** 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 **
** Building A Million Dollar Retirement Portfolio **
Most of the millionaires in the U.S. are small business owners, and their wealth is tied up in their businesses. They drive used, American-made sedans; they live in modest homes in middle-class neighborhoods. Most of them are first-generation wealthy; they did not inherit their wealth, but earned it the hard way, through adding value in a business, or by saving diligently. Source: "The Millionaire Next Door", by Thomas Stanley and William Danko.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
$1.6 trillion deficit $8.2 trillion $12.8 trillion American Promise Austerity Balanced Budget Amendment balance the budget bipartisan reform cbo compound interest Congressional Budget Office Constitutional Amendment Contract From America debt burden default economy entitlements fair tax system federal budget Federal debt Federal deficit fiscal respnsibility fiscal responsibility Fiscal Sanity government debt Greece growth of government interest rates Judd Gregg limit on federal spending Line-Item Veto national debt net debt Pledge of Fiscal Responsibility political platform Portugal Social Security Spending Cap Spending Limit Amendment Sustainable Government Tax Reform Tea Party Term Limits trillion dollars unsustainable fiscal policyBlogroll
Spending Cap Archive
Whence We Came
By James Schaefer.
The original colonists of America and Canada were risk-takers -- by definition, a self-selecting group of people -- willing to leave behind family and culture and language and all that stood for civilization to cross an ocean in search of a better life.
No government handouts awaited them.
That entrepreneurial spirit...
Read More Balanced Budget Amendment Pros and Cons
In recent weeks there has been a debate in the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal regarding the merits of a balanced-budget amendment, or BBA. First came an opinion piece by Senators DeMint (SC) and Snowe (Maine) in favor of an amendment (so far this year 48 senators have co-sponsored...
Read More Cut, Cap, and Balance, Explained
Budget proposals are coming fast and furious in Washington these days. Most of it is political chatter, but there HAVE been a number of proposals that aspire to responsible government for the long term. Today's top story in that regard is "Cut, Cap, and Balance" which would smooth over some near-term...
Read More The Most Predictable Economic Crisis In History
That's what Erskine Bowles, co-chair of the president's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility, said about our government's ever-so-slowly-developing fiscal calamity in this Senate Budget Committee testimony. The President disavowed the findings of his commission, but it continued on in a scaled-down group of six members (all Senators) called the Gang of...
Read More Dominique Strauss-Kahn
By John Lumbard.
What does the allegedly-amoral head of the International Monetary fund have to do with budget deficits in the U.S.? Ever since the fall of 2008 Americans have been losing trust in their leadership and institutions. The arrest of "DSK" pulls one more pillar out from under the...
Read More Battling Against the Truth
By John Lumbard.
Spending more than you have feels pretty good, so the resistance to balanced budgets---or anything close to balanced budgets---is not surprising. Still, it's always a bit of a shock to read carefully-thought-out opinions, written by smart people, that are nonsensical efforts to bend reality to justify the status quo.
Today...
Read More Speech On Boston Common
By John Lumbard.
"In the last 75 years there's been a dramatic change in our nation's Congress. Our legislators used to say and believe that they represented the interests of all Americans, and were working to do what what’s best for the nation as a whole. Now they say that...
Read More The Farmer and the Lottery
By James Schaefer.
The farmer wins the lottery and is being interviewed by a news reporter. "What are you planning to do, now that you've got all this money?" Replies the farmer,"Well, I guess I'll just keep farming 'til the money's gone."
Today farmers enjoy so much taxpayer support that it's fair...
Read More Senator Udall (D – Colorado) Speaks
By John Lumbard.
Republicans are threatening to shut down the government over $100 billion in spending cuts---remember when that was considered big money?---while Democrats try to turn the event to their political advantage. Wouldn't it make more sense to take a stand on principle and a permanent change for the...
Read More The Grand Bargain
By John Lumbard.
In the weeks before the 2008 elections Barack Obama mused that the nation needs to strike a "grand bargain" if it's going to balance the federal budget. You won't give up your benefits and tax breaks unless I give up mine, and the same can be said...
Read More