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[bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

This was into today's WSJ.  What caught my attention most was the figure that 
each houseld in America essentially has, right now, a $450,000.00 mortgage to 
the feds, just for taxes on what is our current liabilities.  Since half the 
households pay no taxes, that means those who do have about a $900,000.00 
mortgage to the feds for current liabilities.  The people on the list who 
advocating removing oneself from the 'system' in general are sounding smarter 
and smarter......................

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OPINION DECEMBER 2, 2008 Governors Against State Bailouts 

Hard to believe, but not everyone in politics wants a free lunch.

By RICK PERRY and MARK SANFORD
  
As governors and citizens, we've grown increasingly concerned over the past 
weeks as Washington has thrown bailout after bailout at the national economy 
with little to show for it.

In the process, the federal government is not only burying future generations 
under mountains of debt. It is also taking our country in a very dangerous 
direction -- toward a "bailout mentality" where we look to government rather 
than ourselves for solutions. We're asking other governors from both sides of 
the political aisle to join with us in opposing further federal bailout 
intervention for three reasons.

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.

With all the zeroes in the numbers, it's no wonder Washington politicians 
have lost track.

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.

Second, the bailout mentality threatens Americans' sense of personal 
responsibility.

In a free-market system, competition and one's own personal stake motivate 
people to do their best. In this process, the winners create wealth, jobs and 
new investment, while others go back to the drawing board better prepared to 
try again.

To an unprecedented degree, government is currently picking winners and 
losers in the private marketplace, and throwing good money after bad. A 
prudent investor takes money from low-yield investments and puts them in 
those that yield better returns. Recent government intervention is doing the 
opposite -- taking capital generated from productive activities and throwing 
it at enterprises that in many cases need to reorganize their business model.

Take for example the proposed Big Three auto-maker bailout. We think it's 
very telling that each of the three CEO's flew on their own private jets to 
Washington to ask for a taxpayer handout. No amount of taxpayer largess could 
fix a business culture so fundamentally flawed.

Third, we'd ask the federal government to stop believing it has all the 
answers.

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.

In the rush to do "something" to help, federal leaders would be wise to take 
a line from the Hippocratic Oath, and pledge to do no (more) harm to our 
country's finances. We can weather this storm if we commit to fiscal prudence 
and hold true to the values of individual freedom and responsibility that 
made our nation great.

Mr. Perry, a Republican, is the governor of Texas. Mr. Sanford, a Republican, 
is the governor of South Carolina.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122818170073571049.html