Limits On Spending Never Come

Senate majority Leader Harry Reid has fired the opening salvo in the lame duck session regarding the fiscal cliff that we are rapidly approaching. His first declaration was that the election is a mandate to raise taxes on the rich. I beg to differ and counter that we basically have the same government we had prior to the election and that means the American public wants a divided and gridlocked government. If Americans did not want the gridlock that existed then it would have changed the makeup of Congress.

Reid has further declared that Social Security is solvent for the time being and that it will not be part of any budget negotiations. What Reid is saying is that he will kick the can down the road.

Social Security and Medicare are in trouble. The government has, for decades, collected huge sums of money from workers via the Social Security insurance tax. Over the years far more was collected than was needed to pay retirees because there were far more young workers. The government took that money and put it in the general budget and issued an IOU to the trust fund. We are now at a point where more is being paid out than is coming in but there is no way to compensate for that without borrowing money because the money paid in has long been spent.

AARP released a poll that it took of its members and a majority of those members 50 and older indicated they did not want Social Security and Medicare included as part of the budget negotiation process. They want their benefits that were promised.

This lines up with what I have long said. Social Security and other programs like it are designed to get people dependent on government. The people surveyed are demonstrating that they do not care about the debt or any of the country’s other money problems so long as they get their checks. They are beholden to the nanny state to survive and this axe can be held over their heads to get them to comply with what government wants and can be used to scare them into voting for certain politicians. It is a shame that the elderly, like those on welfare, are held as slaves to government. Keep doing what government wants, keep voting the way it wants, and you can have your soup.

AARP and its members can say they want to keep their benefits and Harry Reid can claim that all is well but it will not be long before the reality of insolvency sets in and Congress will run around like their heads are on fire and their asses are catching in order to raise taxes to pay for the shortfall. By that time the game will be over. Like any Ponzi scheme, there is always an end game where a lot of people get screwed. No matter what AARP members want when there is no money they will get nothing.

[note]As an aside, the death panels in Obamacare should help reduce the elderly population so that there is not as big a drain on SS and Medicare[/note]

Reid is also indicating that he is going into negotiations with the mindset that Congress will raise taxes on the rich. Reid said he feels that there is nothing wrong with asking the wealthy to pay a little more. His statement ignores the fact that the wealthy already pay most of the federal income taxes paid in this country. How much more is a fair share? How much of someone’s income is a fair amount to give? How much is fair when we know it will be wasted and that no matter how much they take it will not solve the debt problem?

The Democrat’s idea of bipartisan negotiations is that you have to agree with them and it is bipartisan. Disagree or work for something else and you are being an obstructionist.

For their part Republicans are indicating they are open to revenue increases (read increased taxes) as long as there are limits on spending. Those limits never come. Tax increases take place instantly and limits are delayed until they are deemed impractical and then never happen.

I think we should allow the Bush tax cuts to expire in their entirety. According to the Democrats they were only for the rich anyway so let them expire. As far as the other draconian measures that will cut many agencies and hurt contractors, well that is what they get for supporting Obama.

Pain is a great teacher and people need to feel that pain.

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Big Dog

Gunline

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4 Responses to “Limits On Spending Never Come”

  1. tlsid says:

    in your statement one line stoud out to me as incorrect “How much of someone’s income is a fair amount to give?”

    it should be how much of somene’s income is the goverment going to TAKE? i know that i have not volenterd to give the goverment any of my hard earned money, nore do i want to. except “under penelty” as stated on our tax forms

  2. Virginia says:

    Yep, we found out that 51% of American people are stupid.

  3. Blake says:

    Yes, Virginia, there IS a stupidity gap.
    We could lay it all on the teachers who quit teaching American History, civics and political history, but that is not all of it, for if the teachers do not teach, it is up to the parents to imprint these lessons, and, as we have found, there are at least 51% lazy, don’t give a hoot parents also.
    Remember, it is the duty of all true patriots to oppose unjust laws, no matter who makes these laws.