An American Promise
● A Balanced-Budget Amendment to the Constitution, with appropriate exceptions for times of war and recession.
● A line-item veto, to give the President a fighting chance to eliminate pork and earmarks.
● A limitation on federal spending, to 20% of GDP.-
*** About We Elected You ***
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Have Your Say!
- Michael S on How ’bout a Little Optimism? The American Promise.
- John Lumbard on Prosperity got you down? Tax your guilt away.
- cna training on Sustainable Government
- Jim Costa latest | Celebrity Buzz on Democrats Favoring a Balanced-Budget Amendment
- Paul Casto on A short history of fiscal responsibility
- Michael Smith on Addressing Government Debt
- James Schaefer on The Safe Withdrawal Rate
- John Lumbard on Solvency
- Michael Smith on Solvency
- James Schaefer on Peter Treadway: Debt and Deflation . . . or Inflation?
Topics
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Americans For A Balanced Budget Amendment
Alan Parks is the founder of Americans For A Balanced Budget Amendment (http://www.balanceourbudget.com/), which collects signatures and builds support for the constitutional amendment that came within one vote of passing the Congress back in the mid 1990s. It can be done.
Alan tells us that he commissioned a survey, with dollars from his own pocket,...
Read More Greekonomics
By John Lumbard.
Today the Boston Globe printed an article titled Greekonomics (by Thanassis Cambanis, a professor at Columbia), which describes the financial hardship that Greece has reaped as a result of decades of debt accumulation:
"Try to live beyond your means forever, and one day it'll catch up with...
Read More Let’s Pay Twice for the Same Benefits
By James Schaefer.
Government has been using the Social Security Trust Fund to help finance government services and programs since around 1970 (see SSA History, the section entitled "On-budget"). In doing so, it has taken money intended for the future and spent it today.
Beginning in 2010 for the first time, Social Security will begin to pay...
Read More “The Debt The Government Owes Itself For Raiding Social Security”
By James Schaefer.
Jonathan Weisman writes cogently in the Wall Street Journal about addressing the budget deficit (Voters Back Tough Steps to Reduce Budget Deficit, Aug 17, 2010 -- subscription required).
He points out that tens of millions of voters are ready to accept tough measures to balance the federal budget, and...
Read More How ’bout a Little Optimism? The American Promise.
By John Lumbard.
Investors are running scared right now, fearful that a slowdown in our economy means that we're headed back into a double-dip recession. Stop worrying and enjoy a double dip in the ocean (a balmy 66 degrees at the New Hampshire shore today) or two scoops of ice cream at Annabelle's here...
Read More Debt, Deficits, and Dumbfunded Liabilities
By James Schaefer.
Few Americans are saving enough for retirement and other future needs, but the sorry truth is that individuals are more fiscally prudent -- and solvent -- than the governments and government agencies that serve them. The problem can be described in terms of deficits, debt, and (worst of all!)...
Read More Prosperity got you down? Tax your guilt away.
by Michael Smith.
In an August 4 column in the Los Angeles Times, Bill McKibben of 350.org threw down the green gauntlet. From now on, it’s no more Mr. Nice Guy for the folks who want to tax fossil fuels into oblivion. Taking their cue from the civil rights movement, they’re...
Read More Great Government and the Roots of Rebellion
By John Lumbard.
USA Today just published an opinion piece arguing that voters are concerned about the power wielded by large corporations; but unwilling to embrace the federal government as a benevolent regulator. That distrust is founded in a recognition that our government is larger than all of our 100 largest corporations put together---a fearsome size---and that it has...
Read More A short history of fiscal responsibility
by Michael Smith.
Since 1938, the Tax Foundation has calculated how long Americans must work to earn enough to pay each year’s federal, state and local taxes. The result of that calculation is “Tax Freedom Day.” If you’re an average worker, you hit your quota on the 99th day of 2010,...
Read More Sustainable Government
By Dan H.
As California goes, so goes the nation. That has long been the case with fad and fashion, but lately California has been playing the role of canary in the coal mine. The state budget is out of control, and there are no longer any easy answers.
Much...
Read More