On Fiscal Responsibility

Supplemental budgets. Earmarks. Pork barrel. All the signs of a tax and spend Democratic legislature/congress/President out of control. How did they get us into this financial morass?

Wait a second. This is what the GOP has done to us. How did the "daddy" party become the party of the drunken frat brother at his best friend's bachelor party with a stolen credit card?

We are a nation at war, nearly 4 years in Iraq and over 5 and half in Afghanistan. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001 we have dutifully "gone after" enemies, both real and imagined while continuing to cut taxes along the way. Supplemental budgets, needed to appropriately equip armies in the field have continued to be outside the ordinary budget process, not to include the so-called "black" budgets for intelligence operations that have the scrutiny of only a few, and in the case of "Duke" Cunningham sometimes corrupt congressman. All these numbers, add up to huge sums of money for national defense and offense, which we have delegated to be financed through Asian central banks and of course our grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Other wars, especially World War II, have led to appropriate to near confiscatory levels of taxation, the understanding being that if you are in a conflict, there will be levels of taxation commensurate with the struggle you are in. Wars are expensive, both in blood and treasure, and sometimes can rip at the very soul of a nation. The topic of the "War on Terror" is for another time.

On top of what is not being paid for in the name of national defense are the burgeoning costs of the retirement and health care of the baby boomers. Perhaps the most spoiled generation outside the families of Caesar or that of the court of the Sun King, the fiscal costs of aging baby boomers are probably only equaled by the political power that this generation will have. The costs of social security and the costs of life-extending health care are a bomb ready to go off. The same generation that is now screaming for cuts in taxes, will be screaming for increases in the entitlements as elder citizens.

A program like Social Security which was intended for our elderly to be given the dignity to live their lives out of poverty was not intended to supplement a millionaire's lifestyle. Social Security is the so-called "third rail" of American politics. Generally if you state you "support the troops", wave a flag, kiss a baby, and support Social Security, you can be re-elected to the House of Representatives. There is grave, grave poor logic in not addressing the future of Social Security, anyone who has an even rudimentary knowledge of basic math can see that we are whistling past the graveyard when it comes to the future of US entitlements.

The fear of course, for our generally courage lacking leadership is that they will be painted as a.) not caring about the elderly, b.) a tax and spend liberal, c.) wanting to take money that I have put into the system, d.) other label invented by 5 focus groups and some dork in a conservative, think tank from Princeton who never had a date. One idea is private accounts, the idea that we can let Wall Street have something else to charge extraordinary fees on a current percentage of Social Security payroll taxes, if only we already had something like this, oh wait what's this in 401K of the Internal Revenue Code? This is a job for the synergy of greater minds than mine, and not something an economist from the Heritage foundation happened to mention to GW on Air Force One.

The costs of deficits in all area of government are yet to be borne. We have a generation that is to paraphrase Mr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, unwilling to pay the appropriate "price of civilization" or make the tough choices in expenditures. I believe the next President must have the fortitude and understanding that he/she is likely to be a one term president if he/she is to make the difficult choices. I anxiously await strong, independent leadership from the White House and Congress.