Henry Reid - Still Not Getting It

The U.S. Senate sent another incredibly expensive Federal government spending bill to the President today, a bill that will incur over a TRILLION dollars in spending for the next fiscal year. In a time of unbelievable unemployment, increasing taxes, and skyrocketing deficits, Senate Majority Henry Reid engineered a spending bill that does nothing to offset these crushing realities for the American taxpayer. Besides significantly increasing spending across the board for most Cabinet level departments, the bill also pays for over 5,000 earmarks, also known as total wastes of money. According to the Citizens Against Government Waste, a small sample of these earmarks include:

• Construction of a county farmer's market in Kentucky
• Renovation of a historic theater in New York
• Restoration of a mill in Rhode Island

Unbelievable that this kind of waste can go on in light of the country's economic condition. The last earmark example is particularly galling given my memory of the Statue of Liberty restoration of several decades ago. At that time, the Statue was in bad need of an overhaul and it is my recollection that the entire cost of the restoration was paid for by donations of loyal Americans. Now, in today's word, the Federal government stoops so low as to waste taxpayer on an ordinary mill restoration in Rhode Island whereas Lady Liberty had to beg for donations. Talk about screwed up priorities in today's political class.

Even more distressing than the out of control spending, is a comment from Reid, "Every bill that is passed, every project that is funded and every job that is created helps America take another step forward on the road of economic recovery." Reminds of an old Mark Twain quote: "Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or imbeciles who really mean it." I know where my vote would fall relative to Reid's comment. Is he that ignorant of basic economic theory to think that the government can create jobs? The government pays for jobs with money taken from taxpayers. Thus, taxpayers have less to spend on things and services they want and economic activity is stifled. Government projects just take wealth that would have been more efficiently spent in other areas of the economy. With government spending, it is a closed system. Plus, do we really think that funding a county farmer's market is really leading the way to recovery?

Also, since the government does not have the cash on hand to fund these dangerous spending levels, it has to fund the deficit by issuing debt. Money used to buy Treasury bonds cannot be used in the private sector that would help expand production, expand services, expand employment levels, in other words, grow the economy. Deficit spending to restore a Rhode Island mill just wastes capital that could be used more efficiently to create new economic activity, not just transfer it from one place to another. Thus, Reid and the Democrats are dong exactly the opposite of what is needed to rebuild the economy. And given that it is my theory that Reid and Pelosi are actually running the country, making President Obama just a figurehead, there is no doubt the President will sign the bill even though he will get none of the minor budget reductions he asked for in May.

I still bridle at Reid for his public quote earlier in the year that American tourists to Washington D.C in the summer physically smell. This type of arrogance in conjunction with his ignorance of economic theory is what really scares me about the future of the country. In "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" we talk about the freedom pyramid, where it once was and should be vs. where we are today. In the preferred pyramid structure, the individual U.S. citizen sits at the top of the pyramid and is supported by the Constitution which defined a government structure which should support the freedom of all Americans. Instead, Reid and others prove on a daily basis that they think they are the pinnacle of the pyramid and they rule over us who support this pinnacle with our wealth/taxes and the blood of our young who the political class sends all over the world to fight ill defined military endeavors.

The economy will not get well until Reid and the rest of the political class in Washington realize that their excessive spending only delays economic recovery by just transferring money around the country, wasting it on thousands of useless projects and sucking up available capital that the private market cannot get to. If a county in Kentucky needs a farmer's market, let the residents of Kentucky pay for it. If a Rhode Island mill needs to be restored, let the good citizens of Rhode Island pay for it.

Visit our website at www.loathemygovernment.com to order an autographed copy of the book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government -Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom and Destroying The American Political Class" and to sign up for the cause. The book is also available online at Amazon and Barnes And Noble.

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