Personal Responsibility Guiding Freedom. A libertarian blog.

Posts from the “Deficits” Category

Spending Addiction

Posted on December 6, 2015

Two years ago, in 2013, conservatives in the United States Congress passed a “sequester” law. It reduced Federal discretionary spending across the board by $85 billion. It was a blunt hatchet approach to a problem that required a careful scalpel. It was also done too late and did too little. But the conservatives who understood our Federal debt and unfunded liability problems, were desperate to do something. The sequestered amounts were $85 billion per year, a big number to most of us, but only about 2.4% of what our Federal government spends in total each year. Nevertheless, it made at least a small statement that unconstrained Federal spending can not continue the way it had been going. It was the initial act of a spending addict to break its destructive habit.

Our Government Abandoned Its Attempt to Break It’s Spending Addiction

Alas, just a few weeks ago, our Congress reneged on the “sequester” constraints and approved a budget which ended the little good it had done just two years before. While the additional spending restored to the Federal budget will amount to only a small percentage of our government’s total annual spending, its symbolic effect is heartbreaking. Our government abandoned even its feeble attempt to break its spending addiction. In so doing it is doing just what so many addicts do:

• They deny they have a problem because they can succumb to their addiction without becoming totally dysfunctional. Our government can still borrow money to cover its deficits. In fact, it even borrows from itself, so theoretically its borrowing power is unlimited.

• They insist they are different because they are better and can handle addictions others can’t. Up until a few months ago, I am sure the Greek government also felt that way. The problem, of course, is that no government can indefinitely deny the fundamentals of market economics. If they try, the markets are swift and harsh in their retribution. Just ask the Greeks.

• They justify what they are doing by saying almost everyone else is doing much the same thing. True, some governments in the world today continue to spend beyond their means. In fact, over the past century, there have been many governments which have done this. But, without exception, they all end up the same way. They overspend; then they borrow to cover deficits; then they print money to pay back their loans (or to cover deficits); ultimately they print so much money that their county falls into hyper inflation. This wipes out the government and all its people because its fiat money (un-backed by assets) becomes virtually worthless. The poor suffer the most. Just ask the Zimbabweans; and when you do, ask them to show you one of their one hundred trillion ($ 100,000,000,000,000) Zimbabwean dollar bills (which were legal tender until just a few years ago).

Our Politicians Are Addicted to Federal Spending

Make no mistake about it. Our Federal government has an EXPENSE problem not a REVENUE problem. It has this problem because the majority of our politicians are addicted to Federal spending. They make the laws that spend the money (not their own money, but our collective money), and by their spending they hope to “buy” the votes of their constituents. And it is these votes which give them  job security (i.e. re-election). Irrational, self-destruction, and dreadful, yes. But almost all addictions are.

If we hope to solve this problem for our children and grandchildren, we must approach it like the addiction it is. We must first stop the growth in federal spending. Then we must start reducing this spending until it is balanced by the revenues generated by a reasonable and fair system of taxation. Then we must generate surpluses to start re-paying our debts ($18 trillion) and funding our unfunded liabilities (around $100 trillion). And finally, we must make sure our politicians never do this again.

We Must Not Let Politicians Destroy Our Country.

We are a great people. We were a great country. We must not let politicians destroy us or our country. This transcends political parties. Both parties must share the blame for our present problems, and both must cooperate to solve these problems. Our time has run out. Every unchecked addiction eventually gets to a point of no return. Our Federal spending addiction is just about there now. We can no longer ignore it, nor can we let our politicians “duck it.” It’s time for some tough decisions and some hard medicine. We must act BRAVELY, we must act NOW…Bill O’Neill

Categories: Deficits, National Viewpoint, Politics, Spending

Stump Speech

Posted on September 8, 2015

As our nation prepares for the election of its next President, I think about what I would say if I were a candidate for that position. I am in fact too old to be that candidate, and I lack the “machinery” and the “money” to get elected. But if I were a candidate, this would be my Stump Speech. It describes the candidate I would most like to be our next President.

