Saturday, October 22, 2011

Why Are We Surprised That Gadhafi Was Executed? The Libyan Rebels Said What They Were Going to Do, and Then They Did It

What’s with all this international racket about Gadhafi being executed?  

The Libyan rebels said what they were going to do, and then they did it, regardless of the international community’s wish to place him on trial for crimes against humanity.   This madman murdered tens of thousands of people over the last 40+ years to stay in power, including many thousands more in the last six months alone.

It’s their country; we’re only interfering in their internal affairs.  If they wanted Gadhafi alive, NATO shouldn’t have bombed his convoy to begin with.   It’s a final fiasco to the international fiasco that this intervention has been from the get-go.

If they really wanted Gadhafi alive, they could have tried for a capture in Niger with no Libyan rebels around.  But they chose to attack his convoy on Libyan soil with Libyan rebels already firing on the convoy.  We will fit that decision into the “well, DUH!” category.

No investigation into Gadhafi’s death is necessary.  Everyone already knows what happened.  Gadhafi was captured after being wounded, and summarily executed by his own people.   The international community ought to get off its high horse and let this nightmare that they’ve contributed to reach its final conclusion. 

Instead of wasting time on investigating how Gadhafi came to die, perhaps the international community would best be served by investigating where Gadhafi put billions in Libyan money, and how best to return that stolen money to the new Libyan government.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Liberal Media Asks “Who is Responsible for Organizing the “Occupy” Movement?” Their Friends Are, That’s Who!

Some liberal media outlets are asking who is responsible for the “Occupy” movement across America.

Their liberal, socialist and anarchist friends are, of course.   

The strength of the protests seems to be dependent of how bad off the local economies are.  In the United States, the range of protesters is anywhere from 16-5,000 protesters.   The largest protests have been in Los Angeles and in Washington, DC (an estimated 5,000 protesters each). 

Overseas, the protests have been much bigger as they have huge problems in places like Spain, where their big protests have drawn anywhere from 40,000 to 500,000 people.  They’re protesting against austerity measures being taken by their governments.  And they’re already accustomed to Socialist governments in Europe.  Greece has had huge protests, and they’ve turned really violent.

The protests that are taking place in Arab countries are part of the ongoing Arab Spring protests and happened to coincide with the protests taking place in the West. 

The “Occupy” protesters in America are calling for an October Revolution and should be taken as a  warning.  What are they proposing to replace our current economic system with?  A Soviet-style economy?  That’s already a proven failure.

Those protesting do not represent the other 98% of people who disagree with them.  They have their own agenda, except for the idiots who have joined in and have no idea of what they’re protesting, or even what they want if they should gain any traction.

I think the political impact that these protests will have in 2012 will not make much of a difference.  Obama’s going to have a very tough re-election bid, and many incumbents, regardless of which party they belong to, will also be out of their jobs as well.  We already know that’s going to happen.  Congress is at an 11% approval rating.

I also think that the press coverage is out of proportion to the actual protests taking place, and that they’re trying to cash in on the unhappiness of the American public, most of whom have no intention of joining the Occupy movement and do not feel their interests are represented there.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Florida Goes After Unfair Primary Election System Again: They’ve Scheduled Their Election for Late January, In Violation of Rules that Favor Four States Over All the Others

Florida has again violated the peculiar primary election system that allows Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada to hold their primary elections first, at the expense of the other 46 states. 

They’ve gone ahead and scheduled their primary election for January 31st, which violates RNC rules that state there can be no elections, except for the four favored states, prior to March 6th.  If a state does, they risk losing half of their voting power at the convention under the GOP rules, and all of their voting power at the Democratic convention. 

Florida and Michigan bucked the system four years ago and were punished by the DNC for doing so, and to a lesser extent by the GOP.  (The DNC discounted all Florida and Michigan votes, the RNC docked half the votes).  

The other 45 states should also schedule their primaries prior to March 6th.   What better way to force both parties to change their rules and come up with a system that addresses the needs of ALL the states, and not just the current four?

I have nothing against voters in those four states.  But it’s a system that never should have been agreed to by either party in the first place.  

Monday, September 19, 2011

Liberals Should Remember That They Created the Very Environment that Allowed Right Wing News Media and Talk Radio to Thrive In: If They’re Unhappy With Getting Trounced on TV and on Radio, They Should Realize That The Ones They Should Be Blaming Are Staring Back at Them in the Mirror

Lots of liberals blast Fox News for leaning right (aka pointing stuff out that the liberals would rather sweep under the carpet.)  They go after people like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and other conservative talk-radio people for getting people fired up about the never-ending conservative vs. liberal debate on just about every issue.

