Legacy of Debt

It is rarely a good time to raise taxes, but now is definitely not the time. Until very recently pensions, IRA and 401K accounts have been falling like they’ve been pushed off a cliff. The unemployment rate may be the only economic indicator that is consistently climbing. We are at least in a deep recession and we might be on the cusp of a depression.

President Obama has told us that we must all cut back and bear the burden. Millions of families have heeded his call and cut back on spending while saving more and driving less. That is the prudent, responsible thing to do in times like this. While the president and congress think you need to shoulder the burden, here is some of the spending from the recent stimulus bill.

$10 million for “urban canals”

$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts

$200 million to build trails in parks

$200 million for public computer centers

$1 billion for something called “FutureGen” in the state of Illinois that conservative Senator Coburn called “a pet project” of impeached governor Rod Blagojevich

$3.4 billion for fossil energy research

$3.7 billion for “green” renovations on military bases

$8 billion for high-speed trains as well as an earmark for high-speed rail between Los Angeles and Las Vegas

The first budget bill to be signed by President Obama includes 7.7 billion dollars in earmarks including $200,000 for tattoo removal, $1.7 million for pig odor research in Iowa (I couldn’t make this up) and $5.8 million for the Ted Kennedy Institute for the Senate. This is what Washington calls living on a budget. Elected with the slogan of, “Change we can believe in,” President Obama was unwilling to change anything in this bloated spending bill.

Is this what you would call cutting back and shouldering the burden? How much of this “stimulus” or budget will create lasting jobs that will truly rouse the economy? Some earmarks may be cut before the bill passes, but this is typical Washington pork spending. How will the federal government pay for all these foolish expenses? With nearly a trillion dollars in new taxes.

While congress wants you to shoulder the economic burden, they have taken another automatic pay raise. They even went so far as to vote down a proposal to revoke that last pay raise. The minimum wage in congress is now $174,000 a year, not including health care benefits, pensions and additional funds for staff salaries, stationery, newsletters, telephone service, domestic and foreign travel and even postage stamps. Don’t worry about Representative Brian Baird and Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, thanks to you they’re doing fine.

The federal government continues to spend like a drunken sailor, but sailors can only squander their own money, these drunks (on spending at least) are squandering your money. The bill for all these lavish outlays is coming to you and your children. It is a legacy of debt that will forever be due on April 15th.