagan was president. The fact is that during those years were real good in terms of everyone was spending, with credit cards, and it was so much fun to spend instead of save.
The Government was doing the same. In 150 years before 1981, our country only accumulated $997 billion national debt. In just 8 years, during the Ronald Reagan presidency, it rose to 2.5 trillion dollars. It took 150 years to have a debt of less than 1 trillion dollars, but it only took 8 years to have a debt of 2.5 trillion dollars. No wonder everyone was having a good time, with that kind of money pouring into the economy.
Accordingly, it's interesting to note what happened to the National Debt during various Presidential Administrations. For example:
Reagan 1981 - 1989 Increase 20.6% of GDP
H. W. Bush 1989 - 1993 Decrease 15.0% of GDP
G. W. Bush 2001 - 2009 Increase 27.1% of GDP
Source: Wikipedia - The free encyclopedia
When people get upset at the amount of National Debt we face, they can certainly see who got us there. It sure wasn't the Democrats
One last point when taking a look at why we have so much debt. During George W. Bush's presidency, the debt soared to $4.36 trillion, which was due to the two wars and tax cut to the wealthy without corresponding spending cuts. It has increased $3.9 trillion under Obama, again due to wars and the economic stimulus. I must say a word here about the reason for the stimulus expenditures. They only occurred because of the tax cuts and expenditures during the Geo. W. Bush's years. I know there are those that will argue with me about that, but it had to be or else.
DEFICIT REDUCTION
You have to do three things when you have a problem that has to be fixed. First, you have to, in detail, identify the problem. Second, determine what caused the problem. Third, you have to develop a solution. It seems that one and two have been completed and we are in the third stage now.
Some time ago, sorry I don't know when, a group of three Republicans and three democrats from the Senate got together and have spent hundreds of hours trying to come up with a solution to the deficit problem. Senator Kent Conrad, (D-N.D.) is Chairmen of the group known as the "Gang of Six." In an interview with ABC News's Jon Karl, Senator Conrad said, when asked about deficit reduction, "If it doesn't happen this year, it's certainly not going to happen next year, so it's really got to happen now."
In a conversation with radio host Laura Ingraham, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK.) said "there's no plan to have a significant tax hike on anyone." He further said "Will some people pay increased taxes? I'm sure they will."
SECOND DEFICIT REDUCTION GROUP
In his budget speech, President Obama called for a study group, headed by Vice President Biden, to cut the federal deficit. He said nothing about the make up of the group other than it must be bipartisan and there was no deadline established for the final report from the group. They were to start their work on May 5th, 2011.
They have run into problems already, determining who and how many should be in the group. At one point, they had 16 set. They decided that was to many to get anything done. So, I think they are down to seven now. I'm not sure.
I think you all know that I am a strong backer of our President, but it seems so ridiculous and redundant to have to have two different groups working on the same thing. I guess I understand the need for the President, politically, to have appointed a group, but that is exactly what's wrong with a number of things in our federal government - duplication, redundancy.
WELL, THE FUTURE WILL TELL US SOMETHING. WITH CONGRESS BACK WE SHOULD HAVE SOME KIND OF, GUESS WHAT? NEXT WEEK.
More about Social Security next week too.
Talk with you then.
Floyd
It may be possible to get some corrective actions with legislators that arena office now but I don't think so.Remember what Charley Reece sari
ReplyDeleteThis is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be. The article below is completely neutral, neither anti-republican or democrat. Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every day. It's a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering!
545 vs. 300,000,000 People -By Charley Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
xcluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was I ecreated by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
ReplyDeleteI excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
ReplyDeleteIf the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.
If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it's because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan ...
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to
regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees...
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
The end of the Charley Reese Article
If we are going to take Charley’s advice, it is important that we replace the ousted employees with people who are in tune with our interest and the good and welfare of the country. This is where we have to step up and exercise our duty to make this a government of the people, for the people, by the people. In order to do this we must go back to the process and start from the beginning and that is going to take time. Do we have the time? If we are going to rescue this country, we have to make time and determine to do so. If we are going to succeed, we will have to do it right. We will have to work open-mindedly and constructively with people that may have opinions that differ from ours.
The following is excerpt #1 from one of my previous writings.
At this time we know we need a solution and the best way to find a solution is to look back to where we went a