And they cannot figure out why liberal talk radio programs and channels do not succeed on the air.  Air America went bankrupt because their business model set itself up to fail.  They couldn’t match the audiences that Limbaugh, Hannity and Savage get, nor could they attract the kind of advertisers who purchase airtime by the bushel from their conservative rivals.

And they don’t want to admit that by dominating the news with their own viewpoints for decades, they gave birth to an audience that got tired of the liberal slant on things and was hungry for the other side of the story.  And when conservative talk radio and Fox News came around, their appetites increased. 

Perhaps if the liberal media had done their jobs in presenting the news, without trying to influence it as they have tried to do over the decades, the audience for conservative news and talk radio wouldn’t be so huge and liberal news networks wouldn’t be getting creamed in the ratings, week after week after week.

I don’t have a lot of sympathy for those who cry about Fox News not being a “true” journalistic entity due to THEIR slant on stuff.  Reap what you’ve sown, liberal media.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Key to Saving U.S. Postal Service is Quite Easy: Congress Needs to Quit Making Them Prepay 75 Years Worth of Pensions in Ten Years

In 2006, the USPS made money, and their outstanding debt was $2.1 billion.

In 2011, their projected losses exceed $11 billion, and they’re running into their outstanding debt ceiling of $15 billion and are looking at closing 3,700 post offices, laying off 100,000 people, ending Saturday deliveries and overnight deliveries, and closing down the USPS in mid-2012.

What happened?

People started paying their bills online, and doing other things via the Internet.  That accounts for part of the drop.

The other thing that happened is that Congress passed a law in 2006 that stated  the USPS must prepay 75 years of pensions in 10 years in order to keep their pension plans in good shape for the future.   According to this article, within three years of implementation, the Post Office was $10.2 billion in debt.

Who is the idiot who thought up this dumb law?

75 years worth of pensions in 10 years?  I think prepaying 5-10 years is much more reasonable than 75 years.

If Congress wants to save the Post Office, they should revoke and then rewrite this insanity.   They can fund the retirement program at a much more reasonable rate than what they’re doing now.  And without killing the Post Office too.

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

WikiLeaks Blames Guardian Newspaper for Allowing Previously Blacked Out Information in U.S. Government Cables to Be Seen: Baloney! WikiLeaks Posted the Information, So They’re Ultimately Responsible and Should Take the Responsibility

All of the data (251,000+ documents) that WikiLeaks has is now accessible on the web, with names of informants included.   All one needs is the password, which is being circulated online.   WikiLeaks is blaming the Guardian newspaper for posting the password, but who posted the material in the first place?

That was not the Guardian, or any other publication who did that.  WIKILEAKS did that.  And they should take total responsibility for any harm that comes to people whose identities were not protected, as WikiLeaks promised that they would.

This is all on WikiLeaks, and Julian Assange,and no one else.  They should quit trying to throw blame onto others.

U.S. Espionage Act of 1917 is Outdated and Needs to Be Fixed: Current Law Can Convict People Without Judges Ever Seeing the Materials

In the last three years, five people have been charged with violations of the 1917 Espionage Act, including one fellow who disclosed that the FBI and the NSA were spying on the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

But at the time that he was convicted, no one knew that; not even the judge assigned to the case.  The man who was convicted was a former FBI Hebrew translator who came to be in possession of top secret material in the form of wiretaps from the Israeli Embassy.  Entire conversations between Embassy officials, their top supporters in this country, and Embassy  conversations with members of Congress were captured electronically, as were emails, faxes and other digital mediums. 

The Obama Administration buried what had happened deep so that it would never come to light, as spying on an ally isn’t a very nice thing to do.

The translator, who was afraid that Israel was going to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, passed the information on to a blogger, who held onto the information for a while, then broke the story in the last few days. 

The government uses the Espionage Act to discipline federal employees who violate government secrecy.   I don’t have a real issue with that point, as the government does need to keep some stuff classified and expects its employees to be secret-keepers and to keep the trust. 

But once someone is charged, like the translator mentioned above who WAS correctly charged with breaking the law, if the government sees fit to bring the case to court, the judge should have an idea of what sort of materials were disclosed.   To blindly allow a conviction without seeing the materials reeks of star chamber justice, which is illegal under U.S. law.