“Fellow Americans: I humbly stand before you today seeking the most powerful and important position in our country, and the position that leads the free world, the Presidency of the United States of America. I do not seek this position for the power it would confer upon me, nor for its prestige or the other benefits that come with it. In my mind, the detriments inherent in becoming our President far outweigh these attractions. You could honestly say, “he doesn’t really want the job.”

My Motive:

But I seek to lead this once-great country of ours in order to return it to the principles that made it the greatest nation known to man…the nation that made the American Dream possible for its citizens…the nation that became the envy of every other nation on earth. I am motivated to do this for you and for me, but much more so for your children and my children, and for your grandchildren and my grandchildren. I want all of them to have the opportunity to pursue our American Dream. All of my Presidential decisions will be guided by this motivation, my desire to give all our children and all our grandchildren the best opportunity to live their lives in a free society, to pursue true happiness and to achieve a sustained sense of well being. The American Dream offers this opportunity. It is the only Dream that does.

My Principles:

Over the coming months, you will hear and read much from other Presidential candidates, and from their supporters and their detractors. Most of this will be focused on the candidate’s stance on individual issues. While issue positions have importance, particularly if you only care about a single issue, I believe it is far more important to know the fundamental principles that will guide your candidate…the principles that are part of his or her inner fabric…the principles that he or she will rely upon as President to prioritize what needs to be done, and to make the momentous decisions our President must make. Our President represents each of us on every decision he or she makes. Consequently, I want you to know the fundamental principles which are at the core of who I am, the principles which will guide my every decision from the Oval Office.

• I believe there exists a Supreme Being we generally call “God,” and that God can be acknowledged, understood and worshiped in many ways.

• I believe that God created each of us to be equal, and therefore our government should recognize each of us as equal. This means that we are given equal rights and respect, and as far as possible we are given equal opportunities. It does not mean we are guaranteed equal outcomes (because this leads to a totalitarian state where no one is free and no one is happy).

• I believe the power of love (a positive) is stronger than the power of hate (a negative).

• I believe that “family” is the basic (but not the only) unit of society.

 • I believe in the principles upon which our nation was founded. It was indeed adherence to these principles of our Founding Fathers that enabled our fledgling, wilderness nation to become the greatest nation on earth in less than two centuries.

• I believe our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution and our Bill of Rights should be read and re-read often by every single member of our Federal government.

• I believe the proper role of our Federal government is to create a climate in which the lives and safety of its citizens are secure (protecting our inalienable right to “Life”)…a climate in which the freedom granted to each of our citizens is maximized, limited only by the responsibility each citizen must have to respect the lives, rights, and properties of all other citizens ( protecting our inalienable right to “Liberty,” but balanced by “responsibility”)…a climate in which each citizen can pursue true happiness and well-being, as he or she defines it, and in the way he or she wishes (protecting our inalienable right to the “Pursuit of Happiness”).

• I also believe that economic dependency (where not necessitated by physical or mental impairments) does not lead to happiness, and usually destroys self respect. In fact, it is a form of enslavement.

• I believe that our Federal government should be a limited government, having only those powers expressly given to it by the Constitution, and always exercising those powers in an effective and efficient way, and in the long-term best interests of all our citizens.

• I believe that all other powers, not so given to the Federal government, belong to our people, or to their respective States.

• I believe that governments, just like our families, must ultimately operate to a balanced budget. Deficits can be financed by borrowings for a while, but not indefinitely because of the build-up of accumulated debt. When this debt, and the unfunded liabilities that often go with it, gets so high that government cannot borrow anymore, that government, and its people, become enslaved to the consequences.

• Governments with unbalanced budgets usually believe that they have a “revenue” problem. Most often they have an “expense” problem. Therefore, I believe the first effort to balance an unbalanced government budget should be on the “expense” side.

• Each government tax, and each government regulation, works to further limit the economic and entrepreneurial freedom of our people. Therefore, I believe we should strive to limit these taxes and regulations to only those that are absolutely necessary to accomplish the proper responsibilities of our government.

