Not An Empty Suit

Not An Empty Suit

It’s entirely possibly one of the empty suits in public service is not just an empty suit. As we all know most of our public servants in elected and appointed positions are not as tuned in with the economy as they should be. Some of us are makers and some of us are takers. The public piggy bank is funded by the earning and profits of makers. The public piggy bank is depleted by takers as well as by wasteful spending and misappropriation committed by those we entrust to look out for our best interests (can you say self inflicted foot wound). A smaller source of depletion of the public piggy bank is legitimate spending for the common good. That’s a very important piece of information that we all have to be aware of. The legitimate spending for the common good is not the major category that depletes the public piggy bank.

That’s one reason we should all be outraged. We’ve created entitlements that were never intended by the Founding Fathers. Medicare and Social Security were add ons that have started to grow and can not be stopped. We’ve all paid into it for years and when the time comes we all want to get ours back. That’s the deal that we made. We pay now so we can collect later. Unfortunately when the elected empty suits get their hands on a significant amount of money it takes on the form of a Ponzi Scheme. They take my money today to pay you your dividend today. Ten years from now when I expect to collect my dividend you and yours should dig deep and give it up for me. Professional thieves would have set up a better illegal enterprise, but we elect common thieves and low level perverts not exceptional thieves with a flair for success.

The entitlements from these two programs and a couple of other smaller government run Ponzi Schemes will overcome the entire budget in the not too distant future. I wish the elected empty suits and the media would start to piss their pants over this potential end of the world possibility as badly as they get over the alleged Global Warming crisis.

The solution to the problem is always how to increase the public piggy bank to keep up with the spending. The answer usually includes punishing success. As we all work hard and succeed, they find more ways to take it from us. They never look at ways to stop spending. When you slow down the spending you don’t have to punish the tax payers.

One congressman Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin a ranking member of the House Budget Committee, introduced his “Roadmap for America’s Future,” version 2.0, in January. (He proposed his first Roadmap in 2008.) This Roadmap has a great deal of potential. The plan reduces deficits and debt, it puts the federal budget on a sustainable path; it results in stronger per-capita economic growth; it puts Medicare and Social Security on a sound footing; and lowers health-care expenses while reducing the number of uninsured.

Why haven’t we heard about this before? Why hasn’t this gotten as much attention as the Global Warming scare? If this roadmap has the chance to do these things why don’t we all know it’s a possibility?

Those who are 55 and older will remain in the current Medicare and Social Security plans. Those who are younger will be means tested and health adjusted. The retirement age will be gradually adjusted upward to account for longer life expectancy. Individuals will have the option of investing a portion of their payroll taxes in personal-retirement accounts that they can pass along to their heirs. The opportunity to take more control of the money they earned that will be available to them in the future when they need it. Medicare would have some vouchers that would be available to purchase health insurance that would keep government mostly out of health care and let the market determine costs and benefits.

The best part of this plan is the tax program. Tax payers can file their return on a post-card like form, paying one of two flat rates with virtually no deductions or exemptions. This roadmap would eliminate the alternative minimum tax and replace the corporate tax with an 8.5 percent business consumption tax, making the U.S. more competitive globally and spurring faster growth.

The scary thing about this whole story is that what we’re doing now, spending like drunken sailors and taxing into submission anyone left with any kind of income, can not sustain itself for much longer. If congressman Ryan’s plan is not the best way out of the deep hole we’re digging, why aren’t we talking about variations of it that could work better?

We’re driving a large difficult to control truck with faulty brakes to the edge of a cliff with no regard to the consequences of our speed or ability to control the beast. The edge is approaching and we aren’t trying to stop.

Those of us with some common sense and some ability to reason find it difficult to believe in the Global Warming crisis, because the scientists haven’t done an adequate job to convince us we have the ability to destroy the planet, let alone that it’s dying. When they present a case that’s convincing the skeptics among us may take their warnings more seriously.

Our current crop of elected hooligans don’t understand economics and the dynamics of society. Success breeds more success, when you encourage success you get more of it, when you punish success you get less success. When you provide a free ride for whoever wants it more people than necessary take the free ride. When you provide a helping hand to those in need and don’t provide an end date for the help, you won’t get anyone off the helping hand stage of life. Too many will let you carry them for the rest of their life. But help them when they need it and let them know when the help ends, and they’ll find a way to help themselves.

Since our elected hooligans aren’t smart enough to understand the basics that are required for them to do their job, let’s replace them as soon as possible with individuals like congressman Paul Ryan.

Vote the Bums Out…. But let’s give some more time to some of the bums with the occasional good idea!

Gino