The next time the government brings a case, the judge should tell the government to give him/her more information, or face the possibility of the judge throwing the case straight out of court.

Once the material is given away or sold, the cat’s out of the bag anyways.  Assuring the judge and the jury that a crime by others isn’t being covered up under a veil of secrecy isn’t as big a deal as the original loss of the data or material. 

Monday, August 22, 2011

FCC Drops Fairness Doctrine: This is a Step in the Right Direction

The Federal Communications Commission decided to drop the Fairness Doctrine, and 83 other obsolete measures that were media-related as part of its reorganization (“reform agenda”).

The dropping of the Fairness Doctrine is good news, as it will protect talk-radio, both conservative and liberal, from being effectively silenced.  It will give the consumer the choice of what kind of talk radio they prefer to listen to.

I don’t know about the other measures that they dropped, but the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine from the agenda is a step in the right direction.  I’m still looking at all the others.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

British Riots Make No Sense: Rioters Come From a Wide Variety of Backgrounds, Have Nice Jobs and And Are Not Gang Members

Like many, I’ve been watching the riots taking place across Britain and find myself wondering…why are people over there doing this?

I thought that it was gangs at work, as described by the Prime Minister, but the British courts have started dispensing justice to accused rioters, and it’s a veritable who’s who of British society: primary school workers, lifeguards, organic chefs, musicians, children of millionaires (I did a double take when I read that), college students, real estate agents, opera stewards, postmen, charity workers, hairdressers, professional and semi-professional football (British) players, Olympic ambassadors (another double-take), and dozens of other respectable sorts.   And tons of kids are standing before the judges too.

They have been charged with a wide variety of crimes, including stealing, various forms of theft, concealment of stolen property, throwing bricks at police and police vehicles, violent disorder, assaulting an ambulance crew, mugging, lying to police, racial crimes, inciting violent disorder (Facebook), arson, destruction of property (public and private), handling stolen goods, carrying weapons, using weapons during the commission of a crime, obstructing police, assaulting police officers, and up to eighty other crimes not listed here.

The sheer volume of what was taken is extraordinary too.  One guy broke into a bicycle shop and stole the equivalent of $32,500 worth of cycles.  What was he going to do with all those bikes?  Ride them around?  Try to sell them?  He was also accused of breaking into two other shops and stealing money, cigarettes, and other assorted stuff and causing major damage to both shops.

Another idiot stole the equivalent of $65,000 worth of plasma TVs, computers, and other electronic equipment.  He’s been denied bail and will be back in court next week.

The police are also said to be going after people who were invited to attend the riots on Facebook, and very stupidly said “yes” to the invites as well, or joined the pages.   The police really like having their suspects lined up in a row like that on a Facebook page.

I’m sure there are some gangs involved in the mischief, but the majority seem to be unthinking and greedy people who took advantage of the trouble.

Unbelievable.

Point of Order: Changes to the Electoral College Require a Constitutional Amendment; States Can’t Write Laws to Arbitrarily Change It Without Taking a Few Steps First

I’ve become aware over the years of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, or an agreement between several states to throw their Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote.

It’s back in the news as California governor Brown signed the compact, making California the eighth state to join the compact.

This smells of election rigging, and here’s why.  If the majority of voters of California choose, for instance, a Republican candidate for President, but his/her Democratic candidate wins the popular vote nationwide, all of California’s electoral votes go to the candidate that the majority of California voters didn’t choose.

This is inherently unfair, and runs the risk of disenfranchising large blocks of voters (the other 49% of their populations??!)

I also couldn’t help but notice that the eight states (and DC) that are in this Compact either lean or are heavily Democratic:  Maryland, New Jersey, Illinois, Hawaii, Washington, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, Vermont and California.

Definitely smells of election tampering.

States can decide themselves how they determine their electors, as enshrined in the Constitution in Article II, Section 1, Clause 2.   However, it is unknown if this compact needs Congressional approval, as it seems to indicate in the same article, same section, under Clause 3.   The whole thing may not even be Constitutional. 

I think one of more of the small states will challenge it in court if their influence is threatened, and it’ll end up going to the Supreme Court eventually. 

Monday, May 30, 2011

Veterans Administration Really Needs to Get It Together and Start Taking Better Care of Our Returning Veterans Who Are Suffering from PTSD and Other Mental Issues

There’s a report out that eighteen veterans a day are committing suicide.

