The national debt and the unrestrained growth of government spending are among the greatest threats to our nation’s future. Each year, the federal government spends more and more of your dollars on corporate handouts, pork-barrel projects, welfare programs and out of control entitlements. Unless something is done, interest payments on the debt alone will consume the entire budget by the year 2050. Taxpayers can no longer afford this. We need to cut spending and balance the budget before it’s too late.
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THE PRESIDENT’S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
Mr. Speaker, Vice President Cheney, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:
As we gather tonight, our Nation is at war, our economy is in recession, and the civilized world faces unprecedented dangers. Yet the state of our Union has never been stronger.
On Tuesday, President Bush delivered his first State of the Union address to the American public. Not surprisingly, the war on terrorism was a major focus, as was homeland security. Bush also touched upon a few domestic policy initiatives and the unease with corporate America generated by the collapse of Enron. In the next few weeks the president will deliver his budget to Congress, which will provide a more detailed description of some of the plans outlined in his State of the Union. The budget will make one thing clear: Washington has some tough choices ahead as early projections show deficits for the next two years. President Bush has outlined an ambitious program to provide for the security of the American people. With deficits looming, the president and Congress must revisit many costly programs and reorder budget priorities with an eye toward prudence and responsibility.
Last week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced that the estimated 10-year federal budget surplus would be $4 trillion lower than last year's estimate for the same time frame. While a $4 trillion difference is staggering indeed, this reversal of fortune should be a reminder of the precariousness of economic activity and the futility of 10-year projections.
The citizens of Florida have been hit hard by the current recession. Many people have lost jobs as business struggle to make ends meet. The Florida legislature should not compound the problem by backing a broad-based tax increase at a time when our economy is sluggish.
Senator John McKay has made a proposal that would do just that - raise taxes! Worse, it seeks to shift the tax burden from tourists to the engine of Florida's economic growth : private enterprise.
In anticipation of the Federal Reserve Board meeting tomorrow, Empower America co-director Jack Kemp released the following statement:
"There is widespread speculation that when the Fed meets tomorrow, it will cut the fed funds rate on overnight money that banks lend to one another by another 25 basis points, to 1.75 percent. In my opinion, more interest-rate-targeting gradualism of this sort will not succeed in reversing the monetary deflation currently underway and will fail to re-ignite the economy to lift it out of recession.
In anticipation of the Federal Reserve Board meeting tomorrow, Empower America co-director Jack Kemp released the following statement:
"There is widespread speculation that when the Fed meets tomorrow, it will cut the fed funds rate on overnight money that banks lend to one another by another 25 basis points, to 1.75 percent. In my opinion, more interest-rate-targeting gradualism of this sort will not succeed in reversing the monetary deflation currently underway and will fail to re-ignite the economy to lift it out of recession.
Excerpt from The Green Book.
In my opinion, this is not the "normal operation of the business cycle," nor the aftermath of a "burst bubble." Asset values have collapsed across the board, especially in the high-tech sector, not because they were unreasonably high, though some were, but rather because deflationary monetary policy slammed the economy into lower gear, made promising business plans unachievable and otherwise prudent debt levels unmanageable.
The National Debt has doubled in just the past 5 years. It's projected to triple over the next 10 years. Washington is now borrowing 40 cents of every dollar it spends.
