Posted on 09/13/2017 8:09:10 AM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie
The largest threat to our prosperity is government spending that far exceeds the authority enumerated in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.
Federal spending in 2017 will top $4 trillion. Social Security, at $1 trillion, will take up most of it. Medicare ($582 billion) and Medicaid ($404 billion) are the next-largest expenditures.
Other federal social spending includes food stamps, unemployment compensation, child nutrition, child tax credits, supplemental security income and student loans, all of which total roughly $550 billion. Social spending by Congress consumes about two-thirds of the federal budget.
Where do you think Congress gets the resources for such spending? It’s not the tooth fairy or Santa Claus.
The only way Congress can give one American a dollar is to use threats, intimidation, and coercion to confiscate that dollar from another American. Congress forcibly uses one American to serve the purposes of another American.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailysignal.com ...
Love the way he lumps people on social security in with people on welfare. People on social security paid in for forty years Walter. People on welfare have many times not worked a day in their lives. Strangely enough, the word welfare doesn’t even appear in this article.
Social spending?
We all agree that social security is run about as stupidly as it can be, but that is not the fault of those where are on it.
If the government was going to be involved in this at all, the funds should have been taken and invested. Instead they were taken after already being spent most of the time on something else. That’s why we have $20 trillion dollars in federal debt.
Any article that lumps in military spending or social security type expenditures into an article about over-spending, doesn’t include the word “welfare” in it, and thinks it passes for intellectual honesty, is DOA in my home.
As it is, military spending and social security are necessities. Fifth generation welfare spending isn’t.
Walter, I like you. This WAS NOT your best work.
The _federal_ _reserve_ was created to enable DC to become the beast. Endless money-from-thin-air to DC’s perverted, illegal powers.
What about manufacturing? Why not tariffs to promote domestic industry? win-win.
You once again demonstrate why I often find your commentary to be intellectual vaporware.
What does lowering taxes accomplish? When Reagan did it, it doubled the federal tax receipts.
With the over 40 million people we have out of work, we have a prime situation set up, so that we could augment our work force with a massive flood of able bodied workers. Reagan didn’t have this idle pool of potential workers in his day.
If Congress got off it’s ass and passed a good tax cut, we could probably double government receipts now, and possible triple them.
If we only doubled tax receipts right now, we would have plenty of money to make good strides in paying down federal debt.
Here you are trashing people who know their ass from a hole in the ground. Sadly, you don’t.
Trump was right to talk of substantially paying down the federal debt. it is part of the reason why I voted for him. It is part of the reason why I despise the GOPe, who refuse to join Trump and his supporters in passing legislation to get the ball rolling.
It is also part of the reason why I have taken folks to task for trashing Trump and his supporters, who are right on target.
Sadly, we still have the GOPe and morons like you who trash the wrong people constantly.
_ YOU!
This is going to leave a deep hurtful mark on many a Freeper:
” “Williams, I agree with most of what you say, but not when it comes to Social Security. Social Security is my money I had taken out of my pay for retirement.”
If you think that, you’ve been duped. The only way you get a Social Security check is for Congress to take the earnings of a worker. Explanation of your duping can be found on my website, in a 2010 article I wrote titled “Washington’s Lies.” “
Democrats are to blame because they are Democrats. Republicans are to blame for being RINOs.
I agree. But, I'm not so convinced that we can will or pray ourselves out of it.
At least 50% of Americans want big government and like the current system. It's not *all* grifters and welfare cheats, there are a lot of people employed directly by the Govt. at all levels, and their are lots of private sector employees working for companies that feed off them.
There is the US Military, too. Per Wikipedia our active military is 1.2 million. Per the Constitution only the Navy is permitted to be a full-time outfit. How many patriotic military people would vote to end their own jobs, in the name of Constitutional Fidelity?
The Heritage Foundation writes on this:
Army Clause. The Congress shall have Power To ...raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years.... For most Americans after the Revolution, a standing army was one of the most dangerous threats to liberty.
So, even if you limit the "restoration team" to non-government dependent, not Democratic supporting Americans you have tremendous fracturing and difference of opinion, and a huge contingent that wants, at best, small changes only.
Even at Free Republic the last election was brutal. I know more than one long-time Freeper who left the site, at least temporarily, because they supported a candidate who was disfavored (this changed over time, too, obviously).
I just don't see the basis for some large groundswell of return to the Constitution, I see those of us who feel that was as being a marginal group, similar to the Libertarians.