• Taxation is a “government taking by force” (which is fundamentally “bad”) in order to fund a “necessary government activity” (which should be fundamentally “good”). Therefore, I believe every tax must be justified by the necessity of the government activity it funds, and by the effectiveness and efficiency of how this activity is carried on.

• To the extent taxation is required, I believe it must be as “fair” as possible to all parties involved. While “fairness” may be quite different to people at the extremes, it should be a sustainable standard that the overwhelming majority of our people would generally judge to be “fair” all things considered.

• Because government regulations limit the freedom of our citizens (which is fundamentally “bad”) each must be fully justified by the “good” to be accomplished by the regulation. In other words, I believe each regulation must be “cost justified.” Those that are not, should be eliminated.

• In every society, there will be some who cannot fend for themselves, perhaps for a part of their lives and perhaps for their entire lives. In these cases, our society must adequately care for them. I believe private charity does this best, but to the extent that private charity does not step in, then government must step in. No one can be left to “starve in the streets.”

• I believe the primary responsibility of our government is to its own people. While we should never bow to any threats or abuse by other governments or peoples, we should not, and cannot, be the world’s “policeman.” Other governments and peoples must work out their own problems. We should help them follow our path to prosperity if they wish, but we should never force them to adopt our ways, or our form of government, if they don’t.

• And finally, I believe that the freedom we all desire, the freedom upon which we were founded, the freedom envied by the rest of the world…is not only the freedom to “succeed”, but also the freedom to “fail”, because you cannot have the first without the second. This freedom to succeed also requires personal responsibility, because you cannot succeed unless I am personally responsible, and I cannot succeed unless you are personally responsible.

If you elect me to be your President, I pledge to you that I will be guided by my motivation to return our country to greatness for our children and grandchildren, and I promise you that I will adhere to the fundamental principles outlined above because they are at the very core of who I am.

My Priorities

If  you elect me to be your President, my first priority will be the single greatest threat to our future, which is the accumulated debt rung up by our country ($18 trillion so far) and the unfunded liabilities we currently have which greatly exacerbate this problem (over $72 trillion of promises to make future retirement and health care payments, for which we have no funds set aside). This, I believe, is our greatest threat, and the single thing which could, and if not corrected will, absolutely destroy our country and reduce it to economic and social ruin. The American Dream will become the “American Nightmare” if we don’t solve this problem. There is no “ducking it.” There are other priorities too, but this is number one.

Ultimately, you will want to know how I stand on other issues, and I am willing to openly share my views on anything you ask. But knowing my motivation and my principles now is of primary importance as you decide who is to be your President for the next four years. This President will have an enormous impact on our country and all of its people, and may well be our last chance to re-shape the environment we leave to those who will come after us.

One more important thought:  many of the issues which grab media attention today are more social issues than issues which properly belong in the realm of our Federal government; these issues should be treated accordingly. And many other issues involve situations of “conflicting rights.” Where the rights of one person conflict with the rights of another person, any resolution seems wrong, and many in the media love to “hype” this. Government policies, however, must examine the pros and cons of each set of rights, and come to an acceptable solution, one which our citizens generally agree to be “fair” to the parties involved (like the “right” to kill in “self defense”). This approach will resolve these issues, issues that have festered for far too long in our society.

My Style

By nature, I am optimistic, but I am also a realist. I am collegial, but focused. And I believe we can, if we have the collective will, accomplish anything we set our minds to. It won’t be easy, and it will take time. Where we differ with one another, our discussions must be fact-based and civil, and completely devoid of “political” motives. “Demonizing” and “dehumanizing” should never be tolerated. We must focus on resolving problems, maximizing opportunities for our economy to grow and for all our people to prosper, and returning our country to the principles of our Founding Fathers, the principles which made us great. To do this, I will reach out to everyone.

