Help Wanted, Lawyers and Legal Resources, To Fight The Invisible Empire, Part 2: The Havoc That Washington Has Wrought

Yesterday we reviewed how incompetently the Washington political class has been doing their jobs, neglecting their duties as demanded by the Constitution and current laws and statutes. It was the second in a four part series, which concludes on Friday, of what we called “suing the government to make the government accountable” week.

This series started with a Monday post which reviewed a massive, $43 TRILLION law suit that has been filed in the Brooklyn Federal court by the Spire Law group. The suit contends that entities and people within the Federal government and large banks conspired together for the benefit of both the banks and certain political elements.

Today we will review what major problems and challenges this invisible empire and lack of execution of basic government obligations has heaped upon the American public and our democracy. The basis of the following realities is from a Heritage Foundation analysis from January, 2012. Where appropriate, we have updated the information, based on how life has unfolded since that time:

- As of January 24. 2012, the U.S. Senate had gone exactly 1,000 days since it had lasted passed a formal, Constitutionally required national budget.

- Since no Senate budget has been passed since that date, we are now well beyond 1,250 days a real budget has been passed.

- The Heritage Foundation called this inaction “an egregious dereliction of duty on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D–NV) watch.”

- By enacting continuing resolution upon continuing resolution (short-term measures to keep the government running, spending money at the current rate), the Senate has taken a pass on leading the nation to some sort of fiscal sanity, which the Heritage Foundation claims is all to the detriment of the poor and middle class.

- The budget process is supposed to force Congress to set priorities to protect the people’s money and wealth and put it to its appropriate, optimal use.

- Instead, according to the Hertigage Foundation's conclusions and probably the conclusions of most rather human beings, “the Democrat-controlled Senate has abdicated its responsibility.”

- As a result of this abdication, the deficit is soaring, causing a looming tax burden and injecting uncertainty into the economy, leaving jobs and economic growth on the table.

- As the 1,000th day neared, here were some facts about America’s budget and why the Senate must take action to be stewards of the people’s money as the Constitution requires:

• The last time the Senate passed a formal, detailed budget was on April 29, 2009.
• Since that date, the Federal government has spent $9.4 trillion, adding $4.1 trillion in debt.
• As of January 20, 2012, the outstanding public debt stands at $15,240,174,635,409. That number is now well over $16.2 TRILLION less than one year later.
• Interest payments on the debt are now more than $200 billion per year and growing.
• President Obama proposed a fiscal year 2012 budget last year, and the Senate voted it down 97–0.
• Which may have actually been a good thing since that proposal never had an annual deficit of less than $748 billion, would have doubled the national debt in 10 years, and would have seen just annual interest payments approach $1 trillion per year.
• $1 TRILLION in interest payments a year works out to about $8,700 per family per year, just to pay the Federal govenrment's interest.
• In fiscal year 2011, the Obama administration and the Federal government in Washington spent $3.6 trillion. Compare that to the last time the budget was balanced in 2001, when Washington spent $1.8 trillion ($2.1 trillion when you adjust for inflation). Thus, in ten short years, the Federal government has almost doubled in size without anywhere close to the doubling of benefits for the citizens of this country. In fact, it acutally seems like we get less positive impacts in a less efficient manner than ever before despite the high costs.
• Entitlement spending will more than double by 2050 if nothing is done. That includes spending on Medicare, Medicaid and the Obamacare subsidy program, and Social Security. Total spending on Federal health care programs will triple.
• If this does not change, by 2050, the national debt is set to hit an unsustainable 344% of GDP.
• Taxes per household have risen dramatically, hitting about $18,400 in 2010 (compared with $11,295 in 1965).
• If the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts expire and more middle-class Americans are required to pay the alternative minimum tax (AMT), taxes will reach unprecedented levels.
• Federal spending per household is skyrocketing. Since 1965, Federal spending per household has skyrocketed by nearly 162 percent, from $11,431 in 1965 to $29,401 in 2010. From 2010 to 2021, it is projected to rise to $35,773, a 22 percent increase.

- Despite all of these distressing trends and out of control growth and spending, the Senate has utterly failed to execute the most basic, fundamental function of governance at the worst possible time, passing a government budget as mandated by the Constitution —when the country’s fiscal house is in disarray, the U.S. credit rating is in continual jeopardy, entitlement spending is ballooning, economic growth is historically low, high unemployment and under employment is stubbornly high, our ability to compete in the global economy is falling, etc.

The Heritage Foundation concludes:

“One thousand days without a budget is an embarrassing number, but the level of spending, deficits, and taxation that results from the Senate’s failure to exact even a modicum of fiscal discipline is terrifying. Senator Reid has said it would be “foolish” to pass a budget, but failing to pass it is proving to be beyond irresponsible. The middle class will be left holding the bag, paying for the Senate’s reckless negligence with soaring deficits, higher taxes, and a weak economy as far as the eye can see.”

Certainly discouraging news:

1. Monday’s post: politicians and government officials conspire with high ranking bankers (“banksters”) to satisfy each other’s political needs and enrichment needs to the detriment of the average American taxpayer who is not a member of the "invisible empire.”
2. Tuesday’s post: not only have Congress and the political class not meet their legal and Constitutional requirements in putting together the plans for leading the country, they rarely even do their day-to-day jobs with committee meetings, output, and legislative efforts minimal and in some cases, close to non-existent.
3. Today’s post - the Senate’s inability or unwillingness to do one of its basic jobs, develop and pass a comprehensive, detailed budget, has been going on for over 1,250 days, a timeframe in which Federal government spending, national debt, and despair over the future has grown exponentially out of control.

Disgraceful performance by probably the most disgraceful set of politicians in the history of this country. Low productivity, high debt, low accountability, high wasteful spending levels, low approval ratings, high probability for financial disaster. That is why we were so encouraged by the Federal lawsuit we reviewed in the Monday post, at least some U.S. citizens are usings one of the last avenues available to constraining political class insanity, the judicial system. Lord know that the concept of reprehensive government is not working.

But that lawsuit attacked only the crony capitalism and banker incest that has wasted TRILLIONS of dollars of taxpayer wealth. On Friday we will ask for your help in attacking the fiscal irresponsibility of the entire Federal government bureaucracy using the judicial system. I agree that our proposal might be a little whimsical, it may have little or no chance of success. However, I am reminded of a quote by Dante that fits our dire situation:

“The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”

The financial collapse of our economy and democracy, the burdening of our children’s and grandchildren’s generations with unsustainable debt and taxation levels to me is a great moral conflict. This conflict will happen unless we step out of neutral and hold those in Washington accountable as if THEY were in the hottest place in hell.

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 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.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w