And the VA continues to make veterans who are already feeling suicidal wait a minimum of eight weeks for someone to see them.   They can’t continue doing that!  Nor can they just hand a suffering veteran a pamphlet and a bag full of sleeping pills and anti-depressants to deal with their Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Delaying disability paperwork for months is irresponsible, too.  It’s gotten to a point that lawsuits are underway, and one judge called the VA’s handling of veterans as “unchecked incompetence.”

Would the veterans do better seeing civilian medical experts, rather than government ones?   I think the answer is “yes.”  SOMETHING’S got to change, because the current system is failing those who need it the most.

We can do much better than this.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

The Way That the U.S. Government is Releasing Bin Laden Information, They Have BECOME WikiLeaks: We Don’t Need to Know Everything

The government has released much more information than they should have concerning materials seized during the raid on Bin Laden. 

Particularly troubling is the release of information contained in Bin Laden’s diary, which describes new specific terror plans to disrupt the U.S. and the West.

Anyone in counterintelligence will tell you that you don’t tip off the enemy that you know about their plans.  You allow it to continue, while turning some of the operatives involved, so that the entire operation can be taken down in one stroke, instead of having them disappear into the shadows, only to have them reappear months later with plans we don’t know about.

Our government should keep al-Qaeda guessing as to what we actually do know, while chasing down every lead.

The government needs to control the information much more than they have.

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Double Standard Hypocrisy: It’s OK for the Muslim World to Celebrate America’s Failures, But When Our Citizens Do The Same to Celebrate Bin Laden’s Downfall, the US Gets Criticized for Offending Muslim Sensibilities?

I’ve got a bone to pick with the double standard that we’re seeing in international relationships between America and the Muslim world.

It involves the take down of Osama bin Laden and the subsequent spontaneous outburst of celebration of Americans around the country, that was widely reported in the media, both here and abroad.

Before continuing, I need to say that I was not one of the ones who was out there who was celebrating the death of a mortal enemy.   I was relieved that the SEALs got him, that’s for sure.  And I was glad that our enemy had been delivered into American hands, thanks to the tireless efforts of the military and our intelligence community.  

But I do NOT celebrate death, even to a misguided soul like bin Laden’s.  I would have preferred taking him alive, in spite of the dubious state of our legal system when it comes to habeas corpus and military commissions.

But now, four days after bin Laden’s death,  those who were out at all hours of late Sunday night and early Monday morning who chose to celebrate bin Laden’s downfall are being criticized for being insensitive to Muslim sensibilities.  HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!

It occurs to me that the ones who are criticizing the outpouring of emotion over here show NO such awareness or sensitivity to AMERICAN sensibilities in recent years when Muslim governments organized anti-American demonstrations over OUR misfortunes. 

The hypocrisy in the media and the Muslim world is ASTOUNDING!

After ten years of sacrifices, I think our fellow Americans have earned the right to observe the passing of bin Laden HOWEVER THEY CHOOSE TO.  And the rest of the world should GET OVER IT! 

Monday, May 02, 2011

Pakistan is No Ally of Ours: They’ve Been Playing Both Sides From the Get-Go, Got Caught Red-Handed, and Has Egg in Their Faces

Is there anyone out there who REALLY believes that Pakistan had no idea that Osama bin-Laden was living less than eight hundred yards from a Pakistani Army base? 

I don’t.

It appears our government doesn’t buy that idea at all. 

They launched the operation to get bin-Laden without Pakistani involvement, penetrated Pakistani airspace, mounted a major attack within eyesight and earshot of thousands of Pakistani troops, killed bin-Laden, blew up one of their own choppers after it suffered engine problems, loaded bin-Laden’s body and the booty from his hideout and withdrew from Pakistani airspace in a back-up chopper.  Our leaders then notified the Pakistani leadership that the attack had taken place, but not while the U.S. task force was still within Pakistani airspace.

The reason why is they couldn’t trust the Pakistanis. 

They might well have notified bin-Laden to head for the hills as the choppers were inbound.   Or had their troops fire on the SEALs.

There are elements of the Pakistani military and intelligence service who have been actively aiding the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and there was no guarantee who the Pakistani President might have notified in the Pakistani military hierarchy, or if foreknowledge of the attack would reach those bin-Laden supporters.

Pakistan doesn’t know what they’re doing with their internal security.   I think Pakistan is a bigger risk than Iran is right now, as Pakistan already has nuclear weapons, has a major Taliban presence, and is protecting them.