My Promise

By now, you should know me pretty well. I promise that I will always be the person I have just described because it is who I am intrinsically no matter what I am doing. I cannot promise you that I can successfully accomplish everything I will set out to do as your President (no President can). Many, many people (some of whom are “politically” motivated) must work together to attain these successes. But I can promise you that I will surround myself with the most talented, caring and like-minded people I can find to help me in these momentous tasks. And I also promise you that I will try, I will try very hard, to the best of my ability and to the limits of my energy, because what I will be doing is for the future of our children and our grandchildren. I do not seek the Presidency for myself. I seek it for them. On their behalf, thank you for considering me to be the President of the United States. Please vote for me if you believe I am the best person to return our country to once again be the home of the “American Dream”, the country we want to leave to our children and grandchildren.”

Bill O’Neill

Categories: Deficits, Freedom, National Viewpoint, Politics

Sequester Cuts

Posted on March 11, 2013

Out of Washington comes the news that the expenses of our federal government will be reduced by $85 billion this year (its accounting year which ends on September 30, 2013, and therefore has about seven months to go). No one likes the legislation that forces these reductions even though most people agree that we MUST REDUCE GOVERNMENT SPENDING. What goes here? Lets look at the facts.

If They Are Not Permanent Reductions, What Good Are They?

The cuts have been labeled a “sequester” which implies “to set apart” or “to separate”, but not “to eliminate”. If these cuts are not permanent reductions in what our government will otherwise spend, what good are they? They become merely an empty promise: we will not spend the amounts today, but we may spend them tomorrow. Picture an alcoholic saying “I usually have 10 drinks a day, but tomorrow I’ll have only 9. Hooray, I am cured! And by the way, the day after tomorrow I may have 12 drinks to make up for the one I will miss tomorrow”.

The $85 billion to be cut from government expenses amounts to only 2.4% of what our government will spend this year, and only 9.1% of its projected loss.

Doesn’t Make Much Of A Dent

The cuts amount to $85 billion over the next seven months. Sounds like a lot of money, and indeed it is. But they must be judged in the context of ALL the monies our federal government will spend this year, which are currently budgeted at $3.6 trillion. And the budgeted loss for the period is $930 billion before the cuts. The $85 billion to be cut from government expenses amounts to only 2.4% of what our government will spend this year, and only 9.1% of its projected loss. Doesn’t make much of a dent in the problem does it?

Meat Ax Vs Scalpel Approach

The cuts are coming from a “meat ax” approach to the problem rather than a “scalpel” approach. On an overall basis, our federal government spends $3.6 trillion a year. This, incidentally, amounts to $11,000 for EVERY man, woman and child in our country, and the government spends this amount EVERY year! This spending currently falls into three maj0r categories: the largest is the mandatory (mostly “entitlement”) spending, which accounts for approximately $2.1 trillion a year; the next largest is defense spending, which currently amounts to about $700 billion a year; and finally there is other domestic spending, which is about $600 billion a year. And, of course, we must also pay interest on the federal debt we have accumulated over the years. Looking at these sequester cuts by category, the entitlements budget will be cut $16.3 billion (or 0.8%, which is less than 1%); the defense budget will be cut $42.6 billion (6.1%); and other domestic spending will be cut $26.4 billion (4.4%). The individual line item expenses that were cut were done with very little, if any, analysis of the impacts the cuts would cause. This approach hardly inspires the trust and confidence we should have in our elected officials.

The wrong thing, done the wrong way, at the wrong time.

Sometimes the resolution of a difficult issue (like these sequester cuts), that leaves all the parties somewhat unhappy, is a good resolution. Not so here. Each of the parties (political and otherwise) is VERY UNHAPPY. The sequester cuts come way too late (they should have been worked out throughout 2012 in a very deliberative and thoughtful way). They are way too little (they only reduce out-of-control federal spending by 2.4%, and will make less than a 10% reduction in the huge loss projected for the year). And they are way too sloppy (they fail to target federal waste and inefficiency, and hardly make a dent in entitlements,  which are without any doubt our really big problem). The wrong thing, done the wrong way, at the wrong time.

