A post by Pat
Obama met with 48 governors today to discuss bailout money for states. It’s couched in terms of helping families, etc., but the reality is the states are obligated to have balanced budgets and the federal government is not. There’s a big bailout extravaganza going on so why shouldn’t the states get in on it? Congress is expected to have a $500 billion stimulus bill waiting for Obama to sign in January. The governors want at least $136 billion for bridge and road repairs plus another $40 billion for healthcare.
In opening remarks, Mr. Obama commiserated with the governors, calling it an “impossible choice” to meet mandatory balanced budget rules while providing for families. The solution, he said, lies in both “hard choices” in Washington and the states, and in an economic recovery plan that jump-starts the economy and creates millions of jobs.
Governors Perry of Texas and Sanford of South Carolina exhibited some rare sense among politicians in their WSJ OpEd opposing more bailouts.
First, we’re crossing the Rubicon with regard to debt. One fact that’s been continually glossed over in the bailout debate is that Washington doesn’t have money in hand for any of these proposals. Every penny would be borrowed. Estimates for what the government is willing to spend on bailouts and stimulus efforts for this year reach as much as $7.7 trillion according to Bloomberg.com — a full half of the United States’ yearly economic output.
That trillion-dollar figure is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to checks written by the federal government that it can’t cash. Former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker puts our nation’s total debt and unpaid promises, like Social Security, at roughly $52 trillion — an invisible mortgage of $450,000 on every American household. Borrowing money to “solve” a problem created by too much debt seems odd. And as fiscally conservative Republicans, we take no pleasure in pointing out that many in our own party have been just as complicit in running up the tab as those on the political left.
Our Founding Fathers were clear and deliberate in setting up a system whereby the federal government would only step in for that which states cannot do themselves. An expansionist federal government of the last century has moved us light-years away from that model, but it doesn’t mean that Congress can’t learn from states that are coming up with solutions that work.
In Texas and South Carolina, we’ve focused on improving “soil conditions” for businesses by cutting taxes, reforming our legal system and our workers’ compensation system. We’d humbly suggest that Congress take a page from those playbooks by focusing on targeted tax relief paid for by cutting spending, not by borrowing.
We’re spinning out of control already and the Democrats are impatiently counting the minutes until January 20th to get into even more debt. Honestly, I think they are genuinely delighted to see the country in such a mess.
We are going insane. We have no money. China owns $1 out every $10 of our debt. If we don’t stop this insanity the USA will be just some more Chinese junk. Can we please return to sanity!
Can I just say how proud I was of my friend, Gov. Perry – when I read this this morning. He’s a politician, so he doesn’t always get everything right, but he does hurricanes very well, and he presides over a very healthy state. He has done a pretty swimmingly good job since inheriting the state from W. I loved this op-ed, as it speaks for me, hook, line and sinker.
I agree with you all the way, Pat. Great post. The Dems are LOVING this economic crisis. And they just can’t wait until their king is crowned. We think we’re in debt now…wait until they get done with us. And somewhere down the road the Republicans will have to clean up the socialists’ mess and the Republicans will somehow get blamed for it in the process.