If you are like myself, you have been appalled by the inability of the political class in Washington to manage the financial responsibilities of the nation with any degree of courage, expertise, or candor. The recently announced agreement to reduce fiscal 2011 Federal government spending by about $38 billion is now beginning to look like it will reduce spending by only about $350 million, less than 1% of what we were told had been agreed to. This $350 million is nothing more than a spit in our ocean of debt. It is less than .02% of what the Obama administration will run up in debt in 2011. These savings were wiped out in the first day or so of Obama's military intrusion into Libya.
And the President was no better this past Wednesday when he talked about his plans to reduce our deficit. His speech was nothing more than a campaign speech to kick off his 2012 Presidential bid. It was an inadequate plan, both in terms of scope and details, and it also continued his policy of promoting class welfare ("tax the rich"), i.e. turning American against American when the political class are the true culprits. I found his speech to be vindictive, despicable, and childish, and did nothing to get our financial affairs in order in this country.
So, where are we today? Basically, just a lot poorer and more in debt as a nation. It has become apparent that neither party in Washington is serious or capable of fixing our national debt problem, a problem that threatens the very foundation of fiscal stability and freedom in this country. Their only concern, as vividly illustrated by Obama over the past several weeks, is to hold onto their current political office at any price, the welfare of the country be damned. As a result, it appears we are gong to have to fix this problem ourselves, in spite of the politicians.
One approach is illustrated below. There are some very smart Americans working on this issue from all parts of the political spectrum. We have reviewed some of their fine work many times in this blog. The thought process was why not get these separate groups together to come up with a single sane, compassionate, detailed, doable, and fiscally responsible way of downsizing government? These follks have gone through the Federal budget in much detail, they have used their analytical knowledge to justify cuts and reductions, they have shown themselves to be bipartisan Americans, not partisan and bickering politicians. If we were to combine their cumulative knowledge and come up with a detailed plan, we could then find a way to force it into reality despite the political class. The time for waiting is over, the political class has sidelined itself through incompetence and inaction.
To get this process started, earlier this week I mailed out six letters to organizations and individuals that have already studied our economic plight in detail and asked them to come together as one team to put the proposed salvation plan together. The letter below was sent to Alice Rivlin of the Bipartisan Policy Center and is typical of the letters sent to the other five organizations:
- The Cato Institute
- The Concord Coalition
- The U.S. Public Interest Research Group
- The National Taxpayers Foundation
- Obama's Deficit Reduction Commission
I strongly recommend that you research their efforts. I think you will see that they were thorough and fair in identifying reductions in spending, the vast majority of which will not affect the average American.
I realize that contacting these six organizations and the specific people out of the blue is a long shot. They do not know me and they may think that there are more important issues and problems to work on, despite the excellent work they have already done to solve our deficit spending sickness. If they ignored my correspondence, it would not surprise me.
However, what if everyone reading this post decided to write a letter or drop an email on these fine Americans, appealing to their sense of country to put a coalition together to fix this overarching problem? What if everyone reading this post asked their families, friends, and Facebook and Linkedin contacts to do the same? What do we have to lose and more importantly, what other choice do we have? Wait until Joe Biden wakes up to get something done? Wait until Barack Obama decides that the country should come before his re-election?
A long shot? Yes. But think back a few months and consider the life of Tunisian Mohammed Bouazizi. Mr. Bouazizi was a poor but proud working man in Tunisia. He became so upset by the heavy handedness, lack of freedom, and incompetence of the Tunisian dictator, that he implemented the ultimate act of courage by lighting himself on fire as an act of defiance and desperation, taking his own life in the process. The solitary actions of this one person have helped depose dictators, shake governments across Africa and the Middle East, and set off a wave of freedom protests in many countries.
Were his actions a long shot? Absolutely, but he did what he did anyway and look at the results. Could we possibly also ignite the same passion and wave of action to finally fix the country' deficit spending and national debt spending once and for all and without the interference and inaction of the political class? Please do not set yourself on fire but please consider contacting the people listed below along with Ms. Alice Rivlin to ask for their help.
Imagine how great it would feel if we were able to say, "Screw Washington, we fixed it ourselves." It could start with you because it is never going to start with our current crop of politicians.
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Ms Rivlin:
Thank you for taking some time out of your busy day to read this letter. I have several purposes for writing to you today. First, I was very impressed by your history and current effort to help bring our out of control spending under control, as described in an October 20, 2010 Business Week article. You and your partners seem like you are members of a small group of Washington people, those that understand how dire our economic and financial condition is with regards to deficit spending and national debt. Your efforts are refreshing to read about.
Second, I would like to make a suggestion that only someone like yourself and your “shadow deficit reduction commission,” along with the Bipartisan Policy Center, might be able to pull off. Like many Americans, I was appalled by the travesty and embarrassment that was our political class in the recent exercise to cut an infinitesimal amount of dollars out of the Federal budget. Taking the budget down $38 billion or so, while the deficit runs well over a trillion dollars a year, is pathetic. It has become increasingly apparent that those in Congress and the White House are incapable or unwilling to make the courageous budget cuts that are necessary to save the country from its prolific government spending. If their ineptness during the short term 2011 fiscal budget debate is any indication of their ability, or lack of ability, they have no chance in curbing government spending in the long run.
My suggestion is to take some of the many fine efforts that many smart Americans have already undertaken to trim spending and bring them together in a coalition to put a plan together to save the country. This effort would also bring together any number of other sources to refine and hone a plan that even our politicians could implement. Suggested partners could include the following:
- Ed Crane - Cato Institute - his organization is doing a great job in identifying government waste and excess through their “Downsizing Government” analyses. Their work is detailed, specific, and actionable.
- Bob Kerrey and Warren Rudman, Concord Coalition - I have read many of their opinions and positions which are consistent with what we are trying to accomplish here.
- Nicole Tichon, U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Andrew Moylan, National Taxpayers Union - These two individuals published a fine piece of work, “Toward Common Ground: Bridging The Political Divide To Reduce Spending,” going through the Federal budget program by program to find the waste and excess.
- Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, Deficit Reduction Commission - I thought these folks did a good job at looking for deficit reduction options until Obama, Reid, and Pelosi cut them off at the knees, they would be able contributors to this group effort.
We need someone like the you and your partners to get these listed people and organizations together to hammer out a detailed, workable and sellable plan which the political class in this country is unable to do. A group like the proposed would obviously by bipartisan and would look at the problem from several different views, making the final budget reduction product and plan that much better.
I personally would name the group the “Screw Washington, We’ll Do It Ourselves Coalition” but you may have a more refined idea for the name. The politicians in this country just make people like myself and other ordinary Americans so crazy with frustration when we see how incompetent they are in getting anything done. Even the simple task of putting an annual budget together is a travesty. It was six months late and came within an hour of shutting down the government. Pathetic.
Thus, the country needs your help. You probably understand as well as anyone that as the financial conditions of the country degrade, so does our personal freedom and liberty, the basis of our country. And once gone, it is extremely difficult to regain our liberty. Timing is critical as the debt limit debate will start anew very soon and the 2012 budget debate will begin in a few months. Combining the expertise, learnings, and work from all of the above listed people in one comprehensive, strategic plan would be so important in fixing our country despite the incapable political class within the Beltway.
I hope this plan makes sense and you will consider the potential of combining forces with like minded Americans. I guarantee you that ordinary Americans are looking for leadership in this area, we all realize the danger. However, we are obviously not going to get it from any current politician, you have the opportunity to fill that leadership void. Thank you for your time, celebrate freedom everyday.
Walter "Bruno" Korschek
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.com
Friday, April 15, 2011
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