Why? It comes down to a very dirty word. The word is “politics”. I’ll have more to say about that later…Bill O’Neill

Categories: Deficits, National Viewpoint

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A Trillion

Posted on March 4, 2013

To truly understand the meaning of a word, we must be able to conceptualize it. It is easy to understand the word “twelve”: I can picture the twelve apostles or twelve eggs in a carton. I clearly know the meaning of “twelve”. But it is hard to conceptualize the word “infinite”:  there is nothing in my experience I can use to relate to this word. Something that has no limits is beyond my comprehension. Consequently, I have a very fuzzy understanding of the meaning of “infinite”.

But we still don’t really “get it”. It is just TOO BIG to understand. And politicians in Washington undoubtedly want to keep it that way. As long as we (the voters) don’t understand it, they (the politicians) won’t be held accountable for it.

To Big To Understand

We should be able to understand the meaning of the word “trillion”. After all, it is a finite number, something we can count, something we can define with certainty. But it is such a BIG number, most of us have no comprehension of its meaning. We really don’t understand it, and consequently we ignore it. We see the word often in our newspapers, and hear it banished about frequently in Washington, D.C. We know that it is an enormous number, and that it will have a huge impact on our future. But we still don’t really “get it”. It is just TOO BIG to understand. And politicians in Washington who deal with the federal budget, undoubtedly want to keep it that way. As long as we (the voters) don’t understand it, they (the politicians) won’t be held accountable for it.

This is a very, very dangerous situation. We hold our politicians accountable for the small stuff because we understand small stuff (for example, mis-appropriating campaign funds or marital infidelity). But we don’t hold them accountable for the really big stuff (like trillion dollar deficits every year). They (the politicians) are not being responsible with our money and the future of our country. And we (the voters) are not being responsible either: by not understanding what our politicians  are doing to us and to our country, we enable them to be irresponsible. The situation cries out for a “curb rein” of responsibility. And the curb rein starts with us. Once we (the voters) have a clear understanding of just how big a trillion really is, we can start to hold our politicians accountable for what they are doing to us and our country.

How big is a trillion? It’s the amount you would earn if you were paid $1 per second, worked 40 hours per week and stayed on the job for 31,700 years.

Some Illustrations

OK. How big is “a trillion”?  It’s this big: 1,000,000,000,000. Still hard to get your mind around the meaning?  Then let’s try some illustrations you might be able to conceptualize. A trillion is: (a) a million millions; (b) a little over $3,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States; (c) or, to spread it around a little more, $150 or so  for every single human being on our planet earth (there are 7 billion of us currently); (d) the number of steps you would take to walk completely around the earth at the equator if you circled the earth 22,800 times; (e) the number of seconds that have passed since the Neanderthals walked the earth 32,000 years ago; (f) the amount you would earn if you were paid  $1 per second, worked 40 hours per week and stayed on the job for 31,700 years; (g) the number of dollar bills piled up  in a stack 68,000 miles high (a third of the distance to the moon); (h) the number of miles you would travel if you circled the earth at the equator 40 million times; (i) the number of cheeseburgers you could buy to feed every human being on earth a cheeseburger every day for almost 3 months; (j) the number of weeks our universe will have been here (from the “big bang” which was 13.7 billion years ago) when we get to the year 5,530,002,013 (that is, the year 5 billion, 530 million, 2 thousand and 13).  There are many, many more ways as well to illustrate just how big a trillion really is. I encourage you to post back any illustrations you really like. In the end, pick the one that best helps you to “get it”. And remember always that this is only one trillion.

Take Responsibility for it

They say ignorance is bliss, and we have been blissful about a trillion for a long time. Now however, we must become powerful about it, take responsibility for it, and bring it under control. Knowledge of the whole, fact-based truth is the ultimate power. This power is within our reach if we are willing to think deeply and care enough about the future of our country to pursue the truth, the whole truth.

In the future, I will be sharing with you more thoughts along these lines…Bill O’Neill

Categories: Deficits, Global Viewpoint, National Viewpoint

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