The Ten Year Plan

The Ten-Year Plan

Charlie Earl

By now you have detected that every proposed scheme for avoiding a fiscal collapse in the United States includes a long-term plan. They vary from the rather swift ten-year version to the more gradual 40-year solution. You also realize that the long-term proposals have been suggested and submitted for several decades. The logical conclusion is that long-term fiscal plans are obviously written on vapor. No meaning, no integrity….no matter…just ignore them because chicken lips have more value. You should know by now that if you truly value your life, you will never allow a politician to design your residential fire-escape plan. It would take up too much time, wouldn’t work and would lead you back into the inferno.

One of the advantages of being as old as I am is that I can remember the so-called glory days of the Soviet Union. The Politburo and the apparatchiks (bureaucrats) would set production goals for every sector of the Soviet economy, and would issue them in 5-year and ten-year plans. Those of us who lived in the prosperous land of the free would sneer at those plans because we knew they would be “revised.” We also understood that the plans were merely internal propaganda by the Marxist overlords to pacify the people. The plans and the production quotas were as bogus as their national leadership. Same as here in 21^st Century U.S.A.

No Congress can bind the budget of a later one, therefore any plan or proposal for “getting to balance,” “deficit reduction,” or “debt retirement” is a scam. By 1990 many in the Soviet system had discovered that their political masters were blowing smoke, so how long will it take until the majority of Americans realize the Congressional/Administration budgets are mere illusions? Maybe they already sense it which may explain the massive rush to drain the treasury. They may have surmised that as the private sector dwindles in numbers and productivity, their rides on the gravy train will become less frequent. Their thought processes may go something like this: “Do the gettin’ while the getting’s still good.”

The government apologists and trained monkeys (sorry, government economists) claim that a too rapid decrease in government spending would volcanically affect the economy. In other words…fewer federal dollars would be flowing to government contractors, subsidized enterprises and entitled citizens thereby vastly decreasing the dollars circulating in the economy. In addition, they surmised, the radical displacement of government workers would place a greater stress on the unemployment and assistance services, thus accelerating the out flow of federal obligations. They may be right, but the gradual increase in government spending, the continual addition of new government employees, and the inexorable growth of government’s share of the economy will have the same long-term effect. The major difference is that with the instantaneous reduction, we may be able to preserve our liberties. The long-term method guarantees that our freedom will diminish. It’s a no-brainer for me, but if it’s a toss-up for you, then we have a problem, and I submit that YOU ARE the problem.

In my humble view our fiscal mess screams for the abrupt solution rather than a series of artificial plans and steps that lead to the same inevitable result but with ever-greater government power. Some things should be done slowly so one can savor the resulting product. Fiscal disaster, economic chaos and erosion of liberty are not on my short list of lingering outcomes. Other things should be completed quickly to minimize the pain and avoid their ultimate destruction. While there may be hypochondriacs among us, medical experts caution us about ignoring danger signals that could indicate potentially severe problems. The economic and prosperity of a nation are similar because to ignore the clues and avoid remedies could prolong the illness and place the life of the patient in jeopardy. Open wide and take your medicine….now!

Charlie Earl

cearlwriting@hotmail.com

cearlliberty@gmail.com

http://thelibertylegation.blogspot.com

www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

  

Debased Line Budgeting

Debased Line Budgeting

Charlie Earl

If you have ever wondered why public employee unions believe themselves entitled to annual raises and salary increases plus step raises, all you have to do is peruse the federal budgeting system. Yes, I know the Congress, namely the Senate, has failed to produce a formal budget in four years despite the constitutional mandate requiring one, but the automatic nature of the baseline budgetary structure insures that federal expenditures will INCREASE every year for every line item that existed in the prior fiscal year. Last year’s allocation becomes the BASELINE with a pre-determined increase for the current year’s spending. The public sector unions know this, and they want “their fair share” of the unending expansion of government’s costs. It is a nice gig if it weren’t so fiscally devastating.

From Citizens Against Government Waste ( http://cagw.org ):

          Baseline budgeting tilts the budget process in favor of increased spending and taxes. For example, if an agency's budget is projected to grow by $100 million, but only grows by $75 million, according to baseline budgeting, that agency sustained a $25 million cut. That is analogous to a person who expects to gain 100 pounds only gaining 75 pounds, and taking credit for losing 25 pounds. The federal government is the only place this absurd logic is employed.

To extend this illogical madness even further… consider that all the stimulus spending from the past has been integrated into the baseline, thus accelerating the unsustainable spending curve. If we were living in the 18^th Century, our political “masters” might be forced to languish in debtors’ prison. Wistfully I yearn for the reinstatement of some lost traditions. If our nation has any tiny glimmer of hope for controlling our excessive spending, massive deficits or suffocating debt, we must jettison irresponsible baseline budgeting.

For all his faults Jimmy Carter pledged to initiate a “zero-based” budgeting process. He failed with the concept just as he did in so many ways. The zero-based system operates with the premise that every budgetary line item begins anew every year. The expenditure must be justified, effective and approved by Congress every year. Unfortunately our federal budget has grown too large with too many line items for Congress to have the sufficient time to sensibly provide oversight. Rather than cope with the merits of the myriad of budget items, Congress makes a leap of faith that all are necessary and worthy thus insuring their continuation and their growth. Congress is either incompetent, lazy or evil … or all of the above.

Baseline budgeting is a cowardly scheme by government officials who are unable or unwilling to do their sworn jobs. It is both a major driver of our fiscal mess and a glaring example of our immoral profligacy. We cannot avoid a catastrophic default unless we eliminate this costly curse from our national scene. Consider that we cannot find 218 House members and 60 Senators who care enough about our nation, its integrity and our future to eliminate this budgetary abomination. How is this possible? Just the knowledge that there aren’t enough sensible souls in Congress to repeal this mortally toxic gimmick should be enough to undermine your faith in the future of our republic. Spending must go down (preferably for only constitutional functions), indebtedness must go down, regulation fever must go down, and the politicians and the citizens must wise up. Baseline budgeting is a honey trap for fools, and we must extricate ourselves before we are inextricably trapped … if we aren’t already. Our people and our political leaders resemble the illegitimate offspring of Winnie the Pooh and Honey Boo Boo. We are in a sticky mess, my friends.

Charlie Earl

cearlwriting@hotmail.com

cearlliberty@gmail.com

http://thelibertylegation.blogspot.com

www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com