I do not believe that the Pakistani President knew that bin-Laden was where he was.  But I think that ObL had to have the help of elements of the Pakistani military to camp out half a mile from a major Pakistani military base.  And I don’t think that the Pakistani President looked hard enough, or asked the right people the right questions.

And the fact that bin-Laden’s been there SIX YEARS?

Pakistan can’t be trusted.  They were never really on our side to begin with; they were the ones who STARTED the Taliban in the first place.  

The mujahedeen that we supported in Afghanistan against the Soviets in the 1980s ended up fighting Pakistani-backed Taliban forces in the 1990s Afghan civil war, and lost.   Surviving mujahedeen formed the Northern Alliance, which the U.S. supported against the Taliban in 2001.

Pakistan is a state sponsor of terrorism.   The aid needs to be cut immediately; they aren’t doing what they pledged to do with the funding and fight terrorism…they’re aiding people like bin-Laden.  Why are we giving them billions of dollars?

Congratulations to the U.S. Military on Getting bin-Laden

After nearly a decade of war and covert operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the U.S. military went after bin-Laden, after intelligence confirmed his location.   And they got him.

Congratulations and THANK YOU to the U.S. military for closing the book on bin-Laden.   Hopefully it’s a step closer to bringing the Afghan war to a close.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Trump’s “Profanity-Laced” Speech Was Nothing of the Sort: It Was a Good Speech With a Few Exclamation Points Here and There

The media talking heads were all aghast at Donald Trump’s speech in Las Vegas, in which he dropped some “f-bombs” and dared to raise more talking points.

99.5% of the speech was clean; it was over thirty minutes long. This was no profanity-laced speech. His speech is on YouTube, under "Trump speech Las Vegas".

Yes, Trump is a prima donna. He'll be the first to admit it. His taking credit for President Obama's releasing his birth certificate was hugely amusing. But he's also a lightning rod, which may make him a very difficult person to vote for, from my point of view.

In any case, this speech wasn't profanity-laced, and the media should stop trying to sell it as anything other than what it actually was: a speech with exclamation points here and there.

Trump isn't even a candidate yet. And I'm not sure he's serious about it yet, but people are definitely listening to what he has to say.

I'm enjoying the show.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Iraqi Prime Minister Says Iraqi Government and Military Will Be Ready on December 31st: All U.S. Troops Need to Be Out of There, Ahead of Time if Possible, so That They Can Be Home for the Holidays

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, that Iraqi troops would be ready to assume control of Iraqi security, paving the way for U.S. troops to return to their families for the holidays.

Hopefully U.S. troops will be withdrawn on time; it would be even better if all the troops were home for Thanksgiving.  Their families would really like that.

It’s time for Iraq to run its own affairs and fight its own battles.  It’s long overdue.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Trump’s Early Lead in GOP Polls Shouldn’t Be As Perplexing as Some Political Analysts are Finding It: Trump is Leading for Very Simple Reasons

Some political analysts are finding it difficult to believe that Donald Trump is leading in many GOP polls.  Called a “sideshow” and a “joke candidate” by leading Democratic and Republican leaders and advisors, Trump is being taken seriously because you will NEVER EVER catch him doing THIS:

Nor will he apologize for everything in sight as Obama has done.  Nor will he take a  back seat in something as important as getting the budget done and passed ON or AHEAD OF TIME.

The American people want strength in their President, not more weakness.  And while Obama may not be the worst President in history (something that’s been said about just about EVERY U.S. President in history by each President’s political enemies) he isn’t helping the perception that he’s the observer-in-chief.

People should remember that Obama wasn’t willing to state what his opinions were during the 2008 election, a tactic that many Democrats also followed in prior elections as well.  Now the results are on FULL display in the White House.  Even the Democrats in both houses have criticized President Obama for his lack of leadership on recent issues.

Now comes Trump who’s standoffish and will mix it up with anybody out there.  While he’s definitely off-the-wall, he’s seen as having a lot of strength and possessing the will to tell the world what to go do with itself, something that President Obama has yet to prove.  And the American public is sick and tired of being sick and tired.

That’s why Trump is doing so well early on.

Friday, April 08, 2011

NATO Is Learning a Valuable Lesson on Going to War Without U.S. Help: They Can’t Handle It

NATO is discovering that they don’t have the political or military will to fight an air campaign over Libya without American assistance.

The headline in a German newspaper said it all: “NATO Fears War Without End.”

NATO members should have thought about that before securing a U.N. Security Council resolution, and before they started dropping bombs and firing cruise missiles at or on Libyan targets.