“...NONE of us are apparently willing to part with our particular favorite Gubbermint program....I learned this selling to farmers, who pretend to be the most rock-ribbed patriotic Conservatives in the land, UNTIL you threaten their favorite subsidy program.”
I learned it right here on FR. My guess is that 80% of Freepers will not part with SS. Most Freepers will not even agree that SS is just another government vote buying wealth transfer scheme and will flame you for calling it welfare.
So you say you are one of the few who 'know their ass from the ground' because you actually believed Trump's ridiculous promise to pay off the national debt, and that now you are not bothered in the least because he is doing the opposite of what he promised.
HAHA, I see your keen logical skills haven't faded a bit.
Maybe if Trump wasn't so scared of Pelosi he would run up less debt.
Trump agrees to short-term funding, debt package [with Schumer & Pelosi) The Hill ^ | 09/06/2017 |
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) spoke to President Trump by phone on Thursday and asked him to issue a tweet reassuring young undocumented immigrants that they won’t be deported in the next six months.
Trump tweeted Thursday morning, “For all of those (DACA) that are concerned about your status during the 6 month period, you have nothing to worry about — No action!”
Pelosi asked Trump to issue tweet reassuring DACA recipients and he did( The Hill - 09/07/17)
I’ve gotten to the point where for the last 15 years the experts have warned about our debt. The monetary system no longer is tangible assets. Its all virtual now. So just add a few more zeros, everything will be fine.
In 2007, despite the "pay as you go" construction of the program the SSI fund had $2.2 Trillion in it.
That's about 2x as much money as Goldman Sachs has under management($1.3 T).
But if managed to invest, as you suggest, the nest egg would be much larger. The contribution income to Social Security is about $1.1 Trillion a year. So, if you had followed this course since Al Gore suggested it (you remember the "lock box"?) you would have another $19 Trillion managed by uncle sugar.
That would be moving us along the path to Socialism big time! If you let the Government be the biggest investment bank in the country then everyday they will be deciding if WalMart stock went up or Amazon stock went down.
That seems like a harmful consequence of doing what you and many others suggest. In fact possibly worse than the current mess, as it might well destroy the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Another piss poor headline. Williams never mentions the word DEBT. Not one single time. He starts with, “The largest threat to our prosperity is government spending that far exceeds the authority enumerated in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.” and he sticks with that theme.
The writer is helping perpetuate a tactic of all big government tyrants, from the left and the right, that any monetary deficit in a political scheme is a debt and that all debts are inviolable and therefore must be honored. So all promises of future spending for SS, healthcare, student loan guarantees, hone loans guarantees, Ex/Im bank guarantees, and etc. are all debts that must be paid. The resulting “debt” crisis must only and inevitably be financed by seizing more wealth from citizens.
Trump promised to work with Dems and he is.
That is how you get National deficits after promising to eliminate the debt.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is stressing his bona fides as a dealmaker who'd be able to enter the White House and work with congressional Democrats to hammer out agreements."I think I'm going to be able to get along with Pelosi — I've always had a good relationship with Nancy Pelosi," Trump said Tuesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," referring to the House minority leader.Trump said he thought he'd get along with "just about everybody," including Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), likely to be the next Senate Democratic leader, who Trump said he was "close to ... in many in ways."."
Trump: I'll work with Democrats( The Hill- 01/26/16)
Were the Founders efforts charaterized as "praying their way out of it"?
No, but they did what they did by faith in God, not man.
The patriots were a minority at our founding. Most people, then as now, don't know what they think. It takes a determined core of faith-filled freedom lovers who are willing to do whatever it takes to wrench their God-given rights and freedoms from the tyrants.
I just don't see the basis for some large groundswell of return to the Constitution
That is why it takes faith to gain and maintain freedom. Faith is not "what is". Faith does not rely on facts which are changeable in a millisecond. Faith is what changes things. Faith CHANGES fact. Many didn't see how Trump could win. But God has taken a hand.
Put your trust in the love of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and keep at it until you too have "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).
Excellent article.
The debt is a huge issue in all the West, but sadly the public no longer seems to care.
And 20 years ago I would said the debt was the number one issue, until a bunch of religious nut cases hit the twin towers. Now, I put mass immigration, ANTIFA, China, Saudi Arabia, ISIS, ect above debt problems.
Yep.
BUT DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH MY SOCIAL SECURITY!!! /hypocritical sarcasm
PING!
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