You gotta love it when Saul Alinsky sycophant Chris (the tingle has reached his brain) Matthews tries to verbally spar with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-MI) about tax increases, numbers, math, red ink, black ink, plans, maps, etc. Chris was so mentally outgunned that I almost felt sorry for him while he was trying his damnedest to make the republicans look bad, twist answers, and blame Bush.
Chris either hasn’t seen this chart or he is lying about everything being Bush’s fault. Make no mistake, Bush 43 ranks very near the top of my least favorite presidents’ list, but let’s give Obama the credit he is due when it comes to flushing our money down the toilet and selling our descendants into financial slavery. Let’s also give the Democrats a massive portion of the blame when they took control of the Congress in 2006 and wrote massive spending bills.
Rep. Paul Ryan speaking at the American Enterprise Institute about the American Roadmap (7.21.2010):
Arthur’s book talks about a “new culture war,” initiated by the Progressivist elite, but there’s something in it to be thankful for. Our current leaders with their ideological agenda have awakened America! They have reminded us of all we have to be grateful for. We relish the opportunity to take back America’s heritage of freedom!
And here’s my final point: the case for our founding principles and for free market democracy has always been based on a moral proposition—the equal dignity of every person—the capacity to control or guide our own lives and to grow in self-responsibility to our families, our country, and our Maker. Progressivist plans for a social welfare state are rooted in materialism. They misunderstand human happiness and suppose it can be purchased with redistributed dollars. We seek fulfillment in achievement and work… or earned success… our flourishing in self-government under a limited constitution.
Those who wish to replace the principles that made America exceptional have posed their challenge on several fronts at once—economic, social, international, and even philosophical. All are interconnected, because the moral foundation that supports freedom in one area supports freedom in all. This is a mighty trial over the very meaning and dignity of the human person. In the political domain, the issue comes down to this: Is government to be master or servant?
My message is sober but my confidence in America is boundless. Once Americans understand that this is the great question of the day, they will, as always, take their stand upon the rock of our foundation of freedom.
My son asked me yesterday who Robin Hood was, and we had a discussion about the “legend” of Robin of Loxley and his stealing from the Norman rich to give to the Saxon poor. When I started to think about it though, Robin was really giving back what had been stolen by the lazy elite from the producers. So, in this age of Obama and his Norman Congress stealing from the hard-working American producers to give to the lazy American and foreign layabouts, where is our Robin Hood? Who exactly is going to stand up and finally say, “Everybody has to do their fair share of the work, and nobody gets to ride the clock!”
Yesterday, the senate health care reform bill came out and it features the very unconstitutional surtax on the wealthy of upwards of 5.4% to cover a government health care plan. Today, the CBO’s long-term budget outlook came out and Robert J. Samuelson is stating that to balance the budget we would have to raise taxes by 44% on everybody. Is anybody going to stop Prince Bambi, Sheriff Rahm, and the rest of the elites from unconstitutionally redistributing the wealth of the producers?
We face an unprecedented collision between Americans’ desire for more government services and their almost equal unwillingness to be taxed. The conflict is obscured and deferred by today’s depressed economy, which has given license to all manner of emergency programs, but its dimensions cannot be doubted. A new report from the Congressional Budget Office (“The Long-Term Budget Outlook“) makes that crystal clear. The easiest way to measure the size of government is to compare the federal budget to the overall economy, or gross domestic product (GDP). The CBO’s estimates are daunting.
For the past half-century, federal spending has averaged about 20 percent of GDP, federal taxes about 18 percent of GDP and the budget deficit 2 percent of GDP. The CBO’s projection for 2020 — which assumes the economy has returned to “full employment” — puts spending at 26 percent of GDP, taxes at a bit less than 19 percent of GDP and a deficit above 7 percent of GDP. Future spending and deficit figures continue to grow.
What this means is that balancing the budget in 2020 would require a tax increase of almost 50 percent from the last half-century’s average. Remember, that average was 18 percent of GDP. To get from there to 26 percent of GDP (spending in 2020) would require an additional 8 percentage points. In today’s dollars, that would be about $1.1 trillion, a 44 percent annual tax increase. Even these figures may be optimistic, because CBO’s projections for defense and “nondefense discretionary” spending may be unrealistically low. This last category covers much of what government does: environmental regulation, aid to education, highway construction, law enforcement, homeland security.
Saxons? Are you ready for that tax increase?
Can We Impeach Obama Yet?
Can We Recall The Congress Yet?
UPDATE: I just found this article on The Patriot Room. Make sure to go over and read it!
