We've all seen or heard about them. Perhaps they are friends or family
members who have demonstrated financial irresponsibility: a college student
who has a budget and quickly exceeds it on wild partying; a cousin or best
friend who asks for a "loan" and then never pays it back; people whose
credit cards are maxed out and they can't afford the finance charges.
Government behaves similarly, playing any or all of those roles. It now
resembles an irresponsible parent, spending the children's wages and
inheritance as if there were no tomorrow. Republicans lost the spending
issue - and their congressional majority - because they behaved like
overspending Democrats. Now Democrats in the House are going the Republicans
one better. They are promising to increase spending should they win the
White House and maintain their congressional majority.
According to an analysis of the fiscal 2009 House Democratic majority's
federal budget by Brian Riedl of The Heritage Foundation,
(www.heritage.org), every American household would pay on average $3,100
more in federal taxes. That amounts to $1.265 trillion more over five years
and $3.911 trillion over 10 years. Worse (if that's possible) the Democratic
budget proposal increases discretionary spending by 8 percent and does not
eliminate even one wasteful program. It also ignores the coming explosion in
the cost of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
None of these increases will be paid for by "soaking the rich" with new tax
increases. That means more borrowing from countries that don't have
America's best interest as a priority, more inflation and a weaker dollar.
The spending virus has so permeated Congress that members won't even go on
the wagon during an election year. The bipartisan DeMint-McCaskill budget
amendment that would have required a one-year moratorium on earmarks was
soundly defeated 71-29. This is how little respect most members have for
those whose money they take through taxation, spending it like frat boys on
a weekend bender.