My View

Random thoughts from a warped and fevered mind...


Most of us have engaged in deficit spending. I know that I did not have enough available funds to pay cash for my house, so I borrowed the money. Prudently managed, deficit spending, or debt, is a tool that allows us to make purchases that otherwise would be beyond our current resources. It is when deficit spending gets out of control that problems arise, and left unchecked, deficit spending can bankrupt an individual or a family. A nation is no different. We as a country are now spending far beyond our resources and means and we have shown no sign of restraint. Don't believe me? According to the United States Treasury Department, at the end of the fiscal year 1989, the total debt of the United States was $2.1907 trillion dollars. That is a cumulative number, meaning the total debt of our nation from George Washington to Ronald Reagan. When President Obama was sworn into office in January of 2009, our total national debt was $6.3073 trillion dollars. That means over a twenty year period, our national debt increased $4.116 trillion dollars, an average deficit of just over $200 billion dollars per year. However, in the 19 months that President Obama has been in office, our national debt has increased $2.5620 trillion dollars to $8.833 trillion dollars. As a nation, we are spending an average of $130 billion dollars a month that we do not have. And like many individuals that have faced the same set of circumstances, the financial consequences for our nation will not be pretty or fun.


I used to raise pet doves, but they left after staging a coo.


While we often focus on the fiscal problems at the federal level, most states are having financial difficulties as well. Unfunded federal mandates, slumping tax revenues, and spending that has not adjusted to the current economic realities have all combined to place many state budgets in a perilous situation. While many current financial problems with the states are grabbing today's headlines, the looming crisis that will soon be front and center is the shortfall in state pension funds. States were overly generous in good economic times in promising retirement benefits to employees and have been consistently unrealistic in projecting investment returns. The result is an estimated $3 Trillion dollar shortfall, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. If a pension plan in your state is underfunded and facing a deficit, then the state is responsible for making up the deficit. Where will your state get those funds? From you, the taxpayer, property owner, and business owner. Pay attention to this situation, because the remedy will extract more of your hard earned dollars from your pocket.


Have you ever imagined a world without hypothetical situations?


Senate Bill 1619 is now working its way through the various Senate subcommittees. Introduced by Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), it is called the "Livable Communities Act" and this sweet sounding bill is supposed to be about energy conservation and preservation of rural areas. In reality, this bill would give the federal government an amazing amount of control over your personal life and the type of dwelling in which you live. SB 1619 forces communities to comply with UN Agenda 21 policy, which dictates the type of roof your house can have, the type of windows, the type of HVAC, and the list goes on. The bill also creates a federal Office of Sustainable Housing which would begin to exert its will on local communities as to the types of housing that can be built. Mandated green improvements such as new windows, HVAC, and roofs are estimated to cost each homeowner $35,000 based on national averages. Think this will not happen? The federal government has already told us what kinds of toilets and light bulbs to use in our homes; mandating these other changes is not a stretch. Do we really need the federal government to be this intrusive into our life?


Sex is like air. You don't realize how important it  is until you're not getting any.


And that, my friends, is my view.