I know there are many other things being discussed and occupying the media reporting and Congressional attention right now.  However, I am disturbed over the continued willingness of the federal government to SPEND, SPEND, SPEND, and SPEND.  We move from one financial crisis to another and from one spending debt ceiling to another acting as though money could either be printed or was in an endless supply.  We recently moved up another notch on the debt disaster ladder and now the federal government can borrow money that will increase our National Debt of $20.1 TRILLION.  How is that rational? 

Republicans, you could have and should have dealt with this issue in 2015 or before but certainly at that juncture.  You had the ability with your majority in Congress to force President Obama to veto your legislation or to get it pushed through that would regain control of the insane spending train in America.  You didn’t and Speaker John Boehner capitulated to Barack Obama and the Democrats and plunged us further into the debt tank and nearer a total financial collapse in America.  President Trump has promised to bring back American prosperity and make Washington work for everyone not just for the elite inside the Beltway and their cronies.  I am still hoping that will become a reality and Congress will work together with this administration to do exactly that. 

There are as many opinions on the most recent budget advanced by the President as there are pundits and I have some serious mixed emotions regarding what I have seen.  Some of it I like very much and some of it I am aghast at the duplicity of Washington and am troubled when the Democrats rejoice over a budget knowing their propensity to Tax and Spend.  The budget, that was largely gutted, sought to grant some significant increases to Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs and those I support, at least for the most part.  I don’t like waste and some of the Homeland spending may be questionable but overall I can applaud those increases and deem them needed.  There were some proposed cuts that are noteworthy and would be a step in the right direction. One proposed cut was a 31% cut to the EPA which has been nothing more than a political arm of the Democrats for some time and strangling our economy without actually protecting our environment.  The proposed cut to the Department of Agriculture was 21% and with the many things that have been placed under the auspices of that department needs to be cut and revamped.  Likewise, there was a proposed cut in the budget of the State Department.  Many lamented that the proposed cut of 28% was too much.  However, with some of the antics and activities of Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and Barack Obama that Department is, in my view, incredibly bloated and needs radical surgery to bring it back in line.
The proposed cuts would have impacted the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences.  Should those have been eliminated or weaned from federal money?  You must answer that for yourself.  I believe that most of those could and will survive with private contributions and funding and do not need taxpayer funds to survive and thrive.  But, the proposed cuts and these, in particular, would only represent a drop in the bucket of what needs to be done.  Unfortunately, those programs or departments find their funding from the nondefense discretionary spending (NDD) and is a pittance compared to the overall spending of Washington.  The NDD only makes up about 30% of all federal spending and the other two-thirds go to entitlements and defense.

We will never get this ship of state or the federal train back on track using a scalpel and making minor superficial cosmetic cuts.  We need to take a broadsword, a machete, or an ax and lop off some of the branches of the tree of federal spending.  We will have to deal with entitlements and address the issues of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.  Congressman Sam Johnson, (R-Texas) has suggested advancing the retirement age for Social Security to 69.  Social Security is reported to have a $11.4 TRILLION deficit and according to Social Security’s Actuary Stephen Gross, Representative Johnson’s plan would result in a $600 BILLION reserve.  There is good and bad in advancing the age for retirement but in the state, we are in due to the theft of our Social Security Funds by the government we will have to deal with this difficult issue.

If Congress only opts to deal with Social Security I will be incensed because every entitlement program needs to be dealt with and some eliminated completely.  I do not like hearing Social Security called an entitlement because WE PAID INTO IT.  In that sense, it is an ENTITLEMENT because it is ours and we are entitled to what is ours!  The answer is not continuing to raise the Debt Ceiling.  Congress has raised the Debt Ceiling 74 times since 1962 and 10 times since 2001.  THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE!  It may be time for a Constitutional Amendment requiring Balanced Budgets to be sent to the states for consideration and ratification.  When I hear a politician or pundit argue that raising the Debt Ceiling does not automatically mean the debt will increase I laugh.  When has Congress every failed to take advantage of the opportunity to SPEND MORE?  It is, in my view, immoral for Congress to continue spending money that is not theirs on projects and for purposes that bury us further in the sea of debt.

America, we either tighten our belts and get control of this insane spending train or we will be buried in IOU’s and DEBT and the takeover by entities not governed by or under the oversight of WE THE PEOPLE will become reality.  IT WILL HURT TO RETURN TO FISCAL SANITY but return we must if we are to survive.

God, bless you and God bless America!