Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - [Homestead] "No" to bail-outs from a couple of govs

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] "No" to bail-outs from a couple of govs
  • Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 10:46:45 -0800 (PST)

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......................

------------------------------------------------------------------------




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





















Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page