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 ***
Have Your Say!
- John Lumbard on Problems With a Balanced Budget Amendment?
- Chris Curley on Problems With a Balanced Budget Amendment?
- John Lumbard on How to Fix the Health Care Mess
- Did Government Agencies “Raid” Social Security “Coffers”? « Joejolly’s Weblog on “The Debt The Government Owes Itself For Raiding Social Security”
- John Lumbard on The Antidote
- Gen Y on The Keepers of the Flame
- Chuck Bailey on Amendment Filed. Call Your Congressman!
- Phoebe Addington on Party On!
- FaGaurlwal on Incentives Rule!
- James Schaefer on The ENTIRE Government Runs on Borrowed Money
Topics
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Archive for May, 2010
Statutory Debt
By James Schaefer.
Corporations, sole proprietorships, unions, and government all share a common mandate to Grow the Franchise.
In the private sector this growth is constrained by the ability to make a profit---while laboring to provide goods or services that have value to others. For them, the cost of money is real,...
Read More Starve the Beast (of my choice, please)
by Michael Smith
Last week, Robert J. Samuelson of the Washington Post penned a meaty column about the country’s fiscal outlook and the choices we face about the size and scope of government. It’s no surprise that a moderate conservative like Samuelson would tackle these issues, but until recently, a left-leaning...
Read More Doomsayers can shed the silly costume now
by Michael Smith
That the European welfare state amounts to a pyramid scheme—a shrinking work force trying to support a growing population of retirees and welfare recipients—is old news in some political circles, but it’s gotten scant attention from the folks who desperately want America to follow the European model. That’s...
Read More The Hidden Income Tax Surcharge
Think you are in the 15% tax bracket, or the 25% tax bracket? Think again.
The tax rates for Social Security and Medicare total 15.3%, and have been at that level for the past twenty years. Most workers only see half that figure deducted from their paychecks, but if your employer didn't...
Read More The Social Security Obligation
By James Schaefer
Dr. Krugman's comment about "people who . . . are itching to dismantle Social Security" is an interesting one. It would appear that government has already done this over the past forty years, using the Social Security trust fund to cover federal budget shortfalls. The well is...
Read More Term Limits
By John Lumbard.
To the right of this article you'll see the pledge that we'd like every candidate to take, promising to establish legislation that would guarantee balanced budgets in the future. We think that this sort of approach---forcing the Congress to do its duty---is necessary, even if the National Commission on...
Read More A budding fiscal conservative at the NYT?
by Michael Smith.
OK, multiple choice. How can you tell when big changes are in the air?
A. You literally look up in the air, and pigs are flying.
B. Hell has frozen over and the sinners are all ice-skating.
C. A New York Times columnist worries about runaway federal spending and calls on...
Read More Ruminations . . .
By James Schaefer
The average American family has $97,000 saved for retirement. That number includes families of all ages, so it doesn't look too bad until you realize that it has been skewed upward by the multimillion-dollar savings of our wealthiest citizens. The median family (the family in the middle) has...
Read More Who do we want to be?
By James Schaefer
Some years ago Claude Bristol wrote a book entitled, "The Magic of Believing". It covers, among other things, the importance of personal responsibility---in our decisions about school, our career paths, and our life goals. It applies to our moral standards, our management of personal finances, and our management of debt.
It...
Read More