Where Will We Get The Money?

by Big Dog on Sep 16, 2005 at 23:36 Political

Last night the President outlined a plan for the reconstruction of New Orleans. This effort by most estimates will cost over 200 billion dollars. Many republicans are a bit upset with this because they feel the President has become as much of a spend thrift as the left. Before we get into some kind of mine is bigger here, this is not a jab at any party. It is the truth of the matter as reported at Citizens Against Government Waste. 24 Democratic Senators have a ZERO rating from them. That is another story though. So as people were complaining about where we will get the money Rush was discussing the intent behind the President’s plan. He basically made it clear we will not rebuild slums in New Orleans. We are going to build places where people can live in pride, work for a living, and stop depending on the government. It is obvious this same message got through to some democrats because this is what Nancy Pelosi has on her website in response to the President’s speech.

â€œThis region of our nation deserves our support, our cooperation, and our sympathy. We are concerned by Bush Administration initiatives this week waiving wage protections, environmental safeguards, and protections for veterans, minorities, women, and the disabled. The Gulf Coast region does not deserve to be treated as a laboratory for political opportunism or ideological experimentation. Nancy Pelosi (emphasis added by author)

Basically, she is saying that we should return New Orleans to the high crime rate, high drug rate, and high poverty rate that existed before the disaster. These were contributing factors and the President’s plan will allow people to take ownership of their lives. We have had a ideological laboratory experiment there for the last 40 or so years and we see what the result is. Now we are going to rebuild it and do it as conservatives want it to be. The left is anxious because they are aware that this will be successful and it will debunk their whole belief system.

I wrote to discuss where on Earth the President will get the money needed for the spending he is proposing. Of course, some of the lefty web sites I read are asking how this can be done without a tax increase. What they are saying is, force the American people to contribute. Extort more money from them and spend it. But how, you ask, can we do it differently? We will spend over 200 billion dollars on this effort. The first thing is that tax increases should not be the first answer. When your home budget is in a deficit you can not extort more money from your boss. You have to exercise fiscal restraint.

With that in mind, let us look at where we can cut to get the 200 billion dollars. How about we do away with pork in the federal budget and reduce the waste in funded programs? There was $27.3B of pork added to this year’s budget and the transportation bill for next year has about $24B. I know you are thinking that is a start but not nearly enough so we need to raise taxes. Get off the tax raising bandwagon and look a bit deeper. According to CAGW, there are recommendations that would save the federal government $232B in FY 2006.

Q: If $27.3 billion is the total amount of pork, does CAGW have an estimate for total waste in the federal budget?

A: Yes. CAGWâ€™s publication Prime Cuts 2005 catalogues 600 recommendations throughout the federal government that if enacted, could save taxpayers $232 billion in fiscal 2006 and $2 trillion over the next five years. CAGW

There is the $200B that is needed for the Gulf region and we did not raise taxes. These are actions to cut wasteful things from budgets. Of course it will not sit well with many politicians, especially the left. They do not like to cut anything including your taxes. They figure that everything is an entitlement and they can just raise your taxes to pay for it. Well, now they have an option and they need to exercise it to show the American people they are serious about making sure the spending does not impact the budget. And look at the larger benefit. $2 TRILLION over 5 years. This kind of money would go a long way toward fixing many problems and funding programs. The problem of course, is that Congress will not touch the pork and the waste.

We as taxpayers should insist that no tax increase take place and that the government eliminate pork and waste. By making them be fiscally responsible, we can all benefit from the process.

Read the CAGW website for more information.
Read your Congressional representative’s rating.

Big Dogs Weblog