Here is the NATO/Arab League order of battle over Libya, according to globalsecurity.com:

Belgium—(6) F-16 fighters
Canada—(2) P3 Orion spy aircraft, (2) tankers, (6) F-18 fighters
Denmark—(4) F-16 fighters
France—(1) EF3 command & control aircraft, (6) tankers, (8) F3 fighters, (4) Mirage fighters
Greece—(4) F-16 fighters, (1) command & control aircraft
Italy—(4) Tornado fighters, (4) Typhoon Eurofighters
Netherlands—(1) tanker, (6) F-16 fighters
Norway—(6) F-16 fighters
Qatar—(1) C17 Heavy Transport, (2) Mirage fighters
Spain—(1) SAR bird, (1) tanker, (4) F-18 fighters
Sweden—(8) JAS-39C fighters, (1) command and control aircraft, (4) tankers
United Arab Emirates—(6) F-16 fighters, (6) Mirage fighters
United Kingdom—2 Air Wings with support aircraft, 10 Eurofighters, 4 Tornado aircraft 

By my count, that’s 86 fighters, or seven full squadrons of fighters to clear the skies of Libyan aircraft, and bomb targets.  That’s without the additional 33 fighters that the U.S. pulled off the flight line, which was a minority of the total fighter aircraft currently in use. 

There’s nothing wrong with the NATO and Arab League fighter numbers, except that the various governments don’t have the stomach for a prolonged campaign that the U.S. Air Force is already accustomed to.  And they’re unwilling to contribute more combat aircraft to the campaign, even though they’ve got PLENTY of late-model fighters.  France and Britain are encouraging NATO to contribute more aircraft.

Speaking of the Arab League, only two countries belonging to the AL (out of 22) are involved; the UAE has more combat aircraft involved (12) than all other countries, except France and Britain.

There was a HUGE lack of foresight in the planning of this U.N.-sanctioned debacle.  And the U.S. should not have been involved at all.  This is a NATO mess.

And now with France locking horns with the outgoing Ivory Coast government, the second such direct clash between the French military and Ivory Coast since 2004, the main driving force behind the NATO effort is engaged in three conflicts of its own: it has forces in Afghanistan, is engaged against Libya, and is now engaged in Ivory Coast.   France may not be able to withstand internal political pressure to stop their military campaigns.

It may fall to Britain to lead the alliance.

NATO really needs to rethink what it’s doing in Libya, what its goals are, and what it can accomplish with air power alone.

I think putting non-Arab troops on the ground in Libya would be a colossal mistake.  And putting American combat brigades in there isn’t an option, regardless of whether we close down shop in Iraq or Afghanistan first.

I think the U.S. should keep doing what it’s doing, and stay out of the NATO/Libyan fight.

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Federal Government Spends 8 Times More Than They Made in March: This is Unsustainable, Reckless and Needs to Change TODAY, Not in 2012

I’ve been listening to the pundits analyzing the different (and ultimately meaningless) numbers that both parties are planning to cut out of the current budget.  The Democrats wanted $4 billion in cuts, the GOP wanted $61 billion in cuts.  They’re negotiating a $33 billion compromise cut.

It isn’t nearly enough.

The federal government took in $128 billion in tax revenues in March, and spent $1.0582 TRILLION in the same time.  That translates to the feds spending 8.2 times more than they brought in.

If you or I spent 8 times more than our monthly income month after month, how long could it possibly be before the monthly bill to repay the loan would exceed our total monthly income, or our ability to pay it back?

The Congressional Budget Office says that the U.S. debt will reach 800% of GDP by 2037 if spending levels remain unchanged.  We must stop this madness now, and reduce our debt load to much more manageable levels.   The debt level should not exceed 30% of GDP; we are currently at 97.3%.   GDP was $14.66 trillion, and the debt was $14.26 trillion, as of March 25th, 2011.  This is INSANE!

They Feds need to stop overspending immediately and start to live within their means like most American families and individuals have to.  They need a balanced budget Amendment to the Constitution by the end of 2012.  And the cuts to the 2011 budget should be massive, and not a paltry $33 billion that is barely a drop in the bucket.

The government needs to make the cuts now, while there’s still a choice as to what to cut, because once we hit the tipping point there will be NO choice, and what the politicians are trying to protect today will be impossible to keep tomorrow.

Congress and the President are failing us.  They need to get it in gear NOW, and get the job done!